Photo: Craig Kohlruss- Fresno Bee
The card was a photo of ten men and was labeled “Red Stocking B.B. Club of Cincinnati”. Not knowing much of the game of baseball, she slapped a price of $10 on it and put it up for auction.
When she got multiple requests for info on the card mostly as to the card’s authenticity, she got a little suspicious. After some research, it was found that it from the year 1869 and was indeed worth a lot more.
Spooked with all the questions she was getting on eBay, she picked up the phone at 9:30 that night and called her good friend George Huddleston and asked his opinion.
“I never make phone calls after 8 o’clock at night,” Gallego says. “My mother taught me never to do things like that.”
Huddleston’s answer was simple: End the auction now. Figure out what you have and what it’s worth before selling it. Her husband, Al, agreed: “Get this thing off the Internet.”
The card is now off the Internet now. The card’s security is at stake now so “she put it in a sandwich bag and push-pinned it to her laundry room wall.”
“If it fell off the wall, the cat would have ate it,” Gallego says. “Well, or the dog.”
Now that she knows the full value (one dealer estimates six figures), Gallego plans to put up on Ebay again. This time with a higher reserve price, I presume.
When Rocco Baldelli first came to the big leagues with Tampa Bay in 2003 as a 21 year old kid, he was compared to Joe DiMaggio. In his first two seasons he played centerfield, 156 games as a rookie, then 136 games in his second season, batting .289 & .280, 89 runs & 78 RBIs, and 79 runs & 74 RBIs, 27 SBs & 11 HRs, and 17 SBs & 16 HRs, not bad for a kid Rhode Island, still wet behind the ears. Baldelli tore his ACL while playing baseball with his brother in the offseason, while rehabbing he injured his elbow, and needed Tommy John surgery, he missed the entire 2005 season, and didn’t return to everyday play until June 7, 2006. Playing from that point on, he batted .302, 16 homers, 57 runs, 57 RBIs, 10 steals, in only 364 at bats. In 2007 during spring training Rocco pulled his hamstring, he’d appear in only 35 games. Doctors discovered some metabolic and/or mitochondrial abnormalities, but were unable to provide an exact diagnosis. Baldelli was limited to 28 games in 2008, mainly as a DH & pinch hitter, batting .263, with 4 homers, and 13 RBIs, he hit a three run homer in game #3 of the ALCS to help the Rays take the lead in the series. In the offseason, further testing revealed he suffers from channelopathy, which makes his condition more treatable and less serious than previously thought. Rocco will wear #5 with the Red Sox, first guy to wear it since Nomar Garciaparra’s departure.
Why didn’t the Brewers sign Coco Cordero last year instead of going out and pickup up broken down Eric Gagne? Luckily for Milwaukee Solomon Torres stepped into the closer’s job, and did a credible job – 28 saves, then he retired. So now, once again, the Brewers were without a closer, until they reached an agreement with the alltime career saves leader, Trevor Hoffman. Hoffman played his rookie year with the Marlins, but spent the last 15 years in Southern California, with the San Diego Padres. Last year he converted 30 of 34 opportunities, with a 3.82 ERA.
Robbie Tolan, son of former major league outfielder Bobby Tolan, was shot by police outside his on December 31st at 2:00 AM. Robbie and his cousin had just arrived home from a late night run to Jack-in-the-Box fast food restaurant (another reason not to eat at Jack-in-the-Box) when an unidentified man with a flashlight approached them. Turns out he was a police officer, who suspected Tolan of stealing an SUV (it was his SUV, not stolen), told Tolan & his cousin to stop, ordered them on the ground, at gunpoint. At this juncture Tolan’s mother came out of their house to see what all the commotion was about, an officer pushed her against the wall. When Robbie raised up to see what was happening to his mother, an officer shot him, the bullet piercing his lung, and lodging in his liver. The incident happened in Belleaire, a prominent, mostly white suburb of Houston. The officer involved in the shooting is white, this is a case of racial profiling, at its worst. Tolan remains hospitalized in alot of pain.
Old Faithful hasn’t erupted as regularly as Bradley, which explains why Chicago is his seventh organization in nine seasons, following stays with Montreal (where he was suspended for spitting gum at an umpire); Cleveland (where he battled with Manager Eric Wedge); the Dodgers (where he threw a water bottle at fans, was investigated for domestic violence three times and was arrested for disorderly conduct); Oakland; San Diego (where he tore a knee while being restrained from charging an umpire); and Texas he tried to confront a TV announcer who had some unflattering things to say about him. In fairness to Bradley, though, it hasn’t always been his fault. In Los Angeles, for example, a fan threw the water bottle first, and no charges were filed in any of the domestic violence calls. And in the incident when he was with the Padres, it was umpire Mike Winters who was suspended for baiting Bradley.