Project Durham Bulls #55 - Tom Poholsky

1945-1946 Durham Bulls 

Background-

Poholsky started his professional career in Durham with the Bulls after the Red Sox signed him as an amateur free agent.  He pitched two seasons with the Bulls going 5-3 in 1945, and 1-3 in 1946 before the Cardinals drafted him the Red Sox Minor League system.  Poholsky's became a dominant Minor League pitcher after moving over to the Cardinals system.  He won 32 games in 1949 and 1950 pitching for the Cardinals Triple A team the Rochester Red Wings. Poholsky won the International League MVP during the 1950 season as the winner of 18 games.  

Poholsky first appeared for the Cardinals in 1950, but his first full season was in 1951 when he went 7-13 with an ERA of 4.43.  He missed the 1952 and 1953 seasons serving in the Korean War before returning to the Cardinals in 1954.  Poholsky would play for the Cardinals until 1956.  He was traded to the Cubs where he closed out his career in 1957 by going 1-7 with an ERA close to 5.  In his final game in the Majors against the Dodgers in September of 1957, he ended up striking out both Duke Snider and Gil Hodges while working a perfect two innings.  

He retired to suburban St. Louis where he lived with his wife until he died from brain cancer in 2001.  His wife, Dory Poholsky, has been a health care advocate for veterans in the St. Louis area.  

Card-

There are not many Poholsky cards, but they are all in some great sets.  It's hard to go wrong when you are dealing with a bunch of 1950s baseball card sets.  I really like the wood grain TV design on the 1955 Bowman cards.  I had to get this one, but honestly his cards are inexpensive enough that I could probably go back and get a few of his other cards.  Many of them are less than $5, like this one.  There are not a lot of cross over players between my favorite two teams from this era, so I might have to do another post when I pick up some of his other cards.  

2019 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 8

Finest came out a few weeks back and there is a Blake Snell autograph in the set, which is on a rehash of a subset from the 1997 Finest set.  I was not really a huge fan of the mid to late 1990s Finest sets.  If you are unfamiliar, they are the ones with the "protector" labels over the cards.  Like this one.....

No fun at all.  

If I may say so, the Snell autograph is a huge improvement from the original design.  It's not that the whole "Blue Chips" idea was bad, they were all young players, but the peel protectors completely ruined the card.  

The autograph is also directly on the card.  No sticker autograph here.  

The back of the Snell autograph.  

Again, borrowed from the 1996 Finest set, but Topps did a good job of fitting the "You have just received" into the existing design of the card.  I also like the picture on the back.  Looks like a photo that would be good on the front of a card. 

Overall, a good card. 

But Bad Trades Are Part of Baseball

"But bad trades are part of baseball - now who can forget Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas, for God's sake?" -Annie Savoy 

Has Doyle Alexander had any cards on the Tigers recently?  

Not since 1990.  

Does Topps make Cubs cards of Lou Brock?  

No.  

Any recent Reds cards of Milt Pappas?  

Not really, looks like 1968 was the last one.  

Jeff Bagwell on the Red Sox.  

Doubtful.  

So, I opened a few packs of Finest the other day.  I pulled a Cardinals autograph.  

Ouch.  

At least there is no mention of Rick Wise on the back of the card.

A 1980s Card Part 7 - 1980 Kellogg's Keith Hernandez

I love the old Kellogg's cards.  I have put a few of these Kellogg's sets together, but for most of them I at least own the majority of the Cardinals cards.  There are a few Cardinals Kellogg's cards I am missing from the 1970s, but not many.  The 1980s are complete. Two of my favorite Kellogg's sets are the blue bordered ones that were put out in 1980 and 1982.   

Some things I like about this card.  

First, this has to be the latest card that shows Hernandez without facial hair.  He always had that goofy mustache, minus a few cards towards the beginning of his career with the Cardinals.  Maybe I am wrong, but I cannot think of a single 1981, 1982, or 1983 Hernandez card without a mustache.  Also cannot think of a single Mets card without a mustache.  

Second, the backgrounds on these cards are blurry, and it's hard to tell exactly where the pictures are taken, but I would bet money that this picture was in Three Rivers.  The seats in the upper deck were colored yellow and orange.  

While I am sure it was not intended to add to the cards overall appearance, I think the blur of orange and yellow behind Hernandez definitely give the card an extra something.  Fits in well with the yellow bands that have his last name and position running across the card.  

