5 Blue-Sky Baseball Cards to Celebrate Downtown Brown
Pitchers and catchers report; clouds and snow may stay at bay
While perusing the list of baseball birthdays, I noticed that late Padres outfielder Ollie Brown would have turned 80 today (he passed away in 2015).
Brown was one of those guys who played too early for me to remember anything about him, and whose stats don’t just pop out at you. He did top 20 homers a couple of times, though, and ended up with more than 100 during his 13-year career.
I also read somewhere that Brown used to wow fans before games by flashing his home-run arm, throwing on the fly from the rightfield corner to third base.
And I also know that Brown had some pretty nifty baseball cards in the 1970s. One of those — as you’ll see below — was sort of the inspiration for this All Blue Sky edition of our weekly meetup here.
Spring is just around the corner, after all. Spring Training at least.
1957 Topps Neil Chrisley (#320)
Chrisley could just as easily be standing in front of a blue photo screen or even an old painted cabinet in the bowels of a stadium somewhere as bathing in spring-sky blue.
In fact, that shadow behind his neck sort of argues that case.
Not today, though. Today, there is no doubt that Chrisley has high hopes and goodwill all around him as he embarks on his rookie season from the confines of this fine-looking 1957 Topps card.
All told, Chrisley would spend parts of every season from 1957 through 1961 in the majors — two years with the Senators, two with the Tigers, and one with the Milwaukee Braves.
More than half of his 302 big league appearances began with pinch-hitting duties, even if his .197 average in that role left something to be desired.
1963 Fleer Don Demeter (#53)
Ah, yes — baseball’s legendary Goddess of Grains. If you know, you know. If you don’t, there’s always Google. Or just ignore my silliness.
But when Demeter wasn’t out scything wheat on the side of Olympus, he spent a lot of his time scything baseballs from opposing pitchers. That 20-home power got him some MVP votes in his prime with the Phillies in 1962 and 1963.
It also landed him a slot in Fleer’s ill-gotten 1963 set that had room for just 66 diamond souls.
Fleer got it just right with this one, too. Because, whether his field of the moment was of the corn or sports variety, Demeter looked right at home under a blue sky painted with heavenly clouds.
1971 Topps Ollie Brown (#505)
Here’s our guy, looking sort of Tony Gwynn-ish, what with his Padres uniform and squinty face brought on by the blue-sky sunshine.
Brown was an original Padre — the original Padre, in fact, as San Diego made him their first pick in the 1968 expansion draft. By then, he’d already spent parts of four seasons with the Giants.
Brown would clock just about the same amount of time in San Diego, playing with them until May of 1972, when they traded him to the A’s. Oakland waived him in June, and the Brewers picked him up.
Stops in Houston and Philadelphia followed before Brown wrapped up his big league career in 1977.
But for me at least, it’s always blue-sky San Diego Brown that comes to mind first when I hear his name.
1976 Hostess Robin Yount (#11)
Yount was starting his third year in the majors as the 1976 season dawned. And, though he hadn’t lit up the world in 1974 and 1975, he had grabbed onto the Brewers’ shortstop job at the age of 18 and didn’t look like he was keen on giving it up.
Hostess was already high on the young man, too.
Heck, they had issued a Young card in 1975, same as Topps, even though they hadn’t afforded the same courtesy to George Brett. As you probably know, Brett and Yount performed a lockstep hobby promenade all the way to MVPs, 3000 hits, and the Hall of Fame.
All in all, it’s no wonder Hostess took a blue-sky view of Yount in 1976. They thought the kid’s future was bright. They were right.
1979 Topps Ray Burris (#98)
Ray Burris’ smile on his 1979 Topps card looks just like the way I feel when I see the 1979 Topps Ray Burris card. It’s all very meta and sort of a virtuous cardboard circle.
It’s not just that smile that makes this card work, though. Pretty much everything is perfect, to my ancient eyes, at least — Cubbies blue, Cubbies pinstripes, beaming smile, hands over head, flawless blue sky, Topps logo.
I’m a sucker for all of it.
For his part, Burris must have been enjoying the day itself, because 1978 (when the pic was probably taken) wasn’t his finest hour — 7-13, 4.75 ERA.
A demotion to the bullpen didn’t fix much in 1979, and trades and other icky times followed. After a nice season with the 1984 A’s, Burris managed three more summers in the bigs before hanging up his spikes in 1987.
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This message has been brought to you by the springtime hopes and blue skies of nostalgia. May your Sunday be sunny and peaceful, and may your pitchers and catchers report without incident.
I can almost smell the horsehide warming up under an early spring sun. It must be time to have a catch.
Thanks for reading.
—Adam