Early Baseball Greats - Their Cards

Tobacco companies were leading producers of baseball cards by the mid 1880's although the cards first began appearing in the 1860's as promotional vehicles for various trades. For the tobacco companies, the cards served to protect the cigarettes in the pack as well as to promote the brand. Many cards, like the following, were colorful drawings of leading players.

John Montgomery Ward 

"Monte Ward" pitched the second perfect game in baseball on June 17, 1880, for the Providence Grays -- only five days after the first perfect game had been thrown by pitcher Lee Richmond for  a Worcester team.

Edward Nagle Williamson 

Outfielder Ned Williamson held the single season home run record from 1887 until 1919 when Babe Ruth surpassed his total.

Charles H. Getzein

Sometimes referred to as Getzin,  "Pretzels" Getzein pitched for 4 different National League teams between 1884 and 1891. His total 277 complete games still ranks 58th for Major League Baseball.

Adrian Constantine Anson 

"Pop" or "Cap" Anson was a superstar hitter in his day, and the first player to log over 3,000 career hits --  in his nearly 30 years of playing from 1872 through 1897. 

L.F.  Lawton 

Jack Lawson's San Francisco Haverly's team was part of the California League.

Walter Harold Nagle

Pitcher "Lucky" or "Judge" Nagle started his major league career in 1911, first with the Pittsburgh Pirates and then with the Boston Red Sox. 

? Hoffman

Outfielder Hoffman was apparently part of the lesser known Raleigh Team in the North Carolina League.

Zachariah Davis Wheat

Zach Wheat was a leading hitter for the Brooklyn Dodgers between 1909 and 1927.

Frank Baker

Baker was listed as 3rd baseman for the early Philadelphia Athletics with a salary of $5,000 in 1910 and $6,200 in 1911.

The Yankees Other Paper Parade

The New York Yankees won the 2009 World Series in 4 out of 6 games, which was a minor sweep of the Philadelphia.

On November 6, 2009 a Ticker Tape parade was thrown to honor their 27th World Series victory with speeches and award ceremonies at City Hall, but afterwards, like the end of any great party, there comes the clean-up.

Cleaning up after a party is hard to do unless you are New York City.

The parade and clean up cost about $340, 000 with most of that money donated from private sources.

Found during the big clean-up parade of the confetti debris was some medical records, financial statements and court records.

Some critics, who did not seem to live in New York City, said it would take weeks to clean up the paper. It was gone within hours.

It was a great up-lift for a financially stressed city. And next year? Go Mets!

MLB Tells Teams That Baseballs Must Be Stored At A Uniform Temperature

Baseballs will keep their cool this summer.

The commissioner's office is telling teams for the first time that balls must be stored at a uniform temperature after they are delivered from the manufacturer.

"The specifications that Rawlings recommends are a 70 degree (21 C) temperature and 50 per cent humidity," said baseball senior vice-president Joe Garagiola Jr.

"We have contacted all 30 of the clubs, and they have all confirmed to us that they will all be storing their baseballs in a temperature-controlled facility. We're not going to have humidors every place, but every place will be temperature controlled, and so I think there will be a very high degree of uniformity."

The decision was made following debate generated by the Colorado Rockies' use of a humidor at Coors Field. The ballpark ranked first in the major leagues in scoring in its first eight seasons, starting in 1995, but dropped to second in three of the last four years behind Arlington's Ameriquest Field (2003), Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park (2005) and Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium (2006).