Saturday, April 11, 2020

Baseball Happenings Podcast | Mike Sommer Of Wax Pack Hero

Mike Sommer of Wax Pack Hero joins the Baseball Happenings Podcast to discuss how collectors are adapting their purchasing habits due to the coronavirus pandemic. We also take a dive into how the card companies like Topps are reacting with their production plants temporarily shutting down to due to forced work stoppages.






Saturday, April 4, 2020

Forever Linked With Rusty Staub, Mike Jorgensen Recalls Their Tremendous Bond As Teammates

When Rusty Staub died March 29, 2018, the New York Mets lost a franchise icon. The Mets traded a trio of young prospects to the Montreal Expos in exchange for the six-time All-Star just before starting the 1972 season. Mike Jorgensen, a 23-year-old homegrown talent from Bayside, Queens, was one of the traded players who had to replace Montreal's most beloved superstar.

“He was a hero,” Jorgensen said in a phone interview. “He was the Montreal Expo at the time, and it wasn't a very popular trade in Montreal.”


Going to Montreal with Ken Singleton and Tim Foli, Jorgensen found strength bonding with his new teammates. They turned their collective energy towards the field rather than worrying about living up to Staub's lofty expectations.

“That trade gave me a chance to be a regular player,” he said. “That was the foremost [thing] on my mind. I played up there for five years, so after a little while, [the fan reaction to the trade] wore down a little bit. At first, it was unpopular because he was an All-Star; he was, 'Le Grande Orange,' and he was a big deal.”

The baseball tradewinds reunited the duo in New York at the twilight of their careers. Jorgensen returned to the Mets in 1980 via a trade with the Texas Rangers. Staub joined him from Texas the following year through free agency. Now both seasoned veterans, they became friends by sharing a similar role on the team.

"We would go out to dinner a number of times; it was kind of unusual because we were both kind of winding [down] out careers at the time," he said. "We were both left-handed pinch hitters, [which] I guess you could do it in those days when you had seven guys on the bench; you wouldn't have room for that kind of a thing in today's game."

He recalled one candid bench conversation early in their Mets tenure that exemplified how attentive and competitive Staub was in his reserve role.

“The one thing I'll remember is that he studied the game,” he said. “He was one of the best pinch-hitters in the game, if not the best. He would study those pitchers, sit in the dugout, and look for something if they were tipping pitches or something like that. After a while, he'd say, 'I got him, I got it.' I'd always sit by him and try to pick up the tip myself. The first time he did that, I said, 'Yeah okay, what is it?' He looked at me and he said, 'You know, we're both kind of fighting for the same job.' It wasn't in a bad way, that was just the way he was.”

The 69-year-old Jorgensen, who currently works for the St. Louis Cardinals as their Senior Special Assistant to the General Manager, acknowledged how his former teammate's passing is a tremendous loss to the entire baseball community.

“He was great,” he said. “Obviously, everybody knows the stories about the restaurants and how he was a gourmet cook. … He was a wonderful man [with] everything he did there in New York, especially [with] the police department. It was enjoyable to play with him; it really was. I enjoyed my time with him. Baseball's going to miss him; we'll all miss him.”



* - Ed. Note - This story was originally published for the now-defunct Sports Post on April 11, 2018.

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Baseball Happenings Podcast | Erik Kratz Interview

On the latest Baseball Happenings Podcast, we present an interview with New York Yankees and Team USA catcher Erik Kratz. The 39-year-old MLB veteran discussed how he is dealing with the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics Games postponement as just another speed bump in his well-traveled career.






Tuesday, March 24, 2020

How Baseball Cards Kept One Fan's Baseball Love Affair Flame Lit Long After His Desire To Collect Extinguished

Today's guest author is Bill Thompson from Words Above Replacement. He shares how baseball cards opened the door to a deep love for the game that still runs strong today. 


One Forgotten Detail

When discussing my baseball fandom, there is one critical element I often leave out. I’m not sure why; it’s an important part of my past. I will tell people over and over again the first time I went to Wrigley Field, the first time I heard Harry Caray, or that I realized I loved baseball by going games at Comiskey Park with my uncle. These stories roll off my tongue without hesitation; however, I rarely tell people that baseball cards most influenced my development as a baseball fan.

To this day I can recall going to the store and opening packs of cards. It didn’t matter whether it was Donruss, Topps, or anything in between (truthfully I was more partial to Upper Deck because their cards were always more colorful), I just wanted baseball cards. From the day I opened my first pack, I was hooked. From then on, I spent my money on three things—baseball cards, comic books, and pro wrestling.

There was no better feeling than walking up to the counter at Venture or K-Mart with a handful of packs and knowing I was about to discover more about baseball. The Chicago Cubs and White Sox were known quantities, but the rest of the Major League Baseball landscape was fleeting. My exposure consisted solely of the few days they spent on my television screen while playing one of the two Chicago ballclubs. Baseball cards were the only way I had, at the time, to learn more about the players.

A Trip Into Baseball's Past

Baseball cards were also a conduit to baseball history. I don’t remember the company, but I know early in my collecting life, one of them started including historical players in their packs. Years later, I can’t tell you who the players were, but I can tell you those cards led me to the library to seek out books on baseball history. Historical cards opened my eyes; there was more to baseball than what I could see in the present.

