Slingin’ Sammy Baugh

Posted by cardboard hogs on March 17, 2021

Today is St. Paddy’s day, but really…it’s the birthdate of the greatest Quarterback of all-time.

Samuel ‘Slingin Sammy’ Adrian Baugh.

Well, the greatest quarterback if you ask a Washington Redskins fan. Another notable note is that Sammy Baugh was born in Temple, Texas, just a mere 145 miles from my hometown of San Antonio…so, yeah. Why not, let’s go.

Slingin’ Sammy was beyond impressive on the gridiron. He led the way in transforming the game of football from a bruising sport led by fullbacks pounding the pig skin to downfield aerial attacks with wideouts. The game went from three yards and a cloud of dust to the greatest show on turf, mainly due in part to Sammy. His ability to re-imagine the forward pass as a means of attacking made the game exciting, action packed and brought greater scoring to the game, well…quicker scoring. Other QB’s did it at this time, but no one did it quite like Sammy. Sammy was the best.

Beyond being a tremendous quarterback, Sammy was also an accomplished defensive back and quite possibly, his most impressive feat (bad pun…sorry) of being a tremendous punter. Leading the league in all three positions during the 1943 season. That year he was the leader in pass completions, punting yard average (46) and interceptions (11). Who the hell does THAT!!??! Sammy was truly a three way player, offense, defense, special teams. Whatever he did, he did it well, well…he achieved greatness in the game that has been unmatched. Not too many guys in the history of the game have managed to excel on opposing sides of the ball, but Sammy did. Sammy was the best.

Baugh came to the Boston Redskins via the ’37 draft from Texas Christian University where he excelled at football and baseball. (Something, I never knew before was that he got the nickname ‘Slingin’ while playing baseball and not lighting up the Giants and Eagles on Sunday afternoons.) He was the 6^th pick overall that draft, an epic slide for such a phenomenal talent. He fell behind Sam Francis, Ed Goddard, Buzz Buivid, Ed Widseth and Mike Basrak. Now, I have no idea where Mel Kiper had him going, but I gotta think his draft slide was kind of a shock for everyone. He didn’t have that Aaron Rodgers kind of slide, but for five other teams to pass on a franchise quarterback must’ve caused a huge stir at the time. To that, I say the Redskins franchise were incredibly lucky that day, because…Sammy was the best.

During his 16 year career (1937-1952) he led the franchise to four football championships winning two of them in 1937 and 1942, both against George Halas’ Chicago Bears. He was also a seven time all-pro and two-time player of the year, in back to back seasons of 1947 and 1948…essentially consecutive MVP’s. Pretty impressive, again…Sammy was the best.

The greatness of Slingin Sammy can’t be stated in this blog, but hey, I’ve got some sweet cards to show off and it’s his birthday. So hope you enjoyed the brief bio and remember…Sammy was the best.

Thank you for reading and sticking with me, deadlines and life get in the way but man I love this blog. Mostly for personal reasons, but l love to share as well. Hope you all enjoy reading.

Let’s go, one more for the road…Slingin’ Sammy Baugh ya’ll!

-Cardboard Hogs

You know who is also the best? Jay-Z. Maybe not to the level of Sammy’s greatness, but excellent in his own right. So, here’s a video of Jay-Z…wearing a Sammy Baugh jersey…because Sammy was the best.

A Generous trader goes Boom!

Posted by cardboard hogs on March 27, 2017

About a week ago, i received an email out of the blue from a guy wanting to send me some Redskin cards…and i was like “HAIL YEAH MAN!” So i gave the random guy my home address and waited…not really sure what to expect. This is the first time, somebody out of the blue has been so extremely generous to just offer up some cards, Redskins cards no less. I had to quickly update my lists, which as it turned out was a great step for me to…update my want lists.

Here’s the breakdown of the cards sent by Mark Zentkovich, which i received tonight.

