Thursday, December 4, 2008

1984 Fleer, Dick Williams



#659 Dick Williams

While I got many great cards from Rod, this one might actually be my favorite. It's of the 2008 Hall of Fame inductee, Dick Williams. This is the only card of a member of the Hall that Rod sent me. But, that could easily change in the next few years as there were a few cards of players that should get serious consideration.

The stats link above links to Dick's player stats, but since he was known more for his managing, you can see those stats here. If you look at both stats pages, you'll see that he played his final season in 1964 for the Red Sox and then he took the Sox to the Series in his first year of managing, in 1967. That's a quick turnaround from player to Major League manager. He went to the Series three more times, winning it twice with A's in the early '70s. He even guided the Expos to their lone playoff appearance.

To date, this is the only checklist card that I have signed. These were kind of strange team checklists. There is a team on the front and a team on the back. But, only the team on the front has a picture of the manager on the card. However, that is not a problem on this card since the back has the "special cards" checklist.

2 comments:

Goose Joak said...

Seriously awesome card. This is the first autographed checklist I think I've ever seen -- and I love it! A manager no less. So unique and cool.

I enjoy the fondness with which you write about your autographed cards. You bring them to life in a way that is hard to do with the manufactured autographs in today's hobby.

Looking forward to more!

zman40 said...

Thanks! I really do appreciate it. Sometimes it's really hard to find something meaningful to say, especially if I got it signed through the mail or if I'm showing a guy's autograph for the third time. So, if there is not a cool story about how I got it, I usually try to focus on some aspect of the card or the player. But, your comment make it all worth while. Thanks, again.