Same Family, Different Spelling

Seventy-two years ago... Eddie Gaedel made MLB history.

1961 Nu-Cards Baseball Scoops #426

I'm sure many of you are familiar with Mr. Gaedel and his pinch hitting appearance with the St. Louis Browns that made him the shortest person to ever appear in a Major League game.

If not, you can read about it on the National Baseball Hall of Fame website.  Just click here.

Today's post is about his much lesser known grandnephew:

2011 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Franchise Futures Signatures #76 

Back in April, Jeff over at Wax Pack Wonders showed off some new additions to his Lesser Known collection, which consists of baseball players who have family members who tend to be much more famous or guys who share their name with someone more prominent.

While reading his post, I remembered an ESPN article featuring Kyle Gaedele and his family ties to Eddie.  You might be thinking... the last names aren't even spelled the same.  But trust me, same family.  Different spelling.  Don't believe me... click here to read the article for yourself.

Unfortunately they never had the opportunity to meet each other.  Kyle was born nearly thirty years after Eddie passed away and didn't really know about his famous granduncle until he was invited to a special ceremony honoring the famous at-bat in Cooperstown.

As for me and the autograph, Wax Pack Wonder's post motivated me to grab a copy on COMC for $1.23.  Now I own the autograph of a lesser known guy related to the shortest player in MLB history.  The seller was probably just glad to unload the autograph of a minor league player that never made it past AA.

i might not write as much as before, but I'm truly grateful for all of the card bloggers out there for their dedication, passion, and hard work they put into their posts which open my eyes to hobby news, interesting ways to collect, collection additions, and every once in a while... inspiring me to add a card to my collection.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono

The Hawaiian Islands will always be special to me.  It's where my parents were born and raised.  And it's where dozens of family vacations were spent during my childhood.  Every now and then we'd visit Maui, Kauai, or the Big Island... but the bulk of the trips involved Oahu.  That's where most of my relatives live and that's where most of my memories are from.

Sixty-three years ago, Hawaii joined the Union and became the 50th state.  In celebration of this special day, I thought it'd be cool to write about five items in the collection that are related to Hawaii.

#1:  1959 Hawaii Statehood 7¢ Stamp

This stamp was part of a care package that Steve at 1975 Baseball Cards sent to me back in 2018.  Figured this was the perfect item to kick off this post.

#2:  2000 Upper Deck Hawaii Trade Conference Hawaiian Worn Shirt #KY

Nothing says Hawaii... like a brightly colored Hawaiian shirt.  As for the guy featured on the card... that's Kit Young.  Who's Kit Young?  Uhh... not really sure, but he has a website with a card catalog.

#3:  1989 Longs Drugs Hawaii Rainbow Warriors #7

Aloha Mr. Elam.  Kickers need love too.

#4:  1982 TCMA Hawaii Islanders #10

Did you really think this card wouldn't be a part of this post?

#5:  2009 Topps American Heritage #121

I probably should have led off with this card, but I thought the stamp had more visual appeal.

Anyways... this card celebrates the same thing this post is celebrating.

Here's one more card related to Hawaii:

1974 Topps #408

This Hough arrived in my mailbox back in July.  Elliptical Man routinely sends me cards for my Damaged Card PC.  There were two other damaged cards in the PWE, but this card is the only one I added to the binder.

I'm a big fan of miscut cards.  The more miscut, the better.  But that's not the only reason this card is binder-worthy.

Hough spent twenty-five seasons in the MLB.  He had 216 career wins (and 216 career losses) and struck out 2,362 guys.  He was the first starting pitcher in Florida Marlin's franchise history and was the last active player born during the 1940's.  In other words, he's not your average common.

And while examining this card I noticed that Mr. Hough was born in Honolulu... just like my parents.  The funny thing is... when he was born, Hawaii was still eleven years away from becoming a state. and eleven years away from them adopting the motto,  "Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono" which means "the life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness".

Aloha Elliptical Man!  Thank you for the Hough!  Happy Sunday and sayonara!

A Piece of History

Seventy-eight years ago, the Allied forces launched the largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare.  They used over 5,000 ships and landing craft to transport more than 150,000 troops spread across five beaches in Normandy, France.  Several hours earlier, two waves of Allied airborne forces parachuted into northern France behind enemy lines to secure bridges and exit roads.

HBO's Band of Brothers is a miniseries about Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division during World War II.  It's one of my favorite shows (miniseries) of all-time... and it covers their jump into Normandy on D-Day.

A few years ago, I discovered Topps produced a relic card honoring the 101st Airborne Division for their 2009 Topps American Heritage Heroes product.  I eventually found a copy on eBay for a reasonable price back in 2020.  The plan was to publish this post a year ago, but it got buried in my drafts folder.  I rediscovered it over my Spring Break and scheduled it for today... the 78th anniversary of D-Day.

Here is the card of the day:

2009 Topps American Heritage Heroes American Heroism Relics #AH-WWII7

The gentleman holding the Nazi flag is Private James Flanagan who was part of the 502nd Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division.  The photograph was taken at Marmion, Normandy exactly 78 years ago.  If you're interested, you can see the original photograph and read more about it by clicking here.

