Where is Henry Aaron?

These Auravision Baseball records capture the Era of the

early 1960's Baseball Heroes. But where is Hammering Hank?

This resource captures the entire collection of the 1964 Auravision Baseball records. I can remember sending in a couple of dollars for the Mickey Mantle record from a box of Milk Duds brand chocolate carmel candy. The record came packaged in the manila square envelope with the checklist/advertisement package insert. There is nothing like a package from the U.S. Mail when you're 7 years old! On my baseball record, the great Mr. Mantle talked about being a switch hitter (bats both right and left handed) and swinging a baseball bat for power. I loved that record! I recently picked up the rest of the collection on eBay. Very kool if you like early 1960's Major League Baseball memorabilia.

As it turns out, the Wille Mays Auravision record was a short print and is actually difficult to find in the memorabilia marketplace. This is especially true relative to the other 15 Auravision records that make up the collection. I lucked out and got it for a great price! Most likely the value is diminished since it is not in "mint" condition. Who cares if it has been played a couple of times? I wish had a functional 331/3 rpm record player so I could listen to what Mr. Mays has to say about the art and science of being a premier Major League baseball player.

The Mays record does have a different shade of green border (darker) than the other records. Why was the Wille Mays record a short print? Was it a mechanical problem with the printing process? Did something happen with that lot of Auravision baseball records during shipment? What percentage of the current human population cares about this question? :)

And where is Henry Aaron? The collection really misses the great power hitting Braves outfielder. Having an Auravision record of Hank Aaron would be great! The other great major league baseball players from that era that I can think of that should have been in this collection are; Bob Gibson, Bob Clemente, Harmon Killebrew, Juan Marichal, and maybe even Brooks Robinson. But, where is Hammering Henry Aaron? I wonder if anyone knows why he was not included on this prestigious list of early 1960's baseball heroes? Maybe he was holding out for more money. Hey, the average major league baseball players salary in 1964 was about $14,800! What would a young Hank Aaron be worth to a baseball club in 2003? A lot! Oh well! This collection is still a neat reminder of one of the great eras of baseball.

The two great Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers Sandy Koufax and and Don Drysdale are my two favorites. Have there ever been a better 1 & 2 starting pitcher rotation? Who would you rather have, Maddux and Galvine, Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling? Or would you rather have Koufax and Drysdale in their respective primes as 1 and 2 in your starting rotation? Sandy Koufax lead the National League in Wins, Strikeouts, and E.R.A. in his last year of professional baseball (1966). Pure pitching phenotype. Drysdale was a 6'6" intimidating side-arm power pitcher with excellent control. Don had especially excellent control of the high, tight, head-high, brush-back fastball. If I was the owner of a baseball team I would take these two!

The Roger Maris picture is a bit haunting. To me he represents a somewhat sad figure even though he was a baseball star and the outfield partner of the iconic Mickey Mantle. He broke the very famous baseball record of Babe Ruth's 60 home runs in one season but he was distressed by the intense media attention that accompanied the pursuit . His career never again reached to that height of excellence. He died at a relatively young age from cancer. It was kind of sad when Mark McGuire broke his 61 home run season record in 1998. I guess nothing is forever. Not even baseball.

During the release of this Auravision record set, the Yankees were again a baseball dynasty. In the early 1960s the Yanks were the team in the American League to beat. They were in the World Series in 1960, 61, 62, and 63. Whitey Ford was a dominating pitcher. How kool it must have been to be a kid who grows up in New York City and gets to be a star for the legendary New York Yankees!

The other players that are part of the record collection include; Ernie Banks the "lets play two" Cub, Old Warren Spawn, future manager Frank Robinson, Ken Boyer, Al Kaline, Bill Mazeroski of walk-off World Series home run fame, the perfectly named Rocky Colavito, and some of the lesser known players, Jim Gentile, Bob Allison, and Pete Ward.

The 1964 Auravision baseball record collection. Kool!