Of course, while the kids on these boards missed out on opening those cards, they also missed out on Velveeta cheese boxes and coffee cans as baseball card storage methods ! >>
My first storage method was rubber bands in team order, then in an old metal lunch box !
"The other teams could make trouble for us if they win." -- Yogi Berra
<< <i>I can't believe I'm the oldest one here...(Class of 1978)...anyone???
MooseDog aka "Greybeard" >>
Nope - that, uhm, honor goes to me (so far). Class of 67! But my "boyhood" cards are better that yours. I have them from 1958-1966, and then the Braves left Milwaukee - and I abandoned baseball for about 10 years.
Class of 87, errrrrrr missed a year after a football injury so let make me class of 88....WAHOOOOO means I am 37 and getting happily divoriced as we speak. Anyone want to buy a house in Maryland?
Collecting Interests: Ripken, Brooks & Frank Robinson, Old Orioles, Sweet Spot Autos, older Redskins - Riggins, Sonny, Baugh etc and anything that catches my eye.
My ghetto sportscard webpage...All Scans - No Lists!!! Stinky Linky
This is my first post in this forum, I normally post in the US Coins. My baseball card interest has been rekindled of late and I have been lurking here for a couple of weeks. I started collecting baseball cards in 1973.
My friends and I use to put the cards on our bicycle spokes It made a really cool noise. I graduated in 1981 and we just had our 25th reunion.
My daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 2 (2003). My son was diagnosed with Type 1 when he was 17 on December 31, 2009. We were stunned that another child of ours had been diagnosed. Please, if you don't have a favorite charity, consider giving to the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation)
Class of '89..... well, I was kicked out in '89 so I guess that'd be my class. I went to finish my diploma in '91 so maybe I have 2 classes - as long as the class of 1991 doesn't wonder why a 35 year old man is there.
Hey, another oldtimer here......I was class of 70.....looks like only two or three of us got to enjoy one of life's old pleasures.....THE DRAFT!!! I was number 94...and wouldn't you know it they drafted everyone with a number up to 95 ......I went away for two years but can't really complain...got to see the great state of Texas.....any of you youngsters from Austin, Killeen, Copras Cove, Waco Way??? had some good times down there...
<< <i>This is my first post in this forum, I normally post in the US Coins. My baseball card interest has been rekindled of late and I have been lurking here for a couple of weeks. I started collecting baseball cards in 1973.
My friends and I use to put the cards on our bicycle spokes It made a really cool noise. I graduated in 1981 and we just had our 25th reunion. >>
Welcome Bunker! Glad you decided to post one in the house of cardboard.
Class of '86 here....I was bitten by the collecting bug in 1975. I remember mowing lawns and shoveling snow just to get enough money to buy those 15 cent Topps packs. Breaking your back shoveling someone's driveway with two feet of snow for a dollar was well worth it. My mother thought I was nuts...to go through that much work for some lousy cardboard. It was a treat to go down to the local grocery store and buy STACKS of 15 cent Topps packs. I would rip them as fast as I could, stuffing the gum into my mouth and praying to get ANY MN Viking card! I was also happy if I got a Staubach, Bradshaw, Lambert or Payton. I'd do anything to re-live those years!
Dan
"If the Army and the Navy ever look on Heaven's scene, they will find the streets are guarded by United States Marines!" - Marine Corps Hymn
<< <i>OOPS: Referring to the poster who graduated high school in Oakland in 1978... Wasn't Rickey Henderson in high school in Oakland around that time? >>
Wow, that comment kind of triggerd a flashback...Gertrude Stein once said about Oakland "There's no 'there" there"...which is pretty much true.
Yes, Rickey went to Oakland Technical High School and was in the Class of '76. He was just an amazing athlete, but really, really shy and quiet. I played on a summer baseball team with him for about a month before he signed with the A's and I don't think he said three words to anyone. In his last game with us he hit a monster HR, rounded the bases, then went down the dugout one by one and shook everyone's hand and said "nice playing with you guys" and took off. Later we found out he had signed and was on his way to the minors. He was the star running back on the football team, I think he also played basketball, and he ran track when it didn't conflict with baseball games.
