In Search of Yankees Pitcher Jim Beattie

Comment of the Week award has to go to collector Dan Brunetti. His jewel?

“Sometimes for me, the hunt for the address is almost as exciting as the return.”

Dan is working on assembling an autographed 1979 Topps set.


In the fall of 2013, Jim Beattie closed his Vermont P.O. Box. No one has gotten TTM successes from Beattie, or a current address since, according to www.sportscollectors.net postings.

Dan’s online searching found that Beattie was scouting for the Blue Jays. Dan e-mailed the team, asking if they’d forward a letter. 

Sure!

Baseball scouts travel. Writing c/o a team makes sense. One past theory asserts that som coaches and scouts may still have the idea of autographs as being a work-related job. If you support the guy’s employer (team), he’ll support your hobby. In other words, they feel they’re getting paid during the season to be fan-friendly. 

Of course, current and former baseball personnel may ignore all the mail, packing their piles of correspondence home for the winter.

For the off-season, seek a home address. Harvey Meiselman’s address list remains the gold standard in our hobby.

Team front offices can seem like wastelands. If you get forwarded, it may not be fast.

Different addresses may work at different times. Be creative, and compare notes with other collectors.


Cub Billy Williams, Hall of Fame Nicknamer? Just Ask Pitcher Chuck ‘Twiggy’ Hartenstein!



Supermodel?

 Pitcher Chuck Hartenstein seems like an inspiration to all those “before” guys like me, the guys in the Charles Atlas comic book advertisements who got sand kicked on them. However, Hartenstein got two kinds of “sand” kicked on him in his pursuit to be a major leaguer.

First, he shared his christening as a Cub:

“Billy Williams with Cubs gave me the nickname ‘Twiggy’ in 1967. I weighed 145 to 150 lbs. I loved it. Everyone referred to me as ‘Twiggy.'”

Come to think of it, he does look a bit like a smiling thumb on his 1968 Topps card! I’ve seen a couple of press “head and shoulders” shots of Hartenstein. It looks as if his tiny self was pasted atop a larger uniform. “Twiggy” never towered over opposing hitters. Instead, emotional muscle kept this pitcher pitching.

The other “sand” Hartenstein faced came after his 1970 struggles with Pittsburgh. He explained…

“I had a bad career in 1970. I was banished to AAA for those years! Two with Tucson (Chicago White Sox), two with Phoenix (Giants) and two with Hawaii and Roy Hartsfield. We won two PCL championships at Hawaii in 1975 and ’76. He took me with him to Toronto!

It was quite a thrill to get back. After my playing days, he wanted me to be their minor league pitching coordinator! I did that at the end of the season in 1977 and emerged as a Major League pitching coach with Cleveland in 1979.”

Tomorrow: Hartenstein rates his successes as a pitching coach.