Sharks, Bandits and German Measles

Plains Antiques & Home Furnishings
Plains, PA
There was way too much at this store to contain it all in a single post, so here are a few of the more interesting items that are available for purchase at Plains Antiques & Home Furnishings.

The Mills Novelty Company made slot machines, jukeboxes and vending machines from the 1800's to the 1980's.  I'm not positive, but I think this bandit model slot machine is from the 1940's.

If I was going to buy anything expensive and ridiculous, it would have been this vintage Pepsi cooler.  I'm not sure what year it's from, but the bottle opener built into the front of the machine means that this was made when cola was sold in glass bottles.  Pepsi didn't start using aluminum cans until the late 60's, so if I had to guess, I'd say it's from the 50's. 

I'm fascinated by the Warren Spahn Whirly Bird game.  It was only $17 and I was tempted to get it.  If it was Steve Carlton instead of the Braves Hall Of Fame lefty, I probably would have.  The part that interests me the most is the "as seen on TV" banner on the top.  Somewhere out there, there must be a recording of the 1957 Cy Young Award winner on a commercial hawking toys to children, and I've got to find it.

The Star Wars score performed by the London Symphony Orchestra on 8-Track caught my eye, but at $45, I wasn't at all tempted.  You can get this for around $5 or $10 on eBay, and I don't even think I'd pay that much.  Don't get me wrong, it's pretty cool, but it's "dollar box at a yard sale" cool.

The old Weis cleaner just struck me odd.  How does something like this manage to sit in someone's pantry for long enough to go from the home to the antique store?

 

After doing some research and photo comparisons online, I found that this Zenith black and white tv is from 1981.  I didn't even know they were still making black and white televisions in the 80's.  I had a set when I was a kid that looked a little like this one, with the VHF and UHF channel knobs above the speaker, but that one was from the late 80's and was a color set.

That's quite a nativity scene they've got there.  We've got a blond Mary and two brunette Marys, and there's Joseph in solemn prayer with Frosty The Snowman standing over his shoulder.

Dang, all caps and an exclamation point?  Calm down, little yellow sign.  You're welcome.

 

At first glance, I thought that these stuffed toys were supposed to be poo or ice cream, but they're Nestle Toll House Morsels.  The one on the left is Semi-Sweet Chocolate (the tag identifies the character as "Semi Sweetie").  The one on the right didn't have its original tags, but based on the Scottish clothing, I believe it's supposed to be a butterscotch morsel.  I was tempted to buy these for work, but not for what they were charging.

I'm not expert, but I think this German measles quarantine sign is a replica.  It looked too new and unworn to be over 100 years old.  Still, it might be a pretty good way to keep missionaries and other unwanted guests from knocking on your front door.

Hmmm... I can't say that I was expecting to find a condom vending machine at an antique store, but I guess it does tell the history of the early days of the disease in the early 80's.  This thing is destined to hang in a frathouse bathroom.

 

Out of everything in the antique store, this is the one item that I was the most tempted to buy.  It's nothing fancy - just a plastic chess set with cool faces on the pieces, but I was very excited to see it.

This chess set is identical to the one that my grandfather and I used when he taught me how to play when I was a kid.  I couldn't have been older than 6 or 7 years old at the time.  He beat me at every game until I was a teenager, but he showed me how the pieces moved and taught me the strategies that he knew.  I was certainly no Bobby Fischer, but for an elementary school kid, I could hold my own.  Playing chess with my Grandpa at the kitchen table is one of the happiest childhood memories that I have.

I'm 99% positive that I have the chess set that we played on back in the 80's in a shoebox in the attic.  I know I don't have the original box (that was pretty much wrecked when I first laid eyes on the set as a kid), but I didn't think it was worth spending $45 for a duplicate set just because this one came with the box.  If I had the extra money to burn, I would have, but there are bills to pay, and if I ever come into some spare cash, I know where to find it.

This was another temptation, but the price they were charging was more than I was comfortable paying (hint: it wasn't 20 cents a pack).  Rocky is one of my all-time favorite films, and Rocky II was my mother and father's first date.  If I ever find a set of these that isn't too expensive, I'll probably pick it up, but I had to pass on these unopened wax packs.

Last, but certainly not least, is this little guy.  I really wish I would have bought him.  My cousin does sculptures like this, and I've always really liked them.  It may not have been my favorite thing that I laid eyes on at the flea market, but it's the one I regret not buying.  However, I came here with a budget, and if it's a choice between a cool little sculpture and a baseball signed by Richie Ashburn, Harry The K and By Saam, the baseball is going to win out every time.

