Where We're Going We Don't Need Roads

Recently, I took the readers of this blog on an Excellent adventure back to 1997 with Tuff Stuff. Now I hate to abandon Bill and Ted's phone booth for time travel, but the way I see it, if you're going to go even further back in time, why not do it with some style? So that's why we're abandoning this

For this

That's right kids, the power circuits to the flux capacator are on, Mr. Fusion has been fed and we're going to get her up to 88 MPH so that way we can travel back all the way to 1970. I'll try not to create any alternate timelines while we're away. And why are we going back to 1970? For this!
No, not really. What good would this do us now? Not only are the statistics outdated, but going back to 1970 for it wouldn't make any sense. Unless Biff stole it and then went back to 1970...hmmm....no this is what we're really after.

The 1970 edition of Who's Who in Baseball. I found this gem when my Grandmother was cleaning out her basement and I asked her if I could have it and she said I could. I've decided to share it with the blogging world. There's a lot of really interesting things inside this book. But for this post, you're just getting the front and back cover. There's no color photos in this, but there are a ton of black and white photos. As for the cover, you have Tom Seaver NL Cy Young Award winner for '69, Denny McClain and Mike Cuellar who were Co-Winners of the AL Cy Young award and Harmon Killebrew and Willie McCovey who were the MVPs for the AL and NL respectively. On the back cover
The 1969 World Champion Mets. Yogi's on the front row, a young Nolan Ryan on the back row, Tom Seaver on row 3 and Tug McGraw on the 2nd. Just a very interesting picture compared to what some of today's team pictures look like. I'll be posting some more from this guide as long as I feel like it. If there's any players that anyone wants to see specifically from this guide, leave me a comment and I'll try and accomodate all requests.

Some presents of Christmas past.

I'm at my parent's house, far away from my scanner, so I'm taking this time to show a few things that I couldn't show you by scanning. All of these I've had for years and years.

First up:

Tony Gwynn autographed ball with a .394/94 inscription. This wasn't a Christmas present, but I actually got this ball at K-Mart. Yes K-Mart sold autographed baseballs at one point. It was in a pack of 3 or 4 auto balls. I got the Gwynn, Javy Lopez, Jose Oliva (RIP) and I want to say one more. Or maybe not. Anyway, I love the ball because it's a classy classy auto and a great inscription. Next we have

The freshly retired Greg Maddux. I got the card through the mail I want to say in 1997 or somewhere around in there. The ball is a 1995 World Series ball that I got for Christmas in either 1995 or 1996. This is one of my favorite pieces I own. Let's keep on keepin' on.
This is a Griffey Junior ball from around '92 - '94. I love Junior's looping signature. This was another Christmas present.
I think I got this Nolan Ryan ball the same Christmas that I got the Junior ball. Another great readable signature of one of the game's greats. And now, for one of my favorite things I own:

Oh Hammerin' Hank. I love this ball. It's a William White NL ball with a great sig from Hank. It looks like he had to go back over the "o" in Aaron, but still, one of the greatest pieces from one of the greatest of all time. I'll be posting some more as the week goes on.