Tom, Mary Lou, and Mary Lou’s daughter Chris shared many years and laughs on the Topps factory floor. Tom is the elder statesman, an older man with glasses and a white beard extending to his sternum whose Facebook page identifies him as “Former MR. TOPPS.” He talks sparingly, standing off to the side while the ladies describe the card-making process to me in exquisite detail, but when he does speak, it’s in a measured, nasal voice in which every word seems important.
Topps was his life; “I met my wife there,” he tells me.
Chris, now a flight attendant in her late forties, got into the family business right out of high school, working the DF line, card cutting, and card slitting in the factory. A few minutes later, Kim, around Chris’s age, joins us.
“We were just talking about card cutting!” Chris says.
“I hated card cutting,” Kim shoots back with a grin.
Ten days after graduating from the local high school, Kim joined the rest of the town and started working in the factory. At seven dollars an hour back then, you couldn’t beat the pay.
As the four of them reminisce, long-buried memories burst to the surface, the souvenirs of a shared experience. The same joy ballplayers experience at team reunions is on display here in a smoky casino near Duryea. They may not have played the game, but these people are a part of the game’s larger community. No matter how much baseball changes—and it has changed exponentially in the past few years with the influx of analytics and Big Data—what always remains the same is its unique role as a catalyst for building relationships. No other sport has the kind of down time that baseball has, the pauses that lead its detractors to call it boring but that are actually its greatest strength, providing the time needed to build relationships with the people around you.
In 1992, at the height of America’s baseball card collecting obsession, Topps stopped putting sticks of gum in packs (collectors complained that the gum stained the cards) and abandoned its trademark wax paper. It also began printing cards on white cardboard rather than the traditional brown. A few years later, the baseball card bubble burst due to overproduction, a crippling players’ strike, and the rise of the internet.
And then there’s Mary Lou, the same Mary Lou who bundled our Wax Pack back in the factory in November 1985. She has done many jobs since, but nothing compares to those twenty-five years she put in at Topps.
“Brad, listen to me,” she says, moving closer to my face to make sure I have her attention.
“The day the factory closed in 1996, we knew it was going to be the last day. I worked second shift,” she says, recalling it as if it was yesterday. The workers walked outside the factory doors and faced the same decision they always faced after work: Town Tavern or Litzi’s Lounge? But this time they did something different.
“We all walked outside, took our hats off, and tossed them in the air,” she says, evoking a graduation.
“Wherever they landed, that was it.”
June 2019
Rance Mulliniks closed down his baseball academy in 2018 but still gives the occasional lesson to young ballplayers. Twice a month he goes to El Paso to do baseball clinics for a nonprofit that emphasizes education. He and Lori still live in Visalia, where he continues to dabble in real estate. His son, Seth, graduated from high school this year and will attend Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois in the fall; he will major in mechanical engineering. Rance’s daughter, Shaylee, just finished the seventh grade and wants to be a nurse.
Steve Yeager quit smoking, but not the way he expected to. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2016, had surgery to remove part of a rib, and added a fourteen-inch scar to his collection of baseball battle wounds. He underwent chemotherapy and is now cancer-free. Following the 2018 season, he retired from his post as the Dodgers catching instructor but still goes to spring training and chips in whenever the team needs him for an appearance. His son Evan transferred from Pierce College to Cal State Dominguez Hills, where he played baseball and earned his degree in business. Steve and Charlene still run the Jersey Mike’s sub shop in Granada Hills.
Tragically, Glenda Templeton, Garry Templeton’s wife, passed away in 2018 from pancreatic cancer. “We took her to the hospital February 26th, and she died March 11th,” Tempy tells me on the phone. He is still running Camp Templeton, running around with the grandkids, but is looking to downsize from their home in San Marcos. He can’t put a knee replacement off much longer and has cut his golfing down to once per week. He’d still like to coach in professional baseball, but the game today barely resembles the game he played in the 1970s and 1980s. “They said they’re not hiring the old guys,” he says.