No Credit, No Drinking, No Escaping The Wall Fish

Plains Antiques & Home Furnishings
Plains, PA
We visited this antique shop in Plains for the first time ten days ago.  It's a deceptively large shop where I found an awesome autographed Richie Ashburn baseball.  I was very happy to find the ball, and it was very reasonably priced, but it pretty much took up all of the spending money I had budgeted for the day, but I still had a great time looking and taking photos of the random oddities they have for sale. 

I wouldn't call the place cluttered, but they did take advantage of every square inch of the place, including these shelves behind the front window of the store.

Long have I looked for a store where I can purchase a Phillies jersey, a giant shark head, a framed Life magazine featuring a woman wearing a wolverine coat and Christmas decorations from the 50's.

 

I'm thinking that yellow thing in the top left hand corner is a sign to buy a bus ticket to Salt Lake City.  It's right above a god awful piece of artwork made out of bottle caps.  There are also a hell of a lot of fish hanging on the wall around here.  And why am I craving a cold, delicious Snapple right now?

I guess that means I'm turning right.

If I ever start my own bar with no parking that sells Pennzoil on the side, I know where I'm coming to buy signs.

This may be the best cash register I've ever seen in my life.  It's a window built into an room that looks like a little building within a building.  There are two ways for the employees to get to the office: the beaded curtain, or the door that is covered in newspaper clippings.  The icing on the cake is the massive Stegmaier Christmas sign hanging on the faux shingles.  If the zombie apocalypse ever comes, I might live here.

 

Judging by the size of the signs, I'd be better off cracking open a cold one than asking to apply for a Plains Antiques & Home Furnishings credit card.  I wasn't planning on doing either, but I can't lie, they kind of put the idea in my head.

Strange Laundry: Ryan Howard

Ryan Howard
Gwinnett Braves (2017)
After spending 13 years with the Philadelphia Phillies, 37 year old Ryan Howard signed a minor league contract with the Atlanta Braves.  He was assigned to their Triple A affiliate in Gwinnett in the hopes that the Braves could call him up to utilize as their DH for interleague games.

Things didn't go as planned for Howard or the Braves.  He played a total of 11 games with the Gwinnett Braves, batting .184 with two walks, a single home run and 11 strikeouts in 42 plate appearances.  He was released by the Braves earlier today.

Schuylkill Mall In The 80's - Spencer Gifts

Spencer Gifts
Schuylkill Mall - Frackville, PA (early 1980's)
This was always one of my favorite stores in the mall.  As a kid, I gravitated toward the posters, stickers, toys and pranks.  There was no better place to go if you wanted to pick up a Guns N' Roses poster and a package of fake vomit.

Schuylkill Mall In The 80's - The Peanut Shack

The Peanut Shack
Schuylkill Mall - Frackville, PA (early 80's)
This was a nice little candy and snack shop on the corner near K-Mart on the way to the movie theater.  It remained in operation until 2001.

Wolfgang Mozart Down The Road That I Must Travel

NEPA Philharmonic - Masterworks IV: A Season's Grand Finale
FM Kirby Center - Wilkes-Barre, PA

I had a very nice time at the Kirby Center tonight; however, I made a couple of faux pas that I won't live down any time soon.

The first occurred when we took our seats and I heard music coming from the stage.  I thought we arrived in plenty of time, so I rushed and got settled in.  I'm not at all knowledgeable about classical music, but it didn't sound very good.  After a few minutes, I leaned in whisper to Angie that the music wasn't as good as I hoped it would be.  When she was finished chuckling, she let me know that the musicians were tuning their instruments, and the lights would be dimmed before the concert began.  Whoops.

 

The second happened just a few minutes later while I sheepishly reviewed the program.  The way it was written, I thought that they would be performing Mozart's Requiem in D Minor, and then after that, they were going to perform the list of other songs that appeared below.  I got excited when I saw Kyrie and I told Angie that I was surprised to see that they're doing a modern song.  It was then that I learned that the NEPA Philharmonic would not be performing the 1985 pop song from Mr. Mister, but would instead continue with the second section of Mozart's Requiem, which happens to also be called Kyrie.

You can take the boy out of the 80's, but you can never take the 80's out of the boy.

I Find Your Lack Of Chicken Disturbing

Star Wars Chicken Soup
Campbell's (2017)
I found this can of soup in my cupboard.  It's got a best buy date of June 2017, so I probably bought it last year.  I'm normally a Progresso or Campbell's Chunky Soup guy, but the pull of Lord Vader was too strong to resist.  May the Fourth be with you!

As Good As Two Guys From Italy

Cafe Europa
Laurel Mall - Hazleton, PA
When I was a kid, there was a pretty awesome restaurant in the Laurel Mall called Two Guys From Italy that I have to write more about one of these days.  The food at Cafe Europa reminds me a lot of that place, especially the pizza.  It's by far the best and most authentic pizza in town.

