2014 Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Induction Card

Card Review: 7.5  The photo quality on this card is pretty terrible.  But who cares, this is far and away the crown jewel of all the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame swag.  I almost didn't get any.  When it became painfully apparent I wasn't going to be able to make the trip for induction weekend, I got on the phone and called the Museum.  I let them know I was looking to purchase "any and everything" that had Wallach's name on it, and would like any oddball things they may have.  They took my email address and sent me a list of prices and items.  This card wasn't on it.

Sunday after induction Saturday, someone put an autographed copy of this card, as well as autographed cards for the other three inductees on ebay for hefty price.  My initial thought process was in three steps, (i) I hope they're not all autographed, (ii) I need to email the Museum gift shop back, and (iii) What a jerk the seller is.  The ink was barely dry on these cards and some profiteer was already on ebay trying to make a cheap buck.  Somehow I doubt he mentioned to Murray Cook his eagerness to sell the card when he asked for the autograph.

Thankfully, the cards didn't come signed.  After inquiring about a bulk rate (no luck), I was able to purchase a few with the other items I picked up from the gift shop.  Take that ebay profiteers.

One final thought on this card, it list being a 1981 Topps Rookie Cup winner on the back, which I find kind of funny.  Someone recently edited the Tim Wallach wiki page (not me, I've never edited anything on wiki) to include that accomplishment, perhaps Topps did it.  Since then, it's been popping up more and more in articles about Wallach when they run down his accomplishments.  If it was Topps, it was pretty savvy move by them.

Number of this card in my collection: 107

2015 update: n/a

2016 update: n/a

2017 update: n/a

2018 update: n/a

2019 update: n/a

2020 update: n/a

2021 update: n/a

2022 update: n/a

2015 update: 108

Induction T-Shirt 2014 Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame

I picked up a few of the official induction t-shirt from the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Weekend.  I'm sure my family members will wear them proudly.  "Yes, my 34 year old son/brother still blogs about his baseball card collection, and bought me this t-shirt."  I really like the shirt, it's destined to be in regular rotation for the gym and yard work.  The back gives it a sort of concert t-shirt feel.

 I was actually able to see a photo of this shirt before buying it.  A picture of Wallach wearing one (the photo is at the bottom of this post) showed up on twitter.  So in my email exchange with the gift shop I attached the photo and asked if the shirt was for sale.  Below is a screen grab of the exchange (it's a little small, sorry):

Thanks Scott.  I don't know if he was being funny (I hope so), or if he literally thought I was asking for the shirt of Wallach's back.  I really hope I don't come across as that weird, but then again, I have enough self-awarness as to the nature of this blog and how it may perceived to know that I might.  But, in any event, I was not asking for actual shirt in the picture, just if they sold identical ones.  They did, I ordered a few, and more pictures are below.

Induction Program 2014 Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame

This program cover may look familiar by now.  It's the same as the "mini-poster" and "poster."  The program is actually very well done.  Printed on nice paper stock, full color, and there is not much of what I would describe as throw away filler content inside.  I didn't scan the whole thing, but below are some of the highlights.

Above: Table of Contents If you see anything listed that I didn't scan in but are interested in, let me know, I'll be happy to scan it and email it to you, or add it to the bottom of this post.

Above: Letter from the Mayor of St. Mary's  Not sure if every Mayor in Canada wears one of those medals, but I like to think that they do.

Above (updated from original post): Congratulations Ad from the Angels  I over looked this the first few times I flipped through this program.  It wasn't until about a week later, while giving it a very thorough reading I noticed this ad from the Angels.  Given Wallach only played half a season with the Angels, it's cool that it was included.

Above: Tim Wallach's page I didn't scan in the pages for the other three inductee's, but I did scan the "Congratulations" page for each of them from their respective clubs.  That photo may look a little familiar, it's the same one used on the 1981 Dimanche-Derniere insert that I just posted on a few weeks ago.

Below: The Four "Congratulations" pages for each of the inductees I think the Wallach page is very well done and an extremely nice gesture and sentiment from the Dodgers.  I'm strongly considering blowing it up to poster size.

Below: A page on Larry Walker and list of all Inductees by year

Induction Poster 2014 Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame

This is the "Induction Poster" they sold during the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame Induction weekend.  It measures 23''x18'' and is printed on nice paper stock.  You might notice that it's identical to the "mini-poster."  Spoiler alert, it's identical to the program cover too.  This was probably the most disappointing item that I received.  As I mentioned in the post for the mini-poster, I bought these blind.  A Tim Wallach poster was one of those things I spent the better part of my childhood hoping someone would make, but no one ever did. (Thanks a lot Sports Illustrated and Starline)  The closest I got was an Expos Poster with small rectangle pictures of the players, each about the size of a large postcard.  I went so far as to buy two, cut the Wallach photo out, and then carefully tape it over a player on the "NL Superstars" poster made in the same style by the same company.  (The links are not to my actual posters, just images I stole from ebay.  Mine met there demise many years ago)

So I was kind of hoping this would be a large poster devoted only to Wallach, even if I am 20 years removed from being able to thumbtack it up on the wall of my room.  I was prepared for a let down, though, this was more disappointing than I expected.  It works for the mini-poster, which is more or less a informational flyer, ditto for the program.  I can see how people would want a quick reference to the weekend's activities.  No one though is going to roll out this huge poster to check what time the golf banquet is.  They should have given more space to the four inductees.