My eternal claim to fame will be that as high school soph pitcher for Oakland (Regular) High School, I struck out the future Hall of Famer the only time I faced him. It's a story that only gets better with age
Also, on my team who was also Class of '78 was Lloyd Moseby, who was the first high school player taken in the '78 Baseball Draft (2nd overall behind Bob Horner from Ariz State). Before his senior year, Moseby used a 33 inch bat, choked up about two inches and stroked the ball all over the field. He hit something like .650 that year. Apparently the scouts wanted to see more power so they started messing with him, got him to use a bigger bat and hit for more power. He still managed to hit over .400 but the scouts got what they wanted as he hit 7 HRs in 10 league games. Understand that none of our fields had fences so he had to run those all out. Lloyd had a decent career with Toronto and spent a couple of years in Japan.
From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s there were some outstanding athletes in Oakland. You never heard of most of them because they either dropped out of school, got into drugs, or got killed. Rickey was one of the best, but he wasn't even the best athlete in the city at the time. That was a guy named Steve Moore from Castlemont High who was the starting QB, star point guard (his best sport), ran 100, 200, and 4x100 relay on the track team, and played SS on the baseball team. Rickey didn't even get the league MVP award in his senior year, which went to our catcher William Iles (man that guy could smack a baseball!). We did win the league championship which probably helped his cause.
For a city with one of the world's worst public school systems, a history of civic corruption, drug problems galore, and gangs aplenty (it's a very multi-ethnic city so we had Chinese gangs, black gangs, Viet gangs, Mexican gangs, and just plain hoodlums), not to mention some of the worst ball fields, it's amazing some of the baseball players who have come out of Oakland. Can any other city lay claim to having 4 Hall of Famers born there?
Frank Robinson (HOF) Joe Morgan (HOF) Curt Flood Vada Pinson Rudy May Dennis Eckersley (HOF) Rickey Henderson (future HOF if he ever retires) Dave Stewart Jimmy Rollins Dontrelle Willis
In addition current journeymen Brian Johnson (Stanford FB and BB star) and Greg Norton (Tampa) are both Oaklanders. Other notable Oakland natives include actor Tom Hanks (Skyline High Class of '74), basketball stars Bill Russell, Jason Kidd and Gary Payton.
<< <i>OOPS: Referring to the poster who graduated high school in Oakland in 1978... Wasn't Rickey Henderson in high school in Oakland around that time? >>
Wow, that comment kind of triggerd a flashback...Gertrude Stein once said about Oakland "There's no 'there" there"...which is pretty much true.
Yes, Rickey went to Oakland Technical High School and was in the Class of '76. He was just an amazing athlete, but really, really shy and quiet. I played on a summer baseball team with him for about a month before he signed with the A's and I don't think he said three words to anyone. In his last game with us he hit a monster HR, rounded the bases, then went down the dugout one by one and shook everyone's hand and said "nice playing with you guys" and took off. Later we found out he had signed and was on his way to the minors. He was the star running back on the football team, I think he also played basketball, and he ran track when it didn't conflict with baseball games.
My eternal claim to fame will be that as high school soph pitcher for Oakland (Regular) High School, I struck out the future Hall of Famer the only time I faced him. It's a story that only gets better with age
Also, on my team who was also Class of '78 was Lloyd Moseby, who was the first high school player taken in the '78 Baseball Draft (2nd overall behind Bob Horner from Ariz State). Before his senior year, Moseby used a 33 inch bat, choked up about two inches and stroked the ball all over the field. He hit something like .650 that year. Apparently the scouts wanted to see more power so they started messing with him, got him to use a bigger bat and hit for more power. He still managed to hit over .400 but the scouts got what they wanted as he hit 7 HRs in 10 league games. Understand that none of our fields had fences so he had to run those all out. Lloyd had a decent career with Toronto and spent a couple of years in Japan.
From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s there were some outstanding athletes in Oakland. You never heard of most of them because they either dropped out of school, got into drugs, or got killed. Rickey was one of the best, but he wasn't even the best athlete in the city at the time. That was a guy named Steve Moore from Castlemont High who was the starting QB, star point guard (his best sport), ran 100, 200, and 4x100 relay on the track team, and played SS on the baseball team. Rickey didn't even get the league MVP award in his senior year, which went to our catcher William Iles (man that guy could smack a baseball!). We did win the league championship which probably helped his cause.
