Vintage Rohm and Haas Magazine Ads

Many people collect vintage magazine ads. I don't but I worked for 35 years for the company featured in these ads. Rohm and Haas Company was a large chemical company with a 100-year history when it was bought by Dow Chemical in 2009. Although it was a pretty big company, most people did not know if it, unless you lived in it's headquarter city of Philadelphia. The company mainly sold to other industrial companies, not directly to the consumer market. One R&H product you probably know is Plexiglas.

This ad is from the January 1955 edition of "Chain Store Age". Rohm and Haas had invented the plastic it named Plexiglas in the 1930s. The company got a big boost during the Second World War when Plexiglas was the material of choice for aircraft windows. After the war, Plexiglas found a big market in outdoor signage, as the ad above illustrates. Plexiglas would find a lot of other architectural uses such as lighting and skylights.

The above ad is from the October 1959 edition of "Architectural Record". The next ad is from the May 1965 edition of the same magazine.

There is a surprising amount of Rohm and Haas memorabilia available on eBay and I've bought a number of pieces over the years. I've been looking more actively for ads recently and over the next few months I'll feature what I've found.

Song of the Week - Kismet by Manooghi Hi

I've had this song from a podcast since 2010 but iTunes only just played it the other day. This is an example of Indian-Pop music, according to Wikipedia. There isn't an article on Manooghi Hi itself, but they are mentioned in the Indian pop article. "Seattle-based band Manooghi Hi (featuring Indi-Pop singer, Mehnaz) vocalize in a multitude of South Asian languages, including English, Urdu, Sanskrit, Hindi, and Bengali. The band claims to have active members living in both the United States and Mumbai." I don't know about you but this is really catchy.

Random Cards of the Week - January 28, 2012

Card # 24,974
1988 Topps #520 Dave Smith

There once was a guy named Andy who blogged every single 1988 Topps card. It seems to have been removed from cyberspace. Too bad.

Card #19,749
1987 Reading Phillies ProCards #799 Kevin Ward

I bought this entire 26-card Phillies set for $4.50 in 2006. The Phillies farm system was in pretty bad shape in 1987. The only player in this set to have any kind of career was Ricky Jordan.

Card #4,827
2005 Bowman #201 Scott Mathieson

Two Phillies in a row! The Phillies 17th round draft pick (509th overall) in 2005. In 3 years with the Phillies (2006, 2010-2011) he's 1-4.

Card # 22,975
1991 Score #239 Mark Knudson

Perhaps the last year of Score that I actually liked.

Card #16,474
2010 Topps National Chicle #52 Nick Swisher

This was a nice, apparently, one-off set from Topps. The fronts featured player paintings by a number of different artists. Each did a different design.

Card #31,496
1993 Fleer #236 George Brett

A pretty good looking card of one of my favorite players of all time. Brett retired in 1993 after 21 seasons.

Card #11,711
2008 Sweet Spot #87 Roy Oswalt

These were nice cards but, in my opinion, pretty pricey. I bought a tin of this product (not a box, but a tin) which had 27 cards in it for $30. The deal was you were guaranteed a hit per box. I got a relic card of Chen-Ming Wang. Wow!

Card #14,124
2009 Topps 206 #196 Jeremy Hermida

A card from this set seems to come up every week. We'll I've got 173 of them.

Card #30,895
1990 Donruss #126 Barry Bonds

Did anyone ever figure what drugs the Donruss designers were under the influence of in those days?

Card # 10,628
2008 Upper Deck X #46 Lance Berkman

It was a shame that Upper Deck stopped making baseball cards but they were really running on empty the last few years.

Players I Collect - Robert Alomar

There are a number of players which I specifically collect even though they are not Phillies or Astros. These players go into binders rather into the boxes with the ordinary guys. I started this series of showcasing cards of players I collect some time ago with Jim Abbott but didn't continue it. Let me get to the next player on the alphabetical list.

