Monarch-Corona Baseball Cards

“Jesus pitches so hard, nobody else can catch when he is pitching, so he plays pitcher and catcher at the same time. He is that quick.”

I made this fantasy card about 10 years ago. It depicts Christ as a ballplayer. Year after year in the Celestial League, he pitches nothing but perfect games, and hits a home run every time at bat. He has been the MVP every season since the league formed. His team has never given up a hit or lost a game.  He pitched 162 perfect games last season, striking out every batter on 3 pitches. He hit a grand slam home run in every trip to the plate, 777 of them.

Imagine the chagrin of opponents, who can never expect to get so much as a hit against him.  It seems like it might take some of the fun out of the game!

The card fails to mention that Jesus always leads the league in saves.

This card was printed during the Covid shutdown, and is the only card of Joe Torre I have ever made. It is the 2nd card in the “Peerless” series, the first card being Stan Musial. Doing the research on this card really made me like Torre as a person. He is a man of many talents, interests, and intellect.

Joe Torre is famous for his great career as a player, which was followed by an even greater career as a manager. He is also involved in the highest levels of thoroughbred horse racing, with some big winners over the years.

Almost 20 years ago, Joe and his wife Ali set up the Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation, an organization that helps to educate and prevent domestic violence. This is something Torre became familiar with as a child, when he witnessed his own mother suffering physical and mental abuse from Joe’s dad. His father was a bully, according to Joe. He knows how it affects kids, and even after all of these years, he cares about that.

Joe always had an uphill climb. When he broke in with the Braves, they already had All-Star Del Crandall behind the plate. He just kept working hard and won the job. As a manager, Torre was successful dealing with lunatic owners like Steinbrenner and Ted Turner, and still produced winning teams.

The son of Italian immigrants and a working class upbringing, Joe is one of those stories of a determined young man who defies the odds and carves a slice of the American dream. I’m not a big Yankees fan, but Joe Torre is now one of my all-time favorites.

Walter reported to the Tacoma Tigers of the brand new Northwest League to start his baseball career only days after the (April 18, 1906) San Francisco earthquake – the greatest natural disaster in US history. After the disaster, the rival Pacific Coast League looked like it was going to shut down, since several teams affected by the quake had suspended operations. Johnson appeared only once for Tacoma, in an exhibition game to raise funds for earthquake relief. Believing the Pacific Coast League would fold, Tacoma manager Mike Lynch expected to pick up some experienced PCL players for his team – so he fired Johnson, telling him that he should give up on pitching and try becoming an outfielder. Crushed, Walter went out to Idaho where he found work installing telephone wires and pitching part-time for the Weiser team.

It turns out Mike Lynch was as wrong as one can ever be.  Walter was a sensation in Idaho.  While Johnson was pitching for Weiser, one local wrote this letter to Joe Cantillon, Washington Senators manager:

“You better come out here and get this pitcher. He throws a ball so fast nobody can see it and he strikes out everybody. His control is so good that the catcher just holds up his glove and shuts his eyes, then picks the ball, which comes to him looking like a little white bullet, out of the pocket. He’s a big, 19-year-old fellow like I told you before, and if you don’t hurry up someone will sign him and he will be the best pitcher that ever lived. He throws faster than Addie Joss or Amos Rusie ever did, and his control is better than Christy Mathewson’s. He knows where he’s throwing because if he didn’t there would be dead bodies strewn all over Idaho.”

The Senators finally sent a scout and signed Walter, and he became the greatest Senator pitcher in history.  The Washington Senators would no longer ignore reports from the potato state.  Five decades later, more fan reports from Idaho would launch the career of the greatest Senator slugger – Harmon Killebrew.

I enjoyed researching Walter during this early part of his life. There were so many “what if” moments: What if there had been no earthquake in San Francisco? What if he had taken his manager’s advice and switched to the outfield? What if he had just given up on baseball and made his career as a “Wichita lineman”?

It was the biggest year ever in Texas football. The football gods, in the guise of the AFL, had bestowed upon the state two – count ’em – two professional football teams. For the first two seasons, the Houston Oilers won the AFL Championship. Then, in ’62, the Dallas Texans under young head coach Hank Stram, stormed to the top of the Western Division to challenge the Oilers, who had again led the Eastern Division. The AFL Championship was going to be a Texas triumph, no matter which team won. Houston, with 35 year-old ace George Blanda throwing 27 touchdowns and the best offense in the league was favored to win.

