Well it's appropriate that my first post has to deal with a Dick Porter item.
For some quick background, Dick and my grandfather were good friends and Dick used to take my dad out on countless fishing and hunting trips during the 50s-60s. My dad, not a baseball fan in back then, cared more about the talk of girls and bars instead of playing against Babe Ruth, etc.
That said, I picked up a spotless copy of this type card about 7 years ago from a book seller located in Syracuse. It was also on eBay, but (sorry Leon) at less then 10% of the price. This was the third copy I had seen with the other having been used as a postcard and sold for $100 or so.
It is most definitely an original, and as a Dick Porter collector, his stuff is few and far between. He only has three MLB playing era cards:
- 1934 Goudey #43
- 1934 Worldwide Gum (Canadian Goudey)#88
- 1933 Tattoo Orbit R305 (as Richard Porter)
This 1938 Syracuse type card, to my knowledge, was released after he replaced Jim Bottomley as player/manager. He was always a fan favorite since the early 1920s with the Baltimore Orioles, so it was a big deal when he took over as player manager as many fans remembered him from his pre-MLB days winning multiple International League batting titles.
After this type card, I don't believe anything else was released until the Conlon Collection came out in the 90s and he appeared there, then two 1/1 autograph cuts (2005 Leaf Century Collection and 2009 SP Legendary Cuts Mystery Cuts).
Some of my Dick Porter collection is displayed in my dad's home office, and most of it is with me, however the example of this card is with my dad. I will get a scan when possible.
As far as the question about the Kren's bat, Dick did have a few store model Kren's bats - both full-size and minis from this time period. It's my belief that all of the store model bats featured a cursive "Dick Porter" on the barrel. I have a game-used Burke Batrite Porter bat with the standard "PORTER" stamped on the barrel along with the identifying codes and model.
Over the years I've been able to pick up some amazing Porter items and I wanted to add another of these to my collection, but I bowed out #3 in this eBay battle.
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