Pork Passport

Official Iron Pigs Pork Passport
Coca-Cola Park - Allentown, PA
The Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs are the Triple A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies.  They play their home games at Coca-Cola Park, one of the newest and most beautiful parks in minor league baseball.  However, if the sights and sounds of the ballpark aren't enough to get you out to the game, perhaps the Pork Passport will.

Fans are given stamps for their pork passport for every pork item they consume at the ballpark.  For every five pork items that you purchase, you'll be given a free pound of bacon.  After your tenth stamp, you earn the status of "Most Valuable Porker" and a free limited edition baseball cap.

Menu items include a quarter pound of deep-fried bacon, a quarter pound slab of bacon on a stick that has been candied in maple syrup and brown sugar, chocolate covered bacon, pork mac & cheese parfait, and the "three little pigs" sandwich, which includes barbecue pork, fried ham and bacon.

Bring the kids for a night at the ballpark to feast on the meat of your team's mascot and you can return home with a pound of bacon and a swell hat!

Nuts For Nintendo

Nuts For Nintendo
20/20 - ABC Television (1988)
Uploaded by Steven Hertz from a VHS tape recording.
News segment that focused on the new Super Mario Bros 2 and Zelda 2 for the NES.

Richie Ashburn Autographed Baseball

We found this baseball for sale at Plains Antiques & Home Furnishings in Pennsylvania.   Right off the bat, I noticed the Richie Ashburn and Harry Kalas autographs (as well as the reasonable price tag) and decided that this ball was coming home with us.  After we got home, we began to do a little investigating on the other signatures on the ball.

Ron Schueler: Right hand pitcher who played for the Phillies from 1974 - 1976. He was with the Phillies for most of Spring Training in 1977, but nine days before their first regular season game, the Phillies sold Schueler's contract to the Minnesota Twins.

Carl Morton: Right handed pitcher who was one of the players taken by the Montreal Expos in the 1968 Expansion Draft. He went on to win the Rookie of the Year in 1970. In total, he had an 8 year Major League career - the first half with the Expos and the rest with the Braves. Odd that he would be on a baseball with Ron Schueler and the Phillies broadcast team, until we did a bit more digging.

We found that Morton signed with the Phillies as a free agent early in 1977 (the date is uncertain, but Baseball-Reference.com estimates that this occurred "sometime in May"). Morton would go on to spend the season in Triple A with the Oklahoma City 89'ers and was not brought up to Philadelphia. The Phillies released him on September 14th that same year.

So, what were the circumstances that could have led to Schueler and Morton both signing this ball? There are two possibilities that seem to be the most likely:

1. A kid brought their Little League baseball to a Phillies Spring Training game in March 1977 in that short window of time after Carl Morton signed, but before Ron Schueler's contract was sold. The date of the Schueler transaction is certain, so it had to have occurred before March 31st. This would also mean that Morton joined the Phillies in Florida at some point during this time.


2. That same kid went to a Braves vs. Phillies game between 1974 - 1976 when Schueler was with the Phillies and Morton was with the Braves. He or she collected an autograph from one of the opposing players (Morton's signature is the only one in a different color pen). By coincidence, Morton joined the Phillies organization the very next year.

I'll never know for sure, but it's a heck of a puzzle that resulted in these two random ships that passed in the night in the Phillies clubhouse to sign the same ball. Schueler would go on to pitch for the Twins in '77 and the White Sox in '78 - '79 before retiring from the game. Morton never made it back to the Major Leagues, and he died of a heart attack in 1983 before his 40th birthday.

As for the last signature... that one was tough. It's the most faded of the five autographs, and it looks very unusual. It took us a little bit of looking through the Phillies and 89ers rosters of the late 70's without seeing any similar names, my dad finally cracked the code...

Byrum Saam: Known throughout his historic broadcasting career as By Saam.  He began his career in Philadelphia calling games for the Philadelphia Phillies and Philadelphia Athletics from 1938 - 1949. He worked exclusively for the Philadelphia A's starting in 1950 until the team moved to Kansas City in 1954. He returned to the Phillies broadcast booth in 1955 and remained until 1975. In that time, he called games with Richie Ashburn, who joined the broadcast booth in 1963, and Harry The K, who joined the team in 1970.

Ashburn, Kalas and Saam worked the Phillies broadcast booth together starting in 1970. Saam retired in 1976, but he appeared from time to time in 1977. Ashburn worked the booth until his death in 1997. He was of the most beloved members of the organization, both for his excellence on the field and on the mic. Harry would continue to be the voice of the Phillies, with his final full season ending in the 2008 World Series win. I watched from the stands as Harry threw out the ceremonial first pitch of the Phillies 2009 season. In their first road trip of the 2009 season, Harry The K died in the broadcast booth in Washington D.C. as he prepared to call the Nationals home opener against the Phillies.