A couple of…umm…Swell cards of some old old old school Redskins. Mr. Battles in some shiny, silky pants…or maybe they are some original Zubaz! The other sepia snap shot is of Turk Edwards on the prowl about to tackle someone while wearing a QB’s number…Jason Campbell.

90 SW Sammy Baugh

The next Swell card is of Slingin’ Sammy Baugh, who would have turned 103 a couple weeks ago. Not sure what’s going on with my scanner, but this card is in great shape…not cut and jagged like the upper right shows.

79 FL Redskins Drawing a Crowd

The next series of cards are various team cards from Fleer. I don’t believe Fleer ever made individual player cards during their early 80’s run, just team issues. Luckily though, unlike a couple of the early 80’s Topps sets, the logos on the helmets weren’t airbrushed off.

88 FL Redskins Defense 88 FL Redskins NFC Playoff

These beauties are from the 1988 Fleer set, which if i remember correctly was the last year Fleer made team only sets…bringing back their sets in 1990. The game against Chicago was notable for me for a couple of reasons. It was the game that Darrell Green returned the punt while hurdling a defender and pulling a muscle in his rib cage. He was visible holding his side with one arm and holding the football with the other as he brought it back all the way for a touchdown, putting the Redskins up for good. The other notable memory of this game was that it was Walter Payton’s last NFL game…although i was a huge Redskins fan. My favorite non Redskins was hands down Walter Payton. His greatness was something special that i thoroughly enjoyed watching in my younger years…man i miss the 80’s.

Next run of cards are not cards, but stickers…unfortunately, they are the then defending Super Bowl champs over my ‘Skins. Also, got some foil action below.

84 TSF Bostic

Badass Jeff Bostic, a former Hog and a former-er Clemson Tiger. No idea who the Bill is though…sorry.

89 PS Clark Green 89 PS Bryant Rypien

Now some Panini stickers from the year 1989. You know, back when the Redskins weren’t a dumpster fire led by the leaderless. This was quite a grouping of studs too Gary Clark, Darrell Green, Kelvin Bryant and Mark Rypien…man, i really miss the 80’s.

Not bad for something so unexpected, thank you Mark! Really appreciate the cards. I will put something together and send it off to you in a week or so. Much appreciated!

Now, for something fun. One of my favorite groups out right now is Run the Jewels, i’ve talked about them a few times here and made it out to the concert last month at the Crystal Ballroom…with the bouncy floor and all. Here are a couple photos from that show.

A new Run The Jewels video!! So many punch lines in this one too, gotta say El-P really brought it with the innuendos here, plus that poor ass bunny went boom!

Little old rectangles

Posted by cardboard hogs on December 7, 2016

I’ve been going through some of my vintage Redskins the past few months to kind of pick up the missing pieces of cardboard and do a little scanning as well. It’s a painfully slow talks that i’ve been slowly accomplishing over the last 5+ years…slow going, you know. Judson over at My Cardboard Habit has been doing the same thing with his Rangers cards. It’s an arduous task that i constantly question why in the hell i’m even attempting it…a little insight in to me though…i’m a “completionist” and i must collect sets once i get started and document everything along the way..once i get started. This was totally cool when i was younger and mostly friend-less, wife-less and more critically child-less. Now time is a highly coveted commodity, so scanning cardboard ain’t the most fun thing to do on a weekday night…but personal disorders tend to overshadow general common sense at times. It’s a task i know in my head that i will never complete, but that’s not the point…it’s the pursuit…like collecting…pursue the unattainable endlessly and with VIGOR!! or something.

One of the card sets that i’ve completed (maybe i should double check my checklist before i type so boldly?) is the 1948 Bowman set. A cute (wife’s words, not mine) little 2″ x 2 1/4″ black and white card with some cool grainy “action” photos of men from generations past. These little pieces of history are pretty cool to look at as well as read. The backs of the cards are filled with wonderful snippets of the players as well as an opportunity to order some really wonderful pieces of americana. I would definitely order the magnetic frisky scotties. One because scotties are odd looking dogs that seem to be incredibly popular and, as the card says, i can “watch them fight”! Not sure the backs of cards today would advertise fighting scotties…missed opportunity i say.

