moryn-ic moose

do you remember rocky & bullwinkle?  bullwinkle the moose was sometimes referred to as the moronic moose, and he was always trying to pull a rabbit out of his hat, but it would never work.  i don't know about rabbits, but i was able to pull some 1955 bowman cards out of a vintage bargain bin at a show a while back, including walt moryn, whose nickname was 'moose', according to baseball reference.

moryn was a saint paul native (bullwinkle was from frostbite falls, minnesota - coincidence?) who broke in to the big leagues with the dodgers in 1954.  prior to that, he was able to play for their aaa affiliate in his home town.  as an aside, target field does a good job of recognizing the twin cities' past as a minor league town - there are photos of roy campanella from his days in saint paul, as well as willie mays from his time with the minneapolis millers on display in one of the restaurants.  didn't see a photo of moryn, however.

moryn was traded by the dodgers after the 1955 season (he did not appear in the world series) to the cubs where he became an all-star in 1958 and also hit three home runs in a single game against the dodgers.  his third homer that day was a walk-off job off of sandy koufax.

carl erskine didn't give up either of the other two homers moryn hit that day (don newcombe and ed roebuck were the victims), but i did find a needed copy of oisk's '55 bowman card in the bin.

i also was able to find the reprint of that card from the 1995 topps archives brooklyn dodgers set in a dime box from another dealer.

i am very very close to completing that set now.  you don't see cards from that set too often, and it is one of the few times i can say i was happier to see cards from 1995 than 1955.  now if only someone could pull the 1956 koufax reprint out of their hat...