Well, technically I’ve been back for 3 days now, but I had a spot of trouble getting out of vacation mode and back into posting mode. I was actually a little surprised about that. I generally try to post once a day, 6 times a week at the least. It’s never really a chore for me either. I really enjoy talking about my card collecting and this is really my only outlet for doing so. It was surprisingly easy to fall into a week and a half of not posting, however.

So, what did I miss? Well, how about them Mets? In several of my pre-written posts that popped up here while I was away I was alternating between dreading knowing how bad they were losing and making ridiculous claims about how well they were doing. Surprisingly, it turns out that the latter was a little closer to the truth. When I left, they were the proud owners of a 2-6 record, sitting in the basement of the N.L. East, 5 games out of first place. As of right now, they’re sporting a respectable 10-9 record, in 3rd place and only one game out of first. I’m not going to say that they were a powerhouse during that stretch, but it certainly makes watching baseball a bit more fun than it was 2 weeks ago. I feel like this week will be a big test for them, seeing if they can keep the ball rolling against the Dodgers, and more importantly against the Phightin’ Phils this weekend.

Anyway, since I’m still in getting back into the routine mode, I’m going to cheap out a little bit and present another Card of the Moment that I had scanned with the intention of writing about while I was away, but ended up not needing.

1968 Topps #231 Dave Baldwin

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned time and again, I always enjoy discovering different ways that cards can be messed up. In my mind, one of the most expressive ways to deface a card is through the power of a pen (or pencil). Sometimes, the embellishments are more informational, as was the case with Dave Harris. He played left field, and someone wanted to make a note of that. Makes sense. As interesting as that is, I much prefer the more editorial embellishments, such as we see here with Mr. Baldwin.

Dave pitched parts of 6 seasons for the Senators, Brewers and White Sox, compiling a career record of 6-11, 22 saves and a 3.08 ERA. He struck out 164 and walked 89 in 224.2 innings pitched. In one word, “bla”.

Whoever wrote that bot of commentary apparently stopped following Dave’s career after his retirement from the game. After the 1973 season, he earned a Ph.D. in genetics and an M.S. in systems engineering from the University of Arizona and worked as a geneticist, engineer, and artist until his retirement in 2003. Additionally, he’s published a memoir of his baseball days called Snake Jazz and a collection of poetry called Limbic Hurly-Burly. If you think he’s bummed that he’ll never make it to the Hall of Fame, think again. He actually has a painting called “Fugue for the Pepper Players” in the Cooperstown collection.

According to his website:

Dave Baldwin is the only geneticist and only systems engineer ever to play major league baseball.  In Scientific American (May 2000), Steve Mirsky wrote, “Dave Baldwin… is surely the only person to publish in the Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington and to pitch for that town’s team.”

Watch out, Moe Berg.

Tags: 1968 Topps, Cardboard Abuse, Dave Baldwin, Moe Berg
Filed Under: Card of the Moment by slangon
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