I get anonymous questions

I got a couple of anonymous comments asking about a card so I guess I should answer it here since I don't know who it's from. I'd think it was grcl if it weren't about a Giants card.

i was just wondering how i could find out what my cards worth it was given to me by my grandpa when i was little and it doesn't have a date on it all it says is giants field leaders and it shows charlie fox in a bigger picture then there's coaches and one says joe amalfitano, andy gilber, don mcmahon and john mcnamara and it looks like a really old card on the back it has number 252 inside of a baseball and on the bottom it has this **and a c with a circle around it then T.C.G.. PRTD. IN U.S.A.

Does it look something like this?

I don't have the exact one that you have, but it looks like you have a team manager and coaches card for the San Francisco Giants from 1973 Topps. Here are some eBay auctions with images of the card. Don't be fooled by the prices on the auctions though, that one auctions that has it at $99.95 is for a PSA 9 graded card. Graded cards go for weird prices on the market, especially vintage cards. The $30.00 one is autographed. Plus, just because someone is selling it for that much doesn't mean someone will actually buy it for that much. A good ballpark figure for a value on that card by itself is about a buck. A lot depends on the condition though, if the card is beat up it would probably only sell for a dime or maybe a quarter. If it was minty fresh, it would sell for more. The most recent sale was for a near mint card from a set break that went for $3.01. An excellent/near-mint example of the same card failed to sell for 99 cents. I'd say a fair range for this card would be about a dime for a beat up card, a buck for a nice example with decent corners and no creases and maybe 3 bucks it's it's a really nice copy with no dings at all. Its monetary value is really only worth what someone would pay for it. Since you got it from your grandfather its sentimental value is probably worth a lot more than a buck.

Here's the back or my card with the T.C.G.. PRTD. IN U.S.A. line on the bottom. This is a tricky card to date since there's no copyright date on it and there are no stats to go by. A way to research stuff like this is to take the things you know about the card and do a Google search for those items. We know it's a Topps card. The team is the Giants. Charlie Fox is the main person on the card. The card number is 252. Do a search for "Topps 252 Giants Charlie Fox" and you get this. It's not perfect, but the top link is to 1973 Topps Giants cards and the top ebay acution is for the exact card. You will have to play with the search items though, add Joe Amalfitano to the search and you get a lot of links for 1965 Topps. The best way to search is to start with a few items and then add more to narrow the search if needed.

I hope that helped, Mr. A. Nonymous. If anyone else has a question about a card they can't identify, try the search tips or leave a comment. If you just want to see if you can stump me, then bring it on, chumps.

Fat Managers

John Rolfe of Sports Illustrated has a fun article up on major league managers. His thesis is basically Old School Managers are a) fat or b) crazy or c) both. It's well worth reading it just to see Eric Wedge's sour puss. That picture is probably what he looks like right now after that terrible ALCS.

I like fat, crazy managers who keep baseball interesting. Sadly you also have to have actually played professional baseball to make it as a manager today, otherwise George Steinbrenner would already be interviewing me. There aren't quite as many real lunatics managing today as there used to be, but baseball is much better off than the other sports. NFL coaches are so shackled by corporate policy, they need a permission slip from their mothers just to wear a suit on the sideline instead of this year's official team sweatshirt available at NFL.com. NHL coaches exist solely to be fired during a losing streak to scare the players into winning a game. Basketball at least has its share of screwballs, from Zen Master Phil to Chair Throwing Bobby. Basketball coaches can dress how they want to, Reggie Theus can look slick in his tailored suits and Rick Majerus can wear his huge sweaters. (speaking of coaches, I stumbled upon this while googling for Majerus and it's genius.) Baseball managers and coaches have to wear a uniform which is one reason why fat managers are awesome. It's great seeing some guy fat as me leading a ballclub or coaching third wearing the same uniform as the players on the field. It's not the jersey, big guys wear throwback jerseys all the time without looking too bad, it's the pants. Fatsos can't get away with wearing those tight knit pants without looking like Carl from Aqua Team Hunger Force.

Many people see them as fillers, but I like manager cards. I collect Braves team sets, and the manager card ties a set together whether it's Bobby Cox or Bobby Wine. It's also fun to see old players you once watched pop up in a new set when they get hired by a team to manage. Everyone who collected in the 80's has a bunch of Don Mattingly cards, now there's a chance you might get a new one in 2008 Topps. There are plenty of great manager cards in vintage sets too. Original Ted Williams cards are expensive as hell, but they are practically giving away his Washington Senator manager cards . There is a pretty steady stream of Frank Robinson cards going back from the 50's to the present day due to his regular managing gigs. Not just hall of famers either, there are plenty of minor stars and fringe players who can be found as managers in old cards. That Del Crandall manager card I pulled in 1984 and didn't pay much attention to became a little more interesting once I started collecting Braves cards from the 50's. One day Ozzie Guillen is starring for the Sox, the next he's managing them to a title and more importantly blowing up in the media about once a week.

It works the other way as well, old cards relegated to the common bin get new life if their subject goes on to become a decent manager. The rookie card of a relief pitcher with a lifetime 0-4 record and a 6.48 ERA should be a dead common, but when it's Tommy Lasorda's rookie, it sells for a hundred bucks. Sure, he was an all-star, but would Billy Martin cards be so sought after had he not gone 5 rounds with Steinbrenner? This year's World Series features a couple of managers who are well represented in sets from the 80's.

One thing I wish would make a comeback are coaching cards. There are tons of great players on coaching staffs all around the majors that would make for great cards. I'd love to pull a Glenn Hubbard or Rusty Kuntz from a new pack. I know it's not feasible to add another 3-4 cards per team to sets already squeezed for space, so just put them on a multi-player card with floating heads or squished like ants and tacked onto the manager card. Another 30 cards added to the Topps set would put them that much closer to getting back to a 792 card set which is how it should be anyway. Without coach cards, we would never have had this work of beauty:

Bob Gibson in a Braves uni. Awwww man that looks good. Put him on the '69 staff and no one would be talking about any stupid Miracle Mets now would they.