The Texans, with upstart Len Dawson at the wheel, were up for the challenge, which would be played at the Oilers home field in Houston. The game would end up the longest pro football game that had ever been played. It remains the longest championship game in pro football history. Two overtimes.

At halftime, Dallas was winning 17-0. During the halftime ceremonies, Len Dawson, who had been named AFL Player of the Year, was presented with a brand new Mercury Monterey S-55 convertible. Here is what one of those looks like:

In the second half, Dallas played a conservative game, relying on the run and trying to eat up the clock. Houston started up their passing game, and put up 17 unanswered points to tie the game 17-17 at the end of the 4th quarter.

The first overtime quarter ended scoreless. Finally, in the second overtime, Dallas kicked a field goal and won, 20-17.

Dawson had languished with his first team, the Pittsburgh Steelers. In three full seasons with the team, he only threw 17 passes. He was third string, below Earl Morrall, Jack Kemp, and Bobby Layne. After those 3 unproductive seasons, he was sent to Cleveland, where he played second fiddle to Milt Plum. During two seasons with the Browns, he only threw 28 passes. After the ’61 season, the Browns acquired Frank Ryan, and released Dawson.

During the years Dawson played college football at Purdue, he had worked closely with Purdue assistant head coach Hank Stram. Stram had always been impressed by Dawson, and now he was the Texans Head Coach. When he found out that Cleveland had released Dawson, Hank called team owner Lamar Hunt and told him “we need to get this guy”.

It was a pretty good choice. Dawson went on to prove himself one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. Greatly underrated then and now.

Yes, that was a big year for Texas football, but only a few months later they would be heartbroken to find out that their champions were skipping town – moving to Kansas City to become Chiefs.

I really enjoyed making a card of Len Dawson during his season as a Dallas Texan. His wife, Jackie Dawson, drove the hell out of that convertible for the next 10 or 12 years.

It was a gutsy thing to even think about. At the age of 39, Jim Bouton decided he wasn’t quite finished as a pitcher. He won a spot in the minor leagues at Savannah in the Southern League, and worked himself up to Atlanta. It wasn’t handed to him in any way – he earned it. He started 22 times at Savannah and completed 13. His ERA was a very nice 2.77 and he finished with a 12-9 record.

In September, when the rosters expanded, Jim was called up to Atlanta. At the time, some of the writers were calling it a publicity stunt. Nonsense. The Braves were heading for 6th place and a 69-93 record. Niekro was the ace, with a 19-18 / 2.88 showing that year. The #2 starter was Preston Hanna, 7-13 / 5.13. It went downhill from there. It was the weakest staff in the National League. And here’s Bouton, the only guy in their whole farm system who put up any good numbers that year. Why not? His name could have been Mudd and they would have still called him up.

And he did pretty good, especially for a 39 year-old guy who had been out of baseball for nearly a decade. The ’78 Braves were a bad team going nowhere, but Bouton was facing big-league hitters, including the Dodgers, Giants, and Reds, who were fighting for the division title. He started five games, and pitched well in three of them. He beat the Giants 4-1 on September 14, his first major-league victory in eight years. After a 2-1 loss to the Reds, their manager Sparky Anderson said, “We didn’t even hit the ball hard off of him, and we got two runs we shouldn’t have gotten.”

Bouton finished 1-3 with a 4.91 ERA in his three weeks back at the top. After the season he retired again, saying that he had achieved his goal and had nothing left to prove to himself.

His first book, Ball Four, is still my favorite baseball memoir of all time. He was the first one to take the reader into the clubhouse, the team bus, and the bullpen. Many thought he was one of baseball’s “bad guys” but he turned out to be one of the “good guys” in the end. That’s why I made this card, because he was good for baseball, and also because he had the guts to make what can only be regarded as a remarkable comeback.

It was a pretty good season for rookies at Wrigley Field in 1960. The hapless Cubs were at their lowest point ever, but somehow they were finding some talent in their farm system. If things went well, the lowly Cubs might, within a few short years, evolve into a baseball dynasty.

