2025 Vintage Pickups Thread

[VanLingoMungo46]

Originally Posted by corndog

I acquired this 1952 Topps for less than the price of a reprint on Ebay.
I like to pick up printing and bindery flaws/errors and I like the looks and smells of the vintage cards.
This is my fifth 1952 Topps now.
It's condition isn't great but that's okay.
I like the man's story and now have his card.

Martin served in the Army as a combat engineer during World War 2 and was badly injured on two separate occasions. During the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944 he was one of the first to arrive by amphibious boat and suffered shrapnel wounds to his hand, arm and neck. In a later battle he was shot in the leg and nearly lost a leg due to gangrene. A nurse had heard that he was a ball player and talked him into taking penicillin which at the time was an experimental drug. He credits the nurse with saving his leg.
During the D-Day operation, Army engineers suffered casualties of over 40 percent. Over fifty years later, Martin still could not talk about it his war experiences.

He recovered and entered the minor leagues in 1946 and ultimately the majors in 1949 where he pitched for seven different teams over his ten year career.

He passed away in 2010 at the age of 87.

There is an excellent read on Martin's life here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20100601...B?OpenDocument

Thanks for sharing. Love stories like this. Those guys who made it through the war and went on to play ball, appear in the '52 topps set, and then survive all the way into their late 80s, man what lives they lived. The epitome of a survivor.