Baseball, Hot Dogs, & Chesterfields

Baseball and tobacco products have shared a long and smoldering history - from the first baseball cards to player endorsements. Until recently you could even catch a player or manager sneaking a puff in the dugout during a game. I'm not a fan of smoking but I do have an appreciation and fondness for vintage advertising associated with baseball and featuring the stars of the game. So let's take a look. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

By the late 1800’s baseball was on its way to becoming America’s pastime. Tobacco cards were now becoming widely distributed inside of cigarette packs; they were used to both promote various brands while also acting as a stiffener to help protect the cigarettes from getting  crushed.

Here's an 1886 card I have from what is considered to be the first official baseball card set. It was once inserted into a pack of Old Judge Cigarettes from the Goodwin & Co. Tobacco. Check out this dude's mustache and his baseball boots!



By 1909 several tobacco companies were in on the action. These two were inserted into packs of Piedmont (The Quality Cigarette) and Sweet Corporal (The Standard For Years).



Below is an example of the double folder series inserted into Mecca Cigarettes (Perfect Satisfaction) in 1911. The artwork is beautifully rendered and lithographed. When viewed in an open position, the card reveals one player. When the card is folded, a different player is revealed (although the players share the same pair of legs).

This 1912 Triple Folder came in a pack of Hassan Cork Tip Cigarettes (The Oriental Smoke). Each card is designed with two full-color end panels that bookend a black-and-white center panel action photo. The end cards were folded in order for it to fit into the cigarette pack. Unfortunately the other side of this one didn't survive.


In the 40's and 50's Chesterfields were the Champs. Look at this endorsement lineup!


Chestfields here! Get yer Chesterfields!
ABC in Boston:







































ABC in New York:






































Even Rhode Island's own Gabby Harntett nailed it when it came to Chesterfields.



















Meanwhile, Yankee Waite Hoyt preferred a Lucky to maintain his slender figure.



And The Iron Horse swatted for Camels.

I always wonder what the other two smoked...


After smashing The Babe's record* Roger relaxes with a Camel. Poor Roger would succumb to cancer at the age of 51.


Fellow M & M Boy Mickey and his son pitched Phillies Cigars to get a great glove.


Phillies were big players at the Ballpark and sponsored broadcasts on TV and radio.
5 for 39 cents!

Say Hey

In my neighborhood we would have daily wiffle ball games involving imaginary teams of current major league players. Your first pick was inevitably Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays. Nothing against The Mick, who I would grow to appreciate later, but I was a Willie guy. I thought he was a better all around ball player and I was certain that he gave 100% every game. He also genuinely seemed like a good guy - someone you could really look up to and never be disappointed. 

I celebrated Willie's 89th birthday with a visit through my collection. Here are a few of my favorite items:

My McGregor Willie Mays Model glove with 1960 baseball card.



My rookie season with Maloney Drugs. For good luck I kept a 1967 Mays baseball card tucked into the band behind the 'M" on the inside of my cap all summer.













1964 Auravision picture record. I loved these things. One of the first flexi-disc records, they were printed on cardboard with player bio and stats on the back and a 5 minute interview recording on the front. I think I got mine by sending in two Milk Duds flaps with a quarter taped to them.




45 rpm copy of Say Hey (The Willie Mays Song) by The Treniers from my jukebox. 
It's actually a really swinging R & B tune produced and arranged by a very young Quincy Jones! And it features some great dialogue from Willie in the intro. Take a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UduDreaZq6c



Two older items from when the Giants were still in New York. A Golden Stamp Book and an exhibition card. When I was growing up, there was an old penny arcade in the French Quarter that still had a machine stocked with these cards from the 1950's.




"The Catch"
During Game 1 of the 1954 World Series at Polo Grounds made what is considered to be one of the greatest plays in baseball history. During the 8th inning with the score tied 2-2, Cleveland Indians batter Vic Werz hit a deep fly to center that should have scored the runners on base. However, Mays made an over-the shoulder catch with while running toward the wall, then had the wherewithal to recover, spin, and drill a rocket back to the infield and prevent the runners from advancing. The Giants would go on the win 5 - 2 in extra innings. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vrsg_-dV7Q

I can’t tell you how many times my friends and I reenacted this catch in the back yard. If you didn't lose your cap in the process you did't do it right.

This is the box to my Aurora model of “The Catch” I got in the 1960’s. Unfortunately the model itself didn’t survive my many moves. 




A couple of 1960's magazines and a Willie Mays bio I ordered at school from a catalog of "educational" books they sent us home with. I would only order the sports books. Parents couldn't say no to a book.





One of my more unusual finds was this photograph of Willie getting a rub down! It was in a box of snapshots from San Francisco at a flea market. Willie always seemed to have a smile on his face. You could tell how much he loved playing the game.




