Here's a review I wrote for Sport In American History about pro wrestler Gene Kiniski, a Canadian who was the NWA world heavyweight champion in the late 1960s.

ussporthistory.com/2019/04/27/review-of-gene-kiniski-canadian-wrestling-legend/

Here's a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily about an Muhammad Ali item for sale at SCP Auctions' Spring Premier sale, which ends Saturday. It's a speech Ali gave on a CBS broadcast in 1978, asking for a title rematch against Leon Spinks:

www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/alis-handwritten-speech-asking-for-spinks-rematch-up-for-auction/

Here is a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily about the 1979-80 Topps hockey, which features the Wayne Gretzky rookie card and the final main set card of Gordie Howe:

www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/1979-80-topps-hockey-ushered-in-new-era/​

Here is a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily about Ellen Kelly, a Maryland woman who found a 1916 M101-4 Babe Ruth rookie card in an old family player piano:

www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/babe-ruth-rookie-card-found-in-old-piano-now-at-auction/

​ The base set for Raw consists of 90 cards. The blaster box I bought contained 45 base cards, so that is definitely a nice start for a set builder. A blaster box has 10 packs, with seven cards to a pack. In addition, there are five Raw women’s Revolution cards in a special pack.

Complementing the base cards were five bronze parallels, which collectors will find in retail boxes and packs.

The main insert in the blaster box I opened was Hometown Heroes, which falls one to a pack. There are 48 cards in the set, and the blaster produced 10 cards, including Ruby Riott, Lince Dorado, Natalya, Rhyno and Jinder Mahal.
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The other main parallel is Legends of Raw, a 20-card set that includes stars like Bret Hart, Jerry “The King” Lawler, Mankind, Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels. I pulled eight cards from the blaster box I bought.

The other inserts in the set are the Ronda Rousey Spotlight cards. This 10-card set picks up from the 2019 Road to WrestleMania cards, and there will be 40 cards total when all the Topps wrestling products are released. I was able to pull two cards in the blaster I bought.
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While Rousey is probably not the greatest current woman wrestler — others, like Bella and Charlotte Flair have paid their dues — she certainly has marquee value and the WWE is quite content to use her notoriety. It’s a win-win for the WWE, Topps and collectors. Since Rousey just announced she is stepping away from the WWE for a while to start a family, it will be interesting to see if Topps continues the Rousey insert set.

​I am not a huge fan of shiny cards, but it’s hard not to like the Prizm sets put out by Panini America. These cards are slick-looking and seem to gleam. When you can see your reflection in the card, well, that’s impressive.

Combine that with some of the all-time greats in college football who went on to productive careers in the NFL, and that’s a nice combination. And so it is with Panini’s 2019 Prizm Draft Picks football set, which returns after a three-year hiatus.

A blaster box contains six packs per box, and five cards to a pack. What’s great about the blaster is that Panini includes an autograph card in each box, so that’s a nice plus for collectors who shop retail.
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There are 135 cards in the base set. The first 100 are former college players who have gone on to stellar careers in the National Football League. The final 35 cards are draft pick rookies.

Here is a review I did on Roberta J. Newman's book, "Here's the Pitch," via University of Nebraska Press:

ussporthistory.com/2019/04/13/review-of-heres-the-pitch/

Whenever I heard the 1972 song “Beautiful Sunday” by Daniel Boone, I’d think about Ernie Banks.

The Cubs’ Hall of Famer seemed like the epitome of sunshine and happiness, much like the buoyant lyrics co-written by Englishman Daniel Boone and Rod McQueen (“Hey, hey, hey, it’s a beautiful day.”).
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That was the carefully crafted persona of Banks, lovingly known as “Mr. Cub” during his 19-year career in Chicago. “Let’s play two” was more than a catchy slogan. It was a mantra for Cubs fans who streamed into Wrigley Field, the last major league baseball stadium to install lights. When Banks played at the Friendly Confines, there was always sunshine.

But with all of our heroes, there seems to be a darker side. And that’s what Ron Rapoport captures so well in his latest biography, Let’s Play Two: The Legend of Mr. Cub, the Life of Ernie Banks (Hachette Books; hardback; $28; 454 pages).

Rapoport, a former columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and Los Angeles Daily News, originally was going to collaborate with Banks on an autobiography. However, Banks’ death Jan. 23, 2015, ended that project. But armed with hours of taped conversations with Banks, Rapoport began calling people that knew the Hall of Famer, or played with or against him, and wound up speaking with more than 100 people, including Marjorie Lott, the third of Banks’ four wives; and Regina Rice, his friend and caretaker during the final years of his life.

Rapoport notes that the closer people were to Banks, the more they shared the frustrating notion that this “joyful, melancholy, humble, complicated, companionable, lonely man … remained imprisoned in an image of one simplistic dimension.”

