Topps Now Turn Back The Clock The Kid Takes The Helm

 Originally I was going to post this card with the other card I had bought with it. Both are 2021 Topps Now cards. This one being a "Turn Back The Clock" card is appropriate to post today Memorial Day so I decided to go that route.

To some this might not be a big deal but to Washington fans I think it was a pretty big event. 07 April 1969 Hall of Fame player Ted Williams dons the manager uniform for the Washington Senators for the first time vs The New York Yankees. The Yanks win the game 8-4. Ted Williams would manage the Senators from 1969 to their last season in Washington in 1971 and on into their transition to The Texas Rangers until 1972.

2021 Topps Now Baseball: Turn Back The Clock: 7 Ted Williams Washington Senators

"The Kid" takes the helm in Washington

Teddy Ballgame 1969 Style

1969 Topps Baseball: Ted Williams

Here is a quickie to make my monthly quota of one post a month. I was in a rush so I didn't come up with anything interesting to say about this card:

 1969 Topps Baseball 650 Ted Williams Senators

(Front and Back)

September Slump and Slide: Second Place Edition

Well September has slipped and slid into a super soaked slump for the Second Place Washington Nationals. As of tonight 30 Sept 2015 they only have 80 wins and have 4 more games to play. The final 3 games being in NY against the First Place Mets. If the Nats can win at least one more game to finish 81-81 I'll be happy, if they manage two wins by avoiding getting swept by Atlanta and winning at least one game vs. The Mets I'll be happier. If they lose the remaining 4 games I'll be really upset.

Who knows how the team would have finished 2015 if we still had a manager like this:

 1969 Topps Baseball 650 Ted Williams Mgr

(Front and Back)

and perhaps had this guy pitching every 5th day:

 1994 Ted Williams Baseball 89 Walter Johnson

(Front and Back)

This guy at Shortstop:

 1968 Topps Baseball 49 Ed Brinkman

(Front and Back)

with this slugger:

 1960 Topps Baseball 210 Harmon Killebrew

(Front and Back)

We might have won a few more games.

Curly W Team Sets: The 1990s (Non-DC Years)

Curly W Team Sets:

The 1990s Non-DC Years

1994 Ted Williams Baseball 88 Frank Howard Senators

Updated: 09 Mar 2017

As I said in the 1980s post, the 1990s were the second full Non-DC decade. It is mostly reprint stuff so lots of HOFers and old-timers.

1990 Swell Baseball Greats: 0/1
75 Walter Johnson

1991 The Sporting News: Conlon Collection: 18/18
009 Walter Johnson
054 Sam Rice
061 Bucky Harris
062 Goose Goslin
063 Heinie Manush
068 Joe Judge
076 Pete Appleton
174 Sam Jones
220 Bennie Tate
241 Sammy West
248 Garland Braxton
257 General Crowder
258 Walter Johnson
270 Heinie Manush
289 John Stone
295 Ossie Bluege
308 Roger Peckinpaugh
314 Joe Cronin

1991 Swell Baseball Greats: 0/1
85 Eric Soderholm

1991 Topps Archives 1953 Reprint: 16/16
013 Connie Marrero
051 Frank Campos
089 Chuck Stobbs
108 Bob Porterfield
133 Gil Coan
148 Mickey Grasso
159 Wayne Tirwillieger
164 Frank Shea
219 Pete Runnels
224 Lou Sleater
241 Al Sima
256 Les Peden
262 Bob Oldis
265 Jackie Jensen
287 Mickey Vernon
313 Bucky Harris MGR

1992 The Sporting News: Conlon Collection: 16/16
353 Walter Johnson
362 Bobby Burke
376 George Mogridge
436 Sam Rice
446 Wes Ferrell
464 Clark Griffith
471 Rick Ferrell
503 Buddy Myer
505 Cliff Bolton
540 Hod Lisenbee
550 Mel Almada
557 Kid Elberfeld
559 Al Schacht
564 Walter Johnson
593 Bucky Harris
600 Joe Cronin

