By David G. Firestone

Albie Pearson played baseball in the Major League from 1958 to 1966. He played for the Washington Senators, Baltimore Orioles, and Los Angeles/California Angels. He was selected to the 1963 MLB All-Star game in Cleveland where he was a starter. Pearson was one of 3 outfielders to start the game, beating out Carl Yastrzemski, and Harmon Killebrew as starters. He is most well-known for his phenomenal 1958 rookie season, which he won the American League Rookie Of the Year honor, as well as The Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award.

In 1958, the Washington Senators were in the last year of one of the most ambitious uniform designs of their era, the legendary 3D Uniform. The home uniform featured a W and the back numerals in a 3 dimensional design. The design of the numbers was somewhat complex as illustrated by this similarly designed Eddie Yost number from the same year…

As can clearly be seen, the red bottom layer is made of tackle-twill, which was and still is one of the most popular materials for baseball uniform numbers. The middle layer is the same cream-colored lightweight flannel that the uniforms themselves were made of. The top layer is a blue tackle-twill design, to give the 3D appearance. The uniform was featured in the 1958 Warner Brothers musical Damn Yankees, and the numbers can clearly be seen in the Shoeless Joe from Hannibal MO scene as seen here:

The uniform lettering on the jerseys, while similar, is not as accurate as the on-field uniforms, as seen below…

This is the number 6 that Albie Pearson wore on his home jersey during his 1958 Washington Senators rookie season. It matches the Eddie Yost number design exactly. I also found a photo of him wearing this number on the back of his jersey.Now when I do research on an item, photo matching is paramount. One of the first and best places to find photographic evidence is trading cards. So I looked up his rookie card. I found it was a 1958 Topps Card, specifically card #317. When I saw the card, I was shocked.

What was so shocking? Let’s take a closer look…Huh? Pearson isn’t wearing #6, instead he is wearing a jersey with a number 7. When compared to the photograph above, it also appears as though it is a two-digit number. I could not understand how something like this could come to pass, and felt it warranted more research. It would seem likely that he wore a different number in training camp. I wanted to go to the source, and ask Mr. Pearson himself.

Pearson did not spend any time in the minors for Washington, so that can be eliminated as the cause. He was traded to the Senators in January 1958. Through some more research, I learned that since his retirement, Albie Pearson has founded churches and orphanages in Zambia and Ecuador. He founded Father’s Heart Ranch, an 11 acre ranch for abused, abandoned and neglected 6-12 year old boys. He lives on the ranch and is in charge of day-to-day operations. I contacted Albie Pearson about this through Father’s Heart Ranch\,and I got this response.. “…I believe the #7 which you see on my rookie card was the number I wore during spring training with the Washington Senators. I cannot recall if the number was 37 or 7 that I wore during spring training. My true number that I wore when I was rookie of the year was #6.” Based on this insight, I checked baseball reference, and found that #7 had been assigned to Bobby Malkmus in 1958 for 25 games and #37 wasn’t assigned to any player in 1958 or 1957. Based on this, it appears that Pearson is wearing #37 in his Topps rookie card.

I have never seen this number design anywhere else. I don’t even think that there are throwback jerseys with this design. So I felt it proper to analyze these number for all to enjoy. In fact, this is one of my favorite sub-genres in the memorabilia hobby, jersey numbers.  Next edition of Vintage Item Spotlight, we will examine these numbers even closer.

By David G. Firestone
Like many guys, I love The Benny Hill Show. It was silly, goofy, raunchy, politically incorrect, and profane. Needless to say it is a lot of fun. Benny played many memorable characters, including Fred Scuttle, and Mr. Chow Mein. It offended a lot of people in its time. In fact, many of the episodes that were shown on American television were edited for content.

Though Benny frequently played sports fans and athletes on the show, they always wore generic uniforms with no logos. Even when he played American characters and sports fans, they never wore logos or mentioned teams by name. Interestingly, this for no reason changed in 1986. During a sketch called “The Herd” Benny played a number of different cast members. One scene in paticular caught my eye. Benny is playing a grizzled Texas cattle rancher on a golf course. For reason only known to him, Benny can clearly be seen wearing a Baltimore Orioles cap…One of the more risky logos they used was in a sketch concerning jogging. At one point, Henry McGee goes to a park and gets a cigarette, but can’t find a lighter. As he is looking, a man carrying a torch and wearing the Olympic Rings on his shirt walk jogs up. McGee calls him over, lights his cigarette and then proceeds to blow the torch out.
This next part requires some backstory. Richard Whatling was a cast member on The Benny Hill show. The son of Benny Hill cast member Sue Upton, from 1988-1989 he played many child roles on the show, eventually joining “Hills Little Angels.” Hills Angels were a cast of female cast members who were known for their raunchy dancing routines. Hills Little Angels were a cast of children, namely, Joanna Kirkland-daughter of producer Dennis Kirkland, Jade Westbrook-daughter of cast member Jenny Westbrook, Adam Johnstone-son of a choreographer, and Adam and sister Louise Whatling.

By 1988, when Whatling joined the cast, The Benny Hill Show was in the twilight years. Long time cast member Jackie Wright had left the show due to health reasons. The show was noticeably more conservative, many of the jokes had been run their course. So Hills Little Angels came about. Richard played a character who from here on out, I will refer to as “Baseball Boy” because he always wears something with an MLB logo on it. Baseball Boy’s first appearance was in a sketch called “Hill’s Little Angels: Outdoor Games” It starts with the kids sitting in the dark watching TV. As they pan to each kid, Baseball Boy is wearing a New York Yankees sweatshirt. Benny decides to takes them to the park for a picnic. As they leave the house, Benny puts on a scout master hat, and Baseball Boy has added a Yankee cap. One thing leads to another, and Baseball Boy winds up playing..cricket? In New York Yankees apparel? Makes no sense at all, at least to me. Baseball Boy was a trouble maker. He would flirt at other children from cars, play croquet, and insult women.He would never take his cap off, even to have dinner with the local minister.He would also switch from Yankees gear to Mets gear. One of his more memorable appearances was in the next to last episode. In a series of sketches termed “Misunderstandings II” where he not only wears a Mets cap, but a Doc Gooden jersey. Tragically, Baseball Boy and the rest of the show met their end in 1989, when Thames Television pulled the plug on The Benny Hill Show. Benny Hill is one of the most underrated comedians of all time in my mind, and when he died in 1992 at age 68. Benny, you are missed, and you will be missed.