For a city with one of the world's worst public school systems, a history of civic corruption, drug problems galore, and gangs aplenty (it's a very multi-ethnic city so we had Chinese gangs, black gangs, Viet gangs, Mexican gangs, and just plain hoodlums), not to mention some of the worst ball fields, it's amazing some of the baseball players who have come out of Oakland. Can any other city lay claim to having 4 Hall of Famers born there?
Frank Robinson (HOF) Joe Morgan (HOF) Curt Flood Vada Pinson Rudy May Dennis Eckersley (HOF) Rickey Henderson (future HOF if he ever retires) Dave Stewart Jimmy Rollins Dontrelle Willis
In addition current journeymen Brian Johnson (Stanford FB and BB star) and Greg Norton (Tampa) are both Oaklanders. Other notable Oakland natives include actor Tom Hanks (Skyline High Class of '74), basketball stars Bill Russell, Jason Kidd and Gary Payton. >>
<< <i>OOPS: Referring to the poster who graduated high school in Oakland in 1978... Wasn't Rickey Henderson in high school in Oakland around that time? >>
Wow, that comment kind of triggerd a flashback...Gertrude Stein once said about Oakland "There's no 'there" there"...which is pretty much true.
Yes, Rickey went to Oakland Technical High School and was in the Class of '76. He was just an amazing athlete, but really, really shy and quiet. I played on a summer baseball team with him for about a month before he signed with the A's and I don't think he said three words to anyone. In his last game with us he hit a monster HR, rounded the bases, then went down the dugout one by one and shook everyone's hand and said "nice playing with you guys" and took off. Later we found out he had signed and was on his way to the minors. He was the star running back on the football team, I think he also played basketball, and he ran track when it didn't conflict with baseball games.
My eternal claim to fame will be that as high school soph pitcher for Oakland (Regular) High School, I struck out the future Hall of Famer the only time I faced him. It's a story that only gets better with age
Also, on my team who was also Class of '78 was Lloyd Moseby, who was the first high school player taken in the '78 Baseball Draft (2nd overall behind Bob Horner from Ariz State). Before his senior year, Moseby used a 33 inch bat, choked up about two inches and stroked the ball all over the field. He hit something like .650 that year. Apparently the scouts wanted to see more power so they started messing with him, got him to use a bigger bat and hit for more power. He still managed to hit over .400 but the scouts got what they wanted as he hit 7 HRs in 10 league games. Understand that none of our fields had fences so he had to run those all out. Lloyd had a decent career with Toronto and spent a couple of years in Japan.
From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s there were some outstanding athletes in Oakland. You never heard of most of them because they either dropped out of school, got into drugs, or got killed. Rickey was one of the best, but he wasn't even the best athlete in the city at the time. That was a guy named Steve Moore from Castlemont High who was the starting QB, star point guard (his best sport), ran 100, 200, and 4x100 relay on the track team, and played SS on the baseball team. Rickey didn't even get the league MVP award in his senior year, which went to our catcher William Iles (man that guy could smack a baseball!). We did win the league championship which probably helped his cause.
For a city with one of the world's worst public school systems, a history of civic corruption, drug problems galore, and gangs aplenty (it's a very multi-ethnic city so we had Chinese gangs, black gangs, Viet gangs, Mexican gangs, and just plain hoodlums), not to mention some of the worst ball fields, it's amazing some of the baseball players who have come out of Oakland. Can any other city lay claim to having 4 Hall of Famers born there?
Frank Robinson (HOF) Joe Morgan (HOF) Curt Flood Vada Pinson Rudy May Dennis Eckersley (HOF) Rickey Henderson (future HOF if he ever retires) Dave Stewart Jimmy Rollins Dontrelle Willis
In addition current journeymen Brian Johnson (Stanford FB and BB star) and Greg Norton (Tampa) are both Oaklanders. Other notable Oakland natives include actor Tom Hanks (Skyline High Class of '74), basketball stars Bill Russell, Jason Kidd and Gary Payton. >>
Comments
<< <i>
Of course, while the kids on these boards missed out on opening those cards, they also missed out on Velveeta cheese boxes and coffee cans as baseball card storage methods
My first storage method was rubber bands in team order, then in an old metal lunch box !
