Talk:Joe Astroth
From BR Bullpen
I never did see Joe Astroth play. In real life anyway. We were Brooklyn Dodger fans and strictly National league. We didn't see an American League game until the Dodgers died (ie: left Brooklyn) and my brother and I began going to Yankee Stadium to root for the 'other' team. Joe was already retired. But having inherited our cousins baseball cards and begun collecting our own in 1955, we had many of Joe's cards. And through these cards he had a life in the card league. Let me explain
The card league started with the cards for any particular team and a deck of playing cards to determine the playing of the game. Maybe our cousins taught this to us or maybe we made it up ourselves. It started simply enough. A jack was a single, Queen a double, Joker a homerun. Ace was a K, 3 an out to first base, 8 a fly out to center field. As we got older, the play got more and more complicated (eg: 8 of clubs was deep & advanced the runners, 8 of diamonds was shallow; no advance.) Games became longer and more involved. Then we discovered girls, ignored the cards and eventually Mom threw them out. We did address this with her years later with, "Mom, do you know how much those cards you threw out would be worth now?" Her retort: "If none of the mothers threw them out they wouldn't be worth anything". Thanks mom. So, is that the end of the card league? Nope.
In 1969 I saw an add to buy some old cards. I missed them terribly, so I bought the '56 and '57 sets for, maybe, $300 ? I thought it was well worth it. So did my brother, Peter, who began buying random 1953,'54 and '55 cards. The next step was to organize them into teams and then.....get out the playing cards. But by the time we get around to this we are married, working, and have kids. It is hard to invest so much time. So Peter found a computer game that would allow us to add some of the characters that weren't on the rosters (they had the 1956 teams) and even to change the stats for certain players who the playing cards had been particularly kind to. Jim Bolger was a .325 hitter in the card league. We made him the same with the computer game. And, of course, we still took out the baseball cards and handled them (de-valuing them greatly) The cards were what made the game so much more than just some computer baseball game. But playing random games seemed aimless, so Peter found the 1956 schedule in the Sporting News and we were in business. We'd play the entire schedule. For both leagues.1.232 games.
You probably think that Joe Astroth rose to incredible prominence in the card league. You'd be right. But it wasn't because he became an All-Star. In fact, he was exactly what he was in real life for many years, a back up catcher on some very bad teams. But he did have one great moment. It happened on September 1 1987.
Peter and I got together for a late summer evening of 'the Card League' We had played most of our favorite teams and were finishing up with games such as the '56 Washington Nationals (they were the Nationals for one year, that's what it says on the '56 cards) As will happen,even when two last place teams get together, the game became an epic. We found ourselves in the bottom of the 15th inning, tied at, I believe, 12-12, and the A's had the bases loaded, two-outs, and the pitcher coming up. Lou Boudreau looked down his bench, No one. But out in the bullpen was Joe. The only non-pitcher available. So Lou called him in to pinch hit and Joe delivered! A walk off, pinch-hit grand slam. As the announcers of the game, Peter and I were ecstatic. We wanted to interview Joe, which we did in card league fashion. But then we noticed on the back of his card that, in real life, it was his 65th birthday. We had to call him. Now we didn't have internet then, so we saw he was a native of Philadelphia and called information. They had no Joe Astroth in Philly, but they did have a listing in one of the neighboring towns. I dialed and he answered on the first ring. This won't happen I think when my kids are grown and trying to call an old ball player. But Joe was friendly as could be and so I wished him a happy birthday and proceeded to tell him of the heroics he had just performed in his card league persona. He was happy to hear it and we talked for quite a while about the card league, his experiences in the big leagues and life in general. I never could put my brother on the phone because he had a serious case of the giggles. But I hold our conversation in my heart as the highlight of the card league. So far anyway.
That night, picking up the phone, he had time for me. He appreciated that he had this 'other' existence and was quite tickled by it. And we talked. It was a small glimpse, for me, into the world of baseball when they were just regular guys. Believe me, my Joe Astroth card has gone way up in value. In my estimation anyway.
