Collecting 1955 Bowman Baseball: As Seen on TV

Sam Mele's career story could be boiled down to one saying: "Don't mess with a good thing." In his youth, he played with various local teams, as his high school dumped baseball after his freshman year. He went to NYU and was a great hitter there. Hitting .405 in 1941 and .369 in 1942. As was the standard of the day: World War II called, and Mele signed up for the Marines. He was sent to the Pacific theater in 1943 as part of the V-12 Navy College Program. This program's goal was to produce officers.  While in the program, he played baseball for the Navy alongside Joe DiMaggio. Mele led the Navy league with a .358 batting average. When he came back, he had a contract with the Boston Red Sox waiting for him. He didn't take long in making it to the major leagues. In 1947 as a rookie, Mele hit an impressive .302 with 12 home runs. Then in 1948, the Red Sox changed managers and Mele's fate changed as well. Joe McCarthy was a great manager, winning 7 World Serie...

The first card I'm going to write about is one of the most recent that I have come across. I have never heard of Bill Klaus before I came across this card. Before I get to his career, let's take a look at the card itself. First of all, yes, this is the condition a large number of the cards I've come across for this set are in. At some point in the future, I might care more about the condition, but right now, I kind of like the roughness. It let's me know that people handled, traded, and played with these cards. Many of the cards from this set I've come across have has names written on them. A lot of them have creases running right down the middle. You know, where the rubber bands that held them together lived. Maybe this is my little form of protest against the world of grading cards and slabbing them in plastic, never to be held again. Bill Klaus' professional career started in 1946 at the age of 17 when he was signed by the Cleveland Indians as a free agent..A...