-- Yogi Berra
MooseDog
aka "Greybeard"
For you young whippersnappers...that means I collected as a kid
68 through 74 roughly.
Yes I still have my cards and both my older brothers cards!
Problem is we pitched 'em as kids.
Anyone over 35 knows what I mean.
Bob C.
61 Topps (100%) 7.96
62 Parkhurst (100%) 8.70
63 Topps (100%) 7.96
63 York WB's (50%) 8.52
68 Topps (39%) 8.54
69 Topps (3%) 9.00
69 OPC (83%) 8.21
71 Topps (100%) 9.21 #1 A.T.F.
72 Topps (100%) 9.39
73 Topps (13%) 9.35
74 OPC WHA (95%) 8.57
75 Topps (50%) 9.23
77 OPC WHA (86%) 8.62 #1 A.T.F.
88 Topps (5%) 10.00
<< <i>I can't believe I'm the oldest one here...(Class of 1978)...anyone???
MooseDog
aka "Greybeard" >>
Nope - that, uhm, honor goes to me (so far). Class of 67! But my "boyhood" cards are better that yours.
Cool thread...
btw, I'm going to bed now. It's darn late...
Ripken, Brooks & Frank Robinson, Old Orioles, Sweet Spot Autos, older Redskins - Riggins, Sonny, Baugh etc and anything that catches my eye.
My ghetto sportscard webpage...All Scans - No Lists!!! Stinky Linky
3 years for me Mark.....class of '72 here, sounds like Mucky & Mark are both older (think I knew Mark was).
Now collecting:
Topps Heritage
1957 Topps BB Ex+-NM
All Yaz Items 7+
Various Red Sox
Did I leave anything out?
My friends and I use to put the cards on our bicycle spokes
My daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 2 (2003). My son was diagnosed with Type 1 when he was 17 on December 31, 2009. We were stunned that another child of ours had been diagnosed. Please, if you don't have a favorite charity, consider giving to the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation)
JDRF Donation
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
you were class of 87 and went to Howell
I was class of 87 and went to Lakewood
about 10 minutes away lol
Dave
<< <i>Dan,
you were class of 87 and went to Howell
I was class of 87 and went to Lakewood
about 10 minutes away lol
Dave >>
Dave, Just PM'd you about a couple people who went to Lakewood. I actually was at the 1987 Lakewood prom!
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
We probablly saw each other there that night lol
I was a bit drunk though .. You ?
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
<< <i>This is my first post in this forum, I normally post in the US Coins. My baseball card interest has been rekindled of late and I have been lurking here for a couple of weeks. I started collecting baseball cards in 1973.
My friends and I use to put the cards on our bicycle spokes
Welcome Bunker! Glad you decided to post one in the house of cardboard.
My Auctions
Dan
Mark is a Dodger fan and a longtime collector. He still has the Brooklyn Bridegrooms cards he picked up as a kid.
Nick
Reap the whirlwind.
Need to buy something for the wife or girlfriend? Check out Vintage Designer Clothing.
Working on 56T BB and 80T BB
Looking to trade blocks of BB graded commons for other blocks of BB commons
https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/sinibobcards/othersets/3205
https://www.ebay.com/sch/sinibobsystems/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=
Wasn't Rickey Henderson in high school in Oakland around that time?
<< <i>OOPS: Referring to the poster who graduated high school in Oakland in 1978...
Wasn't Rickey Henderson in high school in Oakland around that time? >>
Wow, that comment kind of triggerd a flashback...Gertrude Stein once said about Oakland "There's no 'there" there"...which is pretty much true.
Yes, Rickey went to Oakland Technical High School and was in the Class of '76. He was just an amazing athlete, but really, really shy and quiet. I played on a summer baseball team with him for about a month before he signed with the A's and I don't think he said three words to anyone. In his last game with us he hit a monster HR, rounded the bases, then went down the dugout one by one and shook everyone's hand and said "nice playing with you guys" and took off. Later we found out he had signed and was on his way to the minors. He was the star running back on the football team, I think he also played basketball, and he ran track when it didn't conflict with baseball games.