Banks was not a one-dimensional player. He hit 512 home runs and was a graceful shortstop before his bad knees forced him to play first base over the final decade of his career. He was a back-to-back National League MVP on teams that finished in fifth place both years and was selected to play in 14 All-Star Games. Banks was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1977 and was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. He was the one shining star on some lousy teams during the 1950s and ’60s, but in 1969 it looked as if he might finally get to play in the postseason. The New York Mets shattered that dream, and that had to be an empty feeling for Banks.

Banks, author Howard Bryant wrote in his 2010 book, The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron, “carried that heavy and unfortunate asterisk of being the greatest player never to take his team to the World Series.”

Rapoport traces Banks from his youth in Dallas, when he lived in poverty and was subjected to racism. He missed a year of school because he helped his father pick cotton. Banks learned one lesson from his father, Eddie Banks, that made him uncomfortable, Rapoport writes.

“I don’t want my son working for no white people,” Eddie Banks told his wife. “Whatever he does in life, I want him to do it on his own.”

Banks did it on his own, jumping from the Negro Leagues to the major leagues and becoming a star in the National League.

Rapoport draws a parallel line from Banks’ career to the fate of the Cubs from 1953 to 1971. He devotes a good chunk of Let’s Play Two to Banks’ teammates, Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley, the College of Coaches, the tragedy surrounding Ken Hubbs, the Bleacher Bums and the self-destructive leadership of manager Leo Durocher.

But to understand those deviations from a traditional biography is to grasp the essence of what made Banks such a beloved figure in Chicago.

He even weathered the criticism of Durocher, who openly wanted to get rid of him.
“Unfortunately,” Leo Durocher wrote in his 1975 autobiography, Nice Guys Finish Last (which Rapoport also uses as a source), “his time was not my time.”
“He did love to play. That part of the Ernie Banks legend is true.”

Players were “dumbstruck” when Durocher, who became the Cubs manager in 1966, challenged Banks, Rapoport wrote. Durocher would nitpick about Banks’ base running, his fielding and his inability to take a longer lead at first base. And in classic Durocher style, the manager would call out his star in front of the team.

He also complained to the writers, and even in his autobiography, Durocher could not resist taking a mocking shot.

“All he knew was, ‘Ho, let’s go. Ho, babydoobedoobedoo. It’s a wonderful day for a game in Chicago. Let’s play twooo,’” Durocher wrote.

Rapoport devotes a chapter to Banks’ signature phrase and its variations, trying to determine the origin of “Let’s play two.” While it presented Banks as a positive player with a sunny disposition, there were those who thought it was a sham.

“Maybe it’s sacrilege, but I believe Banks was a con artist,” former Dodgers catcher John Roseboro said. “No one smiles all the time naturally unless they’re putting it on and putting you on.”

Rapoport then goes on a tangent, showing how “Lets’ play two” has been blended into areas of American culture other than sports. Singers, politicians, writers, rock ’n’ roll bands, playwrights and even economic experts found a way to work the phrase into their vocabularies.

With a pair of Ernie Banks biographies on the market this year — Doug Wilson wrote one with a similar title — baseball fans might be tempted to say, “Let’s read two.”

But that’s an extreme case.

Despite the criticism from his manager, or the skepticism about his optimism, Banks never groused publicly. That was not part of his DNA. “Banks was, after all, the boy who never complained about the poverty and segregation in which he was raised,” Rapoport wrote. He also was the player “who never complained about wasting his finest seasons with a team that had no hope of winning the pennant.”

Rapoport’s Let’s Play Two has some unexpected nuggets, too. He writes about a 2002 family reunion Banks’ mother, Essie Durden Banks, attended in Louisiana. Walter Banks, Ernie’s younger brother, was stunned to see O.J. Simpson there, and even more surprised to learn his mother was first cousins with Simpson’s mother, Eunice Durden Simpson.

Rapoport’s writing is smooth and easy, and he covers all angles of Banks’ personal and professional life. Married life was not sunny, as Banks went to the altar four times. His children hardly saw him during the regular season, but that’s a byproduct of baseball’s nomadic nature.

As he got older, Banks would make commitments for speaking engagements and appearances that he would either forget about or simply not honor. Even in death, there was a melancholy ending, as Banks’ family got into a legal tussle with Regina Rice over the player’s will.

“The man can’t die in peace,” Banks’ teammate, Billy Williams, told Rapoport.

While most authors compile a bibliography, Rapoport chose to label it “Sources.” It works well, because the reader can look how each chapter was formed. Rapoport lists the people he interviewed and the publications he used as source material. It’s unorthodox, but I found it fascinating. It overrode the concern of no bibliography or formal, detailed end notes.

Banks had a dark, sad side the public never saw. Rapoport does a nice job balancing that conflict with his persona.

“He had a great skill at building a façade around him,” Marjorie Lott told Rapaport. “I think a lot of his ‘It’s a great day, let’s play two’ was a cover-up of his sadness.”

“He was a tortured soul,” one prominent Chicagoan told Rapoport. “He just hid it very well.”