1992 Perez-Steele Great Moments Series 7: 0/1
78 Goose Goslin

1993 The Sporting News: Conlon Collection: 0/21
676 Joe Cronin
682 "General" Alvin Crowder
693 Tom Zachary
714 Jimmy Wasdell
721 Harry Kelley
729 Howie Shanks
738 Zeke Bonura
749 Jake Early
758 Walter Johnson
760 Bobo Newsom
804 Walter Johnson
806 Clyde Milan
827 Tris Speaker
840 Clark Griffith
845 Bucky Harris
853 Monte Weaver
887 Sam Rice
920 Al Schacht
956 Alex Carrasquel
964 Doc Prothro
984 Red Barnes

1993 Cracker Jack 1913 Reprint: 0/1
5 Walter Johnson

1993 Upper Deck All Time Heroes: 0/4
078 Walter Johnson
138 Cy Young / Walter Johnson
142 Cy Young / Walter Johnson / Warren Spahn / Christy Mathewson
Preview 3 Ted Williams Reggie Jackson

1994 The Sporting News: Conlon Collection: 0/4
1119 Nick Altrock
1222 Tris Speaker
1256 Sam Rice
1276 Dutch Leonard

1994 The Sporting News: Conlon Collection: Burgundy: 0/4
1119 Nick Altrock
1222 Tris Speaker
1256 Sam Rice
1276 Dutch Leonard

1994 Ted Williams Baseball: 3/3
88 Frank Howard
89 Walter Johnson
90 Eddie Yost

1994 Ted Williams Baseball - Locklear Collection: 0/1
LC15 Walter Johnson

1994 Topps Archives 1954 Reprint: 0/15
006 Pete Runnels
033 Johnny Schmitz
073 Wayne Terwilliger
091 Bob Oldis
097 Jerry Lane
114 Dean Stone
140 Tom Wright
185 Chuck Stobbs
187 Heinie Manush CO
189 Bob Ross
204 Angel Scull
223 Joe Haynes CO
245 Roy Sievers
254 Harmon Killebrew
255 Camilo Pascual

1994 Upper Deck All Time Heroes: 0/4
080 Walter Johnson
109 Walter Johnson
152 Walter Johnson
206 Eddie Yost

1994 Upper Deck The American Epic: 0/1
15 Walter Johnson

1995 The Sporting News: Conlon Collection: 0/7
1348 Buddy Lewis
1349 Cecil Travis
1362 Stan Coveleski
1372 Germany Schaefer
1385 Goose Gosslin
1428 Charley Gelbert
1429 Jackie Hayes

1995 Upper Deck Sonic Heroes Of Baseball: 0/1
18 Walter Johnson

1996 Collectors Choice: 0/1 (0/2 Parallels Gold Signature and Silver Signature)
502 Walter Johnson

1998 Washington Senators 1969 Team Reunion (Official Card Set) 28/28
01 Bernie Allen
02 Hank Allen
03 Frank Bertaina
04 Dick Billings
05 Dick Bosman
06 Ed Brinkman
07 Johnny Holliday (annoucener now does the Preshow and Postshows for Nats games on MASN Network)
08 Joe Camacho
09 Casey Cox
10 Tim Cullen
11 Mike Epstein
12 Jim French
13 Jim Hannan
14 Ron Menchine (announcer)
15 Denny Higgins
16 Frank Howard
17 Sid Hudson
18 Bob Humphreys
19 Frank Kreutzer
20 Lee Maye
21 Shelby Whitfield (announcer)
22 Ken McMullen
23 Ed Stroud
24 Wayne Terwilliger
25 Del Unser
26 Fred Valentine
27 Ted Williams
28 Checklist card

1999 Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game: 0/1
70 Walter Johnson

1999 Upper Deck Century Legends: 0/2
004 Walter Johnson
129 Walter Johnson

It's Curly W Cards 2nd Blogiversary!

It was 2 years ago today that I started this my third blog (2nd card blog) that concentrates on my Homie Baseball Team the WASHINGTON NATIONALS as they prepare to start their 10th Season. At the time I started I wanted to have my blog posts about My Homie team separate from my main trading card blog. I had noticed there were several blogs about the Nationals and there were several card bloggers who collected either the team or individual players but there was no card blog specifically dedicated to The Nationals (at least not a currently active blog). It is both interesting and a little ironic that the year I decided to start this blog was the year the Nats finished in 1st place in the Division and made their first ever Playoffs birth as the Washington Nationals. Hopefully it is not their last.

