Funniest card player biography?

darkhorse9

I was going through some old cards the other day, reading the biographies on the back of the ard. I came across a 1941 Play Ball card of Harry "Gunboat" Gumpert. The card bio starts off "Harry Gumpert did not set the baseball world on fire with his pitching last year - he was not too good on occassion"

I had to say my jaw dropped at the brutal honesty. That has to rank right up there with the 1955 Bowman card of Eddie Waitkus in which he lists his greatest thrill in baseball by starting off..."In 1949 I was shot by a deranged girl..."

Are there any other "classic" card biographies out there. I couldn't imagine seeing anything like those on cards today.

Hub

I think the Eddie Waitkus story was, in part, the inspiration for "The Natural," where Roy Hobbs is shot by the obsessed female fan. Eddie Waitkus earned several medals for bravery in WW2--and his comeback in baseball was astonishing. From what I've read, he was practically a goner after he was shot.

lostdart58

I was curious so I pulled out my 55 Bowman Waitkus, (by the way, I need to get it graded...it has PSA 9 written all over it).....

Anyway the bio reads:

MY BIGGEST THRILL IN BASEBALL

In 1949 I was shot by a dranged girl. After I was released from the hospital, I was sent toFlorida by the phillies to see if I might recover enough to resume baseball.The schedule laid out for me was a nightmare. I was in a bad nervous condition, and I grew more depressed each day. Then I met a girl who knew a lot about human nature - who had faith in me. I went on to a good season, and the newspapers commended me for the "Comeback of the Year" (The girl who helped so much is now my wife.)

mudflap02

I remember a 1988 or 1989 Score Ron Karkovice card had a not-so-flattering writeup on the back.

Something to the effect of "Ron tries hard, but constantly returns to the minors to develop his swing."

mudflap02

Neat writeup on Waikus

Learn something new every day.

Stingray

If someone can do there research, there was something on a 67 Topps BB card, a pitcher, that stated something about, "if he can watch his weight". I thought that to be really odd, talking about a players weight on a card.


Stingray

Blackborder

The back of the 1915 Cracker Jack Fred Merkle card says "Fred has made good in every way". Obviously a mitigating reference to the so called "Merkle Boner".