My eternal claim to fame will be that as high school soph pitcher for Oakland (Regular) High School, I struck out the future Hall of Famer the only time I faced him. It's a story that only gets better with age
Also, on my team who was also Class of '78 was Lloyd Moseby, who was the first high school player taken in the '78 Baseball Draft (2nd overall behind Bob Horner from Ariz State). Before his senior year, Moseby used a 33 inch bat, choked up about two inches and stroked the ball all over the field. He hit something like .650 that year. Apparently the scouts wanted to see more power so they started messing with him, got him to use a bigger bat and hit for more power. He still managed to hit over .400 but the scouts got what they wanted as he hit 7 HRs in 10 league games. Understand that none of our fields had fences so he had to run those all out. Lloyd had a decent career with Toronto and spent a couple of years in Japan.
From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s there were some outstanding athletes in Oakland. You never heard of most of them because they either dropped out of school, got into drugs, or got killed. Rickey was one of the best, but he wasn't even the best athlete in the city at the time. That was a guy named Steve Moore from Castlemont High who was the starting QB, star point guard (his best sport), ran 100, 200, and 4x100 relay on the track team, and played SS on the baseball team. Rickey didn't even get the league MVP award in his senior year, which went to our catcher William Iles (man that guy could smack a baseball!). We did win the league championship which probably helped his cause.
For a city with one of the world's worst public school systems, a history of civic corruption, drug problems galore, and gangs aplenty (it's a very multi-ethnic city so we had Chinese gangs, black gangs, Viet gangs, Mexican gangs, and just plain hoodlums), not to mention some of the worst ball fields, it's amazing some of the baseball players who have come out of Oakland. Can any other city lay claim to having 4 Hall of Famers born there?
Frank Robinson (HOF)
Joe Morgan (HOF)
Curt Flood
Vada Pinson
Rudy May
Dennis Eckersley (HOF)
Rickey Henderson (future HOF if he ever retires)
Dave Stewart
Jimmy Rollins
Dontrelle Willis
In addition current journeymen Brian Johnson (Stanford FB and BB star) and Greg Norton (Tampa) are both Oaklanders. Other notable Oakland natives include actor Tom Hanks (Skyline High Class of '74), basketball stars Bill Russell, Jason Kidd and Gary Payton.
"I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.
<< <i>
<< <i>OOPS: Referring to the poster who graduated high school in Oakland in 1978...
Wasn't Rickey Henderson in high school in Oakland around that time? >>
Wow, that comment kind of triggerd a flashback...Gertrude Stein once said about Oakland "There's no 'there" there"...which is pretty much true.
Yes, Rickey went to Oakland Technical High School and was in the Class of '76. He was just an amazing athlete, but really, really shy and quiet. I played on a summer baseball team with him for about a month before he signed with the A's and I don't think he said three words to anyone. In his last game with us he hit a monster HR, rounded the bases, then went down the dugout one by one and shook everyone's hand and said "nice playing with you guys" and took off. Later we found out he had signed and was on his way to the minors. He was the star running back on the football team, I think he also played basketball, and he ran track when it didn't conflict with baseball games.
My eternal claim to fame will be that as high school soph pitcher for Oakland (Regular) High School, I struck out the future Hall of Famer the only time I faced him. It's a story that only gets better with age
Also, on my team who was also Class of '78 was Lloyd Moseby, who was the first high school player taken in the '78 Baseball Draft (2nd overall behind Bob Horner from Ariz State). Before his senior year, Moseby used a 33 inch bat, choked up about two inches and stroked the ball all over the field. He hit something like .650 that year. Apparently the scouts wanted to see more power so they started messing with him, got him to use a bigger bat and hit for more power. He still managed to hit over .400 but the scouts got what they wanted as he hit 7 HRs in 10 league games. Understand that none of our fields had fences so he had to run those all out. Lloyd had a decent career with Toronto and spent a couple of years in Japan.
From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s there were some outstanding athletes in Oakland. You never heard of most of them because they either dropped out of school, got into drugs, or got killed. Rickey was one of the best, but he wasn't even the best athlete in the city at the time. That was a guy named Steve Moore from Castlemont High who was the starting QB, star point guard (his best sport), ran 100, 200, and 4x100 relay on the track team, and played SS on the baseball team. Rickey didn't even get the league MVP award in his senior year, which went to our catcher William Iles (man that guy could smack a baseball!). We did win the league championship which probably helped his cause.