For laughs you can read my First Curly W post (which is also my Welcome Page) Skipping ahead a year here is last year's 1st anniversary post.

As with my other blogs I hope that as this one goes on I improve the quality of the posts with each passing year. Sometimes I think it does improve with each post, other times I think it just gets stale and becomes uninteresting until I show a cool card...

Hmmm speaking of showing cool cards... Oh I haven't gotten around to showing this card yet. I keep meaning to do a Cury W Version of this cool early 1990s set.

 1994 Ted Williams Baseball 90 Eddie Yost Senators

(Front and Back)

Since I first laid eyes on the Frank Howard card from this set I fell in love with it. Since I was mainly on hiatus from active card collecting in the early 1990s I missed the boat on the Ted Williams Card Company. I think I had heard of it when it first started up but I'm not sure. At any rate I am currently trying to complete both the 1993 and 1994 sets.

Here is the current count for my progress on the Ted Williams Sets:

1993 Ted Williams:
Base: 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 68, 69, 71, 73, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 83, 84, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 123, 126, 127, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 142, 148, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159,
Brooks Robinson: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Roberto Clemente: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

1994 Ted Williams:
Base: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 13, 17, 23, 25, 27, 36, 37, 50, 60, 62, 63, 64, 73, 74, 102, 104, 106, 107, 108, 109, 111, 112, 113, 114, 117, 121, 127, 130, 131, 135, 136, 137, 139, 141, 143, 147, 153
500 Club: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

As you can see I have made more progress on the 1994 set that is due to starting with it and also a Generous Random Act of Cardness or two.

I try to keep my Master Want List up-to-date. As time goes on it will be more current than this anniversary post listing.

New Nats Skipper Matt Williams pitching during Spring Training 2014.

Maybe he thinks the quality of this blog is going down hill?

Face of the Senators: Frank Howard

FRANK HOWARD - (9), 33

Face of the Senators
Senators 1965 - 1971

Frank and his statue at Nationals Park 08 April 2009 Unveiling

(photo from Nationals News Network blog)

"Hondo" is in the house!

John Wayne as Hondo Lane from "Hondo" 1953 Warner Brothers Pictures

(Promo photo from Denver Post. Com)

No Not that Hondo...This Hondo!

Frank Howard pic from 1965 Washington Senators Program

 Starting to grow up as a Senators fan, Frank Howard quickly became one of my if not my favorite Senator (Ed Brinkman, Casey Cox, Mike Epstein and skipper Ted Williams are also along there somewhere), but alas the team moved to become the Texas Rangers in late 1971. I'm pretty sure Frank was also a favorite of at least one of my older brothers if not both. I recall we used to have one of the 1970 Topps mini posters taped, thumb-tacked or push-pinned to the bedroom wall.

Frank Howard Promo Photo circa 1969

I think at one time this 5.5" x 8" promo photo may have hung on the wall as well Yes it has been 3-hole punched (well 2-hole punched) to go into a notebook binder and "scrapbooked on" on the back.

Frank Howard Promo Photo (back) circa 1969

I think some of those tape marks are from comic strip characters clippings (*Albert Alligator from the "Pogo" comic strip comes to mind for some reason) or some team logo from some sport. OK so I should try to get an upgrade for this photo.

I'm pretty sure at one time in my childhood I had his 1968 or 1969 through to 1972 Topps cards. Since I didn't get any 1973 cards (his final year as a player and final player card) in the day. I didn't get that one until just a few years ago via Ebay. I don't think I had any earlier ones and I know for certain as a kid I didn't have any from his early years when he was on the Dodgers. Some of those including his Rookie card (of which I have 2 for some reason) I have only gotten in recent years.

In the day before the 1972s came out (and then 1974s, 1975s) my favorite Topps baseball cards were probably 1968, 1969, and 1970. I wouldn't know about Bowman from the '50s for another few years yet. For some reason in 1971 I didn't really like the 1971s, maybe it was the plain black border or that most of the ones I had my 6-year old self instantly transformed them into "Poor Old Baseball Cards". As a kid I would do at least two terrible things to cards I would write in red ink on the front or black magic marker on the back my "K" initial in very large sloppy little kid print. On the 71s I usually didn't do the Large K on the front but I would color in the team logo on the hats on the players head shot on the back and sometimes do the very large black magic marker "K". A few of those poor cards I still have. Sadly most of the very large K cards I tossed out when I was 9 or 10 one spring along with bits and pieces I had from other "victim" cards for Scrapbooks.

