1st 5 HOF
 

As we start the New Year, could we see your ONE PHOTO of the first five HOF’ers?

Best I can do at the moment . . .

Mine...

Here's mine

Fun thread

Only 3/5 in cards
 

I've got some great publications with Matty and WaJo. No pictures handy.

Ha! That would be a mic drop posting Ryan. Fun stuff.

Guess I still need an oversized Mathewson.

My gosh. Close the thread.


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LoL .. i’m proud to have a Ruth and a Cobb ,
Can I sub in Cy Young and a couple of reprints ?

Quite possibly the best five card grouping in one post ever on Net54.

Lol and thanks (all). It’s a bit of a douchey post, but I couldn’t help it. Happy New Year everyone!

Absolutely not; thanks for the awesome share. Been a while since I posted, so I'll post these guys.

Not at all! Brings such joy seeing them all together and knowing one of us has made it!

2nd owner of this incredibly scarce (1 of 9 total graded) 1910 W-UNC Wagner, put back into the hobby via a trade for a dream card. And all 5 from a Post Card set.

I got two of the five (Mathewson and Johnson) in my first prewar purchase, and other three followed eventually.


Brian

Thought I would do something productive with my accidental double post, so I gave Ryan's first five a little chiropractic work.

Brian

First 5:

https://photos.imageevent.com/derekg...907%20Cobb.jpghttps://photos.imageevent.com/derekg...100%20Ruth.jpghttps://photos.imageevent.com/derekg...nnial%2024.jpghttps://photos.imageevent.com/derekg...%20Johnson.jpghttps://photos.imageevent.com/derekg...0Mathewson.jpg

Clearly I could use a Wagner improvement…fun thread!

Love that Johnson portrait Derek.

Agree. Was it cut from a composite?

1st 5
 

Deleted since my pics didn't fit the thread. My mistake. Happy New Year!

Have the Matty portrait, but here is my inaugural hall of fame wall display in my office / card room

Unfortunately don’t know how to re-orientate the second photo

I could get a job at a tire shop.

Brian

It was actually a postcard from the Big Train’s rookie season (1907, away jersey) according to Hank. I think it was cut for a photo album or some other oval shaped display, although it does remind me of the shapes used for composite photos during that era. It’s definitely my favorite image of WaJo. And the fact that it’s on cardboard stock (postcard) makes it that much more appealing to me. Thanks for the nice words!

Cobb Stealing Third - Graig Kreindler
"The pitcher commences to get nervous" - Paul Thompson photo
M110 Sporting Life Honus Wagner
1914 Cracker Jack Christy Mathewson
1925 Exhibits Walter Johnson (autographed)

Interesting post - thanks! Although not vintage, I’ve always liked this Fleer set as can find all of the First 5 in the same set….

Really wish I'd picked up a Wagner before the prices skyrocketed.
Would love to pick up his Novelty Cutlery pose or the Pinkerton Cabinet.

Great photo. Caption reads throws at 122 feet per second, that is only 83mph. I think he threw faster than that . Any other sources.

Some black and whites of each!

That spectacular piece was pasted to the bottom of a Type I photo of WaJo in his classic pitching form (the cover of my paperback, see Amazon.com) in a framed collage of photos I believe to have been assembled by my grandmother for a 1929 banquet to honor new Nationals manager Walter Johnson back from spring training to start that season. The collage hung in the den of the house I grew up in in Chevy Chase D.C. until Mom left the house several years ago after 60 years, at which time it was disassembled and most of the photos sold at auction. I kept this one for a while, then sold it on the B/S/T a couple years ago. I've always assumed it had been cut from a large 1907 team photo, although one cringes at the thought. I don't believe my grandmother would ever have done that, as she was quite the archivist of his career, more probably Walter himself as a callow youth, or his Mom at the request of some newspaperman for a photo, etc. I've always loved this image, and it's in my book. Quite the handsome young man, no? And oh, by the way, have you seen him throw the ball?

