Ok, call me strange but what strikes me as interesting about this week’s MCM, 1930 Pie Traynor, is this… he has a 13-39 but a 26-14. Don’t think I didn’t notice the abbreviation of his hometown, either.
Aside from that, I love this card. I had a affinity for Harold “Pie” Traynor going back to when I was a kid. I bought these baseball cards (the kind with bubble gum) that depicted old time baseball stars. And let’s face it, back before the days of Schmidt and Brett, there wasn’t a plethora of Hall of Fame third baseman. So Pie Traynor was the “go to” guy for a legitimate third base superstar from the past.
Of course, when APBA came out with the 1930 set, there was Pie with his 3B-6 staring at me. I seem to recall another pretty nifty 3B-6 in Freddie Lindstrom, if memory serves but I already had a history with Mr Traynor.
He deserved that status, too. From his reputation as a great fielder to his hitting prowess (even in his batting-rich era, he hit .320 for his career). In 1930, he hit .366 to accompany the Waner boys who also both hit over .360.
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1930 Totals | 130 | 572 | 497 | 90 | 182 | 22 | 11 | 9 | 119 | 7 | 51 | 19 | .366 | .426 | .509 |
With Traynor hitting .366 in 1930, it shouldn’t be too surprising that he gets a total of five 7s on his card. Part of the reason is because of the relative lack of power (0-0-0) and speed (just one 10) compared to other monster cards. Those hits have to be made up somewhere.
Pie Traynor wasn’t exactly a speed demon on the basepaths but early on in his career (he was 31 in 1930), he actually regularly hit the double digits in steals. In fact, 1930 was his first full year he didn’t steal at least ten bases and he never did again afterwards.
One last bit of trivia: Ironically, Pie Traynor’s 1930 season was the only season between 1922-1933 that he didn’t have 500 at-bats. He missed only by 3 at-bats, mind you and his figure was slightly skewed by a higher than average sacrifice hits mark. Traynor was indeed a model of consistency, playing full time and hitting .300 or better nine times and over .330 five times.
Are you sure this is a 1930 card? I am replaying 1930 using the 1930 original set (12 on the 21), and also have the 1930R set (12 on the 14). Both have Pie rated at only 3B (6). Both have 13-14 and 26-28 (1930), 26-13 (1930R). PRN 39 is at 61 on both cards.
Oh,and Framingham is spelled outin full on both. :-)
The card you posted is very cool,just wondering where it comes from if it is not another APBA year?
The card is from the All Time Greats Team set of which there were three. ATA ATB ATC
This one is from the ATA set which included: Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, Lajoie, Hornsby, DiMaggio, Williams, Foxx, Sisler, Hack Wilson, Wagner, Dickey, Cochrane, E. Collins
Alexander, Feller, Grove, Johnson, Mathewson
Each card was based on the players “Best” season to my understanding but will leave that up to the experts to confirm this. I believe the original issue of this set was in the mid to late 50’s when Seitz started selling his Great Teams of the Past(GTOP). For me, the GTOP’s was were I really got into APBA and learning about the All-time great baseball Teams and players! Some great memories there.
Walt is correct. This card is actually from the the second set of the Great Teams of the Past (GTOP) not the actual 1930 card set.
If I’m not mistaken, each card was based on the player’s perceived best year and I’m pretty sure Traynor’s card was based on 1930.
Question about the 63-34 and the 64-31, shouldn’t that be the other way around, or was 34 a set number for 63 that season?
Plethora: I knew what that word meant.
Ubiquitous: I admit that I had to look that one up.
The fact that he has zero 13s on his card and three 31s surely caught me eye!
Mark,
yeah, definitely worth noting!
Ha-Ha…yet again, this is one of my cards.
Walt is correct. This card was purchased in 1988 and is part of the APBA All-Time All Stars Team A