These two Hall Of Famers later joined Ernie Banks and some other great players (Kessinger, Beckert, Jenkins, Hundley, Holtzman to name a few) to make up the best team to ever fail to make the NL playoffs. The whole infield from Hundley all the way around to Santo made the NL All Star team in that 1969 season.

The Cubbies were in first place for most of the year. Then, on September 9th, a photo was published in the New York newspapers of a black cat crossing in front of Santo, who was in the on-deck circle at Shea Stadium during a game against the Mets.

The rest, as they say, is history.

The manager was Leo “the Lip” Durocher. That was 1969, the year of the Miracle Mets.

However, this card is set 9 years earlier in 1960.

The Cubs started off in ’60 with Charlie Grimm as manager, but he was let go early and Lou Boudreau took his place. What a switch, from laid-back fun-loving banjo-playing Good Time Charlie to an intense no-nonsense Boudreau.

This was the season when Santo won the starting job at 3rd base.  Talk about Brooks Robinson til you’re blue in the face – I’ll take Ron Santo any day.  He was the most reliable third baseman of the era.

And Billy Williams?  He would have to wait another season to break in as a starter, but once he made the lineup, he was consistently excellent.  He was probably the the most underrated guy in baseball during his career.

The 1960 Cubs ended up in 7th place, then in ’61 finished in 7th again, this time with 4 different managers.

I created this card in 2009 when I was making the Pastime Series. I found out in researching this one that Santo started off as a catcher. I also found out that he drove his Rambler station wagon from Houston to Chicago at midseason of 1960 when he was promoted to the big leagues. The first day he arrived in the windy city, the car was stolen!

I can vividly remember that summer of love in 1969 when the Cubbies were on the verge of winning it all. Fergie Jenkins, perhaps occasionally under the influence of a mild marijuana habit, was eating up the innings and piling up victories. Bill Hands was having his one and only 20 win season. Ken Holtzman was on his way to a 17-13 record. The old “Tinker to Evers to Chance” double play combo had been supplanted by Kessinger to Beckert to Banks. Catcher Randy Hundley was showing some power, with a career-high 18 home runs. Power, average, and solid fielding were all displayed by the two players above – Santo & Williams. The boys from Chi town were knocking at the door to baseball destiny….

Then, it all fell apart. And we had the Miracle Mets instead.

I started working on this series (Legends Series) during the summer of last year. The first card I made was Maury Wills of the 1962 Los Angeles Dodgers.

Wills made baseball history that summer with 104 stolen bases in just 118 attempts. He broke an “unbreakable” record set by Ty Cobb. Maury also batted .299 and scored 130 runs. He was voted National League MVP, edging out Willie Mays (who had a remarkable 49-141-.304 season).

Maury was a great athlete during his high school days at Cardozo H.S. in Washington, DC. He played quarterback on offense and safety on defense for the football team. In his senior year, the team was not only undefeated, none of their opponents scored a single point against them all year!

One of the great mysteries in baseball card history is why Maury Wills didn’t get his own Topps baseball card until 1968. He did appear on cards in the ill-fated 1963 Fleer set and on Post Cereal cards. How Topps could ignore a National League MVP and record-breaker year after year is beyond comprehension.

Probably, Maury would have never made it to the major leagues if not for Bobby Bragan, who became manager of the Spokane Indians in 1958. Bragan took an interest in Wills, and helped him become a switch hitter.

His batting improved dramatically in 1959, when he batted a solid .313 and stole a ton of bases. An injury to Dodgers shortstop Don Zimmer precipitated Wills being called up to the big leagues. By the end of the season he had won the starting job. For the next six years in a row, Wills led the NL in stolen bases and made numerous All Star teams. And he still didn’t have a Topps card!

He was exciting to watch. Fans in LA, and often in other stadiums, yelled, “Go! Go! Go!” as soon as he reached first base. Usually, he took off, daring the opposing catcher. Usually he made it!

Off the field, Maury was a pretty good banjo player. In Los Angeles, he was often seen playing in jam sessions with some of the top bands of the era. He made friends with famous celebrities, including Sammy Davis Jr., Miles Davis, Doris Day, Bill Cosby, and other Hollywood stars of that era.

Wills is still alive and kicking in Sedona, Arizona. He was on the ballot for the Hall Of Fame for 15 years, but never quite made it. In spite of that, he is one of baseball’s greatest legends.