Like most memorabilia cards these days, the description of the swatch is vague.  But according to Topps it features an authentic piece of uniform worn by a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division during World War II.  I'll take their word for it, sit back, and appreciate owning a piece of history.

I realize most of the people who check out my blog enjoy reading about sports cards, but...

Do you collect non-sports cards?

Did you ever watch Band of Brothers?

Have a great week!  Only four more days until summer break!  Happy Monday and sayonara!

Day of Infamy

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, it changed millions of lives across our country and around the world.  Two of those lives were my parents.  Both of whom were on Oahu on the morning of the bombing, yet they had two different viewpoints of the infamous event.

1992 Starline Americana #112

My mom's family owned property in Honolulu on Waiola Street where my aunty and cousin still live.  Back in 1941, my mother was only 6 years old and that morning she was removing the roots off of moyashi bean sprouts for her mom on the back stairs of their home.  At around 8am she could hear explosions and began seeing puffs of black smoke off in the distance at Pearl Harbor (approximately 10 to 11 miles away).

Two blocks away, my mom's elementary school was hit by a bomb and caught on fire.  In the other direction one or two stores near McCully and King were also destroyed.

Later in the morning, my mom's family was told they might need to evacuate, so they packed clothes and family valuables.  Luckily they never actually had to leave their home.

At some point, my mom remembered soldiers visiting their house.  They broke the family portrait of Emperor Hirohito and Japanese records.  They were also instructed to cover the windows with tar paper to blockout any light.  My grandfather was the block warden and would go around the neighborhood to make sure no light was visible at night.  She also recalled my grandfather and some neighbors building a bomb shelter in their backyard.

About 40 miles northeast of my mother's house, my father's family lived on a sugarcane plantation in Waianae.  At the time of the attack, my dad was 9 years old.  He remembers being outside with some of the other plantation kids playing that morning.  They noticed a bunch of planes flying close to the shore, but nobody thought it was too big of a deal.

Everyone living on the plantation was used to seeing and hearing the rumbling of U.S. Navy or Air Force planes.  The only difference this time was the markings on the wings of the planes.

A little while later they could hear the explosions at Pearl Harbor and Schofield Barracks.  That's when they knew something wasn't right.  Like my mother's family... they were forced to black out their windows.  Soldiers visited them as well... and my dad remembers confiscating their short wave radio.

In a sense, my parents were lucky that they were in Hawaii during World War II.  We've all heard the stories of the Japanese-Americans living on the mainland during the war.  There were a few internment camps and detention centers on the islands, but due to the sheer number of Japanese-Americans living in Hawaii at the time, the majority were not taken from their homes.  That being said, 2,270 people of Japanese ancestry in Hawaii were required to go to the local camps or were transferred to the camps on the mainland.

December 7th will always be a date which will live in infamy.  My thoughts go out to all of the families who lost loved ones that day.

I wrote this post to document my parent's personal experiences.  I interviewed my mother on this subject about two years ago and talked to my dad yesterday afternoon.  I know that this isn't my typical blog post, but I figured there might be a few people interested in reading about the attack on Pearl Harbor from a different perspective.

The matted print at the beginning of this post features the USS Arizona.  I purchased it about ten years ago when my family took the Pearl Harbor tour.  While we were there, we had the opportunity to meet three Pearl Harbor survivors:  Herb Weatherwax, Alfred Rodrigues, and Sterling Cale.

Mr. Weatherwax sadly passed away on December 12, 2016.  The Honolulu native was 99 years old.  Earlier this year on February 24th, Mr. Rodrigues passed away.  He was born on Kauai on February 7th, 1920.  At the age of 98, Sterling Cale is believed to be the last military Pearl Harbor survivor still living in Hawaii.

I was honored to be able to meet and shake the hands of these real American heroes.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Piece of American Pie

Growing up in the 70's and 80's, I remember my parents talking to me about the tension between the Soviet Union and the United States.  Things like bomb shelters and missile silos captured my attention, which is probably why I enjoyed watching movies like Red Dawn, Firefox, and WarGames so much.

By the time I was a senior in high school, the Cold War was coming to an end and the world witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall.

A few months after the historic event, some of the members of the high school German Club visited Berlin during Spring Break.  My friend brought home a few small pieces of the Berlin Wall in a bag.  I was super jealous.  There's just something so cool about owning an actual piece of world history.

Topps must have read my mind, because years later they produced a special memorabilia card that contains remnants from the Berlin Wall:

2001 Topps American Pie

A Piece of American Pie Memorabilia #PAPM2

The card itself celebrates President Kennedy's famous Ich bin ein Berliner speech that took place fifty-five years ago on June 26, 1963.

This is one of his most famous speeches.

It's a shame that President Kennedy never had the opportunity to see the fall of the wall.

He didn't get to see the reunification of a proud country, nor did he have the pleasure of seeing families reunite after being separated for nearly three decades, because less than five months after this speech he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.

Thankfully his legacy lives on through movies, books, songs, stories, history lessons, YouTube videos, and of course trading cards.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!