1939 Play Ball, Bobby Doerr

#7 Bobby Doerr

I got it back today!! It had only been gone for less than two weeks, but it seemed like a lifetime. And now I have my first signed card from the '30s and my oldest signed card.

It all began on Christmas Day when my lovely wife bought me this card.

I had been asking her for Doerr's '38 Goudey for a couple of years, but that card was out of her price range. I figured that would probably be the case and told her that this one would work just as well. She found one for me and it showed up on Christmas Eve before I got home from work. She wrapped it up and then hid it underneath presents so I didn't know it was there. It was the last present opened on Christmas morning and I was shocked when I saw it. I really was not expecting her to buy me a card. I guess it shows that it doesn't hurt to ask.

Now that I had the card, the next step was unslabbing it. Luckily, there were plenty of videos on youtube about the subject and, after watching a few, I decided to give it a go. I was going to do it in front of my wife, but she couldn't bear to watch. She went to bed and told me not to make a mess. I got it out of its case fairly easily.

The next morning, the card was off in the mail. Little Mack was there to say goodbye.

Today, I got home from work and I went and greeted my wife. She told me there was something for me by the TV and I instantly knew what it was. I went over there and picked up the opened envelope. Since she paid for the card, and knew what was in the self-addressed stamped envelope, she figured that she had first dibs at opening it. And I am completely fine with that. Then she says to me "If I had known it was going to be that easy to get it signed, I might have bought you the Goudey card".

As if there was ever a doubt in my mind...

1940 Play Ball, Bob "Suitcase" Seeds

#91 Bob Seeds

This right here was the coolest Christmas present that I recieved this year. Actually, this is the best present that I have recieved in some time. This was given to me by my best friend, Dustin. Dustin used to do all of my scans for me before I got my own scanner and he was my lone reader when I first started this blog. He picked this card up from ebay. Apparently, my Lou Brissie post caught his eye when I was talking about my oldest signed card and he decided to get me an older one. This card is nine years older than the Brissie card. Not only is it my oldest signed card, it is also the oldest card that I own.

Prior to this card, I had never heard of Bob Seeds (aka Suitcase). That just makes it more fun learning about him and checking his stats.

Bob played for five teams in his nine year career. He was mostly a backup player, with the exception of the 1932 season. He was a career .277 hitter who had career highs in home runs (9) and RBI (52) in 1938 while appearing in only 81 games for the Giants. In 1936, he played in 13 regular season games with the Yankees and made it onto their World Series roster. He only made one appearance in the Series and that was as a pinch runner in game five.

In that game, the Giants grabbed a one run lead in the top of the tenth. In the bottom half of the inning, Bill Dickey lead off with a single and Bob was sent in to pinch run for him. The next two batters popped out and Bob ended the game by trying to steal second. At that point in his career, Bob had been successful in only 13 of 28 base stealing attempts. With the bottom third of the order up, the Yankees must have been desperate (or Bob said "screw it" and took off anyway). Even though they lost the game, the Yanks still went on to win the Series in six games.

On the back of the card, it says that Bob is the only Major League player to own his own ball club. That was the Amirillo team in the West Texas-New Mexico League. Also, it says that the Giants purchased him from Newark and he is called Suitcase because he has switched teams so many times.

Bob has been deceased since 1993, so I guess that this card could be labeled an "unpossible autograph".

Here is the dilemma I have with this card. This card is graded.



I'm not into graded cards and I don't have anyway to display this. Generally, I like to keep all of my signed cards in binders. So here is the question. Do I leave the card in the case or do I remove it? If I were to remove it, does anyone know the best way to do that with these cases?