The leatherette helmet on the back of the Daniel Sandifer card is appealing as well. The Sammy above sent me back financially a little, but this card and the Harry Gilmer were actually the toughest to find in decent condition and at an appropriate price. Glad to have these three cards to close out my 1948 Bowman set.

So there you go. A little aged black and white cardboard from almost 70 years ago. Collecting this stuff really brings a smile to my face. I get so much more joy out of this kind of card than a lot of the newer stuff out today…unfortunately, these three cards cost about as much as a mid tier box of cards…but i these guys are a priceless piece of my collection.

As i’ve been doing with my last few posts, i’d like to close with a video. But in keeping with the vintage cards, i will spare you…the reader, a video of something obscene or out of line with your taste.

Heading home tonight, i was listening to our local jazz station KMHD 89.1 and they had a very quick recap of the Kamasi Washington show at the Roseland with i regrettably missed. So here’s a nice little jam from his album The Epic…as performed last August.

A New Year, A New Post

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 4, 2015

Man, oh man…it has been a very, very long time since i’ve had the time to post anything here. Not sure if anyone has checked in periodically or just assumed i’ve dropped off the face of the blogosphere earth. I still collect, i still read other blogs and i still am trying to get organized. That has been the main reason for my absence, well, that and a very active and passionate 2 year old exhausting all of my free energy. I love him dearly, but i have cards to write about…

As i mentioned, i am still doing all the things that we do as collectors and i’ve managed to make some great progress in getting organized and up to date on my checklists…thanks to a few late nights on the home computer and an extended vacation from work. My main focus has been on getting everything logged from the 1950’s-1990’s. Everything was sweet until i hit the abyss of the mid 90’s when subsets and serial numbers and various parallels became all the unreasonable rage. This was also the period of time when i put the hobby aside to be a 20 year old male. I’ve regained my focus and will have some checklists updated in the next few weeks to months as they get incorporated in to google docs.

Enough with the words. Here are some photos of a few cards from the 1950 and 1952 Bowman sets i’ve picked up the past 6 months.

Normally, bloggers like to save their best for last. Not me. This one cost a few nickels but was very much worth it to me. It’s a beautiful card and centered fairly well…the corner are in pretty nice condition too. I looked at a few 8’s that were available on eBay and were well outside what i could spend and feel ok with myself. This one wasn’t too bad and it’s in great shape.

One of the things that i wanted to do with my set was get each of the Redskins cards from 1959 and earlier graded, so i searched around and picked up what i could from eBay and from the local card shop just around the corner from me, Hoopla Sports. The guys there are great and have nice deals on what i’m looking for…this isn’t one of them though. This one was scooped from eBay. Love how i drop the curve on you huh? completely unrelated story and then this image.

I love the smaller format cards from the 50’s. The card designers and artists did an amazing job with them and holding these pieced in your had you can really appreciate the amount of work that had to go in to each layout.

Collecting redundancy happens quite a bit in our hobby. You pick up multiple variations of cards…red cards, yellow cards, blue cards…rarely, but sometimes, you pick up the same card that comes in two different sizes like this large Dick Alban…large Dick…

OK, here’s my shot at ending on a high note. Another Slinging’ Sammy Baugh card…1952 Bowman Small. I waited and waited on this card in hopes of finding one at a great price from eBay and finally stumbled across a guy that had it listed as BIN. I made him an offer that he quickly refused and came back with something a little better. After another number from him, i finally got it shipped. A little more than i hoped to get for it, but much less than others had their versions priced at.

We have two shows coming up this month and i’m hoping to make one of them. The Cedar Hills show is much closer to me but tends to be less occupied by dealers and i end up walking away feeling like i wasted my time…but it is closer…if not, i will hit up the show at Mall 205 to see what they have going on…hopefully my friend from COMC, Tom will be there?