In 1973 I sent this card to Mr. Mays. He signed it beautifully and returned it in my SASE (that's self addressed stamped envelope) proving my assumption. Willie was a good guy.

Home Run Hits

My collection of early baseball sheet music is probably one of my most treasured. It combines my two passions - baseball and music.

First batter up is from 1928. Locals will note that this was written and published in Olneyville, Rhode Island!

So grab your ukulele and let's sing:

"Babe Ruth! Babe Ruth! That's the guy we Mean 

Babe Ruth! Babe Ruth! He Cleans the bases clean

Up in the stands out of the lot 

big Bambino packs an awful sock

 and ev'ry time he comes up as a batter,

 the fans all rave and all the fielders scatter. 

There's other famous guys in this country too; 

but our Babe Ruth! Babe Ruth! 

We know What he can do. We know What he can do"

This "Home Run Hit" is from 1908 and tells the story of a dude who called in sick from work and then bumps into his boss at the game:

"Why is it little Johnny tells his boss that he is sick Base - ball

And asks if he will let him off to see a doctor quick Base - ball

He's seated in the bleachers and by chance he looks across,

the batter hits the the ball a crack in the crowd it's lost,

Johnny makes a run for it, and bumps in to the boss

The both of them ran after the Base - ball

Rah Rah Ziz Boom Bah"

Published in 1907 during the Jim Crow Era, and before "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" this song 
recounts the story of a church deacon with a leaky roof and a baseball game with Biblical figures:

"That Eve stole first and Adam second St. Peter umpired the game
Rebecca went to the well with a pitcher And Ruth in the field won fame,
Goliath struck out by David base hit on A-bel by Cain,
The Prodigal son made one home run Noah gave out checks for rain"





























From 1912, this one comes with additional verses on the back written for different teams and references actual players. The Red Sox lyrics are particularly interesting as they would go on to win the championship that year.

My man George M. Cohan, Mr. Yankee Doodle Dandy himself and another Rhode Island connection. I always get a kick out of telling folks that I'm in the RI Music HOF along with Mr. Cohen. Ha! This one was published in 1908: 

"Take your girl to the ball game, Any old afternoon.
That's the place to pro-pose to Mame, 
The spot for a sun-shiny spoon"

Hey! Down in front! Who would wear a hat like that to a baseball game?





Last up this inning is a 1925 march written by Lt. Commander John Philip Sousa "The American March King."
Interesting that he dedicated it to Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis who served as Baseball Commissioner from 1920 to 1940 and cleaned up baseball after the infamous Black Sox Scandal.
No lyrics (it's a march remember) but you can hear a rendition here:
https://sousamusic.com/work/the-national-game/

Send in the Clowns

There was a time in baseball history when baseball clowns would perform before, during, or after games  - and I’m not talking about the 1962 Mets. 

The first "Clown Prince of Baseball" was Al Schacht. a former major league player and coach who started clowning at games in the 1930’s. This is an advertisement for his act that I found in a 1937 copy of "Sporting News."

Following World War II, Schacht went into the restaurant business. His eponymous steakhouse at 102 E. 52nd St. in Manhattan was popular for decades, catering to a clientele of sports stars and stage and screen celebrities.The menus at Al Schacht's were round, fashioned as oversized baseballs, and featured dishes named after old-time players. From time to time, Schacht would mount the small restaurant stage and launch into his old routines, to the delight of patrons. The restaurant's exterior appears in the 1961 movie "Breakfast at Tiffanys" when protagonist Holly Golightly and friend Paul Varjak go there for dinner. Here is a linen postcard I have from his restaurant. "When it comes to food I'm not clowning" says Al!

Another popular clown was Max Patkin, also dubbed
"The Clown Prince of Baseball."

Max had a seemingly rubber face, wore his cap askew and a baggy uniform with a ? on the back in place of a number. He made over 4000 appearances at games during his career and even appeared as himself in the movie “Bull Durham."

Here is a ball I had him autograph when he came to New Orleans for the inaugural season of the AAA New Orleans Pelicans in 1977.

Johnnie Johnson "Baseball's Laugh Ambassador" was an ex- G.I. and apparently "Baseball's Youngest Comedian."

I say it's time to bring clowns back to baseball. 

MBFA  

Make Baseball Funny Again!

1973 Pawtucket Red Sox Program

    

Dig who our Vice President was!                          

Our outfield featured a couple of nobodies named Fred Lynn and Jim Rice.

Don't forget that Wednesday is 15 cent beer night!

One of the more humorous names in baseball. 

Come on, couldn't he stick with Richard or Rick?

After the game let's all go to Burger Chef!