There are some players whom I collect that later in their careers I wonder why I'm collecting them. Not so with Roberto Alomar. Regarded by many as one of the best second basemen in baseball history, he won more Gold Gloves (10) than any other player at second. He was no slouch at the plate either, batting .300 in his 17-year career, with 2,724 hits, 210 home runs and 474 stolen bases. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2011, in his second year of eligibility.

I own 183 of his cards. Here are some of my favorites.

1988 Donruss Rookies #35

Roberto started his career after being signed by the Padres in 1985. He joined his brother, Sandy on the team in 1988.

1989 Fleer #630

1990 Upper Deck #346

In December 1990, he was traded with Joe Carter to the Blue Jays for Tony Fernandez and Fred McGriff.

1992 Stadium Club #159

He was with the Jays for 5 years and an All-Star every year. The Jays won the World Series in 2 of his years there, 1992 and 1993. Alomar is the first player to go into the Hall of Fame as a Blue Jay and the Jays have retired his number.

1993 Topps Black Gold #23

1995 Fleer All-Fleer #2

1996 SPx Gold #1

In December 1995, he signed a signed a 3-year, $17MM contract with the Orioles.

1998 Upper Deck 10th Anniversary Preview #26

1999 Crown Royal #41

In 1999, he rejoined with his brother on the Indians.

2001 Fleer Showcase Sticks

2002 Topps 206 #185

In December 2001, Roberto was traded by the Indians to the Mets.

2003 Bowman Heritage #57

And in July 2003, he was traded to the White Sox.

2004 Leaf Exhibits

2004 Topps Cracker Jack #138

In late 2003, he signed as a free agent with the Diamondbacks who traded him back to the White Sox during the 2004 season. In early 2005 he signed with the Rays but retired in March before the season began.

Fairfield Rack Pack

There may come a time when I can stop myself from buying these repacks but as long as I keep getting stuff I want from them I'll keep buying them. These rack packs have 100 cards. They promise a relic in every 4 packs, but I haven't seen one yet. I didn't have 52 of the cards in the package, a pretty good percentage. Not all of them did I want to keep, but I like adding to my image database, even if I don't keep the card. They will be fodder for the 3rd Annual Summer Blow-Out Trade come June. I'm sure you don't have the stamina to see all 52 cards so I'll just show you a few.

Remember, I buy these packs so you don't have to.


1967 Topps #419 Don Kessinger

First up, is a card which perfectly exemplifies why I keep buying Fairfield repacks. Most of the 1967 Topps cards I own are Phillies. In fact this only the second 1967 Topps card that isn't a Phillie I've acquired. And although I never heard of Don Kessinger, he was a pretty good player. A 6-time All-Star with a 16-year career, mostly with the Cardinals. I'm happy to have his card.

1978 Topps #248 Frank White

This pack had more old cards than usual. Frank White had an 18-year career, all with the Royals. He was the 1980 ALCS MVP but his team went on to lose the 1980 World Series to the Phillies.

1982 Donruss Diamond Kings Checklist

How exciting is this? Not much really but in my quest to collect at least one of each kind of card, this is a card from the 1982 Donruss set I didn't have. It is not actually a part of the set (it doesn't have a number). I'm always happy when I can get a card to add to my reference collection.

1988 Fleer Baseball MVP Mark Langston

Fleer made a lot of these 44-card boxed sets in the late 1980s which were distributed through various retail outlets. This is not one I've seen before. The set was distributed by Toys 'R' Us. The store is not mentioned anywhere on the card but apparently was on the box.


1989 Topps Cap'n Crunch #1 Jose Canseco

This was the first card out of the pack and already I felt like I had my money's worth. I never even heard of this set before.

1990 Upper Deck #445 Fernando Valenzuela

I actually already owned this card but it's a great card so here it is.