One last item, i am going to attempt to do the wallet card “challenge” and see what 365 days in my side pocket will do to a 1986 Topps Rickey Henderson. I chose this card because it has my favorite player on it in my favorite baseball teams jersey…and it was the first set i ever completed. Here is day one, which started yesterday…so 363 days in my side pocket.

…side note, i’m rockin’ a money clip this year as i do not like wallets, so let’s call it the money clip challenge here.

Cedar Hills Show – The low budget version ep.IV

Posted by cardboard hogs on July 2, 2013

I’m finding that scanning cards is an arduous task. I imagine this is why so many bloggers choose to not scan that many cards or just eventually allow their blogs to fade to black. So I’m going to ride out the next couple of posts with some more cards that are sitting in my queue. As you would imagine they are all Redskin cards, so I understand if you stop reading from this point on…but you really shouldn’t bail…this is going to be a great visit. I’m feeling wordy tonight and have a ton of stuff to show.

Buckle your seat belts.

Digging through dusty old boxes gives you time to think about things. Things you could have done. Things you should be doing and most importantly, things you completely struck out on. That’s what this trifecta of young, future stars represents for me. Justin Tryon and Malcolm Kelly were products of a Cerrato draft. Those last two words are almost always followed by the following two words ‘…which sucked’. Look at those crazy eyes!

Vinny did all he could to single handedly destroy the franchise for many many years. Constantly selecting guys that should have never been drafted or shouldn’t have been drafted so high. That’s all assuming, of course that the Redskins had picks to make. Cerrato hyped Kelly up so much that he mad me believing we had the next Art Monk on the roster. Unfortunately for Kelly, he had Greg Oden knees and never really played that much…but made some nice money. Tryon was supposed to be a nice kick/punt returner and future cornerback. Neither really happened and he was eventually jettisoned to Indy. Thompson was a free agent pick up for the Redskins in 1999, never really making an impact with the team. BUT he was the homecoming King for Cedar Hill High School, so that’s a thing. He did two things I will never accomplish. Play in the NFL and be called a King by anyone, ever…

Speaking of big disappointments, Michael Westbrook. This guy and Health Shuler should have been the next great QB/WR duo, but both never really panned out. When these cards initially came out, they were probably going for $8-$10 each…now, you can pick the trifecta up for fifteen cents. Don’t let your kids ‘invest’ in cards.

This is a great trio right here. B-Mitch, Stephen Davis and Champ. Mitchell should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame already! Dude is only behind Jerry Rice in all purpose yards for a career. JERRY RICE! That’s it. Anytime you are on a list and the only guy ahead of you is Jerry Rice, you are a winner. Davis is really special…He’s from Spartanburg, SC. I have lots of family there. I should write something about him soon, very soon. Champ. This is the guy that brought Portis to DC. There was a time that I really disliked (read hated) Champ. Anytime a player begs to not play for my favorite team, they might as well be dead to me. But, being the forgiving man that I am, I have seen the light and appreciate his phenomenal career. I just wish he could have had his success with the Redskins.

The three greatest Redskin quarterbacks. Sammy, Sonny and Joe. Three photos. Three face mask bars. These guys are old school like suede pumas. Sammy Baugh was a Texan and was one of the main catalyst for the forward pass in the NFL. If money was no object, he is a guy that I would love to get some vintage stuff of…instead i’m relegated to reprints and new releases. The Sonny card is pretty fantastic. Love the colors and the determination in his eyes is priceless. Plus I love the spear helmet. The Theismann sticker is actually a duplicate, but i figured for a nickel, you couldn’t go wrong.

Mark Rypien was one of the three quarterbacks to win a Super Bowl under Joe Gibbs. He’s sort of a local guy…went to Washington State and still lives in Spokane I believe. He’s also made a few appearances in Vancouver just across the big river.