For a city with one of the world's worst public school systems, a history of civic corruption, drug problems galore, and gangs aplenty (it's a very multi-ethnic city so we had Chinese gangs, black gangs, Viet gangs, Mexican gangs, and just plain hoodlums), not to mention some of the worst ball fields, it's amazing some of the baseball players who have come out of Oakland. Can any other city lay claim to having 4 Hall of Famers born there?
Frank Robinson (HOF)
Joe Morgan (HOF)
Curt Flood
Vada Pinson
Rudy May
Dennis Eckersley (HOF)
Rickey Henderson (future HOF if he ever retires)
Dave Stewart
Jimmy Rollins
Dontrelle Willis
In addition current journeymen Brian Johnson (Stanford FB and BB star) and Greg Norton (Tampa) are both Oaklanders. Other notable Oakland natives include actor Tom Hanks (Skyline High Class of '74), basketball stars Bill Russell, Jason Kidd and Gary Payton. >>
Was Demetrius 'Hook' Mitchell from Oakland?
Steve
<< <i>Was Demetrius 'Hook' Mitchell from Oakland? >>
Yes he was...a legend on the hardcourt though I never saw him play.
<< <i>
<< <i>OOPS: Referring to the poster who graduated high school in Oakland in 1978...
Wasn't Rickey Henderson in high school in Oakland around that time? >>
Wow, that comment kind of triggerd a flashback...Gertrude Stein once said about Oakland "There's no 'there" there"...which is pretty much true.
Yes, Rickey went to Oakland Technical High School and was in the Class of '76. He was just an amazing athlete, but really, really shy and quiet. I played on a summer baseball team with him for about a month before he signed with the A's and I don't think he said three words to anyone. In his last game with us he hit a monster HR, rounded the bases, then went down the dugout one by one and shook everyone's hand and said "nice playing with you guys" and took off. Later we found out he had signed and was on his way to the minors. He was the star running back on the football team, I think he also played basketball, and he ran track when it didn't conflict with baseball games.
My eternal claim to fame will be that as high school soph pitcher for Oakland (Regular) High School, I struck out the future Hall of Famer the only time I faced him. It's a story that only gets better with age
Also, on my team who was also Class of '78 was Lloyd Moseby, who was the first high school player taken in the '78 Baseball Draft (2nd overall behind Bob Horner from Ariz State). Before his senior year, Moseby used a 33 inch bat, choked up about two inches and stroked the ball all over the field. He hit something like .650 that year. Apparently the scouts wanted to see more power so they started messing with him, got him to use a bigger bat and hit for more power. He still managed to hit over .400 but the scouts got what they wanted as he hit 7 HRs in 10 league games. Understand that none of our fields had fences so he had to run those all out. Lloyd had a decent career with Toronto and spent a couple of years in Japan.
From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s there were some outstanding athletes in Oakland. You never heard of most of them because they either dropped out of school, got into drugs, or got killed. Rickey was one of the best, but he wasn't even the best athlete in the city at the time. That was a guy named Steve Moore from Castlemont High who was the starting QB, star point guard (his best sport), ran 100, 200, and 4x100 relay on the track team, and played SS on the baseball team. Rickey didn't even get the league MVP award in his senior year, which went to our catcher William Iles (man that guy could smack a baseball!). We did win the league championship which probably helped his cause.
For a city with one of the world's worst public school systems, a history of civic corruption, drug problems galore, and gangs aplenty (it's a very multi-ethnic city so we had Chinese gangs, black gangs, Viet gangs, Mexican gangs, and just plain hoodlums), not to mention some of the worst ball fields, it's amazing some of the baseball players who have come out of Oakland. Can any other city lay claim to having 4 Hall of Famers born there?
Frank Robinson (HOF)
Joe Morgan (HOF)
Curt Flood
Vada Pinson
Rudy May
Dennis Eckersley (HOF)
Rickey Henderson (future HOF if he ever retires)
Dave Stewart
Jimmy Rollins
Dontrelle Willis
In addition current journeymen Brian Johnson (Stanford FB and BB star) and Greg Norton (Tampa) are both Oaklanders. Other notable Oakland natives include actor Tom Hanks (Skyline High Class of '74), basketball stars Bill Russell, Jason Kidd and Gary Payton. >>
Great post, thanks for the entertainment.
shawn