Gary Pettis is still the third-base coach with the Houston Astros. In 2017 he finally got his World Series ring, helping to lead the Astros past the Dodgers for the team’s first world championship. I never heard back from him.
Just as promised, Randy Ready went back into baseball in 2016, landing a job managing the Class-A Advanced Jupiter Hammerheads, in the Florida Marlins organization. He moved on to manage the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp in 2017 and 2018 before parting ways with the Marlins last fall. Following his divorce from Tracy, he met a woman named Hope (not on Tinder!), whom he married earlier this year. When his son Mark graduated from high school, he moved to Grand Junction, Colorado, where he lives on the farm he bought back in the 1990s. Dorene is still living in Tucson; their oldest son, Andrew, an ER doctor, recently took a position nearby and is involved with her care.
Jaime Cocanower still hasn’t retired from Tyson Foods even though he and Gini are still enjoying their retirement home in northwestern Arkansas. They bought the pontoon boat they had always wanted and regularly cruise Beaver Lake. Gini retired in June 2017 and remains cancer-free.
Carlton Fisk still hasn’t called me, and I doubt my autographed photo is framed on his wall. He emerges from seclusion for the occasional autograph signing or public appearance. The Pawtucket Red Sox inducted him into their Hall of Fame in 2017.
Don Carman has put his doctorate in psychology on hold to follow in my footsteps (kidding) as a writer. He still works for Scott Boras but has the material for multiple self-help books drawing on his years as a sports psychologist. Don’s old coach Bob Ward had a heart attack a couple years ago followed by open-heart surgery and is now in better shape than he has been in years.
After years of lobbying and cajoling, Vince Coleman finally got elected to the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2018. Grinning from ear to ear, Vincent van Go gave an acceptance speech in which he celebrated his favorite person: himself. “Now that I’m back, I’m back politicking, because I’m my biggest advocate. I would love nothing more than to be able to share my craft, my knowledge, and my skill set and to be an inspiration to every kid that walked through your locker room door.”1 The Cardinals haven’t called.
A year after my trip, ESPN released a documentary titled Doc and Darryl (part of the network’s 30 for 30 series) chronicling the ups and downs of Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry. Doc appeared jittery and gaunt throughout the program (which was filmed shortly after my visit), leading many to suspect that he had relapsed. While not saying it outright, the film strongly implied that Doc was not clean. Codirector Judd Apatow said, “As it went along, I think we became more and more aware of how recent some of their troubles were, so it changed the documentary in a big way.”2 Right before this book went to press, on June 7, 2019, Doc was pulled over at 1:00 a.m. by police in Holmdel, New Jersey, and was arrested for driving under the influence, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Police found him with two baggies of a substance suspected to be cocaine.
In March of this year, a headline on my phone took my breath away: “Yankees Guest Instructor Mazzilli Hit in Head by Batted Ball.” Lee Mazzilli was hit in the head by a line drive in center field during batting practice and ended up in intensive care with bleeding in his brain. Fortunately, he made a full recovery. His son LJ is playing baseball for the Long Island
Ducks.
The semester finally ended for Richie Hebner, who coached his final season with the Buffalo Bisons in 2016. He now spends most of his days driving the hearse and helping wherever he can at his friend’s funeral parlor near Norwood. His brother Dennis left his job at the warehouse and now works as a driver for O’Reilly Auto Parts. He and Richie still aren’t as close as they used to be.
Rick Sutcliffe keeps on going, earning a contract extension from ESPN in December 2018 to continue broadcasting games. His beloved Chicago Cubs finally won the World Series in 2016.
Billy Cowens bowls twice a week and continues to enjoy retirement. Purvis Cowens moved back to the LA area to be close to the rest of his family and now helps out at the Compton Youth Academy, coaching baseball. He is also a special education teacher and varsity baseball coach at Cerritos High School. Al Cowens was nominated for the Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame this year.