Thanks Hank! Appreciate your insight. I was the one who was fortunate enough to have purchased it from you on the BST. All I know is that it was most definitely cut from a postcard and had, at one point, been sent in the mail to Fullerton, California based on the back stamping. It has an Artura postcard back stamp box, so would have been issued between 1908-1924 according to Playle's. I'd like to believe it has a 1907 image and his baby face certainly suggests that it was issued very early in his illustrious career. Here's the back:

https://photos.imageevent.com/derekg...%20Johnson.jpghttps://photos.imageevent.com/derekg...n%20_back_.jpg

from Playle's:
https://photos.imageevent.com/derekg...ize/Artura.jpg

Hi Derek,
I wouldn't completely discount the possibility it was cut from a team photo just because it's postmarked and has a stamp box. Larger photos might have
been made into RPPCs for mailing purposes, too, I think. And it could be a 1907 photo made into an RPPC at a later date--they lived in Fullerton until early 1910. The photo and size just look to me to suggest that it wasn't an individual portrait to begin with. As for the year, I know that was their road uni in 1907, not sure about beyond that. And, as you say, he looks so very young here. Some mysteries will never be solved, but they don't all need to be.

Fail.

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Fail.


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Watch the documentary “Fastball”. All depends on where the ball was being tracked on its path from mound to plate. Later analysis showed Johnson’s 122 fps was captured nearly behind home plate. A more accurate measurement to today’s radar standards was around 95 mph.

+1, completely agree here. Incredible grouping!

Awesome Garter Gary.

Nice grouping Gary! I love the diversity of items in this thread…

Pretty F-ing awesome yourself! Agree, the Garter is the bee’s knees

Incredible cards, guys!
Ryan--Not many people in the hobby could top that group.

.

I can't even comprehend this. Your living the dream. By any chance are you looking to adopt a grown adult? :D

How does one even pull this off?

There was so much wrong with the 1912 attempt to measure his speed, one hardly knows where to begin, and the results totally invalid if not downright laughable. This was done at the Remington Arms Works on a device designed to measure the speed of bullets, so he had to throw the ball overhand (not his stlyle) through a series of hanging wires that registered that position and then when the ball hit the back of the device that also registered and the time it took for the ball to pass between them measured the speed. Presumably, a bullet would only hit one wire on its way to the wall, whereas who knows how many a ball would hit to slow it down before hitting the wall. He was also in street clothes (long sleeve shirt and tie) and had no warmup. For what it's worth, he did measure considerably faster than Nap Rucker, chosen as the fastest in the NL. To my knowledge, Walter's fastball never did get any kind of accurate measurement, but if you know what the batter's said about it you get some idea. First of all, it made a sound as it crossed the plate: Sam Crawford called it a "whoosh" and Cobb described it as a "hiss." I'm not aware of any other pitcher's ball they've said that about. Plenty of players lived long enough to compare Walter to other speedballers they saw through Nolan Ryan: I challenge you to find me one who said that any other pitcher was faster. Want my honest opinion? He threw 100 whenever he wanted to, and when he reached back for that little something extra, he'd have popped 103-105 on a gun. Look at his record, and realize he never had a great outpitch like all the other great pitchers throughout baseball history--every one of them. WaJo's arm was special, like the Babe was special at hitting the ball. It's right there in the record books.

Thanks, Casey, Derek, and Ryan! I love seeing the different cards in this thread also.

First 5
 

Picked out a few different ones for today’s post. Sorry pictures arent better for some….

My humble contribution.
https://www.heavy45s.com/sketch-1704...py_768x854.png

It’s a fun debate for sure. I would be shocked though if deadball hurlers topped 100mph, and I don’t think they even needed to. 95 was fast enough against those bats of the time. Johnson’s delivery and arm slot may have helped his velocity but his locked left leg on plant probably didn’t. Either way he was likely the fastest of his era.

my 5

Some great cards/items. Here is another first-5 pack. Unfortunately, my Wajo collection is not very deep, two Ramlys and the balance in sets that I don’t feel like going through.

Keep’em coming

And Hi Jack!! Happy new year! I just realized you started this great thread

It is fun to discuss, for sure, and especially for me. Walter held the strikeout record for 63 years, through so many great pitchers, and as I said, he didn't have an outpitch. This against "Punch and Judy"-type hitters for most of his career, only a few years in the free-swinging home run era ushered in by the Babe. If you apply the percentage of batter K's today to his time, he ends up with something like 7,000. Again, no curve, no slider, no forkball, not much of a changeup. Fastballs, just fastballs, one after the other. They all said you knew what was coming and you knew where it was going to be because his control was so good, and you still couldn't hit it. Imagine if he had been with the Red Sox, Athletics, or any of a number of other good teams of his time instead of the lowly Senators. The mind boggles.