This Is What Happens When You Get Traded

Wow talk about getting traded all over the place. Here is a case of a player being traded late in the season to a team that moves to another city the next season but he gets traded to a third team before playing in the new city then before he can play for team number three he gets traded again. I'm talking about this player and his card.

1954 Topps Baseball 19 John "Johnny" Joseph Lipon

1954 Topps Baseball 19 Johnny Lipon Orioles/White Sox

(Front and Back)

It wasn't until I looked at this card closely while I was scanning it when I noticed all the crazy team changing. Looking at this card one can get all sort of confused. ON the front Johnny in the main color portrait is shown in a Red Sox hat and in the small black and white action photo he is wearing an Orioles cap. The card states he is with the Orioles and shows the Orioles Team Logo. Now on the back it says he is with the White Sox. It also mentions that he was traded late "last season" (1953) and played only 7 games with the "Browns". It then goes on to say he was traded to the White Sox in February of 1954. So how does ONE player go to FOUR different teams within one year? Wait I just did some researching and it is even stranger. He never played for the White Sox before playing a single game for them he was traded to the Cincinnati Redlegs (Reds).

So to try to get things straight: John Lipon was playing with the Red Sox when he was traded to the St. Louis Browns in 1963 late in the season. The Browns would move to Baltimore and become the Orioles in 1954, however, Johnny was traded in February of 1954 to The White Sox before playing in Baltimore. The White Sox then traded him to the Cincinnati Redlegs before he even played a game for them. The card doesn't say so, but my research shows he only played one game for Cincinnati then got sent down to the minors where he played a few more years and then started coaching. So as Nick at Dime Boxes would say this is a "Zero-Year" Card. Well sort of he never played for the Orioles but did play for the franchise that moved and became the Orioles, and he never played for the team he is listed with White Sox on the back.

Watts in a Name? Football Glass

Every once in a while I run across a name that strikes me as being funny, ironic or sometimes unfortunate. From time to time I will try to show some of the cards I have with these names that stand out.

This first card I'll mention I got first because of the name and second because I need to complete this particular set that I am leagues away from completing. I got this card from Ebay for 99¢ + $3.00 shipping

CHIP GLASS

1973 Topps Football - 203 Chip Glass RC Browns

(Front and Back)

This is Chip's Rookie Card, and apparently his only card. Guess Topps doesn't like to pick up broken glass off the floor? Chip made his NFL Debut in 1969 playing for the Cleveland Browns he was traded to the New York Giants in 1974 his last season. According to the back of his card he makes spectacular catches and in 1970 caught a 78 yarder vs. The Houston Oilers.  At the time it was the Browns longest pass. The cartoon is interesting in that it is totally unrelated to the player featured or his team. That is typical for Topps it seems. It has a trivia question about which stadium the New Orleans Saints play in A: The Sugar Bowl. The Superdome was under construction as it opened 2 years later in 1975.

Mr. Glass reminds me of commedian/actor Bruce Mahler who is best known for being in the Police Academy Movies as Sgt. Doug Fackler.

Bruce Mahler as Sgt. Doug Fackler in Police Acedemy 2: Their First Assignment 1985 Warner Bros.

I remember Bruce from the sketch comedy show Fridays, which was ABCs attempt at a Saturday Night Live. It only lasted 3 seasons from 1980-1982, I thought it barely lasted one.

Edit: Yes I borrowed this idea from another blog. That one when they do make funny name posts I think they concentrate on the more unfortunate ones

1960 Topps Les Richter Rams among others.

I recall the first time I saw a 1960 Topps Football card was an old Redskins card I've got. It was not the first card I recall ever owning, that might have been my 1965 Topps Baseball Ernie Banks (not sure though). I don't recall where it was dug up from, probably my oldest brother had it and I found it in our basement laundry room that doubled as a storage room for almost half (or more) of the 44 years my family owned the house I grew up in.

That first 1960 Football card was number 123 Ralph Guglielmi  in horrible shape with loads of creasing and rounded corners, it has some tape holding it together at one of the creases. The very epitome of a poor grade card it barely serves as a filler card in my collection. It apparently is also an uncorrected error card as the front has his last name misspelled as Gugliemi. I will probably never get rid of it though. I always remember it as being in horrible shape. I think at one time it was taped to a notebook or inside a binder. As a kid I did that frequently to some cards. I even marked my cards with a huge "K" sometimes on the front sometimes on the back. So this one might have had the "tape to the notebook cover" treatment.

The blogger at pooroldbaseballcards would be proud of this specimen. I wonder if someone is doing a Poor Old Football Cards blog? If so let me know so I can follow, I'd follow a Hockey one too I guess. For many years it served as the oldest card in my entire trading card collection (sports and non-sports). I am not sure what is the oldest card in my collection now.

123 Ralph Guglielmi Redskins
My Original card (front then back)

 

 

This copy of the card I do not own.

(Image from Checkoutmycards.com)

I like the 1960 Topps football for the simple colored football nameplate, and the "Football Funnies" cartoons on the back that Topps used to do back then. The downside to the cartoons though is they were coin scratch-off things that were only revealed when you rubbed the area with a coin. This made the picture appear but did damage to the back of the card.

68 les Richter Rams

30 Bob Gain Browns