Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

Since we don't have a "Non-Glove Stuff Wanted" section yet, I thought this might be the best place to post this request... Plus, I'd guess that all of us probably collect other baseball artifacts, so I'm hoping that maybe some of you out there can help me out.

I'm working on a special project and I'm researching an obscure ballplayer named Bobby Balcena. I'm looking for anything related to the following teams/years:

1948-1950 Mexicali Aguilas
1950-1954 San Antonio Missions
1954-1956 Seattle Rainiers
1956 Cincinnati Redlegs
1956-1958 Seattle Rainiers
1958-1961 Buffalo Bisons
1961-1962 Hawaii Islanders

And when I say anything, I mean anything that mentions this guy - pennants, programs, baseball cards, jerseys, old photos, documents, old film footage, copies of game broadcasts...whatever! Even if all you have are memories of seeing Balcena play at Sick's Stadium (or any other stadium) back in the day, I want to hear your story! Or, if you guys know anybody still alive who played on these teams, or if you know of any fan organizations for any of those teams, drop me a line.

Please let me know whatever you (or anyone else you know) have! Either respond here, PM me, or email me at the address below. Also, the stuff doesn't necessary have to be for sale, either - I'd be just as interested to borrow, copy, or even photograph anything (and of course, I'll be more than happy to reimburse anyone for their time and expense). In any case, I just want to know what's out there, and that it still exists!

I'm trying to compile enough info on Balcena to make a short documentary film on him - and I have some people from the Reds and Cooperstown who are very interested in the results of my research. Naturally, anybody who's kind enough to contribute their material for the project will of course be given credit in the final product!

Guys, I know this is a really odd request, and thanks in advance to everyone!


Larry
LVersola@gmail.com


P.S. There IS actually a glove-related story about this guy. In 1955, Balcena gave his Wilson gamer (unknown model, but described in an old article as a "limited edition") to a Rainiers batboy. Shortly after, the glove was stolen...so there's a Balcena glove out there that I'd probably give my right arm to locate and own!

I found this info on a journal article at the university I work at. Unfortunately, neither myself or the librarian to get the article itself to pull up, but it is possible to request a copy. With this info, you shouldn’t have any trouble tracking it down. You may already have this, but this is the best I could come up with. Hope this helps- I’d love to hear how your project turns out. Here’s the info:

Title: Bobby Balcena in his prime. (cover story)
Source: Heritage (08950792); Mar90, Vol. 4 Issue 1, p9, 1p, 2 bw

I've seen several references to that article, and but I couldn't access the article either - Heritage was a small publication to begin with, and it hasn't been in publication for quite some time. The article was published shortly after Balcena's death in January of 1990.

I might have a contact that just might have a hard copy, but it's in Seattle...so if you could tell me how I could go about requesting a copy, I'd be forever grateful!

i found this reference although you probably already have it. currently at the U Minnesota library system.


Title Distinguished Asian Americans : a biographical dictionary / edited by Hyung-chan Kim ; contributing editors, Dorothy Cordova ... [et al.].
Published Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1999.
Description xviii, 430 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.
Availability TC Wilson Library Reference E184.O6 D57 1999 Non-Circulating