And as for me, I’m still renting a room in Oakland, still single. Things with Sophia didn’t work out, but just because something ends doesn’t mean it was a failure.
I sometimes take out the Pack and shuffle through the cards and smile. Several people have asked me if I would consider writing a sequel, getting another pack and getting back out on the road.
But the answer is no. I’ve already lived my dream. I’m awake now, and as Don Carman told me, “I don’t get to go back to sleep and dream again.”
One pack. No turning back.
Acknowledgments
I want to start by thanking the Wax Packers. I am still in awe that so many of these men who occupied such a vital part of my childhood were so generous with their time when they really had nothing to gain. I had little more than an idea and the passion to see it through, and this book could not exist without their cooperation. Thank you.
For five years I worked part-time making about $30,000 a year in the Bay Area so I could have the time to dedicate to a project of this magnitude. There was lots of rejection and adversity, and I could not have made it through without the support and love of a tight group of friends and family: my sister, Lauren, whose courage and resilience are always an inspiration; my three nieces, Stacia (“the whorl tooth shark”), Olivia (“the Bat”), and Bianca (“the Inuit”), and my nephew, Chase (“Ponda Baba”), who bring such joy through their curiosity and innocence; my hockey buddies, the Flying Moth, H. Ash Brown, Cabbage, Gonzo, Cataldo (who gets extra props for giving feedback on the entire manuscript), and Treasure Island; my colleagues at Merritt College, Jason Holloway, Rick Ramos, Monica Ambalal, Nghiem Thai, Laura Forlin, Chris Grampp, Mario Rivas, and Arja McCray, who were always supportive; my two brothers-in-spirit, Adam and Jesse Brouillard, who are so important that they are in this book; and of course my parents, who also play an important role in the book itself.
Ever since taking my first journalism class from Bob Bliwise at Duke University, I have dreamed of having the space and time to truly practice the craft of literary nonfiction. Professor Bliwise, Professor Susan Tifft, and Professor Christina Askounis were my writing mentors, and I will always be grateful to them. My first job out of college as a fact-checker at Islands magazine also laid the groundwork for this book, training me in the trade. I’d like to thank my colleagues there, especially Allison Joyce, Lisa Gosselin, Nick Robertson, and Melissa Wilbanks, for teaching me how to write, fact-check, and edit.
Without the help of some very important people, this book would never have come to fruition: Greg Veis reminded me of the book’s larger meaning; Andrew Eil convinced me to stay true to my vision and convictions; Rebecca Kyles refused to let me give up, saying this book was inside of me and had to come out; Deborah Davis gave an outstanding read early on that may have saved the book.
To my writers’ group, Laird Harrison, Staci Hobbet, Robert Luhn, and Terry Shames, thank you for your careful edits and emotional support.
Thanks to Susan May, Jessica Kraft, Zara Stone, Jesse Brouillard, and Ali Fearon for their feedback on the manuscript.
I’d like to thank Jerome Petit, Ele Avagliano, Caroline Faua, and Joseph Faua for hosting me in Tahiti while I wrote sections of this book.
Bill Francis at the Baseball Hall of Fame kindly provided research files on all the Wax Packers from the hall’s prolific archive. I am also grateful to the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and Newspapers.com as research sources.
I have to thank many people in the publishing industry for their time and assistance: Ken Ilgunas, Jason Turbow, Mark Weinstein, Doug Grad, Mychael Urban, Jeff Deck, Dan Epstein, Dave Jamieson, Doug Wilson, Ellis Henican, Tyler Kepner, Nick Diunte, and Graham Womack.
On the road trip and in my reporting, I spent time with several sources who were generous with their time: Glenn Carman, Bob Ward, Jerry Luzar, Stacey Pettis, Mary Lou Gula, Kim Litchkofski, Chris Giguere, Tom Hamilton, Bob D’Angelo, Rob Rains, Terry Kibler, Dana Mulliniks, Jorge Ramos, Tom Pearse, Herschel Musick, Billy Reed, Arthur Carman, Bob Kendrick, Betty Walker, James Carman, Steve Grande, Melanie Mulliniks, and Ganell Mulliniks.