I was "Scrapbooking" before what I was doing was called "scrapbooking" or even before housewives latched onto the concept as an artsy hobby. Well maybe not the old days of scrapbooking was pasting family portrait photos into photo albums in a creative way I guess. Anyway I would cut out the team logos from cards, or the hat from the player, the team's name or the player's picture and glue/tape them into and onto scrapbooks, scrap-papers. The 1970 Topps All-Star cards (with the faux The Sporting News newspaper background) were great to cut out with that star-burst shape they have. I know the 70s are just a gray border, but there was something about the faux signatures and the yellow backs with blue lettering that I liked. Now many years later I enjoy the 71s for what they are. Enough babbling I've got to show some pretty cards.

 1960 Topps Baseball - 132 Frank Howard RC Dodgers

(Front and Back)

 1970 Kellogg's "3-D" Baseball - 6 Frank Howard Senators

(Front and Back)

1970 Topps Baseball - 550 Frank Howard Senators

(Front and Back)

The Frank Howard cards that I remember most from back in the day are the 1971 Topps and this 1972 Topps. Even though I felt a bit betrayed by having my team move (Hmm can you say Baltimore Colts?) I think the little spark of having cards from a "brand new team" was lit a little bit in me back then.

 1972 Topps Baseball - 350 Frank Howard Rangers

(Front and Back)

 

1973 Topps Baseball - 560 Frank Howard Tigers

(Front and Back)

This last "Hondo" card actually has Frank's nickname "Hondo" on it. The nickname was first given to him by team-mates and then it spread to the fans, probably through the media and interviews with team-mates. The brief super Reader's Digest history of the "Ted Williams" card sets of 1993 and 1994. Ted's only son John Henry Williams started up a card company and produced these beautiful cards as well as a Football set in 1994. The company didn't last very long. Which is a shame because the sets are really beautiful.

 1994 Ted Williams Baseball - 88 Frank Howard Senators

(Front and Back)

Frank is one of three DC Baseball Heroes that are honored at Nationals park with "In-Action" statues. The other two are Baseball Legend Walter Johnson and one of the more sung-about "unsung heroes" of the Negro Baseball Leagues Josh Gibson. The statues look sort of like a cross between anime action sequences and some kind of ancient Hindu God(s) statues with multiple arms. I'm not a huge fan of the "In-Action" aspect of the statues, but I appreciate and respect the artistic originality of them. Some people call them just plain ugly, which was my first reaction. I like them a little bit now. More info on those statues can be read and seen here: Nationals News Network, and Nats320.

Frank is all about stories here is a nice two-part interview with him in 2007 by a DC Blogger  who is a longtime Senators/Nationals fan - Nats320 (AKA: Screech's Best Friend) [part one] [part two] and a catch up session in 2009 [Catching up]. One of my favorite quotes/stories is on Frank's bio page at wikipedia - "On April 14, 2005, baseball came back to Washington. In 1972 Howard had thought that before much time had passed, another President would deliver the opening-day pitch in the capital. Looking back, he remarked, "I thought that within five years it would be back. Well, 34 years later, here we are." Before the game at RFK Stadium between the Washington Nationals and Arizona Diamondbacks, Howard walked out to left field and was greeted by a loud ovation during pregame ceremonies which featured players from both former Senators clubs. At age 68, Howard joked, "I know I'm going to left field—if I can make it that far without having a coronary. I used to be able to sprint out there but don't even know if I'll be able to jog. I told (former Senator Ed) Brinkman, 'For crissakes, call 911 if I have a blowout in left field.' "

Senators/Nationals mentioned in this post:

Ed Brinkman
Casey Cox
Mike Epstein

Frank Howard

Walter Johnson
Ted Williams

Other Notable Washington DC Players mentioned in this post:
Josh Gibson (Negro Leagues: Homestead Grays, Pittsburgh Crawfords)

On Deck: Nick Johnson - 24

In The Hole: Brian Schneider - (39) 23

*Edited: Originally said "Wally Gator comes to mind for some reason" got my gators all goulashed up I was really thinking Albert.

Frank Howard Baseball Reference