I'm not sure this ends up framed at the end of the day.  What I'll likely end up doing is framing one of the mini-posters or programs in a manner fancier than they warrant, rather than devoting my limited wall space to this guy.  In any event, I'm glad I have it, even if it didn't reach it's full potential for "awesomeness."

"Mini-Poster" 2014 Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame

That's not the "Mini-Poster" above.  That's the box it arrived in though.  I couldn't make it to St. Mary's, Canada for the induction weekend. It fell on the same day as my daughter's birthday, I couldn't afford to miss the work, and it's not an easy place to get to when your starting in Farmington, New Mexico.

But I was able to pick up a phone and call the Museum, and they were gracious enough to let me order all the souveniers I would have been able to buy had I been there in person.  The box above is what they were shipped in.  I hope to get them all posted this week.  I'm starting with the "Mini-Poster," which was not nearly as impressive as it sounded over the phone.  I bought all of this stuff blind, but the prices were reasonable and it's a organization I don't mind supporting.  These "Mini-Posters" below set me back a $1 a pop, programs were a whopping $2.  So good for the Canadian Hall for not fleecing it's patrons.  Having grown up in Cooperstown, I can't say the same for their American counterpart.

These "Mini-Posters" are made of pretty good glossy paper stock and measure 9'' x 11.5,'' which makes for a bit of an odd size.  Too large for my scanner, and too large for the sleeves in my 3-ring binder.  Which means they'll likely be banished to the dark corner of my closet with all the other misfit odd-ball stuff too cumbersome to be displayed.

Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame Induction

Tim Wallach was officially inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame this weekend along with Dave Van Horne, Murray Cook, and Jim Ridley.  Congratulations go out to all four.

I check "twitter" every couple of days to see what pops up for a "Tim Wallach" search.  Occasionally there will be a link to a radio interview, or MLB Network appearance that I wouldn't otherwise have known about.  It's not unusual for there to be spans of over a week where nothing new pops up.  This weekend though, that was not the case.  New stuff was popping up left and right and being "retweeted" over and over again.  It was sort of cool.  Easily the best thing I came across was an article by Stu Cowan in the Montreal Gazzette.  It's a brief, well-written piece, that is worth the quick read.  Click this or the screen grab below to read it.

This is of course a blog about Tim Wallach baseball cards first and foremost.  So perhaps the biggest development of this weekend was the news that the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame produced a four card set of all the inductees.  Some money grubbing loser is already selling autographed sets on ebay at absurd prices.  Somehow I doubt he mentioned his intent to post them for sale before the end of the weekend when he or she was shoving sharpie's in the inductee's faces.  Regardless, I'll now have to devote some time and effort to tracking down an unsigned copy or two (or 50) of the Wallach.

Congratulations again to the four inductees.

Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Weekend

This weekend is induction weekend at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.  I've tried my best since this was announced a few months ago to come up with a way to make going there feasible, but just couldn't justify the expense, nor afford the time away.  This whole lawyer thing can be time consuming sometimes, especially when people keep getting arrested and demanding things like first appearances in a timely manner, etc.

At some point I'll make up there, but I'm going to have to miss induction weekend.  I figure eventually Wallach will win a handful of World Series as a manager, so I'll just have to wait until Cooperstown calls his name.  I grew in Cooperstown and graduated from high school there (only player my senior year to hit a ball out of Doubleday Field) so it'll be slightly easier to make travel arrangements.

So if your lucky enough to be there this weekend, I'd love to hear about your experience, and please, grab whatever random trinkets you see.  Don't go spending money on hooded sweatshirts or autographed bats and sending them my way expecting to be paid back though.  I'm much more interested in fliers, ticketstubs, golf tournament tees, things of that nature.  Free incidentals for lack of a better description.  I really wish I could be there myself.

Here's a screen shot from their website, which is worth looking at in much more detail:

There's been much more Wallach news on the internet than normal the last few days, so forgive me if this blog has more post than usual that aren't really baseball card related.  Here are some more links below, click the title for the whole article:

From "Canadian Baseball Network"

A nice article from "IFPress"on Wallach and a minor leaguer who finally got the call

And finally, the first of what will likely be a few pictures from Induction Weekend, this one courtesy of the "Expos Nation" twitter feed (or whatever twitter posts are called).

Congratulations

This Saturday it was announced that Tim Wallach had been inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.  The induction ceremony will be June 21, 2014, in St. Mary's Ontario.

A press release by the Dodgers quoted Wallach as follows:

"I'm both surprised and honored to be selected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.  What a great thrill to be going in with such integral parts of the Montreal Expos for such a long time, and to join many of my old teammates and manager, along with so many people that meant so much to Canadian baseball.  This is a great honor for my family and myself."


Congratulations to Tim on this tremendous accomplishment.  This blog will eagerly await any souveneirs that may be put out by the Museum for induction weekend in June.