Army Ball

The playoffs have started, and once again my Pittsburgh Pirates are on the outside looking in.  In the American League I'm rooting for the Oakland A's.  I like the idea of a World Series champ that's also the team with the second lowest payroll in the game.  In the National League, I'm sort of pulling for the St. Louis Cardinals.  The Pirates may never be a contender because of free agency.  The Cards lost their best player, Albert Pujols, to the far richer Los Angeles Angel, and  it would give me hope if the Cards could get another championship.  I'm torn about the Washington Nationals.  On one hand, I wouldn't mind seeing them win it all because the team has never won anything.  On the other hand, I liked them when they were the Montreal Expos and I hated to see them leave Canada.

No date, names, or location on the photograph, but the third baseman looks to be in a military uniform, so it's another bored soldiers having  fun picture.

Opening Week

Just thought I would continue with yesterdays' baseball theme. I suspect this gentleman plays for a local or factory team, though it would be nice if he played professionally.

Opening Day

It's opening day, and time to remember all those players who make it to the bigs, hang on for a few years, and then move on to other things. Dave LaPointe was originally drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers, but started his big league career with the Detroit Tigers, as can be seen on the back of the card, it wasn't a long stop. Still, after kicking around for a bit, he had a fairly good year with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Good enough to be signed as a free agent by the New York Yankees. (I'm a Pirate fan, a far too common story for the Bucs in the free agency era.) This card was issued in 1991, but the uniform is wrong. Dave had moved on to the Philadelphia Phillies by then. He'd have a very brief stay, get released, signed to a minor league contract with the Brewers, get released, and signed to another minor league contract with the Cubs. Neither team called him up. In 1993, there would be an attempt at a comeback with the Minnesota Twins, but again, it would all be in the minors. In 1995, he would try his luck with the Adirondack Lumberjacks, and while no major league team came calling, he would go on to be their pitching coach, and then manager. He would then go on to manage the Bridgeport Bluefish, then the Long Island Ducks. Now, he manages the Rockland Boulders of the Can-Am League in Pomona, New York. It would be a great story if he ended up managing a big league team to a World Series title, but his age works against him.

Bluejackets From Nebraska

The only photo in this group that has any writing on the back is the first one in the column. "Adm. Olson, Bob Harris-Yokosuka, Me" Is "Me" Denzel Smith? I went to the obituary photo of Denzel, (See the previous post for a link.) and compared the gentleman on the right, same cleft chin, same shape to the face. I'd say it's about a 95% match. Too, we know that Denzel Smith was in the navy from 1942 to 1946. Yokosuka was a large Japanese naval base at the mouth of Tokyo Bay that was turned over to the United States in 1945. So, while I don't know if Denzel was ever posted to Japan, it's possible that he was there, playing baseball for a navy team in 45 or 46. And we also know from an earlier post (navigate back two) that Denzel was a high school baseball player. Yes, I'm thinking another chapter in the extraordinary life of Denzel Smith, scholar, athlete, veteran of both the army and the navy, consultant to presidents.

There is also some stamped information on the first three photos. On the first one, "Neg. No VNC-6693 (c) -9-56 RELEASED OFFICIAL NAVY PHOTOGRAPH IF PUBLISHED CREDIT LINE MUST READ: OFFICIAL U.S. NAVY PHOTOGRAPH" And on the next two images, "OFFICIAL U.S. NAVY PHOTOGRAPH Released for publication The navy department has no objection to use of this photograph to commercial advertisements, provided copy and layout are submitted for review, prior to publication to a District Public Information Office. Naval Training Center Public Information Officer. PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE, U.S. Naval Training Center, San Diego 33, Calif."

The Lettermen of Lushton, Nebraska

Lushton is a very small village in York County, Nebraska. According to the 2010 census, the population comes to a whopping 33, spread out over sixteen households and 12 families. So was Lushton big enough, in the 1920s, to support a high school and field a baseball team, or did Lushton High cater to all the farm kids? The latter would be my guess. There is nothing written on the back of the first photo in the group, (Gotta love the kid hanging off to the side.) but on the others in descending order, "Cecil Franc, Denzel Smith" "Cecil 7, Raymond, Mark, Denzel" "Raymond, Mark, Bill, Steve, Wayne" "Mark, Cecil" "Raymond 3, Mark 1" "Cecil 7, Denzel" "Bill, Steve, Wayne" Anyway, I think I might have figured out the connection to yesterday's post. It's the photographer, rather than the subjects. The names on the back are the people who want prints. The names that were crossed out from yesterday were either filled or cancelled orders. Hey, hasn't Blogger heard of Denzel Washington? The spell check says it isn't a real name.

Opening Day

As I've noted before, I've had a life long tendency to collect things. My first really systematic collections were baseball cards and comic books. Sadly, my mother listened to the child psychologists of the day who believed that a refusal to give up childhood interests was a sign of an arrested development. So every Topps baseball card from 1959 through 1970, organized by team and league went into the fire. Also, my Spiderman, Fantastic Four, X-Men and Avengers numbers 1. Just think, I could have paid all my debts and taken the next couple of years off if I still had them. And no, I'm not going back to baseball card collecting. Not enough space, time or money. This is the only one I own.

Baseball

It's raining in Los Angeles. A massive storm is blowing in from the Pacific northwest and if forecasts hold, the snow level may drop down to 500 feet and fall in the San Fernando Valley. San Fransisco 7, Arizona 6 in Cactus League play. Spring season games have begun.

Nineteenth Century Baseball

America's past time. My prediction, Philadelphia in six.

Minor League San Diego Padres

Purchased here in California, I'm going to go out on a limb and write that the SD seen in the out of focus print is for the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League. Written on the back of the print where the player is not wearing a uniform, "This is Hugh in a ball position. Some brother!"