So, represented on this ball are two right handed pitchers that met briefly in passing, as well as a lineage of 70 years of Phillies broadcast excellence, which includes a man who began with the team the year before World War II, the Hall Of Fame icon of the franchise whose name is synonymous with Philadelphia baseball, and the voice of the Phillies whose singing of High Hopes still echos in the ballpark.

Pretty sweet deal for $40.

If It's Good Enough For Ron Swoboda...

Wiffle Ball
Plains Antiques & Home Furnishings - Plains, PA

If you're looking for a recommendation on a great Wiffle Ball, the right fielder of the '69 Miracle Mets has you covered.

Smart Dude With Sideburns

Standard Speaker
April 28, 1977 - Hazleton, PA
While browsing through Newspapers.com, I came across this photo of my dad in high school winning a prize in a science competition.

Two Fuzzy Carbon-Based Life Forms

Hello.  We are Will and Harvey.  Point us in the direction of your food and stand back!

Giant Plumber Balls

Target

Wilkes-Barre, PA
The giant red balls outside of Target have been decorated to look like Mario and Luigi.

The Spice Must Flow

Butterfinger Smokin' Hot Peanut Butter Cups
Nestle (2017)
The newest of the limited edition oddities to come out of the Nestle candy kitchens are spicy peanut butter cups.  They don't taste hot at first, but the aftertaste sneaks up on you.

I'll Wait...

Popeye's Chicken
Rt. 93 - Hazleton, PA

Get Down With Your Bad Self

Robert Alton Harris
Artwork by Connie Cann
This print shows the last words of convicted killer Robert Alton Harris before he was executed in the gas chamber on April 21st, 1992.  They must have had a recent movie night on death row because it's from the Reaper Rap at the end of the 1991 film: Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey.

Happy 4/20

I wonder if my doctor will give me a medical marijuana card in honor of 4/20.  He's got a pretty groovy little gazebo in front of the office that would make the perfect spot.

Gwen Stefani Was Right

Happy National Banana Day.  May your life be blessed with potassium.

Harvey's Haircut

My little buddy got a haircut.

Just A Funky Old Shack And I Gotta Get Back

Radio Shack
Rt. 93 - Hazleton, PA

I'm going to miss this place.  It had cheap batteries, awesome remote control cars, and if I ever had a vintage gizmo from a flea market that was missing a wire or something, all I had to do is bring it in and the folks at the counter knew exactly what it needed.

The main thing I'll always remember about this store is that it was the place where I got my first computer - a 486 IBM Aptiva.  We had a computer when I lived in Florida, but that was more of a family computer and it was in the years before any of us knew what the internet was.  Pretty much all I ever did on it was play the occasional game of Ninja Rabbit, Double Dragon 3 or the demo for Out Of This World.  Mostly, it was used by my stepmom for her projects.  The Aptiva was more than that.  It had a 28.8 modem and was my first door to the internet.  I spent hours on that thing, and I'll never forget how excited I was on the the day that we brought it home from this Radio Shack.

In its final years, the store has mostly become a Sprint mobile phone dealer.  The computers and handheld games are long gone, but they have just about any type of phone case or chargers that you could ever want.  Just about everything is marked down between 50 - 80% off, so I stocked up on batteries before they close for good.

Out With The Pup

Harvey usually finds a few squirrels to chase in this field during his walk.

Cranking Cantina

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Star Wars Cantina Song on a Barrel Organ
Brice Dudouet
An organ grinder named Brice Dudouet performs "Mad About Me" originally performed by Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes... or to those of you who aren't totally hopeless nerds such as myself, he is playing the Star Wars Cantina Song by John Williams.

Dinner In The Outfield

Harry The K's Grille
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA

There are so many good things to eat at Citizens Bank Park that it's hard to decide.  I try to come here at least once every season.  It's an especially good place to relax and have a meal during a rain delay if you're lucky enough to get a table before everyone else in the ballpark gets the same idea.

It didn't rain during the Home Opener on Friday, but it was pretty damn cold, so it was good to come in out of the left field wind and get a nice, hot meal.

I'm trying to lose some weight, so I went with the Farmer's Market Grain Bowl.  I know, I know, make fun of me all you want, but I've had this once before and it's really delicious and more filling than it looks.

Angie got the Steak Frites, which she said was very good.  I'm pretty sure I had this before and it is every bit as delicious as the description would lead you to believe.  If there is a negative here, it's the fact that it's not especially large, so you're probably going to still be hungry if you're a husky eater.