1955 bowman complete through 240!

here's the next installment in my 1955 bowman set build! this post marks the two-thirds mark of the set, and it gets us into some interesting territory. let's have a look at these cards!

sheet 29, cards 225-232

the sheet starts with a bang with a manager card and is followed immediately by our first umpire card of the set, with another manager card to close out the sheet. the managers (paul richards and birdie tebbetts) are only the second and third skippers in the set (lou boudreau was the first back at card number 89) and w.f. mckinley holds the distinction of being the first ump we see. the sheet also features 1950 national league mvp jim konstanty (now with yankees).

here are the backs:

seeing the umpire bio begin with nationality - "irishman" - is a bit bizarre. not sure why that was relevant for them and not the players and managers. anyway, the teammate set up is out the window now, and only the back of frank baumholtz's card features non-bio text. he sums up his advice to youngsters pretty well: "the best preparation for tomorrow is to do today's work well."

the back of mckinley's card doesn't say it, but i understand he went by "bill". he was the first big league umpire to have graduated from an umpiring school and his career spanned 20 years (1946-1965). cardboredom commented on the last post about some wild umpire stories, and maybe this is one of them: in 1960, the married mckinley and fellow married ump ed runge (he shows up later in the set) were enjoying some time with a couple of ladies in washington dc and were later extorted by one of the women and two men who had photos of the encounter. the case went to court as far as i can tell, but not sure of the outcome.

sheet 30, cards 233-240

another manager (eddie stanky), two umpires (j.a. paparella and eddie rommel), and a coach (dick bartell)! bowman was really running out of players at this point, i guess. there aren't too many dodgers left in the set, but this sheet gives us billy loes.

here are the backs:

all are bios, with stanky receiving some backhanded compliments ("...not particularly adept at running, throwing, or hitting"). we learn that paparella's ancestry is italian, while rommel's is german. rommel, of course, was a pitcher for the philadelphia a's (he's noted as the "discoverer of the 'knuckle ball'" on his card back) before he started umpiring a few years after his playing career ended in 1932. he became one of the few men to pitch and later umpire in the world series, and was the first umpire to wear glasses during a game. 

as for paparella, he went by "joe" and, like mckinley, umpired from 1946 through 1965. i am not sure if his retirement in 1965 was forced like mckinley's but they were similar in age so it is possible. it's also worth noting that paparella was the third base umpire when eddie gaedel made his lone big league appearance.

with loes there on the second page, i will note that the card i purchased during the pursuit of the set build was an upgrade for my dodger collection

that collection gets fed first!

while there is still a third of the set to show off, i am only in need of two cards to finish the set, and i might just see if i can find them in the greater chicago area this weekend. stay tuned!

reaching for new loes (and lowes and logans)

i haven't placed a sportlots or comc order for a few months now. i still buy on ebay occasionally, but am really focusing on steve garvey stuff and maybe timeless teams parallels if they pop up at a reasonable price.

one of the last non-garvey, non-timeless teams ebay purchases i made was a 1952 topps billy loes card

it's super colorful and reduces my low number needs for the dodger team set to just 8 cards. i have no illusions of ever completing this team set, leaving it and the 1953 topps dodger team sets as the only ones i have not and likely will not complete. i'm ok with that, although i might try to get the last four 1953 cards that i need.

some of the last sportlots orders i placed included cards from my "nefarious 9" list of most wanted cards. they included a 2005 upper deck mvp derek lowe card

and a 2006 topps allen & ginter derek lowe card

i believe the a&g lowe was a short print, but regardless, both of these lowes complete team sets for me.

some other formerly most wanted cards that i added to complete team sets were a 2017 topps allen & ginter logan forsythe card

a 1999 pacific alex core card

a 2000 topps hd adrian beltre card

a 2005 topps retired signature duke snider card

a 1984 topps cereal series fernando valenzuela card

(not sure how i didn't already have one of those)

a 1999 upper deck ovation adrian beltre card

and i also added this 1991 swell don drysdale card

to finish up yet another team set!

even though these cards were crossed off the list, there are always more! following kerry's lead, i've moved the list from the web version sidebar to a link below the header so that it is more easily available on mobile devices.  take a look at my most wanted cards and see if you can help a blogger out! you will be rewarded!

dressen for success

i decided just after new year's to complete my 1953 bowman color dodger team set. one of the five cards i needed at the beginning of the year was charlie dressen's.

i wound up winning an auction for this psa 2 card for cheap, and i picked up the other three non-duke cards i needed on comc.

that's billy loes, russ meyer, and george shuba.  duke came last, thanks to a bargain from fritsch cards.

glad to see they are still going strong.

anyway, the highlight of the dressen card is the copy on the back:

there is an "away in a manger" joke in there somewhere.  obviously, bowman meant that dressen was a cocky little manager, and while he was at the helm of the dodgers, he surely could back that up with on-field success. as the card notes, his dodgers won the pennant in 1952 after losing to the "shot heard 'round the world" in 1951, and he also led the team to the pennant in 1953. however, that turned out to be his last year managing the dodgers, as he wanted a multi-year contract and was denied. so, the cocky little "manger" was out and walter alston took over.  alston wound up managing the dodgers until the final days of the 1976 season, and never had a multi-year contract.

dressen's post-dodger managerial career is outlined on the back of his 1965 topps card

which was another recent pick-up for my set build (i'm close!). here's what that card had to say:

there are a couple of issues here. first, it should end with him joining the tigers in 1963, not 1953. second, his stint as dodger manager is referenced as being with the "old" dodgers, but his stint with the senators does not get the same qualifier. i assume topps was referring to the brooklyn dodgers as the "old" team, but the senators that dressen managed were the twins by the time this card came out, with a "new" version of the senators having joined the league in 1961. just a quirk that i would expect an editor to pick up on.  and, i realize that they are only recognizing his managerial stints, but it is worth noting that dressen was a coach and/or scout for the dodgers in 1958 and 1959, as well as in  1963 prior to becoming the tiger skipper.

dressen passed away during the 1966 season while managing the tigers, and they wore black armbands in his honor for the remainder of the season. no cards exist that i have found showing the armband, but there is this photo

of earl wilson with the armband on full display.

i am thinking that i will work to complete my 1953 topps dodger team set next, but i already have dressen's card (it's just a few of the high numbers, including the johnny podres rookie, that are left). that means that the only other charlie/chuck dressen card that i need for my collection is his 1952 topps high number card, so my guess is that the cards shown above are the last cards of his that i will add.