Heavy Hitters - Players that made it big outside of baseball

[ramram]

I'd be interested to see cards and items of players that made it big outside of baseball.

Below is one of them. Batting 5th for Yale, 1st baseman....

George Bush 2.jpg

George Bush 4.jpg

[bbcard1]

Had prohibition taken, Billy Sunday would have been possibly the most influential American of the 20th century.

While his ballcards are pricey, though not really when you consider that he would become known to millions as an evangelist, there are many postcards from his preaching tours that are in the financial grasp of most collectors.

[Brian Van Horn]

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[Brian Van Horn]

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[CMIZ5290]

Ty Cobb made a fortune in Coca Cola stock.....

[peterb69]

[Sean]

One of my favorite baseball trivia questions is "who played right field for the Yankees the year before Babe Ruth got there"? Actually the Yanks tried three different guys, but one of them was George Halas. He appeared in 12 games and only hit .091,so he was sent back down. He gave up baseball after 1919, but he used to say that one of his greatest thrills in sports was when he hit a pitch from Walter Johnson out of the park (it went foul, however).

Does anyone know if Halas ever appeared on a baseball card?

[bn2cardz]

No scans, but HOFer and former US senator Jim Bunning.

[novakjr]

Moe Berg.. was a spy...

[ramram]

Ok, I'll bite. Harry Harper made it as an industrialist I guess, but what did Ty Cobb and Elden Auker do??

Rob M.

[novakjr]

2 members of the basketball hall of fame have their first card appearances in baseball sets. Dave Debusschere in the 1963 Topps set, and Reese "Goose" Tatum in the 1976 Laughlin Indianapolis Clowns set. Sorry I don't have any scans, hell I don't even have the Tatum card, it's a pain to find...If anyone has one cheap, please let me know..

There's also 7 former MLB players in the pro-football hall of fame..Red Badgro, Paddy Driscoll, George Halas, Ernie Nevers, Ace Parker, Jim Thorpe, and Deion Sanders. John Elway was also featured on a minor league card before his football career. 2 former MLB players also won the Heisman Trophy. Vic Janowicz, Bo Jackson. Plus Ricky Williams, and Chris Weinke played Minor league ball and were featured on baseball cards before winning the award. Charlie Ward was drafted, although I don't believe he ever played.

Eric Lindros was also on a baseball card right around the same time as his hockey rookie card..

[Brian Van Horn]

Rob,

In addition to Cobb making a fortune from Coca-Cola stock, his other stock investments also contributed to his wealth after baseball. Auker was an executive and I will reference a Washington Post article quoted on wikipedia:

"From 1946 until 1975, Auker worked for Bay State Abrasives in Massachusetts, a company that made armaments and abrasive materials, retiring as the company president.[2]"

Further, his SABR biography by Robert H. Schaefer notes the following:

"As Auker rose up the executive ladder, he and Mildred were obliged to relocate to Massachusetts. There, in addition to his corporate responsibilities, Auker became the vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers and president and chairman of the board of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, a manufacturers’ trade group. In this role he met Joseph Kennedy (father of the president), Ronald Reagan, and Barry Goldwater, played golf with Gerald Ford and Tip O’Neill, and interacted with numerous other important people.

Immediately after his retirement in 1975, Auker was hired by Dresser Industries, the parent company of the division from which he had retired, as a consultant to evaluate its Washington office. He and Mildred had just purchased a home in Vero Beach, Florida, but Auker accepted the offer and commuted by air each weekend to Florida for a year."

[ramram]

Mr. Thorpe, while finishing his "baseball" career at Portland.

Rob M.

Portland group - Jim Thorpe.jpg

[Brian Van Horn]

http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/6f6673ea

[Paul S]

Originally Posted by CMIZ5290

Ty Cobb made a fortune in Coca Cola stock.....

True, and he gave Sam Crawford the stock tip but Sam wouldn't bite.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by Sean

One of my favorite baseball trivia questions is "who played right field for the Yankees the year before Babe Ruth got there"? Actually the Yanks tried three different guys, but one of them was George Halas. He appeared in 12 games and only hit .091,so he was sent back down. He gave up baseball after 1919, but he used to say that one of his greatest thrills in sports was when he hit a pitch from Walter Johnson out of the park (it went foul, however).

