"Listen Mister, No Man Alive Can Throw Harder Than Smokey Joe Wood"

There are a variety of similar quotes attributed to Walter Johnson, part of the lineage of great fireballers, which indicate that Smokey Joe Wood was the hardest thrower of them all.  The quotes are similar to the title of this post.  Wood was a star of the day and best known for his 1912 season where he went 34-5 and won three additional games in the World Series.  Smokey Joe never scaled those heights again after breaking his thumb.  However, did reinvent himself as an outfielder for his friend Tris Speaker's Cleveland Indians in the 1920s, showing the breadth of his skills.

Smokey Joe was also the manager of the Yale baseball team and a regular around Fenway Park into his 90s.  Given Wood's fame and exceptionally long life, there are countless autographs available from him.  However, when it comes to cards from Smokey Joe's career, there are a real dearth of options available to the collector.  He did not appear in either the T205 or T206 sets, but did make an appearance in the very drab T207 set, which contain monochrome pictures set against brown backgrounds, the T202 set where he shares a card with Tris Speaker, the National Game set and a few others, such as the E121 from when he transitioned to the outfield in Cleveland. 

Since getting back into collecting cards, one of my goals was to acquire a period Smokey Joe Wood card.  Given their limited availability and the legend of Smokey Joe Wood, his period cards tend to have a premium of a Joe Jackson or an upper echelon Hall of Famer, since the desire to own a period Smokey Joe is fairly common. 

A few weeks back, I was able to bid in an auction for a E91-C Smokey Joe Wood.  The E91 series is a set of caramel cards, which have the notable deficiency of using stock pictures with different uniforms.  So, Christy Mathewson just might look the same as Joe Wood except for the name on the jersey.  This limits their desirability, but makes them more accessible.  With a late bid, I was able to win the below card for the price of a blaster.  It has an obvious deficiency in the missing lower right hand corner, but it does give me a period Smokey Joe Wood. 



Of course, since the picture isn't really him, I am still looking to add a period piece to my collection.  As always with card collecting, it is the journey that matters and the journey which never ends. 

Reordering the Checklist: Different Back, Same Front

As I sit here for the next hour patiently waiting to make a fairly important snipe on a card which I may or may not see again in my lifetime, I'm reflecting on another purchase that I talked myself into which borders on excess.



A few weeks back, possibly even a month now, I found an E-91A "Orvill" Overall for sale.  The E91 is really one of the least desirable candy cards, since the images are more generic than most candy cards.  Looking at the card, the resemblance to Overall is minimal, but it is still an Orval Overall card.  The card was for sale with another card, an E91-A James Archer.  Occasionally purchasing an extra tobacco card is worth the risk of moving it elsewhere, but picking a mildly desirable James Archer to add our friend Orval to my collection was not worth the risk.

The seller initially resisted letting the card go alone, noting that "Archer was good friends with Overall and they really should be kept together".  Ignoring the fact both men are long dead, their friendship should have no influence on my card purchasing and I construed this as a cheap ploy to sell me a card I didn't want.  A week or so passed and I followed up.  Given the lack of interest in the pair, he let me make an offer on the Overall.  In retrospect, I should have not offered over half the price for both to get the card, even though the Overall was in better condition, but in the excitement of adding the Overall, I made what I would charitably call a "high" offer, which was accepted before I could even check my Blackberry.  So, payment goes out, card comes in and I say to myself, this should satisfy my need for E91 Orval Overalls.



You see, there are two E91 Orval Overalls, an A and a B.  The picture on the front is exactly the same, but the backs are slightly different.  As you can see on the A, the Athletics are the first team listed, while on the B, the Cubs are listed first.  There are also some minor variations on the checklist.  Only a real completist or someone with real problems would insist on having both in their collection.  But what is that you say, isn't that a picture of an Orval Overall E91-B listed above and don't you only post pictures of cards you actually own on your blog?



Yes, it is true.  I caved on the issue in less than a month.  The other day, I was checking my saved eBay searches for Orval, when I spotted an E91-A.  The card was only varied on the back, but the condition was nicer, as the raw Overall is not a VG-EX on its best day.  I looked at the card and I looked at the price and I even looked at the Make an Offer.  Sensing weakness, weakness in myself, I screwed up my courage and offered him half of what he wanted.  Half seemed fair based on some reading, writing and closed eBay auction searching.  Given the significant discount I demanded, I expected to receive a rejection and move on with my life, safe in the knowledge I did not overspend on another Overall. 

As you can surmise from the above, my bid was answered with an acceptance and for less than the E91-A, I owned an E91-B.  I am not bothered by either purchase and greatly enjoy owning both cards.  But man, I am a sucker for Orval.  Well, I still have 45 or so minutes to sweat out, so I will sit here, waiting, waiting impatiently, to snipe a card I suspect I have one shot at it, one shot to grossly overpay for the card.  So, in a week or so, if you see something really rare I didn't know existed until last week, you know I am winner.  And if I have nothing really tremendous to show, then I was saved from my own excess by someone else's incredibly gross largesse.