Contents Kyutaro Abiko -- Eleanor Academia -- Chun Afong -- Ch’ang Ho Ahn -- Philip Ahn -- John Fugue Aiso -- Chang Apana -- George Ryoichi Ariyoshi -- Jose Aruego -- Tai Babilonia -- Bobby Balcena -- Thang Nguyen Barrett -- Lynda Barry -- Amar Gopal Bose -- Carlos Bulosan -- Benjamin J. Cayetano -- Sucheng Chan -- Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar -- Michael Chang -- Elaine L. Chao -- Tin-Yuke Char -- Boona Cheema -- Anna Chen Chennault -- Ng Poon Chew -- Frank (Chew Jr.) Chin -- Hung Wai Ching -- Thomas W. Chinn -- Margaret Cho -- Martha C. Ch’oe -- Bong Youn Choy -- Herbert C. Choy -- Louis Chu -- Connie Chung -- Eugene Y. Chung -- Ananda Coomaraswamy -- Taraknath Das -- Hisaye Yamamoto DeSoto -- Kartar Dhillon -- Victoria Manalo Draves -- Edith Maud Eaton -- Bobby Enriquez -- Marina Estrella Espina -- March Fong Eu -- Hiram Fong -- Philip Kan Gotanda -- Carl Sadakichi Hartmann -- S. I. Hayakawa -- Sessue Hayakawa -- Le Ly Hayslip -- Gordon Kiyoshi Hirabayashi --
Chinn Ho -- Ping Ti Ho -- William K. Hosokawa -- Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston -- Francis Lang Kwang Hsu -- David Henry Hwang -- Bong Hak Hyun -- Soon Hyun -- Lawson Fusao Inada -- Daniel Ken Inouye -- Larry Itliong -- Lance A. Ito -- Philip Jaisohn (Seo, Jae-p’il) -- Indira Freitas Johnson -- K. Connie Kang -- Sen Katayama -- James K. Kealoha -- Fazlur Rahman Khan -- Jay Kim -- Richard Kim -- Dong Kingman -- Maxine Hong Kingston -- Harry H. L. Kitano -- Tommy Tamio Kono -- Fred T. Korematsu -- Michelle Kwan -- Him Mark Lai -- Ruth Asawa Lanier -- Bruce Lee -- Chang Rae Lee -- Ming Cho Lee -- Rose Hum Lee -- Sammy Lee -- Tsung Dao Lee -- Yuan-Tseh Lee -- Victor Hao Li -- Genevieve (Genny) Lim -- John Keun Lim -- Maya Lin -- Daniel S. C. Liu -- Gary Locke -- John Lone -- Bette Bao Lord -- Keye Luke -- Wing Luke -- Kalfred Dip Lum -- Chin Lung -- Yo-Yo Ma -- Frederick Kinzaburo Makino -- Mike Masaoka -- Robert T. Matsui -- Masayuki "Spark" Matsunaga --
Nobu McCarthy -- Zubin Mehta -- David C. Mendoza -- Benjamin Menor -- Dale Minami -- Norman Y. Mineta -- Patsy Takemoto Mink -- S. Frank Miyamoto -- Hiroshi H. Miyamura -- Toyo Miyatake -- Ronald Tai Young Moon -- Toshio Mori -- Sadao Munemori -- Josie Cruz Natori -- Haing Ngor -- Isamu Noguchi -- Angela Oh -- Soon Tek Oh -- Vincent H. Okamoto -- Steven Okazaki -- Mine Okubo -- James Matsumoto Omura -- Yoshinobu Oyakawa -- Young J. Paik -- Chan Ho Park -- Yongman Park -- I. M. Pei -- Arati Prabhakar -- Dith Pran -- Safi U. Qureshy -- A. K. Ramanujan -- Syngman Rhee -- Roshni Rustomji-Kerns -- James Yoshinori Sakamoto -- Eduardo San Juan -- Robert Santos -- Dalip Singh Saund -- George Shima -- Paull Hobom Shin -- Joe Shoong -- Sichan Siv -- Chang Mook Sohn -- Yellapragada Subba Row -- Stanley Sue -- Henry Yuzuru Sugimoto -- Betty Lee Sung -- Amy Tan -- Togo William Tanaka -- Chang Lin Tien -- Samuel Chao Chung Ting -- Edison Uno -- Charles B. Wang --
Wayne Wang -- Yung Wing -- Anna May Wong -- Jade Snow Wong -- Chien-Shiung Wu -- Nguyen Huu Xuong -- Kristi Yamaguchi -- Chen Ning Yang -- Minoru Yasui -- Do Ngoc Yen -- Jacqueline Eurn Hai Young -- Judy Yung -- App. A. Fields of Professional Activity -- App. B. Ethnic Subgroups.
Summary "This reference work celebrates the contributions of 166 distinguished Asian Americans. Most people profiled are not featured in any other biographical dictionary on noted Asian Americans. The Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Filipino Americans, Korean Americans, South Asian Americans (from India and Pakistan), and Southeast Asian Americans (from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam) profiled in this work represent more than 75 fields of endeavor. From historical figures to figure skater Michelle Kwan, this work features both prominent and less familiar individuals who have made significant contributions in their fields. A number of the contemporary subjects have given exclusive interviews for this work."--BOOK JACKET.
Note Includes bibliographical references and index.

I just put in an interlibrary loan request for that Heritage article. The research librarian told me I should receive electronic instructions, within a few days, with specific instructions how to access the article. As soon as I hear something, or have a link, or anything, I will pass it along.

Thanks to all of you for looking into this for me! Candlestick, thanks, but I already do have a copy of that - I actually know one of the authors. In fact, you know the article that rmilller was kind enough to inquire about obtaining from his library? Dorothy Cordova (and her husband Fred), is my Seattle source for getting a hardcopy of that article...

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Hey Musashi,

I just thought of something, and you may have already tried this. The Baseball Hall of Fame research and education department is fantastic. I have called them several times looking for information on obscure topics. They research it, and usually get back to you within a few hours.

Any time they have found something for me, they mail it to me free of charge. They may have something. That would be a killer job, eh!

I've been working pretty closely with Cooperstown, and you're absolutely right - they have great people working there, and they're very accommodating with people's requests for info. I contacted them a few weeks ago, and they were kind enough to dig into their archives and make copies of whatever they found. Plus, they followed up with me, told me what they came up with, then shipped it to me free of charge! I haven't received the file just yet, but I can't wait till it arrives.