The one card to have when you're having more than one

 

I mentioned the other day that I picked up this 1953 Bowman Color Gil Hodges card on the occasion of his announcement to the Hall of Fame. It arrived yesterday and I'm proud to display it in all of its majesty.

 

The various creases and folds, the flecks of paper loss, cannot mask one of the greatest pictures of Ebbets Field to ever appear on a baseball card.

 

I'm aware that the setting is likely mid-day, possibly under overcast skies, but the yellow sign above and to the left of the red Bulova Watch sign makes it appear in my mind as a scene at dusk. Wishful thinking, of course.

 

But the star of the show, besides brand-new Hall of Famer Hodges, out in right-center field is the familiar Schaefer Beer scoreboard (with the Bulova clock at the top!). It's one of the certain indicators that your baseball card setting is in one of the most famous bygone ballparks in history.

 

The scoreboard began advertising Schaefer's beer in 1947 and I didn't know until today that the letter 'h" and the (first) letter "e" in "Schaefer" would light up any time there was a hit or an error and that's the most delightful factoid I've learned all week.

 

Cards with the Schaefer scoreboard are pretty popular. I don't know how many times it appears on baseball cards. I just know I have three of them.

 

Before the Hodges card arrived, I acquired Johnny Podres' 1957 Topps card.

 

At the time this card joined my collection, I'm pretty certain I thought this was the one-and-only card with that scoreboard in the background. It is so dominant in this shot that you can even see the pennant flags fluttering.

 

 

 But all I had to do was remain committed to acquiring cards of old Brooklyn Dodgers and, bam, Charley/Charlie Neal opened up a world of just about the entire Schaefer scoreboard, plus a bunch of other signage, including Gem Razors and Esquire Shoes.

I honestly could stare at this card for a couple of hours. Take me back to being 10 so I can do that again.

 

Roy Campanella's 1957 Topps doesn't show the Schaefer scoreboard but it does show a Schaefer sign in the distance to the left, in the outfield I'm guessing.

1957 Topps is something else just because of the Schaefer signs. But they don't appear on any other Dodgers cards from that year. I also looked through the rest of the 1953 Bowman Color Dodgers to see if I could spot another Schaefer ad but came up empty.

Schaefer was a sponsor of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1951 until the team left for Los Angeles. It was so prevalent with the team that when the Dodgers won the World Series in 1955, there was no champagne in the clubhouse, just Schaefer beer.

 

I don't think I'm less of a Dodgers fan if I say I've never drank Schaefer beer. But I do remember watching their commercials on TV during 1970s baseball viewing as a kid. Their famous jingle -- "the one beer to have when you're having more than one" -- somehow did not turn me into an alcoholic, even though it was probably drummed into my head as often as "Tastes Great/Less Filling" and "Tonight, Let It Be Lowenbrau" as I waited for ballgames to reappear on the TV.

In rewatching an old Schaefer ad, I came across mention of "krausened" and I suddenly remembered hearing that in childhood and having no idea what it meant. Since I'm not a beer maker (nor obsessed with telling other people about my beer making), I had to look it up after all these years. It's a traditional German method of carbonating beer. I'm sure you all knew that.

 

Anyway ...

 

I have Gil Hodges' 1953 Bowman card!

 

And Gil Hodges in the Hall of Fame!

 

"A quiet, hard worker." He seems like my kind of guy.

A toast to you, Gil.