The Cubs, Phillies and Cardinals. Three popular teams, all fun to collect.
Then, where were all the collectors when it came to Freddy Schmidt?
Schmidt died in November at age 96. The journeyman pitcher was part of two Cardinals World Series winners.
I expected to see a couple of hundred successes listed on www.sportscollectors.net.
Nope.
Schmidt was 30 for 30, signing through February of 2012. Did his health begin to decline then, or didn’t he get any more letters?
The mystery? His last year in the majors was 1947, also known as the pre-Topps era.
Collectors lucky enough to write found that Schmidt answered questions, wrote notes, sometimes added photos and loved signing “95 Years Young.”
The moral? Set collecting is fine. But don’t limit yourself to “what can I get signed?” Ask, too, “Who can I write to?”
By the way, don’t miss the great interview with Schmidt (linked above) by Ed Attanasio!
I am working on an all-time Cubs roster custom card set and Schmidt was high on my list as an excellent TTM guy and one of the oldest living Cubs. Unfortunately, he only pitched 3 innings for the Cubs and thus I couldn’t find any photos of him in a Cubs uniform to use for my card! Hindsight says I probably could have contacted him to see if he had one himself, but with only 3 innings, who knows?
I was really sad to see Mr. Schmidt pass away. I got a TTM success from him that ranks among my top successes. Really great guy.