The Normally Scheduled Post Has Been Cancelled

Monday post are always about a 1980s Cardinals card.  There are plenty of 1980s Cardinals cards still left to write about. However, while we all have a little extra time at home, I am using my card time to do some sorting, appreciate some of the cards that I have not looked at in a long time, and fill in a few holes in the collection.

Today, I thought I would cover a little long running side project that I have been working on the last few years that I was able to move forward recently.  I dabble in basketball cards.  I post some here and there, and in celebration of the Blues winning the Stanley Cup last June, I posted my 1961 Fleer St. Louis Hawks cards.  The connection being that the city of St. Louis had a team win a championship in the other three sports leagues prior to the Blues winning last season.  Many people forget that the Hawks were in St. Louis, and that they won an NBA Championship while they were there.

I have most of the St. Louis Hawks 1961 Fleer set, I am just working on the last few cards.  In the last weeks I found two of the missing cards that were in my price range, so I added both.

First up, a card of Len Wilkins, or Lenny Wilkins.

I am not sure if this is a rookie card, but he was drafted out of Providence College in 1960.  Seemed like a good player, but I don't know too much about his play on the court.  I just remember him coaching the Cavaliers and Hawks for a really long time.

Love the colors on these cards with the black and white player photos.  Really pops.  Love that Hawks logo too.  Almost looks like a volleyball, or something besides a basketball in the hawks talons.

My second new Hawks card.

I know that many people who collect this set like the base cards much better than the action shot subset.  They are kind of an after thought, but I like this card of Cliff Hagan.  I wish I knew more basketball players from the 1960s, and could figure out everyone who is in this picture.  Jerry West in the background perhaps? Anyway, I know that Hagan was a really good player around this time, multiple All-Star games, and ended up in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

One more Hawks card to find.

Championship Grand Slam

It was quite a week for me as a St. Louis sports fan.  I never thought that I would actually ever get to see the Blues win the Stanley Cup.  They have had their fair share of good players and teams, but they always seem to come up short.  Welp, not this year. 

The Stanley Cup makes St. Louis just the eighth city in the U.S. to win a championship in all four major sports leagues.  

The Cardinals have obviously won several with the last one coming in 2011.  

The Rams won the Super Bowl in 2000 on "The Tackle" 

St. Louis had the Hawks for awhile, and they managed to beat the Boston Celtics in the 1959 Finals behind Bob Pettit.  The team eventually left for Atlanta in the late 1960s.  Always seems to be the forgotten title that St. Louis has won.  

Are there are actually Hawks fans?  Were there any Hawks fans when they played in St. Louis?  The answers to these questions are cloudy, but the Hawks have been sort of a fun side project of mine for awhile.  There are three primary sets of basketball cards where you can find St. Louis Hawks cards including a Busch Beer set, the 1957 Topps set, and the 1961 Fleer set.  

I have dabbled over the years, and never spent a serious amount of time, nor money on this set.  Not to give away how many Hawks cards I have from the three sets, I am going to celebrate the Championship Grand Slam by sharing out my 1961 Fleer cards. 

Best St. Louis Hawks player?  I vote yes.  

Hagan was also a Hall of Famer.  

Another Hall of Famer.  

I actually did not know anything about Si Green until I got this card.  In 1956 the Hawks drafted Bill Russell with their 1st Round pick and traded him to the Celtics for Cliff Hagen and Ed Macauley.  The player picked in front of Russell was Si Green.  He ended up scoring right around 10 points per game during his NBA career.  Looks like he was a good reserve off the bench.  

I will have to share a few more another day.