Header - Baseball by the Letters

Year: 2010

Two Questions For Autograph Set Collectors

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For anyone working to complete an autographed card set, I applaud you. It’s not an easy or fast task.

However, I’ve got to ask two questions, based on the online comments I see from frustrated through-the-mail collectors.

1. Are you sending only one card? I see the “he didn’t sign” or “he kept my set card” all the time. Sending one card means you’ll get your most desired card back if the person signs.

2. Are you explaining that you’re working on a goal of a completed set? The guy you’re contacting knows about goals. He worked to make the majors. He worked to keep his job. Every day included a goal for him.

For older sets, I’d think a collector could add, “If you’re unable to autograph the card enclosed, I’d be grateful if you could return it, so the card could go back in my set.” You might convince an on-the-fence signer that way.

Think it’s impossible to praise a cup-of-coffee player, someone with sad stats from a too-brief stay in baseball? Try pointing out that this person wore a major league uniform AND became one of only 660 people to appear in that year’s set. Not everyone who plays in a season gets in that year’s Topps set, right?

(Maury Wills just seconded me on this one…)

Oriole Jim Pyburn’s Humble Homers

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Jim Pyburn’s career in Baltimore whizzed by in a mere 155 games. From 1955-57, he couldn’t find a permanent home in the O’s lineup. He’s remembered as one of the team’s many pre-Brooks Robinson third basemen.

Pyburn surprised me with his answer to my letter. I asked if he could supply details on his most meaningful home run.

He belted all three on the road, the first against Dick Brodowski in Washington April 27, 1956. Pyburn followed with a two-run shot against White Sox hurler Gerry Staley June 20.

Nearly a year later, Pyburn’s last career homer (a two-run dinger) supplied the winning margin in a 4-1 win in Detroit.

He chose to reply in just one word:

“LUCKY”

Thanks again to Retrosheet.org for its valuable insights into another career.

The Lessons of Minnesota’s Paul Giel

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Let me start with the end of Paul Giel’s 200 reply:

P.S. – For a guy from Iowa, you did well to marry a girl from Redwood Falls!

When I wrote to him, I told him I was contacting Minnesota-born players. Adding a WHY in your letter gives you an edge on the other “Dear —, Please sign this…” form letters. Don’t lie, but use any detail in your own history that might make your letter stand out.

Secondly, expect the unexpected.

I received a 9-by-12 envelope from the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation. I was ready to recycle this unopened. I would have missed the surprise — one autographed 8-by-10 of Giel as a Gopher gridiron star battling Southern California in 1953.

Lastly, I should add my theory about Giel altering his baseball job history, failing to mention the one horrid final game he pitched for the 1961 Athletics.

I think he WISHED he had retired. I think he WISHED he had remained a Twin.

He didn’t log even one whole season with the Twins. But he remains a Minnesotan forever.

Paul Giel: Mystery in Minnesota

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Paul Giel remains a University of Minnesota legend. He earned All-America status in football and baseball, but capped an illustrious gridiron career with Heisman Trophy runner-up honors.

Giel shunned a three-year Canadian Football League contract and the Chicago Bears in favor of baseball. A bidding war ended with a then-record $60,000 signing bonus from the New York Giants. He wrote to me in 2000.

“I chose professional baseball because I had a great (by those days’ stands) offer from the New York Giants. Talk about luck! The Giants won the National League Peannant and beat Cleveland in the World Series.

I was with the Minnesota Twins for a few months in 1961 when the Washington Senators moved to the Twin Cities. I only pitched in a few games in relief and did nothing worth noting. I retired from baseball when they wanted to trade me to Kansas City.”

Giel’s career summation is worth noting. Despite his claim that he didn’t join Kansas City, Giel pitched one game for the Athletics. After giving up seven earned runs in 1.2 innings, he ended his career.

Giel died in 2002 at age 70. He was commemorated by the New York Times, a paper that remembered his “bonus baby” status with the local Giants.

Tomorrow: two important lessons Paul Giel taught this autograph collector.

Roy Face, Father of the Forkball

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Fans who rave about Bruce Sutter and the last generation of split-fingered fastball artists can’t impress old-school Pirates fans. Followers of the Bucs in the 1950s and 60s are sure they saw it all before, in the likes of Elroy Face.

Signed by the Phillies as an amateur free agent in 1949, Face was drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1950. On Dec. 1, 1952, he was chosen in the Rule 5 draft by the Pirates. Pittsburgh used him in 41 games the next season. His classic career highlights included 193 saves, three All-Star appearances and “NL Fireman of the Year” honors from The Sporting News in 1962.

Face remembered that special pitch and more in a kind reply:

“In 1954, I was in New Orleans to work on an off-speed pitch to go with my fastball and curve. I worked on it about the first half of the season, and started using it in games. It helped me make it back to the major leagues.”

About his 848 career games pitched, he wrote:

“I don’t have any idea of how many pitches I threw in the bullpen. In 1961 and 1962, Jack Hernon, a writer, kept track of the times I either pitched in games or warmed up. He said it was somewhere between 110-115 times each year.”

How dominating was Face in 1959? Try an 18-1 record. He hasn’t forgotten that one imperfection that year:

“What I remember of my one loss in 1959, was to the Dodgers. Charlie Neal got a broken-bat dribbler through the left side of the infield, between Don Hoak at third and Dick Groat at shortstop. That broke my 22 straight winning streak.”

The all-star resource www.retrosheet.org uncovered details of Face’s single loss here.