Sunday, August 21, 2022

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.

#11959 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.


#22000 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 YoungWho's Kit Young?  Uhh... not really sure, but he has a website with a card catalog.


#31989 Longs Drugs Hawaii Rainbow Warriors #7


Aloha Mr. ElamKickers need love too.


#41982 TCMA Hawaii Islanders #10


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


#52009 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 JulyElliptical 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 ManThank you for the Hough!  Happy Sunday and sayonara!

16 comments:

Nachos Grande said...

I've only been to Hawaii once in my life but I definitely enjoyed my stay there. Someday maybe I'll get back!

Cool stamp and I agree, that's a better visual than the American Heritage card.

CaptKirk42 said...

I went to Hawaii when I was like 7.

POISON75 said...

Kit Young was a huge dealer who would invite many dealers to huge card show to Hawaii for a huge trade show every year. Reason for me knowing that is 1 of my dealer friends went 1 year to helped me acquire the signature of Dr. Jim Beckett on the premier issue of the Beckett Baseball Card Monthly November 1984. Later that summer I attended my 1st ever National Sports Card Convention in Rosemont,Illinois (Where I hope to be again next summer) to meet both Kit & Dr. Beckett to verify Dr. Beckett actually signed my issue & Dr. Beckett verified that he did sign it & I still have that in my collection.

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

I started buying cards from Kit Young back in 1992. In fact the catalog used to be a magazine catalog mailed to you every 3 months. A few weeks before Mantle passed away, I had bought 17 of his playing day cards including his 51' Bowman, I wish I still had those. Anyways, Kit is in San Diego, you should take a trip one day.

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

Oh and funny, I have a stick note on my laptop (from last night) to call Kit Young cards tomorrow and buy two Mantles. How about that kawinki dink.

sg488 said...

My parents were married in Hawaii in April 1959,before it became a state,and my favorite crime drama is Hawaii 5-0.

Bo said...

I'll look to see if I have any Hawaii stamps for you. I know I have plenty of extra matchbooks from Hawaii. Slowly working on another care package for you, I like to find odd stuff like this you'd enjoy.

gcrl said...

i've been to hawaii three times and have spent time on oahu, kauai, and maui (twice). so much to do and see!

i bought quite a few cards - mostly vintage - from kit young in the early 1990's as i was enjoying a paycheck from a real career job for the first time. one card i recall for certain was a 1972 topps ron cey rookie that was signed by the penguin.

Nick Vossbrink said...

Sitting on a backlog of Hawaii photos from earlier this summer. I know we're no supposed to travel there right now but family is family.

Billy Kingsley said...

I wish I could see a new state added. Hawaii is probably the only state I'll never visit, since I am deathly afraid of airplanes. It's also the rarest license plate for me to see, but that shouldn't be a surprise. One of only two states I didn't see on my trip to Mount Rushmore in May. You may want to find a card of Danny Ongais from one of the 1989s Indycar sets. He was born in Hawaii and is the only racer I know of from there.

Billy Kingsley said...

Should be 80s not 89.

The Lost Collector said...

Never been, but I definitely want to go one day.

Bryan said...

Awesome post! My wife and I had planned to go to HI year for my 40th birthday, but our son needed to have a procedure done at the same time, so we postponed it. I hope I get out there at some point in time though. Also, I learned that Charlie Hough was born in HI! I never knew that.

SumoMenkoMan said...

Never have been to Hawaii, but some cool stuff to commemorate Hawaii!

Jafronius said...

Hawaii would be a dream destination for sure...would need to come into a bunch of cash first though!

Matt said...

Gotta admit, the Kit Young is really cool