The latest pickup (with long story)

[TBTwinsFan]

Lately, I've been reading up on famous residents from my section of the state.

I've learned lots of incredible information (ever shop at Sears?), but I've paid lots of special attention to the baseball players from my corner of the state.

To my knowledge, only 5 big leaguers come from southwest Minnesota (depending upon where the lines are drawn).

-Bill Gullickson
-Mike Kingery
-Dana Kiecker
-Terry Steinbach

...and Blix Donnelly.

While each player has their each, impressive story, Donnelly's career fascinated me more than anyone else. He is the only one out of the bunch to win a World Series, with the Cardinals in 1944. He played for Ben Chapman during his days as a Phillie (Chapman was ruthless to Jackie Robinson), and a mishap with a firecracker can be attributed to the end of his career in the early '50s.

So, while I'd love an autograph, I'll settle for a low grade '51 Bowman:

 

[TBTwinsFan]

Scratch that, make it six.

I literally just learned about Bob Gebhard.

 

[byronscott4ever]

Steinbach was on the 89 As WS team wasn't he?

 

[Hendersonfan]

Steinbach was on the 89 As WS team wasn't he?

Yes he was. Catcher.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Freedom Card Board mobile app

 

[TBTwinsFan]

Kiecker pitched in the 1990 ALCS. He could have had a promising career, but it was limited to 2 seasons due to injury

Gullickson has an award named after him in Japan, only one of the group to play in Japan, inspired Sam Fuld to play baseball, played in the 81 ALCS, at one time, he held the rookie record for single game strikeouts (still an overall team record for the Expos/Nationals)

Bob Gebhard was drafted in the 44th round in '65 (first ever draft), currently the vice president for the D-Backs

Kingery was half of the duo that hit the first back-to-back home run at Coors field, had a 10 year career, and is the only one to have a certified autograph card (not a cut).

I know of a few minor leaguers from the area as well, to my knowledge, the only current one is Mike Nesseth (you may remember him from 2010 EEE)

 

[TBTwinsFan]

Steinbach was a 3 time All-Star (MVP in 88), World Series winner in 1989 (Guess Donnelly wasn't the only one), homered on his first MLB at-bat, and won 3 straight pennants with the A's

 

[TBTwinsFan]

The NFL side of things gets a little more interesting. There are 2 people from my hometown to have NFL careers, a 3rd who made it to the NFL (and is currently in the AFL), and a 4th who spent some time in AF2.

While this guy was born in South Dakota, he ran a hardware store in town (while simultaneously playing in the NFL, except for the 1952 season in which he focused strictly on his store).

Here is his 1951 Bowman, which I now own.

I grabbed this at $3.75

 

[dano7]

I love the stories that go with the cards!
DANNY

 

[BenG76]

Nice thread. I enjoy stuff like this. Its pretty neat to look for stuff from more local players. You going to look into Basketball or Hockey Players?

 

[Musial Collector]

Being that he was a Packers player, I will give this pickup two thumbs up!

 

[TBTwinsFan]

Nice thread. I enjoy stuff like this. Its pretty neat to look for stuff from more local players. You going to look into Basketball or Hockey Players?

Yes. I'm also looking into golf, and olympics, as well as non-sports like politics, history, and entertainment.

Hockey will be the greatest challenge. It never took hold out here, like it did in the Iron Range and metro portions of Minnesota, so there is not a whole lot to work with.

Basketball, while popular, hasn't really produced many players after HS. We do have one guy with NDSU right now, though.

 

[TBTwinsFan]

Being that he was a Packers player, I will give this pickup two thumbs up!

Haha!

 

[TBTwinsFan]

Not vintage, but I'll share.

I attend a small 4-year university out here. They participate in NCAA's DII, but haven't been overly successful outside of basketball, wheelchair basketball, wrestling, and volleyball.

Football has produced a few arena/indoor players, but only 3 have gone to the NFL in some capacity. The first one was drafted by the Falcons, but then turned himself into the police and got 9 years in jail for drug dealing. The second, (pictured below), got drafted by the Patriots and spent 2 years with the team, only playing preseason ball, and the third was a free-agent signed by the Vikings, but released fairly quickly.

Wayne Hawkins was the second player mentioned. I was surprised to find that he had a football card. Even more, he is pictured in his college uniform, on his college field. His jersey might be hanging in the athletic wing of the school. I'll have to check it out.

This is the base version, I was able to obtain the Gold version. The card also has an autograph version.

I should mention that the current head coach is former Gophers stud, Cory Sauter.

 

[TBTwinsFan]

Here are some famous locals/natives:

Founder of Sears.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Warren_Sears

Founder of the Boy Scouts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Eastman

Actor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Zahn

Famous TV show based off of a town in our county. One episode featured our high school football team.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_House_on_the_Prairie_(TV_series)

 

[Mellowturtle]

A guy I work with, DaRonte Smith, played corner at SW Minnesota St. and, if I'm not mistaken, is currently under contract with the Ottawa Redblacks of the CFL. He spent time with Montreal as well. Last summer he worked out with the Falcons here in Atlanta on several occasions, hoping to get on the practice squad, but they never signed him.