Header - Baseball by the Letters

Finding Josh Wilker’s Cardboard Gods

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I just began reading a fascinating hobby-related book. What do baseball cards mean to you? Could they help get you through a difficult childhood?

Those are the questions at the forefront of Josh Wilker’s memoir, Cardboard Gods: An All-American Tale Told Through Baseball Cards
This isn’t the typical “aw, shucks” happy recollection of youth. Wilker writes with painful honesty and insightful humor of his parents and other challenges. He reminded me of the card shop owner I met years ago in Washington state.

“My cards helped me growing up,” he said, telling about coping with two constantly-ill parents. “I’d stare at the pictures until they started moving. Then I could sleep.”

JoshTheAuthor has been a noted blogger since 2006, with a blog by the same name. His essays are funny and insightful. “Me, too!” is a common reaction you’ll have when reading.

I e-mailed Josh, wondering if autographs or correspondence ever become part of his baseball cards-as-life musings. He replied:

“I actually haven’t gotten any emails from former players. A guy who seems to have been Don Stanhouse did once comment on my site. I wrote about that connection here:

In that post, I also mention my childhood desire to connect with Yaz. A couple days ago, someone who’d read an article about my appearance with Bill Lee at Fenway (an article that mentions my yearning as a kid for a Yaz autograph) offered to send me an autograph her husband got from Yaz at a grocery store when he was shilling for kielbasa. That kind of connection is about as close as I get to the gods, which is kind of how I like it, I guess, off in the cheap seats. I mean, it was very sweet to have someone think to share that autograph with me. That’s a big part of the fun of the site, connecting with people who have stories about close but brief or distant and lasting connections with the guys on the cards.”

Read this blog. Get this book. Prepare for a movie! Thanks to Josh, we’ll all be seeing old cards with new eyes.

Phillies Coach Milt Thompson Offers A Lesson For All Collectors

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Long before Milt Thompson dished out batting tips, he offered me a valuable hobby lesson.

I believe the year was 1989. I was in St. Louis, working on my book Redbirds Revisited. I was waiting in the Cardinals main office in “old” Busch Stadium.

I heard rubber pounding the pavement outside. A man in his 40s came sprinting to the door, shouting, “Sir, may I have your autograph?”

The “Sir” was faster, slipping in to the restricted office space without signing.

The receptionist greeted Thompson. She had his comp tickets ready for that night’s game.

“Sir?” he asked her with an impish grin. “You know anyone named ‘Sir’? My name’s not Sir!”

Sure, Thompson could have felt ornery, or feared that one autograph collector would attract a swarm of other seekers.

Still, his comment stuck. I’ve done everything possible in the years since to personalize every contact I make with every player and retiree. I’ve wanted to make every person feel unique. I research everyone before writing. My letter proves I KNOW them, but want to know them better.

Thanks, Milton Bernard Thompson!

Remembering 1933-42 Yankees Bullpen Catcher Joe DiGangi, Autograph All-Star

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“I only collect players!”

“He wasn’t on any cards!”

Collectors who limit themselves miss out on so many possibilities.

Exhibit A is Joe DiGangi, who passed away at age 94 in 2009.

Before you run for your baseball encyclopedia, know that DiGangi never played a major league game. However, he was a part of those great New York Yankees teams from 1933-42. For a little pay and the some of the best seats in Yankee Stadium, Joe worked as a bullpen catcher. He was there warming up a pitcher when Lou Gehrig made his “luckiest man” farewell. DiGangi saw DiMaggio’s hit streak.

Best of all, he wrote about it all! After appearing in a 2007 New York Times article, collectors tracked down the retiree, sharing his address. Joe lavished every letter with insights on Yankee greats he knew and worked with. He photocopied his scrapbook, showing himself pictured with pinstriped superstars.

Listen to a couple of the luckiest collectors, those who wrote to the non-player when they could:

Kevin Rozell writes an impressive Yankees blog. He shared an image of what Joe sent.

“He was a part of Yankees lore and one of the last people who had contact with some of the greatest players to ever put on the pinstripes. I thought his story was fascinating,” Kevin recalled.

“He sent me a nice letter, included some great photos and signed them. I sent him a letter back, thanking him for everything he sent me.”

Just look at the inspiring Edwin’s Autographs Through the Mail, and the jackpot struck with a letter to DiGangi. (The blog contains some awesome examples of customized index cards, too, but that’s a rave for another day…)

From Collector Tom Cipollo:

“Here is what Joe Digangi did for me. I wrote to him probably 3-4 times. He sent me some cards (around 10) of players in that era including catcher Bill Dickey, a photo re-print (card sized) of the Babe with Gary Cooper in 1942, a custom index card the he made or someone made for him and he signed that, a computer printout of a phote of himself with Tommy Lasorda at a game recently, another computer printout photo of Yankee Stadium and he wrote on the top of it: ” a rare photo of Yankee Stadium World Series game 1927 from Joe DiGangi bullpen catcher 1933-1942.

“I sent him a baseball to sign and he sent it back with my request of him signing it on the sweet spot with an added bonus: around the rest of the baseball he wrote players names who he had played with and a brief story/info about them. Players on this ball are Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Phil Rizzuto. In 2008, I sent him a little bit of money to thank him for everything and he responded with a 3 page letter thanking me for the money (because some people forgot to put postage on the return envelopes that he would put on for them).

In this letter included what we did after the war with his family, what his family did what his kids did, talked about moving to St. Thomas and helping to build the many resorts we all stay at when we visit there. He talked about his final move to California and how he has been there for 22 years.

At the end of the letter he wrote “hope all is well with you and I would sure love to hear from you again. I hope all my mail gets to you in good shape. Love to all Connie & Joe DiGangi.”

As evidenced in his obituary, Joe DiGangi was a classic baseball storyteller. When looking to future people to contact by mail for autographs and memories, gamble the stamps. You may get one last look at a past chapter in baseball history before the book closes.

Ex-Yankee Irv Noren’s Streak Ends

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Joe DiMaggio? Derek Jeter? Did they ever rival Irv Noren’s streak?

Noren, now 85, has seemed to call it quits on signing by mail. I received the note, “Sorry, Mr. Noren is not signing or writing his info now. Sorry. J. Noren.”

I looked him up on the first-class hobby website, www.sportscollectors.net. He had signed 186 consecutive TTM requests that were posted before another, “not signing any more” decline was sent.

Noren was great about adding requested inscriptions. He had filled out questionnaires for fans.

Is it ill health? Noren never wanted to sign blank index cards. Did the fan mail onslaught become too much at his advanced age?

Another sign that the hobby clock is ticking. Send to those 70-and-over retirees sooner, not later. It could be too late.

Pitcher C.J. Nitkowski Remembers Meeting The Faces On His Cards

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Writing my 2001 book Collecting Baseball Cards: The 21st Century Edition was fun. I still have a few copies left, if someone is looking for this out-of-print “classic.”

I tried to get lots of input for kids (the intended audience). Then-current pitcher C.J. Nitkowski was one of the first to help, replying:

“The funny part is, I go back and look at the few cards I have left, and I see cards of coaches I have had when they were players. Guys I never heard of at the time.

I picture myself eight years old, flipping cards. But now, I know some of these guys. Even though I didn’t know who they were at the time, it’s pretty funny to me.

I miss the gum, too. That was the second best part. The first, of course, was any New York Yankee card I got in my pack.”

Nitkowski has a Twitter account. His baseball gems get recapped at www.cjbaseball.com. It’s obvious he loves the game. Wouldn’t it be nice to think that every player, coach and broadcaster, like C.J., was a fan first?