Two sport champion, Gene Conley, dead at 86.

When you think of two sport super stars in Atlanta..... yeah, the mind tends to wander over to dual personality known as Neon and Prime Time.

And rightfully so. Who can forget the media coverage of Deion leaving one sports venue after a game, sprinting to a waiting helicopter to be carried off to another stadium and the start of another game.
Deion managed a Super Bowl win with Dallas and the 49ers, but lost in his only World Series appearance with the Braves. He would've been the third athlete to capture championships in two of the four major sports.


Meet the second athlete to have accomplished that feat. Gene Conley.

Gene played baseball as a pitcher from 1952 until 1963.

 He pitched in three All Star games, 1954, 1959 and was the winning pitcher in 1955. He won the World Series with Milwaukee in 1957.

Gene played for the Phillies and Red Sox late in his baseball career, but we don't care about that. These fabulous Braves cards are from my own personal collection. Jealous?

Gene also played pro basketball as a center for the Boston Celtics.

(I don't have any of his basketball cards.... don't know if he even has any...)

He played the bouncy ball in 1952/53 and then from 1957 to 1964. He won NBA Championships in 1958, 59, 60.
Yeah. He played both sports at the same time. Awesome.


As immortalized on the back of his '56 Topps card... Gene stood 6'8"

Gene is the only athlete to play on three professional sports teams from the same city.
Boston Braves
Boston Red Sox
Boston Celtics

Gene was also the last living player to have played for both the Boston Braves and the Boston Red Sox.



Gene Conley 10.11.1930 - 04.07.2017

Something old, something new....

I haven't picked up a lot of new baseball other than trying to desperately complete my Braves team sets from throughout the years. You'd think a lot of these 'common junk wax' cards would be plentiful to find, but no. Not so.

 

If you have Braves cards from the '90s or '00s, let me know.

 

But I've still managed to acquire a couple of new to me autos... they must really be valuable as they both came factory sealed in plastic prisons.

 

Tommy Holmes.

 

Tommy played almost his entire career for the Boston Braves. (1942-1952) He finished runner up for MVP in 1945. His career batting average was .302. And he his ratio of 28 home runs for every strike out is one of baseball's all time best.
Tommy passed away in 2008 at the age of 91.


 If you like a little more modern feel to your cards....

Julio Teheran

Julio is one of the top young arms in baseball... Baseball America's #1 RHP prospect.
For whatever that's worth.
But he's got a great sig.

Hope you like 'em... I do. And now they're mine.