Does anyone know if Halas ever appeared on a baseball card?

Sean

Sometime back, I was told there is a BB related item that pictures George Halas. but, I have not seen it.

George Halas 1952 BOWMAN FB card.



TED Z

[EvilKing00]

Larry Bird....

[novakjr]

Originally Posted by tedzan

Sean

Sometime back, I was told there is a BB related item that pictures George Halas. but, I have not seen it.

TED Z

I imagine he's probably one on of the team photos in a guide somewhere..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1918-Great-L...item53f0d519eb

[tedzan]

Frank Shaughnessy......President of the International League (1936-1960), and is in three Canadian HOF's (Football, Baseball,
and McGill University Sports)

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Mike Donlin

Became a Silent Film actor (great friend and drinking buddy of John Barrymore). He was in numerous movies during the 1920's.
And, can be seen quite often on the TCM channel when they are showing Silent Film era movies.







TED Z

[packs]

Meet pitcher Matt White. He has an 0-2 career record. But what's special about him is that in 2007 he bought a piece of land for $50,000 to build his house. But the ground was too hard. He comes to find out that the land he'd just bought was sitting on top of 2.5 billion dollars worth of stone over 400 million years old.

[Abravefan11]

Originally Posted by packs

Meet pitcher Matt White. He has an 0-2 career record. But what's special about him is that in 2007 he bought a piece of land for $50,000 to build his house. But the ground was too hard. He comes to find out that the land he'd just bought was sitting on top of 2.5 billion dollars worth of stone over 400 million years old.

It didn't turn out to be quite the mother load originally thought, but still a cool story. I just hope the Aunt was taken care of.

From LA Dodgers Pitcher to Precious Stone Tycoon: The Matt White Story

[bbcard1]

Originally Posted by novakjr

I imagine he's probably one on of the team photos in a guide somewhere..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1918-Great-L...item53f0d519eb

TCMA put out a series of cards of former baseball players who would sign through the mail with a list of their addresses. Halas was included. This was the 1970s...and yes, i have a signed one somewhere at home from when I sent it to him as a kid.

[birdman42]

Gone but not forgotten. After his playing days with the Orioles (one game), White Sox (two seasons), and Pittsburgh Burghers of the Players' League (one season), Tener went into business in the Pittsburgh area. He was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1908, then as Governor of Pennsylvania in 1910. He was elected as president of the National League in 1913, and served there at half-pay until his term as governor was up. Tener was the man who suspended and fined McGraw for umpire abuse, then fined him an additional $1,000 when McGraw complained to a reporter.

Bill

(My pin, but not my card--image from the Library of Congress)

[novakjr]

Here's a c.1914 Pennsylvania National Guard Sharpshooter medal featuring Tener as Governor..

[benderbroeth]

John Montgomery Ward , he would end up starting a chain called Montgomery wards

[birdman42]

MW was founded in 1872, when Monte was 12 years old. It was Aaron Montgomery Ward.

Bill

[packs]

How about Scott Boras? He only made it to Double A but he's a major player now.

[Bocabirdman]

John Berardino went on to be a longtime soap opera/ "B" actor.

[EvilKing00]

What about Uecker

[Tom Hufford]

It would be hard to top Franklin Walter Olin, major league outfielder 1884-85. An engineering graduate of Cornell, after his ball-playing days he went into the powder manufacturing business (i.e. gunpowder not bath powder), and founded the F.W. Olin Company. He supplied France with ammunition during World War I, then entered into the automotive and appliance field. His company later became the Olin-Mathison Chemical Corporation, and today is known as the Olin Corporation. More than 60 years after Olin's death, his corporation is still a multi-billion dollar a year business, and is one of the Fortune 500 companies.

I wrote a short bio of Olin for a SABR publication 30+ years ago, but can't find a link to it now. A much more complete bio can be found here:

http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/0daaa2df

[Exhibitman]

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by Bocabirdman

John Berardino went on to be a longtime soap opera/ "B" actor.

TED Z

[travrosty]

....

[travrosty]

A bearded man who goes by the name of fidel castro. got a tryout but figured iron fisted head of state better suited him.

[Leon]

This semi-unknown ran for Treasurer then much later had some kind of award named after him.