I printed 200 of these on our AB Dick press using some thick 22 point card stock, the same thickness used back in the early 1960s.

Here is a “rookie card” of Wills, issued by Post Cereal in 1962:

This card was actually created by my Dad when we had Miller Press. He loved Whitey Ford. I thought of this one when I heard yesterday that Whitey had passed away.

We printed this card at least 15 years ago.

Ford was a wily pitcher with great control and very cool under pressure. He didn’t “dominate” hitters like a Koufax or Gibson, he just beat them. He was a frustrating pitcher to face, because he never gave you what you wanted. He knew who could hit the high ones, who could hit the low ones, and who could be suckered with a low outside throw. He wasn’t the kind of man who made the same mistake twice.

Of course he is in the Hall of Fame. But in the pantheon of great Yankees, he is overshadowed by other names, the men who swung the clubs. It shouldn’t be forgotten that the historic run of great Yankee teams through the 50s and into the 60s could not have been accomplished without the steady left arm of Edward C. Ford. He appeared in 11 World Series and was an All Star 10 times. His career earned run average ERA of 2.75 is the best of all pitchers with 200 or more victories.

Hearing about how he passed away while watching the Yankees playoff game brought a tear to my eye. That’s how he wanted to go.

Rest in peace, Whitey Ford.

After spending most of the last several years goofing off, I have decided to make some more Monarch Corona cards. I doubt my legacy is ever going to be about the fish I have caught or even the newspaper stories I have written over the years. The thing that becomes your legacy is more likely to be your passion – and mine is still baseball cards after all of these years. And since I am mostly retired, there is time to dabble in the cards. Plus, we do actually need some fresh print samples.

So I have decided to make a new series called the “Majestic Series” and one of the guys I’ll start with is Frank Howard:

Opposing pitchers were scared to death of Frank Howard. Among those was Sam McDowell, ace starter for the Indians. Twice during the 1970 season, with Howard at bat for the Senators, McDowell was switched temporarily to 2nd base in order to avoid facing big Frank! Sudden Sam’s averse reaction to Howard blossomed during the ’68 season (ironically the Year of the Pitcher) when Frank went 8 for 12 against McDowell with 3 HRs and 8 RBIs. Sam walked him six times that season, as Howard compiled a 1.750 slugging percentage against the Tribe’s ace.

Frank Howard was a very large guy, about 6-7. Although by all accounts he had a very kind and gentle personality, he could knock a horsehide well into the middle of next week. Originally a Dodger, Frank was the National League Rookie of the Year in 1960. He did pretty good in Los Angeles, but he was dissatisfied there and told the team he would retire from baseball in the spring of 1964. They talked him into staying another year, then swapped him to Washington for Claude Osteen after the ’64 season. As a Senator, he became a legendary slugger.

This card was printed January 12th of 2020 on the AB Dick press. I made 200 of them, and some have been added to our printing sales kits. In honor of Frank, we have also donated $100 to St. Jude’s Childrens Research Hospital, a charity Frank has been active with for the past few years.

It wasn’t easy for Rocky Colavito to break into the Cleveland Indians outfield. Not only did they have sluggers Ralph Kiner and Larry Doby in the lineup, they also had Al Smith, who batted .306 and led the team in stolen bases. On the bench were perennial All Star Dale Mitchell, veterans Gene Woodling, Hoot Evers, Wally Westlake, Dave Philley, and Harry Simpson. Every one of them were solid starting-lineup outfielders. In fact, that version of the Tribe arguably had the best group of outfielders ever assembled on one team. So Colavito was way down on the list.

On this card I mention that Rocky was considered for a pitching role because of his tremendous arm. After slamming 38 HRs at Indianapolis, such speculation ended. However, it is a good bet that he would have made an outstanding pitcher. During his major league career, Colavito appeared as an emergency relief pitcher twice, once for Cleveland in 1958 and then with the Yankees ten years later. In 5.2 innings he gave up just one hit and no runs, with a couple of strikeouts.

I created this card in 2011, when I made a series of 16 Color TV cards.

Because the size of the cards is small, it’s hard to say some of the things that go through your mind when composing the write-up. If there had been room, I would have pointed out that Rocky had just been married. I might have mentioned that his best friend was rookie pitcher Herb Score.