I thought I'd take this lazy Sunday afternoon to share a couple of recent eBay purchases in hopes of brightening your day. After all, after once again witnessing the Dodgers lose in spectacular fashion I figured some vintage Dodgers might perk you up... Well, at least, it gave me a smile.
I recently came across a 3-card lot of 1922 Exhibits of Harry "Hi" Myers, Sherrod "Sherry" Smith and Walter "Dutch" Reuther for a steal of a price of $10.00 total. These cards are about the size of a postcard. As you can see, they are far from being in mint condition, but who cares? They are over 90 years old and are just plain awesome.
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Hi Myers was a star outfielder during 11 seasons with the Brooklyn Robins. In 1922 he hit a robust .317 with 89 RBI's and 82 runs scored. Myers was known to be an effective top of the order batter and had the speed to match. He was also a great negotiator.
After the 1916 season he sent a letter to Charles Ebbets (the Brooklyn owner) indicating that he would no longer be playing Baseball. He claimed that his farm back home was doing quite well (it was just modest), and he could not in good conscious play ball when he could provide better for his family tending to the family business.
Seeing that Ebbets had several holdouts that offseason, he decided to visit each one in hopes of convincing them to sign a contract. Knowing of Ebbets impending arrival, Myers visited his wealthier neighbors to ask to borrow their livestock and proceeded to plant them on his farm. Seeing that Myers story about having a well-off farm were true, Ebbets decided he had to give in to his financial demands and quickly made a deal.
Sherry Smith was one of the better starting pitchers for the Brooklyn Robins. He pitched in 7 seasons for Brooklyn; recording a accumulative ERA of 2.91 and a WAR of 11.5. His one claim to Baseball fame was his work in Game 2 of the 1916 World Series. The Brooklyn Robins faced off against the Boston Red Sox, and Smith was set to start against a young lefthander named Babe Ruth. Via Baseball Alamac:
Through thirteen innings, both had allowed only six hits and one run each. In the bottom of the fourteenth, Dick Hoblitzell set the stage for a dramatic finish by drawing his fourth walk of the game. Duffy Lewis followed suite by sacrificing Hoblitzell into scoring position at second. With all his pieces in place, Red Sox manager Bill Carrigan prepared to checkmate his opponent by sending in Mike McNally as a pinch-runner and Del Gainor as a pinch-hitter. Gainor stepped up and delivered, driving in Hoblitzell and sealing Boston's 2-1 victory.
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Below is a second purchase I recently made on eBay. It is a 1914 Baseball felt "Blanket" that was distributed in packs of Egyptienne Straights Cigarettes. They measure a little over 5" square. The player here is Brooklyn Robin, Jake Daubert.
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