Trade with LV's TTM Autographs

Trade with LV's and with stevienicks77, same person.

Just as exciting as those nice cards are, I was also happy to see the cardboard insert she used to protect the cards:

I'll cut that little Ohtani out and add it to the collection!

Not A Wallet Card, But Close

My wife was clearing out a big 4-drawer file cabinet full of old receipts and tax documents, calendars and planners and such, and shredding it. She came across some old planners that she brought in to me asking whether or not I wanted to keep them. No was the answer, but two of them still had the "bookmark" in them.

I used to keep a daily planner book noting the usual stuff: doctor appointments, birthdays, anniversaries, and work-related stuff: customer events, meetings, stuff like that. I used to use a baseball card to mark the page of the current week or day.

The 1994 planner had this 1993 Cracker Jack 1915 Replicas mini card in it.

I'm still collecting this set, but unfortunately this is not the last card I need (Tris Speaker).

The card has a pretty substantial crease in it from the paper clip. I was happy to see it since I love this little set.

The old 1996 planner had this 1991 Topps Cracker Jack (paperclip shown for size). 

I'm not a big fan of mini cards, the 1915 Cracker Jack minis are cool, but the other Topps minis I barely tolerate, and I really can't stand the Topps Micro cards. Those are just plain stupid to me. Even though I'm a team collector, I actually had to remove them from my TCDB wantlist because people kept wanting to send them in trade proposals.

Junk Mall Junk Wax Wednesday

Ripping a random pack of junk wax from the local junk mall.

Pack of 12 with no inserts.

One Page Of Hillis Layne

This series highlights "one page" at a time from my binder of correspondence and autographs from former players and personnel.

   Hillis Layne

Washington Senators (1941,1944–1945)

Served in WWII (1942-1944)

"My greatest thrill of my 38 year career was hitting a home run in Yankee Stadium in 1945 with 68,000 fans in attendance. I rate the 1941 Yankees the best team I have seen in my 38 year career."

"Tom, I hope this information will be helpful to you. I am 86 yrs. old now but I am grateful that I was able to play the game for the love of the game in lieu of the millions players are receiving to play the great game of baseball."

"Played at Comisky Park in 1941-1944-1945. [Played] over 2,000 pro games. [Played] Pro ball from 1938-1958. 18 Years as Major League scout with NY Mets, Kansas City, Washington, Texas Rangers. Was in baseball 38 years and enjoyed every day I was involved. Played All-Star game in 1947 with Casey Stengel as Mgr. This game in San Francisco in Pacific Coast League involving North + South All-Stars. A great thrill. Best players I played against were (1) DiMaggio - NY Yankees 56 game hit safely. He in my opinion is the best all-around player of all time. (2) Ted Williams the best hitter with .406 average. I was fortunate to have played against these two. Although Hubbell and Gibson were great pitchers, I rate Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians equal or better than either. He was clocked in 1941 in Washington throwing the ball 110-112 miles per hour. He with many others such as Red Ruffing, Lefty Gomez, Hal Newhouser, Schoolboy Rowe, Dizzy Dean were better than pitchers of their era."

"Tom, Thanks for your nice card and the picture with your son at your side, reminds me of myself and my son in the early days of my baseball career. Good "ole" days. Again, it is a pleasure to do what I can to encourage young people while God spares me the days to do what I can. May God bless you and your family."

Correspondence received January 6 and January 20, 2004.

Not sure of the two dates, I may have written him twice.

Layne passed away on January 12, 2010, at the age of 91.