[ls7plus]

To go a bit off topic from the last few posts, Eddie Mathews was a FABULOUS third baseman. A lot of people don't know that Milwaukee County Stadium was a very tough homerun park--check the home versus road totals of the '82 Brewers, "Harvey's Wall-Bangers," a tremendous homerun hitting team (some have said due to poor weather conditions in a long spring and early fall), and Mathews posted ROAD homer totals in three seasons of 30, 26, and 24!!! Given just a neutral home 4-bagger park, he would conceivably have topped the 50-homer mark 3X!!! And the consensus was that although he was initially a less than average fielder at third, he became significantly above average with the glove. Bill James rated him as #3 all-time at third, despite suffering a severe shoulder injury in 1962, which significantly hampered his production thereafter, but I have him at #2, as he was significantly ahead of George Brett in runs created versus league average (James rated Brett #2, second of course to Schmidt).

I got his autograph at a Pittsburgh show before he died an untimely death, and was very glad I did. The only really good card I have of him is a PSA 7.5 '54-'56 Spic and Span Braves.

The '52 Topps Mathews is also a tremendous card, one which, IMHO, will continue to rise in value on a regular, probably linear, basis! Wish I could buy it (well, I could, but the wife would have a you-know-what fit. When I recently bought the '39 V351 Williams, she felt she was entitled to have the interior of the house painted, which, added on to the price I paid, nearly doubled the cost of the card--can't afford much more of that!).

Best wishes and may your collecting be the stuff of dreams,

Larry