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.
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!
A new one for my wantlist! Nice find and thanks for the shout out.
ReplyDeleteReally cool story and card. The uniform that Gaedel used belonged to the Browns bat boy who is now the owner of the Cardinals. Might have to find a copy of that card.
ReplyDeleteMay the school year be a breeze, and a fast paced one at that.
ReplyDeleteI had not seen or heard about Kyle Gaedele or his relation to Eddie. Nice tip from Jeff, and a nice Auto!
ReplyDeleteI am inspired by the cards bloggers show off all the time. Sometimes my next visit after I close the blog tab is ebay.
ReplyDeleteCool.
ReplyDeleteThe title of the 1961 card just would not work today.
ReplyDeleteBoth lucky and a shame Kyle's card wasn't a short print for old-time's sake.
ReplyDeleteI remember hearing about Gaedel's grand-nephew getting drafted but I didn't realize he got a card. Very cool!
ReplyDeleteLove the story. Great pick up on the autograph.
ReplyDeleteFascinating. This made me look up what other cards were made with him. Not surprisingly I found a bunch of flashback cards, at least one for every decade since the 70's.
ReplyDeleteYou probably made that sellers week by buying that auto :)
ReplyDeletejeff b - thank you for inspiring me to pick up this autograph
ReplyDeletethe snorting bull - whoa... i didn't know that about the uniform. very cool
johnnys trading spot - we're off and running. three days down... 179 more to go :D
chris - i learned it from a random click on espn's website. one of those things where i just happened to be looking at the right time
night owl - and if not ebay... comc
elliptical man - yup
john bateman - yeah... definitely not
nick vossbrink - lol. true.
nick - i didn't realize it either until earlier in the year
michael d - thanks
steve at 1975baseballcards.com - hmmm. i might need to add a few more to my collection
jon - totally. i bet he thought he'd never sell that card.