Introduction to Original Treasures and OT #1: Willie Kamm

Lists, series, and countdowns are what build content in the online arena of words.  I tend to think in terms of patterns and lists, so sometimes there are no ways around it, a series must be born.

This series, in my opinion, will present a set of cards that not many people have all in one place.  The truth is not many people can have all of them since they're all numbered to 99 or less.

The particular focus is on players who have purported to not had a relic piece in a card before.  These have been all players from the past, some Hall of Famers, and some who are not always exalted among the historic pantheon of baseball players.

There is one set that introduced me to this concept, and it was the 2012 National Treasures set.  This set brought in a bevy of these old-time baseball players that had not been represented through a bat piece or jersey relic piece in previous sets.  There were also numerous other subjects of interest throughout the set.

I never bought a box of 2012 National Treasures, but soon found myself drawn to the simplistic, clean design and subject matters, accumulating singles as readily as I could.  I soon was able to amass most of these "Original Treasures".
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The first on the list is part of the "base" set of 2012 National Treasures, which is a relic /99 (In this case, a bat relic) and was actually a player I had not been familiar with previously, Willie Kamm.  This is pretty uncommon since I consider myself a student of the history of baseball.  After looking at his career, I can see why.  Pennant winners have shaped the narratives of the first half of the 20th century of baseball.  He was on a mediocre or worse Chicago White Sox team from 1923-1931 and a decent Cleveland Indians team from 1931-1935.

Kamm was not a power-hitting 3rd baseman during his career, but he had a great batting eye and great strike zone control (824 BB vs. 405 K in his career).  He also ended up as fairly league average hitter (97 OPS+).  His best season was probably 1928 in which he finished 5th in AL MVP voting, hitting .308/.391/.411 with an improbable 84 RBIs with 1 HR.

Statistically, he was considered the best fielding 3B of his time.  He finished first in fielding % 8 times in his career and consistently ranked among the top 3 in range factor for a 3B.  He has the 8th most putouts all-time as a 3rd baseman and still holds the single season record for putouts.  He's also best known for pulling off the hidden ball trick twice in a season.

Willie Kamm, an original treasure.