Originally Posted by mr2686
The 1960 Pirates were my second project and one that I had planned to do from the very beginning. This team has a special place in my heart for a couple of reasons. First, I was born in 1960 so I became really interested in the team that won the World Series that year. Second, was the way in which they beat a powerhouse Yankee team...getting pummeled in their loses and eking out close wins, and of course, winning on a walk off 7th game homerun.
I've been working on this project for about 5 years, and I must say that this project can be completed in much less time, but I have tended to drag it on and keep adding to it because somewhere along the line I decided I wanted it to be the most complete 1960 Pirates that could be found anywhere.
Originally, the project was going to consist of every player on the teams roster for the year as well as the coaches and manager, but after seeing the team photo and reading the Pirates WS program, I decided to add the following names: Owners John Galbreath (also known as a Kentucky Derby winner) and Bing Crosby, HOF announcer Bob Prince, Special Assistant (and Hall of famer) George Sisler, Traveling Secretary Bob Rice, BP pitcher Virgil Trucks (pitched two no hitters in his career) and Team Trainer Danny Whelan. I have also added a WS program signed by 16 of the Pirates, a game 7 ticket and a Mazeroski game 7 Cachet.
To complete this project, I am still looking for a Danny Whelan autograph, and have not decided whether or not to include games 1 - 6 ticket stubs, but knowing me I will probably add them.
One thing to note about adding those additional names. I've found that not all projects really lend themselves to doing this. Some teams have a bunch of no-name, behind the scenes people that wouldn't normally interest me, but in this case most of those people interested me in one way or another, and when I decided to go ahead and get everyone from the team picture, I found that Bob Rice was extreamly easy (He played briefly in 1926 and was easy to find on a 3x5) and Dan Whelan was a very well known trainer with both the Pirates and the Knicks.
If you decide to collect the 1960 Pirates, you should have a fairly easy time with only a few that, although not "difficult", can be a bit pricey. Also, it is quite easy to find a majority of the players on signed 1960 Topps cards.
The following are the players that are a little harder to find:
1. Jim Umbricht - Jim died at the age of 33 so his window to sign was very short. I've mainly seen his autograph on A/P's, programs, cuts and balls, but have seen one 3x5 and one 1960 Topps card.
2. Diomedes Olivo - Olivo died in 1977 and only played in 3 major league seasons before living back in the Dominican Republic. I've actually seen a handful of 3x5's over the years and they've all been very nice. Not hard to find, but a little more money than most of the other players on this team.
3. Don Hoak - Died of a heart attack at the age of 41 while chasing a car thief. I've seen Don's auto on all kinds of things, so he's not hard to find, but he did play for four teams so you sometimes find his auto on cards that wouldn't be appropriate for a particular project. Also, Don was a member of the 1955 Dodgers, so Pirates collectors are in competition with Dodger collectors for his autograph.
4. Roberto Clemente - Well, not much I can add about the Great Roberto. He is sought after by Pirates and Hall of Fame collectors alike. Roberto died at the age of 38 and his autograph can be quite expensive. I was very fortunate to get a great price on one from Jim Stinson. It had been personalized and some idiot had whited out the personalization, which doesn't bother me since I'm going to mat that out anyway. Hmm, maybe they weren't such an idiot afterall!!
5. Honorable mention to Danny Murtaugh - Although not hard to find and not super expensive, there are a lot of ghost signed items of Murtaugh. I believe a lot of those were on team signed balls and some TTM's. As with anything you purchase, know the real from the fake before you buy.
6. Last, but not least, Bob Prince - Not hard to find but the price has gone up after his death in 1985 and subsequent 1986 Ford Frick Award by the HOF. Shop around and you might be able to get him for a reasonable price.
Well, that's about it. I hope you enjoy collecting this team as much as I have.
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