pobc MAG July 2020

POOROLDBASEBALLCARDS.COM MAGAZINESandy

pobc PoorOld
JULY 2020 Koufax
Cards

Games
we play
Are baseball-inspired
gamtehsearesualbtshtiitnugt?e for Who’s your
favorite

bespectacled
ballplayer?

Memories of ’78 Game
+ All-Star Results

All-Star memories
Baseball’s All-Star Game is different. At least it was when I was
a kid. ANTHONY
Watching the game’s greatest players was a treat, in my TARANTINO
case, rooting for the National League and for any Padres player who
made the team. And in 1978, the Game came to town. POBC FOUNDER,
EDITOR &
As a nine-year-old baseball fan, I was in heaven. My dad bought
me a game program, and I read it cover to cover. Baseball was my ART DIRECTOR
world, but there was no way I would be able to attend the Big Game.
ELISA
In this month’s issue, we write about how Ray Kroc persuaded ANDERSEN
MLB to open the gates of San Diego Stadium to watch players prac-
tice. COPY EDITOR

It was a gesture to fans, allowing them to celebrate the Midsum- VISIT US ONLINE AT
mer Classic. It was a gesture to a nine-year-old who watched, with
his uncles, as heroes blasted the ball out of the stands. POOROLDBASEBALLCARDS.COM

CONTACT

[email protected]

ANTHONY TARANTINO PLEASE EMAIL US AT
POBC FOUNDER & EDITOR [email protected]
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO

CONTRIBUTIE
TO OUR NEXT ISSUE

2

What’s Inside?

4 10

Various ways 1978 All-Star Game
we play baseball
12-
6 13

Sandy Koufax Who’s your favorite
bespectacled player?
7
14
“Take Me Out to the Ball Game”
Poor Old Football Cards
8-
9 15

Combo Cards More collectables

3

Game
of Games

BY ANTHONY TARANTINO

4

How do you play the game?
The sport of baseball is played on a field. Green at the Major League level,
brown as dirt in sandlots across the country.
As we continue to exist in the confines of our homes during this pandemic, the
sport of baseball has become an afterthought. Pro, college, high school and little league
games have been sidelined. Will there even be a Major League season?

But the game of baseball lives on in various ways.
•••
In 1978, Topps included a game
called “Play Ball, Played by Two”
on the backs of cards. Each card
showed the result of a play.
The instructions stated: “Player
has 50 player cards. Toss coin for
who goes first. First players turn
cards over one at a time, attempting
to score runs until 3 outs have been
made. After 3 outs, second player
begins game. Game is played with
9 innings. In case of a tie, play extra
innings.”

•••
Also, in 1978, Mattel Electronics introduced its handheld Baseball Game. A big
hit for Christmas that year, the game had no graphics, just a few red blips on a static
screen. Throw in a few beeps and the randomness of an actual hit, the game would be
a bore for most kids today. Today’s high-end graphics and realistic players and stats are
no match for this classic game. But it was baseball, and we loved it.

•••
Baseball can easily be played using

dice. Simply roll the dice and read them
in a specific order (for example: red, blue
and green). Standard baseball rules apply.
Keep track of runs and outs on a pad of
paper.

5

Poor
Old
Sandy
Koufax

1961, 1963, 1964,
1965,1966 TOPPS

6

Sing it Loud

“Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd;
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don’t care if I never get back.
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don’t win, it’s a shame.
For it’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out,
At the old ball game.”

1954

WHEATIES
CEREAL
BOX RECORD

7

Combo
Cards

TOPPS
VARIOUS YEARS

8

193

All-Star
Firsts
for ’78
Game

In the summer of ’78, the San Diego
Padres hosted their first All-Star Game.

After the game quickly sold out, team
owner Ray Kroc, who saved the team
from moving to Washington D.C. only
4 years earlier, convinced Major League
Baseball to open team practices to the
public.

The day before the game was played,
the gates of San Diego Stadium were
opened, and fans flooded the stands.

Players like Pete Rose and Dave Win-
field and Steve Garvey swung for the fenc-
es as fans cheered after every home run.

Before 1978, these practices were only
open to members of the media. But in
1978, fans became a part of the Midsum-
mer Classic: No doubt the earliest influ-
ences to what would become FanFest and
the Home Run Derby.

All because of a team owner who was
better known for his chain of hamburger
restaurants than his baseball club.

POBC

10 ALL-STAR FAN BALLOT | 1978

All-Star
Results

OVER THE PAST 42
SEASONS, THE AL HAS
WON 27 GAMES, THE NL
14. THERE WAS ONE TIE.

11

Game Specs

(RIGHT TO LEFT FROM TOP) ALL CARDS ARE
TOPPS: ’74 DICK ALLEN, ’76 COOKIE ROJAS, ’59
MVP JIM KONSTANTY, ’61 EARL TORGESON, ’59
EDDIE KASKO, ’70 LOWELL PALMER, ’75 MARIO
MENDOZA, ’65 BILL VIRDON, ’62 RYNE DUREN,
’59 GEORGE CROWE, ’52 DOM DIMAGGIO, ’52 AL
SIMA, ’74 MIKE ROGODZINSKI, ’53 DIZZY TROUT,
’77 REGGIE JACKSON, ’65 FRANK HOWARD

12

13

POOR OLD 1965 GUY’S
FOOTBALL CARDS POTATO CHIPS PIN
CINCINNATI REDLEGS
1970 TOPPS
DEACON JONES Pin-
teresting
FROM THE BACK
OF THE CARD: Find

No other defensive football player in the 1969 CRANE
NFL worries opposing offensive coaches POTATO CHIPS PIN
as much as Deacon. He was an all-confer- CLEVELAND INDIANS
ence tackle at South Carolina State, then he
shifted to Mississippi Vocational in 1960.
The Rams drafted Deacon for 1961 when
he was discovered by scouts watching films
of two defensive backs in the same con-
ference. They noticed Deacon outrunning
both backs and recommended drafting him
instead. He’s won many awards; this past
January played in his 6th straight Pro Bowl.

POBC

14

Patch
it up

1954-65
UNIFORM PATCH

BALTIMORE ORIOLES

Toy
Time

1950s
NOVELTY
GUMBALL

WATCH
BOB LEMON &
YOGI BERRA

MADE IN JAPAN

15

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