1969 Heritage, I mean Topps, Sparky Lyle Rookie Card CONTEST

I bought this card about a month ago from a dime box at The Batter's Box card shop. Off centered, wax residue all across the center of the card and the number 7 written neatly in the upper left-hand corner.

But it is the rookie card of 3 time All-Star and 1977 AL Cy Young Award winner; Sparky Lyle. 

Lyle had a great career as a closer over 16 years, but his best seasons were spent in Yankee pinstripes (1972-78) on the biggest stage as he helped the Yanks win two World Series in 1977 and 1978. It was those two seasons with New York that would be the focus of the book The Bronx Zoo, which Lyle co-authored with Peter Golenbock. I don't think I've actually read this book. I have read his other book, The Year I Owned the Yankees. I remember reading this one as a kid and enjoying it, but that it was different from most of the other books about baseball I was reading at the time because it was fictional, but I wondered how much of it was actually true.

The back of the card lists his name as Sparky Lyle, so early on, his nickname had stuck. His actual name is Albert Walker Lyle. Reynoldsville High School, where Lyle grew up had football and basketball teams but not a baseball team, so while he played varsity football and basketball for his high school, Sparky played American Legion baseball during his high school years. It was on the DuBois American Legion team that Lyle recorded the 31 strikeouts during a 17 inning game which is mentioned as part of the comic on the back of the card. It should be noted that Lyle pitched "just" 14 of the 17 innings when he recorded those 31 strikeouts.

On the back of the card we see minor league statistics as well as his first two years in the big leagues. Weird that he got into 27 games in 1967 for the Red Sox, but didn't have a baseball card until 1969. 

About a week ago I was at a different card shop and saw this copy of the same card in one of the showcases with a $2 price tag. I asked one the employees (I had never seen him before) for help getting the card out of the showcase. I was in front of the showcase and he was behind it, so I pointed and told him, "The Sparky Lyle there in the front on the middle shelf." He responded, "Oh, the Heritage card." I couldn't help it and I laughed and said, "It's a 1969 Topps card." He responded, "Well, it looks like Heritage." This was not a kid. This was a grown man, probably in his mid 30's. Now, I get that the 2018 Heritage had the 1969 Topps design, but I was still just a little surprised. 

This card is far from perfect, but is much better than my 10 cent copy and I'm going to keep this one in my collection.

I will be giving away this card. If you are interested. Sparky's birthday is coming next month; July 22. So the contest will run through his birthday. Comment on this post up to one time per day for an entry up until 7/22/22. Each entry will get you a spot into a drawing for the card. If you do a blog post featuring Sparky include a link in one of the comments and you will get an additional 5 entries. There is no limit to the number of blog posts you can do.

The main prize will be this 1969 Topps Sparky Lyle rookie card that has a bunch of condition issues, but since this contest will be running almost a month, I will periodically add cards to the prize, so that is another good reason to check in daily and leave a comment.

Added as a prize on 6/24/22. 1972 Topps Dock Ellis.

Let's add a few more cards to the prize package. A trio of 1974 Topps Traded cards including Hall of Famer Ron Santo. These are dups for me, so they will be added to the prize.

Can't guarantee that I will add to the prizes every day, but for now, let's keep adding.

Here is a near complete 1979 Topps All-Time Record Holders subset. It is just missing #417 which is for Strikeouts and features Nolan Ryan and Walter Johnson.

Loving all of the interest in this contest. Thank you to everyone that is participating. Let's add to the prize! Here are a couple of Allen & Ginter Babe Ruth cards.

Let's add some Post cereal cards. I am going after all of the modern Post cereal card sets, so if I am still working on a set and I come across some in a dime box I will usually just grab them, so I end up with dups. So let's add these to the prize.

Let's add some more cards to the prize package. These are some duplicates I picked up recently at a card show. Just some cool inserts from the 90's.

Here are some 1998 Donruss Rated Rookies cards, minus the familiar Rated Rookie logo.

It's been a while since I added cards to the prize since I have been on vacation. Turns out I already had this 1984 Donruss Pete Rose I bought at Burbank Sportscards while I was on vacation, so it will be added to the prize.

More dups from my player collection are getting added to the prize.

Let's add another vintage card to the prize. I bought a 1959 Topps Herb Score card at a card show recently and it turns out I already had one.

2003 Upper Deck Play Ball The Yankee Clipper: 1941 Hitting Streak

I've always liked the 2003 Upper Deck Play Ball Yankee Clipper 1941 Hitting Streak cards. The 56 card set features one card for each of the games in Joe DiMaggio's MLB record hit streak. The cards feature a box score from each game and have a manufactured relic feel to them.

I've toyed with the idea of putting the set together on several occasions, but I recently decided to go for it. I'll be on the look out for them at good prices and would be open to trades. Not in a big hurry, but would look forward to picking these up when I find them.

Special thanks to Fuji for #17, #24, #26, #36, and #44.

TTM Tuesday

I haven't gotten a lot of ttms recently, but I am really happy with the two that have come in over the past few weeks.

I sent Brooks Robinson two cards and a few index cards as well as a donation.

He signed both cards and added the "HOF 83" inscription.

The turned out great!

I asked that he personalize each index card to my boys and add his nickname "Human Vacuum Cleaner" and he did! 

My second return was a 4 x 6 photo that I had gotten signed earlier this year by Buck Showalter. I sent it to Jason Alexander (George from Seinfeld) and he signed it as well. If you remember, George worked for the Yankees during a couple of seasons of the hit tv show.

HOF Class of 2017: Tim "Rock" Raines

Tim Raines was recently elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and will be inducted this summer and so I thought I would organize my Raines collection.

I have 34 different Tim "Rock" Raines cards.

Here is a breakdown by year. In parenthesis are the number of different cards I have from that year.

1981 (1)

1982 (0)

1983 (0)

1984 (0)

1985 (0)

1986 (1)

1987 (1)

1988 (2)

1989 (4)

1990 (6)

1991 (6)

1992 (3)

1993 (1)

1994 (1)

1995 (1)

1996 (2)

1997 (1)

1998 (1)

1999 (0)

2000 (1)

2001 (0)

2002 (2)

Raines played for the Montreal Expos (1979 - 1990), Chicago White Sox (1991 - 1995), New York Yankees (1995 - 1998), Oakland Athletics (1999), Montreal Expos (2001), Baltimore Orioles (2001), and Florida Marlins (2002).

When I look at my Time Raines collection I have a few thoughts.

1) I was surprised to see how few Raines cards I currently have. In addition to no rookie cards, I don't have any game used or autographs. I will try to add some cards to my collection: including a rookie card. I'd like to have 100 different cards.

2) I didn't realize Raines played for the Expos twice during his career and I don't remember his time with the A's, Orioles, or Marlins even though I have cards featuring him on the A's and Marlins.

3) Raines first 12 full seasons were amazing and his last 9 seasons were below average for the most part, partly due to illness and injuries. Raines didn't play in 2000 at all as he was signed by the Yankees but was released during Spring Training. I know I might ruffle some feathers, but I don't think he had a Hall of Fame career. I understand why it took him 10 years to get voted in.

4) I never realized until now that Raines has lupus. He was diagnosed in 1999. My mother has had lupus for many years.

5) I don't have any cards of Tim that feature him on the Orioles. I didn't realize until now that Raines played with his son at the major league level in 2001 with the Orioles. That is pretty cool. There has to be a card or two commemorating that. 

Let's take a quick look at some card backs and see what we can find out about Tim Raines.

And there you have it. A look at my Tim "Rock" Raines collection.