I’d like to thank my editor at the University of Nebraska Press, Rob Taylor, for believing in me when other publishing houses would not. For that, I will always be grateful. At UNP, big thanks to my publicists, Anna Weir and Rosemary Sekora; marketing manager Mark Heineke; project editor Sara Springsteen; copyeditor Mary Hill; and contracts expert Leif Milliken. You are consummate professionals.
I’d also like to thank my initial agents, Peter and Amy Bernstein, for doing more to improve this book than anyone else by pushing me so hard. Without their critical eye, this would never have been as good.
Topps generously gave permission to use images of the cards from the Wax Pack. Thank you Hadley Barrett and Michael Brandstaedter.
Finally, thank you to every utility infielder and middle reliever from my childhood (especially those whose names started with F) for inspiring me to believe in the underdog. This book began there.
P.S. I don’t really have anything against San Diego.
Notes
1. Warming Up
1. In the spirit of full disclosure, I did open up multiple packs, just in case I ended up with too many dead players. The integrity of the pack I chose remains intact—there was no mixing and matching.
2. Happy Meals
1. Dick Miller, “Angel Voices Sing Mulliniks’ Praise,” Sporting News, August 20, 1977.
2. Dave Perkins, “Mulliniks Always Talked .300,” Toronto Star, March 18, 1993.
3. Hal McCoy, “Dayton’s Yeager Guides All-Star,” Dayton Daily News, July 14, 2015; Alan Greenberg, “Yeager Still Ducks When a Bat Breaks,” Atlanta Constitution, April 25, 1977.
3. Yeager Bombs
1. Bob Oates, “Yeager: I’m Better Than Bench,” Los Angeles Times, February 9, 1975.
2. Mike Littwin, “Lasorda Sure Had That Fella Yeager Rested for Series,” Los Angeles Times, October 26, 1981.
3. Technically, the Sheik gave me three options: shoot me with his .38 Magnum, stab me with his butcher knife, or simply break my leg. Suffice to say it was awhile before I felt ready to return to the literary theme of childhood heroes.
4. Bob Oates, “Yeager’s High School Football Coach Was Impressed,” Los Angeles Times, May 29, 1983.
4. Camp Templeton
1. Neal Russo, “Templeton Apology Demanded,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 27, 1981.
2. Jeff Pearlman, “From Mad Dog to Mentor,” Sports Illustrated, June 26, 2000.
3. Gary Smith, “The Other Side of Second Base,” Inside Sports, June 1982.
4. Thomas Boswell, “Irate Herzog Awaits Templeton Apology,” Washington Post, August 28, 1981.
5. John Feinstein, “Teammates Back Templeton as He Returns to ‘Scene of the Gesture’; Templeton Now Has Team Backing,” Washington Post, September 23, 1981.
6. Roy S. Johnson, “A Welcome for Templeton,” New York Times, September 17, 1981.
5. Houston, We Have a Problem
1. Brief time travel note: t
he Astros actually did end up winning the World Series in 2017, beating the Dodgers in seven games.
6. Randy Is Ready
1. Bill Plaschke, “Padres’ Ready Handles Horror of Wife’s Tragedy,” Los Angeles Times, September 30, 1988.
9. Chasing Carlton
1. Pat Jordan, “Conversations with the Dinosaur,” Men’s Journal, March 1993.
2. Doug Wilson, Pudge: The Biography of Carlton Fisk (New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2015), 310.
3. Wilson, Pudge, 81.
4. Jordan, “Conversations.”
10. Leader of the Pack
1. Peter Pascarelli, “Phillies Pounded by Cubs,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 12, 1989.
2. But it’s still more charming than San Diego.
11. Vincent van Gone
1. Franz Lidz, “Invincible,” Sports Illustrated, April 15, 1991.
The Wax Pack Page 27