12 Vintage Cards from Tribe Cards

Hey guys, I'm doing something a little different today. About a week ago, I received a belated Christmas present in the mail from David at Indians Baseball Cards. Always. I had sent him a request as part of his 12 Days of Christmas giveaway, which was an awesome idea and must have taken longer to accomplish than I care to imagine. He sent me an awesome batch of 78 cards, gift-wrapped in two bricks. I had requested Orioles, Ravens, and pre-1980s Topps. Since I didn't know exactly what I was getting, and since we don't get to do much vintage ripping around here, I thought I'd blog the 12 Vintage Topps I received...starting...now!

1971 #572 Jerry Kenney

A Yankee third baseman with a .193 batting average. He must have been Drew Henson's childhood idol. Zing!

1971 #518 Joe Grzenda

An old Senators pitcher with a classic "arms overhead" pitching pose.

1976 #647 Ramon Hernandez

Not the roly-poly Orioles catcher of today, but the mustachoied Pirates reliever of yesteryear. Pretty good one, too: 3.03 career ERA.

1977 #72 Mike Anderson

A one-time Orioles outfielder and all-time member of Team Ugly.

1967 #47 Ken McMullen
This is my first 1967 Topps card, and it's pretty sharp-looking. Ken had some pop, swatting double-digit homers for seven straight years.

1976 #333 Bob Coluccio

Bob is wearing classic aviator glasses, as well as three or four mustaches. There's no way that one man could grow that much mustache. Especially considering his previous clean-shaven look.

1976 #519 Steve Brye

Steve is one of the subjects of an excellent post by Josh Wilker at Cardboard Gods. His claim to fame was misplaying the ball that gave George Brett the batting title over Hal McRae in 1976.

1979 #690 Buddy Bell

True story: I only own a few dozen cards from the mid-to-late 1970s, but I now have four Buddy Bell cards from that era (1976 Father and Son, 1976 base, 1978, 1979). He's ubiquitous!

1978 #122 Dennis Eckersley
Sweet! I didn't have any cards from Eck's early days with the Tribe. Having received this one from David, I feel like I've gotten it straight from the source.

1976 #555 Dyar Miller

I believe Dyar Miller is the only Dyar ever to pitch in the major leagues. The Orioles once traded him for Dick Drago, which is interesting only because Miller had been wearing #37 prior to the trade. Drago joined the O's and was also given #37. It's interesting to me, anyway.

1971 #417 Dick Hall
Another Oriole pitcher! Dick actually came to the bigs in 1952 as an outfielder, but his hitting was...well, lacking. He converted to the mound, and was a valuable reliever for the O's for many years. He never walked more than 30 batters in his Baltimore career.

1971 #453 Terry Crowley

One more Oriole to wrap things up. "The Crow" is still wearing orange and black; he's been the team's hitting coach for the past decade.

Overall, this was a great gift. I got my first 1967 card, a handful of cards from years that I've been leisurely compiling (1971, 1976, and 1978), and a few more Orioles for my team collection. Big thanks to David!