[pitchernut]

Thought I might have a well loved E135 of his by now... and the others are locked away for now. Don't know if being a sheriff is "BIG" time.

ps copied the news article from the web

[novakjr]

I remember my sister made a pretty big deal about some actor from Gilmore Girls. Turns out he was the 12th overall pick in the '80 amateur draft for the Braves. Scott Patterson had a few minor league cards in the early-mid 80's. She bought some hoping he would one day turn out to be some "huge actor" and cash in on his cards.

[VintageBall]

Marty McHale was a journeyman pitcher who played from 1910 to 1916 for the Boston Red Sox (in two stints), Jersey City (International League), New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians. Most of all, he seemed to have fun. He formed a singing quartette while with the Sox in 1910, moonlighted in vaudeville while pitching for the Yankees (either in 1913 or 1914, and later), and even jumped into the newly-born film "industry" during the teens when his baseball career drew to a close. He later went on to become a newspaper reporter and a stockbroker -- even owning his own brokerage firm.

He had his best baseball season in 1914, when he won 6 games and lost 16 for the lowly Yankees, who finished tied with Chicago for sixth place in the American League at 70 wins and 84 losses. Indeed, he was considered such a good prospect for the mediocre Yanks, that he pitched in the 1914 season opener -- a picture from that day is shown above. That day, the Bombers played like bombers and McHale beat the World Champion A's 8 to 2.

Interestingly, McHale was considered a rising star when he joined professional baseball after pitching three straight no-hitters while at the University of Maine in 1910, prior to joining the Red Sox that same year. Alas, he would make his mark not on the diamond, but on the stage, where no less than Variety dubbed him the "Baseball Caruso" (with other reviewers referring to his Irish Tenor as the "Irish Thrush" and Babe Ruth, himself, canonizing McHale as the "best goddamn singer I ever heard").

Playing for Boston in 1910, McHale was a co-founder of the Red Sox Quartett, showcasing the talents of "Mart" McHale (1st Tenor), Tom "Buck" O'Brien (2nd Tenor and fellow Sox pitcher), Hugh Bradley (Baritone and outfielder), and Sox second baseman Larry Gardner. Bill Lyons replaced Gardner in the act in 1911, becoming Basso, with the Red Sox signing him to a professional baseball contract to keep the Quartette solely comprised of Sox players! A business card advertising the services of this not-so-fearsome Sox foursome can be seen above. When McHale joined the rival Yankees in 1913, the group quietly disbanded.

As can be seen from the other business card above, McHale remained in show business when he moved to New York and moonlighted in vaudeville. Interestingly, despite his business card mention of Yankees manager and future HOFer, Frank Chance, McHale joined forces not with a fellow Yankee but with a New York Giant. Together with famed Giants outfielder, "Turkey" Mike Donlin, Mchale established a highly successful act entitled "Right Off The Bat."

After ending his undistinguished baseball career with Boston and Cleveland in 1916, McHale leapt into the film business (as did Donlin), as can be seen from the letter shown below. In this letter, McHale implores Cleveland star Tris Speaker (to whom he refers as "Spoke") to join himself, Donlin and Tigers regular, Germany Schaeffer to promote an early movie being exhibited after the close of the 1917 baseball season. This letter was typed on the back of letterhead from the All Star Feature Corporation of New York (see images, below).

Also in 1917, McHale joined the army and served as Lieutenant in the 22nd Regiment of Engineers during World War I. Post-War, McHale became a journalist for the New York Evening Sun, often covering baseball. By 1920 he moved on to become a stockbroker, eventually launching his own brokerage house, M.J. McHale Company Investments and Securities of New York. After more than 50 years at the helm of his own firm (and seven in retirement), McHale died in 1979 at the age of 90.





Robert S

[Bocabirdman]

Bo Belinsky did OK for himself outside of baseball.

[benderbroeth]

Originally Posted by birdman42

MW was founded in 1872, when Monte was 12 years old. It was Aaron Montgomery Ward.

Bill

Ah thanks, sorry about that

[EGreenwood]

Here is a 1973 postcard of an aspiring major league ball player that left the minor leagues for the squared circle. Oh yeaa!

[Jerry G]

Circa 1919