1990 Starline Long John Silver #37 Darryl Strawberry

I'll agree that this is one ugly card. It came from a 40-card set distributed by Long John Silver restaurants in 1990. According to Beckett.com, after the promotion was over they had 100,000 sets left over. You can easily find them on eBay, still in the original 4-card cellophane wrappers.

1993 Classic Four Sport Gold #296 Carl Schutz

I've seen 4 or 5 cards from this set, but I've never seen a card from the base (non-Gold Set). The other reason I show this card is because of the subject. Schutz was the Braves #3 draft pick in 1993. He is show here in the proud uniform of Southwest Louisiana Community College. He actually made it to the show, appearing in three games for the Braves in 1996.

2000 Pacific Vanguard #79 Peter Bergeron

Another reference card. I had a handful of these cards, but not a rookie card. They were advertised as having been printed with “Vision-Glow” technology.

2000 Upper Deck Ovation #47 Preston Wilson

Ovation was a set released for a few years by Upper Deck. The design always featured some sort of embossing. The white, textured looking area of the card is actually textured. I've always wondered how they printed cards like this.

Song of the Week - Trains to Brazil by Guillemots

I've been doing a song of the week post since I started this blog back in early 2--8. I don't like to re-post a song but this song came up in random play on iTunes and it's so good I have to post it again. Also, the last time I wasn't able to embed the video. I last posted this song in May 2009. I used to note how many songs I had in iTunes with the post. Back then I had 6,649. Today I have 13, 236.

Random Cards of the Week January 21, 2012

Card #14,729
1989 Topps #563 Bill Schroeder

In the dictionary, at the definition of "Square jawed" they have a picture of this guy.

Card #15,884
1992 Ultra #254 Mike LaValliere

I think this is my favorite year for Ultra, a set that, over the years, I've never warmed to. For those of you who don't know, Mike's nickname was "Spanky".

Card #14,136
2009 Topps 206 #35 Erik Bedard

I posted a card from this set last week, complaining about, among other things, that every card had the exact same simulated stain on the back. If you're not familiar with the set check out last week's card here.

Card #19,025
2004 Topps Cracker Jack Mini #82 Xavier Nady

The 2004 Topps Cracker Jack set is one of my favorite sets. This is one of the parallel mini cards. I believe that this is where Topps first featured simulated stains on the card backs of simulated old cards. They did it much better here than on the set above.

Card #20,272
1990 Topps #489 Nick Leyva

The late 1980s and most of the 1990s were dark days for the Phillies. Nick led the Phillies to a 77-85, 4th place finish in 1990. Lets have a show of hands, do you love the 1990 Topps design?

Card #12,635
2000 Crown Royale #63 Roger Cedeno

Pacific produced some of the most flamboyant cards in the early 2000s. This set was die-cut and had silver foil on the rays between the sections of the crown.

Card #23,030
2006 Topps #20 Bob Abreu

Bobby was traded to the Yankees with Cory Lidle in August 2006 for people you never heard of, including Carlos Monasterios. Topps generally called Abreu, Bobby, on their cards but other companies often just called him Bob. Sometimes he was Robert. This makes if difficult if you're cataloging cards in a database. I have him listed as Bob throughout, no matter what it says in his card.

Card #19,998
2010 Topps 206 #114 Alex Rodriguez

I think this is a better design than the 2009 set and out damned spot, out!

Card #18,261
2010 Topps Allen & Ginter #75 Jayson Werth

By making incremental changes each year, Topps has managed to keep Allen & Ginter popular.

Card #21,562
1997 Stadium Club #79 Gregg Jefferies

This could have a great action shot. Jefferies is really stretching for the throw. What looks like Alex Arias of the Marlins (who would be a Phillie in 1998) is busting a gut to reach 1st ahead of the throw. Is he safe or not? Unfortunately, the giant name thing they had on 1997 Stadium Club makes it impossible to tell. Maybe Jefferies' maniacal look on the back while bunting makes up for the front a bit.