Who loves parallels. I always have to double check these things…’I know i’ve seen this card before…do I have this one or that one?’ #cardcollectorproblems

I’m losing gas here, so i’m just going to show you the goods. Coles was annoying, so glad he’s didn’t last long. LaVar was the first jersey I ever bought and Gardner goes along side Westbrook for good, but not as good as he could have been.

I love the Redskins. This is MY team. I love going through all of the old cardboard and seeing guys that had great careers. Some players have the ability to meet or exceed their talent while others fail to live up to whatever standards have been set for them. As a fan, it’s difficult to understand that these guys deal with a lot each day and sacrifice their physical health and well being to entertain us. So that said, I would personally like to apologize to Champ Bailey, Lav….Coles (sorry dude, your name is weird), Michael Westbrook, Sean Gilbert and Rod Gardner. I have said many bad things about you guys in the past and it wasn’t fair to you. You have accomplished things that I wish I could have done…and made a lot of fans happy (or pissed! Vinny!) That’s what I was really thinking about when sorting through these pieces of cardboard, not getting upset with these men in Burgundy and Gold. They are doing their best.

This was probably one of the most rambling posts about nothing I have ever done. It will get better…

One Dollar and Five Cents Pt. I

Posted by cardboard hogs on March 24, 2013

So, with each of the card shows i go to here in Portland, OR, I tend to notice the same dealers at each event. They tend to have the same stuff. There is the vintage guy, the mcfarlane figurine guy, the supplies guy and the guy selling 80’s junk wax. There are also guys that bring loads of stuff in $1 and nickel boxes. These guys are the ones with all the hidden gems, but require so much of your time. Typically i quickly look through a row, maybe two of these boxes but just don’t have the time or motivation to peruse through thousands of cards i have no interest in. This past Saturday though i made a point to stop and look. I had a list of items i was looking for and since the show was closer to my home i could use the extra 30-45 minutes that would have been dedicated to travel and devote them to looking through a million cards.

The great thing about these boxes for me is that i see cards from the period where i didn’t collect and think, ‘when the hell did this come out?’ Plus you always manage to find a few gems in these boxes. The guy at the Portland show that has the best boxes to pick through comes up from Salem which is about an hour away and somehow has tons of new stuff each show. I have no idea how he gets these cards or where he puts them when he gets home, but there are at least 20 boxes that are laid out on his table.

If you have the dedication to go through them you can always find stuff you are looking for and will never walk away disappointed.

My goal with this search was to find some Redskins that are missing from my binders and anything else i thought i could use. Here is a peek at some of the good stuff.

These two guys were well before my time, but research tells me that they were great Redskins and immortal football players that are now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Charley Taylor and Slingin Sammy Baugh (who apparently is from the same area in Texas where RG3 grew up) Full circle.

Ken Houston was a dominant player in his day and played a major role in a few big games with the Dallas Cowboys back in the day. I remember when that rivalry was an actual rivalry. It’s hard to call it that when one team is the doormat of the division, but that is changing now with ‘ol Bobby Three Sticks. Remember the double bar face masks and airbrushed logos on the helmets? We’ve come a long way since 1979.

The thing that’s great about these two cards is that they are pretty similar. These photos are from the era when it was good to be a Redskin fan and when people hated to go against them in RFK. The Hogs, The Diesel, The Fun Bunch…and Joe Theismann with the single bar and both legs fully operational.
The next couple of cards has a special place in my little black heart. 1985 was the very first year I purchased a pack of cards and they were the 1985 Topps Football cards. The landscape cards with black borders. Black border cards are the absolute worst possible design for 9 and 10 year old boys. At one point I had this complete set, but for some reason decided it needed to be beaten to shit and all the corners should be rounded rather than square. Needless to say, i’ve been recollecting them once again, but with the care of a 37 year old man with an addiction to cardboard. I have always loved this set and it it right up there with the 1986 Topps baseball set as one of my all time favorites. It could be due to the fact that these were the first two sets i completed and what got me in to it, or it could be that they are timeless designs…you can never go wrong with black, any architect knows that.