Saturday, August 15, 2009

Nicknames: "Fire" Trucks, Whammy, Superman, and Briefcase

OK, no mail from Mr. "Fire" Trucks today, but I did get two letters. I'm out of town from Monday to Wednesday, so hopefully something shows up around then!

The coolest thing about having the blog is the kind of people you meet who know a lot more about baseball than you do. It's all relative, but I like learning more about the game and its history, especially from other folks that love and follow the game.

A while back I said I had a "top two" nicknames, which I did. Little did I know of the awesomeness of two others. So, we're up to a top four, in no certain order: "Whammy" Douglas, Virgil "Fire" Trucks, Art "Superman" Pennington, and Herb "Briefcase" Simpson.
Yep, Mr. Pennington signed it with the "Superman." The Ginter insert autos are beyond my financial reach, so as I said earlier I'm trying to contact these gentlemen through the mail. AND, there will be a Pennington giveaway a few weeks after the Trucks giveaway, so keep your eyes peeled. In case you are interested, Mr. Pennington has a website found here. He lost everything in the Cedar Rapids flood last summer, so if you are thinking on throwing down cash on the Ginter certified auto, you might consider sending him a base card and a few bucks instead.

He even answered the question sheet I sent him. Where did "Superman" come from? His mom when he was 10 or 12. I'll save the rest for the giveaway later.

I also heard back from this gentleman, Herb "Briefcase" Simpson (another article here).
How awesome is the nickname "Briefcase"!?! Now, in my utter ignorance, I had no idea Mr. Simpson's nickname was "Briefcase," so I didn't ask him how he became known as "Briefcase." Might have to send a follow up letter and ask. BUT, what was his best moment in baseball? Mr. Simpson hit a homer off Satchell Paige and his parents were in the stadium to see it! Very cool memory to share.

So, as a general question, why haven't the big THEY made a Negro League set loaded up with "hits" or whatever? Any thoughts? Given the popularity of the Negro League Ginter autos, would you bust a product with Negro League hits, cut sigs, and relics? They could even get current prominent Afro-American players involved. What do you think?

P.S. Upper Deck, let me suggest that, having lost your MLB license, this would seem to be one heck of an idea. Plus, you'd be educating the general public and providing extra income for some of these men.

6 comments:

  1. did you use the address on the wedsite??? and how much did you send him?

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  2. This is the address I used:
    Art Pennington
    922 5th ST SE-Apt E5
    CEDAR RAPIDS,IA 52401

    It's the same as the one on the website, but includes his apartment number.

    The guy who sent me an email about the apartment number said he sent $5. I put in some extra because I asked him to fill out a sheet with a couple of questions and give me an extra signature to give away on Crawford cards.

    If you send him a card keep me posted on how it turn out!

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  3. Thanks so much!!! i'm going to be sending it on monday.... thats so cool!

    How about Mr.Simpson??

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  4. wickedortega, shoot me an email and I'll send you the address. Unlike Mr. Pennington, as far as I know Mr. Simpson's address is not posted anywhere online. Don't know if that's his preference or anything, but I'd be hesitant to put it up.

    But, like I said, if you send me an email at crawfordcards(at)gmail.com I'll get it right to you!

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  5. Great posts...congrats on the TTM success. The links to their profiles was nice.

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  6. This is a good name for a person. Maybe he has the character being a huge truck that can hit that run! Just like this altec bucket trucks that can help you run out your needs.

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