I mainly knew of MLB clubs in my early years. I was going to major market retailers for my packs, which meant I was only getting mainstream offerings. I knew there was a larger baseball world out there; prospect cards made that possible in my mind. Still, knowing Dwight Smith played for the Iowa Cubs didn’t prepare me for what was beyond MLB.

New Collecting Horizons

That all changed when the Venture I frequented suddenly had plastic packs exclusively of minor league cards. I bought as many as I could and dove headfirst into the world of Minor League Baseball. I returned to the library and looked for any books I could find that included the minors in their talks about MLB’s history.


By the mid-1990s, I had binders of baseball cards. They were organized by the team, not by the card company, or year. Talking to other card collectors, I soon realized everyone had their method of storing cards. My method was the correct one, or so I told myself whenever confronted with a different way. Around this time, I recall attending a Schaumburg Flyers game and convincing my uncle to buy me a pack of novelty Flyers cards; the world of unaffiliated baseball was thrust into my lap. I didn’t do much with this new world at first, but over time I used baseball cards as a way to keep track of unaffiliated leagues, teams, and players the best I could before the dawn of the Internet.

Meeting other collectors also took me down a path of self-discovery. For a few years, I thought I needed to have the biggest collection. I gave up pro wrestling and focused all my money on comic books and baseball cards.

An Unexpected Turn

Unfortunately, I also started to steal baseball cards, usually from Venture. I did this unabated for some time until I was finally caught. My obsession with baseball cards led to yet another important moment in my life. While I didn’t spend time in jail, or face any truly harsh consequences beyond a lifetime ban from Venture stores, I learned my actions carried a price. I discovered I didn’t like doing something blatantly illegal, and that having the most cards wasn’t a prize in and unto itself.

Years later, I wish I could tell you I still collect baseball cards. The truth is, I don’t, and my one attempt at getting back into the hobby was neither fruitful nor impactful. Baseball cards don’t play a role in my present-day life; however, baseball cards shaped my baseball fandom and the love I have for the game. Undoubtedly, without these small cardboard treasures, baseball would not have been an easy love affair. They helped me to grow as a fan and a person. While the cards are no longer physically in my possession, their influence is still profound in my heart today.


Sunday, March 22, 2020

Bob Stephenson | Former Oklahoma University And St. Louis Cardinals Infielder Dies At 91

Bob Stephenson was a giant for many, but it had little to do with his professional baseball career. The former St. Louis Cardinals infielder turned oil magnate and philanthropist, died March 20, 2020, in Oklahoma City. He was 91.

Bob Stephenson / Author's Collection
A second-team All-American shortstop at the University of Oklahoma, Stephenson signed with the Cardinals in 1950. He played two seasons in their minor league system before being drafted into the Army in 1952. He served 13 months in the Korean War, putting his baseball career on hold until 1954.

After a full campaign with Triple-A Columbus, the Cardinals gave Stephenson his big break. He broke camp with the team from spring training and spent the entire 1955 season as their utility infielder, spelling Alex Grammas at shortstop and future Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst at second base.

Stephenson batted .243 in 67 games in his lone major league campaign. While he enjoyed the experience, years later, he discussed the unspoken rigors of a nomadic baseball life.

"The average person doesn't have an idea of what that life is like," Stephenson told author Richard Panchyk in Baseball History for Kids: America at Bat from 1900 to Today. "It sounds pretty glamorous, but when you're playing at that time 154 games a year, and you're making 9 or 12 road trips, it gets to the point, at least in my situation, I'd have to almost read the paper every day to see what town I was in because the restaurants all looked the same.

"[You] go through the ballgame, get through about midnight. I would get home, get back to the room about midnight, have a big dinner, go to bed at three o'clock, get up at noon, and repeat it over. At four o'clock, go back to the ballpark."

Eventually, the travel wore on Stephenson, and he retired from baseball in 1957 to put his geology degree to use. He founded the Potts-Stephenson Exploration Company and built his legacy in natural gas and oil exploration.

Late in his career, he scored a major victory when he sued one of the largest gas and oil producers, the ONEOK Resources Company, for an alleged violation of their accounting practices. PSEC sold their controlling interests to ONEOK in 1997; however, Stephenson remained his stake in the company. In 2003, Stephenson won a lengthy court battle against the energy giant.

Throughout his life, Stephenson extended his generosity to the University of Oklahoma. He made significant donations to the OU School of Geology and Geophysics, as well as their athletic programs.

In 2018, Stephenson made a donation to Oklahoma's baseball program towards the $15 million needed to renovate L. Dale Mitchell Park. The amount wasn't publicly disclosed, but it was rumored to be more than $1 million.

"Bob Stephenson is a great Sooner and has always been a tremendous leader for us, especially when it comes to supporting our student-athletes and the resources they need to be successful," Vice President and Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione said in a press release. "He has served as a fundraising catalyst on many occasions, and once again has made a significant donation that gets us moving toward our goal of securing the necessary funds to complete our baseball stadium master plan."