Cards from the Mall: '33 Goudey and Others

My wife and I went to a movie last weekend at a local mall. We went to see The Help, it was her choice. I wasn't that in to going, but we did get there early.

I'm glad we did get there early, because there was a table out selling baseball cards, and vintage at that. They also had a dollar bin.

I got to stand and look for a few minutes, while my patient wife went off to look at some other stuff. Then the movie time came. I didn't get anything then, but I did go back the next day.

And I got a bunch of good cards, including that card right there, a genuine 1933 Goudey Tom Bridges. The Goudey wasn't in the dollar bin, but I picked it up for a good (or Goudey?) price of $5.

I'd never heard of Bridges before but, according to the back, he came within one out of a no-hitter the previous season. Sheriff Harris singled to break up the bid.

The Goudey would have been my oldest card, but for my 1911 T205 find a week earlier in Vermont.

The cards I picked up fell into three categories. There were the vintage CMC players. Those are the coolest. Coaches and managers from the CMC set in their playing days. Sometimes they're hard to spot. I'll hopefully get to those in their own post.

There were also the CMC-related players. Players that have some connection to those in the set, either through interviews or are relatives.

Then there were the cards that I thought were interesting or might be CMC set members. A couple of them that I thought might be in the set turned out not to be. I'll get those out of the way here.

That 1974 Gary Matthews up top falls into the interesting category. There's three people there, all identifiable. There's Matthews sliding into third. There's Giants third base coach and future big-league manager John McNamara cheering Matthews on. Then there's No. 11. That's Wayne Garrett of the Mets.

It's a cool scene, especially for the mid-70s. I picked it up thinking it would be easy to figure out the game. And I'm sure it's been figured out somewhere before. But, figuring by the uniforms that the game was at Shea, I had it narrowed down to two games where Matthews made it to third base: June 12 and Aug. 25.

A Google News Archives search showed the Aug. 25 game was during the day, while the June 12 was at night. I believe the card shows Matthews sliding into third at Shea Stadium on a single to left by Tito Fuentes in the top of the fifth. He did not score.

This Indians 1967 Rookie Stars card caught my eye for Tom Kelley's name. It was similar to someone in the CMC set, but ended up not being. Kelley pitched parts of seven seasons in the majors, with the Indians and the Braves. Bill Davis only pitched parts of three, with the Indians and the Padres.

Lew Burdette was another possible CMC set member that didn't pan out. Burdette played 18 seasons in the majors. An interesting thing, Topps spelled his first name on his 1962 card as "Lou," but he spelled it "Lew." Topps seemed to have it right some years, but wrong others.

The card back called Burdette as "one of the best pitchers in baseball." It also noted that he beat the Yankees three times in the 1957 World Series.

Then there's the '74 Rick Monday, the '79 Bob Stanley and the 1975 Rookie Infielders with Phil Garner and Keith Hernandez, all up top.

Also on the '75 card are Bob Sheldon and Tom Veryzer. Sheldon played just three seasons in the majors, all with the Brewers. Veryzer, though, played 12, getting into just under 1,000 big league games through 1984.

The other two cards in this section have already been sent out. I got them for myself, then realized that they were on NightOwl's want list. I figured he would enjoy them more.

The first is this 1959 Don Drysdale. I found that in the dollar bin. Sure it's beat up, and missing a corner, but that's why it was in the dollar bin. Always makes me wonder how these cards get that way, why it's missing a corner and all.

Drysdale beat Milwaukee five times in 1958, the back of the card reads, as he "made the Braves holler, 'Uncle.'" Drysdale's nickname was also Airedale, according to the cartoon. "Grr."

This last one I was just proud to own and as proud to contribute to NightOwl's collection. Also from the dollar bin was this 1962 Wally Moon, the one with the No. 5 written on his shoulder.

The back of the card indicates Moon has the distinction of hitting a home run in his first major league at bat in 1954. It also turns out Moon his his own Web site (not mentioned on the card back) and a newly published book: "Moon Shots: Reflections on a Baseball Life."