Collecting the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates

[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.

[scmavl]

Mike, I'd love to see your collection. Post it sometime soon? I actually listened to the Bob Prince/Jim Woods broadcast of Game 7 this morning. Great series and game.

[mr2686]

Gosh darn it...now you've added another name (Jim Woods). I had never heard of him in my investigation. Turns out he also did 72 - 73 Oakland A's (another favorite team). Does anyone know if he's an easy autograph to find?

[mr2686]

Jarrod, here's a link to my Pirates stuff.
http://sportscollectorsdaily.ning.co...ntPage=&page=1

[scmavl]

Love those autos! The Bob Prince is probably my favorite. Virgil Tucks still does TTM and usually stamps a fire truck in his auto (Virgil "Fire" Trucks) which looks very cool.

Jim Woods is usually called "Possum" by Prince in the broadcast. You can get the highlights and from the bottom of the 8th on at MLB.com's podcast on iTunes. Totally free. Lots of cool stuff there.

"Aaand you cannnn.... kiss it goooooodbye!!!!!!!!!!"

[Theoldprofessor]

I've been collecting autographed baseballs of this team for a very long time. The situation varies a lot when that restriction is in place. Observations:

--of the starting eight, seven are easy, while one has escaped me. DON HOAK never seems to have single signed a ball, ever;
-- Jim Umbricht is hard, but not impossible. Mine's PSA certified;
-- of the remainder, Fred Green and Diomedes Olivo have still evaded capture, as have several coaches.
-- best ball? A team signed extravaganza with two Groats and two Clementes!

It's been great fun running all this stuff down, celebrating one of the greatest Series ever.

[Scott Garner]

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.

Mike,
Excellent post!

There's a lot of terrific info in your post about the nuances of collecting this 1960 Pirates team and obsevations of a fellow dedicated and crazed collector.

[MooseDog]

Mike -

I know that I got Jim Woods a couple of times in my IP days in Oakland. Unfortunately they have gotten lost over my many moves over the years or I'd be happy to help you out.

[mr2686]

If anyone has, or knows where I can get a Jim Wood auto, please let me know.
I really appreciate you guys bringing this thread back to life. I had put the pirates on the back burner for a bit and with this walk down memory lane, I looked and found a nice Harry Bright signed Rowe postcard. I had been wanting to replace what I had already for Bright...a nice 3x5 and also a signed 1959 topps (which I'm now sure is fake). I prefer to have a card or a picture postcard when available and this one fits the bill.

[JimStinson]

Very Popular team nice project ! I just ended up with this HUGE matted and framed 1960 display as part of a collection. It included World Series Program, Full WS ticket , original snapshot of the scoreboard taken during the first game. Had autographs of almost everyone on the team except UMBRICHT & OLIVO which should eventually be the toughest signatures from the roster. Could not sell the piece intact and framed so eventually took it apart and it sold for more than my asking price intact...go figure Good Luck with the project
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[mr2686]

Jim, when I first saw that you were selling that Pirates piece, I just about fainted. If it wasn't for the fact that I already had all of the autographs in question along with a couple more (owner, announcer, etc) I would have jumped on it myself because I know I already have a lot more invested then what you were selling it for. Sometimes, people just don't want to buy a project that big that's already matted and framed for some reason.

[mr2686]

Well, what are the odds? After looking and looking and looking, I finally found a Danny Whelan sig on the same day I found a Jim (Possum) Woods sig. I now have everyone that put on a uniform (including coaches) from the 60 team, traveling sec, trainer, special assistant, both announcers and the two most known owners. I'm putting this team project to bed with a big smile on my face!!

[jgmp123]

Mike,

Congrats!!! I know it's gotta feel great finally reaching that finish line!!

[mr2686]

Too good to be true I guess. The seller cannot find the autograph so is refunding my money. Danny Whelan is indeed a slippery fellow unless you want him on a basketball. Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!