Fifty-four years later, it remains one of baseball’s saddest stories. A talented athlete who had fought had to get to the big leagues, taken by cancer at age 33. Jim Umbricht was more than just a skilled reliever, though. He was among the most popular members of the young Houston franchise of the 1960s, a man his teammates would never forget. Now, what … [Read more...]
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1964 Wheaties Baseball Stamps Offered Plenty of All-Stars
Baseball card collectors have had a love affair with Wheaties since the 1930s. A Babe Ruth flip book in 1932 preceded a card set the following year. By the 1960s, Wheaties had carved out its own niche among collectors. The 1964 Wheaties baseball stamp set continued the tradition of offering stars. The 1964 mail-in promotion by General Mills consisted of 50 stamps, measuring … [Read more...]
1964 Draft Produced the Biggest Crop of Hall of Fame Rookie Cards
The 1964 NFL Draft has gone down in history for producing the most Pro Football Hall of Fame players of any draft to date. Eleven of the 280 players selected for that season’s draft have now been enshrined in Canton. On December 2, 1963, the NFL’s representatives that made up its 14 teams assembled in Chicago to divvy up that season’s prospects. At the same time that the … [Read more...]
1964 Rawlings Premium Set an Attractive Challenge
They get very little attention, maybe because of their 8” x 9 ½” size, but collectors looking for a fun little challenge might consider the 1964 Rawlings Premium Photo set. Actually issued over a three-year span, the full bleed color cards were placed into each box that contained a Rawlings store model glove. Today, the Premiums are relatively inexpensive considering their … [Read more...]
Vintage Set Break of the Month: 1964 Topps Baseball
It was the year of the Beatles, the Cardinals, Koufax and the end of the ‘Colt .45s’nickname for Houston’s baseball team. Topps’ annual set went back to a more standard look after two years of woodgrain borders and bold colors. Our Vintage Set Break of the Month in cooperation with Burl’s Sports features a 1964 Topps complete set. There were individual cards of 30 Hall … [Read more...]
Stories in the Stubs: What You Can Find in a Lowly Used Ticket
Watching the great movie “42” I was once again struck with a little smile when actor Max Gail first appears on screen. He is the gentleman who plays manager Burt Shotton in the film, who was the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers when Jackie Robinson broke the racial barrier. My smile was easy and quick because, like many others I assume, my mind still thinks of Mr. Gail as … [Read more...]
1964 and 1971 Topps Coins: Not So Heavy Metal
While the rest of the world around us grows old, we collectors remain young (at least in heart) and continue to pursue our youthful endeavors of amassing information and just plain things that immortalize our heroes of baseball. These "things" keep yesteryears always in the present, offering us perpetual youth as we continually relive the exploits of the great and mighty and of … [Read more...]