Lastly, this is the busiest set design that I actually enjoy looking at.  The front of the card has polka dots, a white border, two yellow diagonal boxes, a player picture, a facsimile autograph, and a Kellogg's logo.  

Oh, and it's not a full sized baseball card.

The back of the card.  

In reality this print is tiny.  Love the Raisin Bran logo in the top left corner, and that they put every single MLB related logo they could think of in the opposite corner of the card.  

Let's Just Get Through This Week

Five more days during this school year and I am on vacation.  I am going to spend my vacation sleeping, traveling, and catching up on some baseball.  I have seriously neglected the Durham Bulls this year.  Have I been to a game?  No.  Have I collected any Durham Bulls cards? Well, not really many from this year's team. 

They are the best team in the International League at the moment. Seems like you can say that at some point every year.  They have some great names on the roster.  My favorite player on the current roster has to be two way player Brendan McKay.  I got to watch him a few times in college while he was playing for Louisville, and in summer baseball for the USA Baseball college national team. 

I picked up a few of his cards.  They have been sitting on my coffee table, but I have not taken the time to post them in my space here.  Waiting to go to a Bulls game.  Let me go ahead and post them ahead of time. 

Two from 2019.

I really like the 1989 Bowman style cards that are an insert in this year's Bowman set.  The cards are obviously not as big as the original set, which were the same size as the 1950s Bowman cards, but I love the simple design.  They have that Chrome finish, but I kind of wish that Topps would use some old stock on these cards. 

A Top 100 Prospects insert card.  Speaks for itself.  Very industrial looking on the bottom, with honeycomb pattern on the top.  What is even happening here?

Final card.  

I have always dabbled with the TEK brand cards from Topps.  This was from last year when Topps put out both a Topps TEK set, along with a Bowman TEK set.  I like these cards, but I only buy them as singles, and I try to stay away from trying to buy all the pattern variations.  That's ridiculous.  McKay has always had that tiny signature.  

2019 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 7

This is my new favorite Snell autograph for 2019. 

There are a bunch of different blogs that have done countdowns about the best Topps designs.  I could never do that, I would just stare at the cards and end up with a ten way tie for first place, and a ten way tie for second to last.  Everyone knows 2005 is terrible.  The 1984 Topps set would definitely be one of the card sets that would be in a ten way tie for first place. 

Is this design really that good, or do I just like it because it was the first full year that I collect? 

I like this card a lot. 

It's my second Snell autograph on a 1984 style Topps card.  This was the first, which was also my first of 2019.....

I like the All-Star style card though, so I am going to give my newest Snell a slight edge.  

Let's look at the back really quick.   

I thought the stars across the top were odd at first.  I guess I did not remember those being on the back of the original 1984 Topps All-Star cards, but I went and found an original.....

They were just covered by a red box labeled "Personal Data".  I can live with the slight change given the fact that Topps has to put that little disclaimer on the back of the card.  Well done.  

A Fine Wizard

My eight year old has been stuck on Harry Potter the last two months.  He's a good reader, but the books are beyond his reach, so my wife and I have been reading them with him at night.  I teach fifth graders.  I am very familiar with the books.  I read the first two books the first year I taught because the students in my class were completely enamored with them.  At different points I felt the need to read the other books to keep up with my students.  I am big on rapport.  

Wizarding has now extended past the book, I cannot tell you how many times I have been sorted during the past few months.  

Actually, I am not really big into reading fantasy books.  The C.S. Lewis Narnia books?  Yawn.  Lord of the Rings?  It was painful, but I had to read them in high school.  Terrible.  

More of a dark humor person, but fifth graders cannot read Vonnegut.  I recommend.....

While I am doing my best to make it through the Harry Potter books, but I will admit that there is one wizard that I really enjoy.  

He was a shortstop for the Cardinals.  

He is in the Hall of Fame.  

You already know who it is....

Topps always manages to squeeze Ozzie Smith into their autograph line-up a few times a year.  One of the cards that was recently rolled out was from the Finest set.  A little different looking Ozzie card, thought this might be a good add to the collection.....

I know there are Padres autographs of Ozzie Smith out there, but I just have never owned one of them.  It's not like it's a Cubs card.  The Padres are a friendly team that the Cardinals run into every once in awhile in the playoffs, but they never lose to them.  The brown 1970s uniform is an added bonus.  Ozzie has such a great signature too.