But with a statue of Ernie Banks now standing outside Wrigley Field, it will always be a beautiful Sunday at the Friendly Confines. And beautiful every other day, too. A smiling Banks on the cover of Let’s Play Two cannot convince you otherwise. 

Collectors looking for future gems enjoy cards depicting members of Team USA national teams. You never know when one of them might pan out and become a big star. Clayton Kershaw, who was part of the 2005-2006 Upper Deck Team USA set as a member of the junior national team, is an excellent example.

So, who, if anyone, will emerge from the 2019 version — Panini America’s Stars & Stripes baseball?
It’s hard to say, but the 100-card base set contains cards from the 15U, 18U and collegiate national teams.
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A blaster box contains seven packs, with five cards to a pack. Panini is promising at least two autographs per blaster, so it’s not a bad deal.

The box I opened had 12 cards from the 18U squad, eight from the 15U team and 11 from the collegiate national team. There also was one checklist of the 18U team.

The cards are printed on thin stock, and silver foil frame three sides of the players’ photos. The bottom of the card has red foil, with a Stars & Stripes logo. The players’ names are stamped in gold foil in the bottom right-hand part of the card.

The card back features the player’s name in large block white letters near the top, with his position in smaller, black italic type directly underneath. The center of the card back is dominated by a large shield depicting the player’s national team.

Vital statistics are located directly beneath the shield in small, red type. A five-line biography finishes off the design.
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The blaster I opened featured one parallel — a ruby card of Luke Leto, numbered to 249.

As promised, there were two autograph cards. The first was a 16U national team signatures development program card of Kennedy Jones, numbered to 165. The autograph — can you really call a card that is initialed “KJ” an autograph? I sure don’t — is on a sticker.

The second card is a USA BB Silhouettes Signatures Jersey of 17U infielder Nate Clow, numbered to 199. This autograph is also on a sticker, but at least it is more than a set of initials.

Perhaps if their careers blossom, they will learn how to solve their full names.
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The Stars & Stripes set is basically a look into the future, almost like an investment. One shiny moment, if you will. It will be interesting to see what players will take it to the next level.

Topps’ Gypsy Queen baseball is a marriage of new stars and old-time designs, and the 2019 version follows the same pattern.

The design is slightly more ornate than in previous years, particularly in how the card front is framed. The main image for this year’s set is not blended into the borders with a feathering effect, but rather use framing to contain the main art work.

Unlike the 2018 set, this year’s set centers the player’s name underneath the artwork in a turquoise, ribbon-like nameplate. The letters in the player’s name are all the same size; last year, the player’s last name was larger. The distinctive GQ logo is positioned directly above the player’s name, shifting from the left side of the card, while the left and right bottom corners feature the team logo and the player’s position, respectively.
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The artwork is detailed and very attractive.

The card backs have the player’s nameplate at the top of the card, also in turquoise. That same color is also used as the background for the five-line player’s biography, which is presented in ragged center type.

What is nice about the card back design is that there is a lot of open space; Topps does not try to crowd too many elements, and that makes for a much cleaner presentation.

The base set has 300 cards, plus 20 short prints of retired players. The short prints will fall one to a hobby box but can also be found in blaster box. A blaster box contains seven packs, with six cards to a pack. In addition, blasters have a special five-card set of parallels that have green borders.
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If you buy a hobby box, there will be a chance to score other parallels, including missing nameplates, indigo (numbered to 250), hobby exclusive black & white (50), red (10) and black (1/1). The base set also will have short-printed cards and black 1/1 parallels that feature former major-league greats.

Topps is also promising two autograph cards per hobby box, along with a three-card, chrome box topper. There also will be refractor parallels in indigo (numbered to 50), gold (50), red (5), SuperFractor (1/1) and autograph (25).

I did not pull any autographs. So, there were 39 base cards (although one was a double), a short print of Jackie Robinson, the pack of five special parallels, and two inserts.
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The inserts I pulled were a Fortune Teller card of Rays’ left-hander Blake Snell. The card back makes a prediction about some feat the player might achieve during the 2019 season. In Snell’s case, Topps believes the 2018 American League Cy Young Award winner will throw a no-hitter. That would make him the second Tampa Bay player to turn the trick; Matt Garza tossed a no-no in 2010. There are 20 different mini-cards in this subset.

The other insert came from the 25-card Tarot of the Diamond subset — a Two of Wands card of Boston’s Xander Bogaerts. The date of issue for the card in Roman numerals in the top left-hand corner is a nice touch.

The Gypsy Queen set has its good points — nice design, excellent artwork and a clean look. If you’re buying retail, don’t expect too many hot cards, but if you are set builder, this could be the way to go.

Here is a story I did for Sports Collectors Daily, the second of a two-part interview with sports memorabilia appraiser and authenticator Les Woolf. On Sports Collectors Daily:

www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/the-most-bizarre-and-the-most-memorable-les-wolffs-memorabilia-tales/