The Ripper

Younger Cardinals' fans-those under 55-when the nickname Ripper is heard Jack Clark comes to mind. However, if you were much much older, or a fan of the Redbirds in the early to mid 1930s when you heard Ripper-you knew this Ripper to be Ripper Collins.

According to Wiki, James Anthony "Ripper" Collins was born March 30, 1904 in Altoona,  PA and died in New Haven, NY on April 15, 1970. Ripper played First for the Redbirds, Cubs, and Pirates.
He was part of the Dizzy and Dizzy Dean Gashouse Gang team and had a really incredible 1934 season during which he batted in 128 runs, had a league leading 35 home runs, and a batting average of .333 batting average and he hit .367 in the 1934 World Series which the Redbirds won in seven games.

Wiki also tells us he is the only first baseman ever to record no put outs in 2 nine inning games-I am not sure how this is even possible.  Ripper won two World Series with the Birds in 1931 and 1934. In 1936 Johnny Size came on the scene and Ripper's days with the Redbirds were numbered.  He went on to play with the Cubs and the Pirates with two years between these stints with the LA Angels of the PCL. By 1942 his Major League career was over and he would back to the PCL and the Eastern league.In 1969, while scouting for the Redbirds he suffered a massive heart attack and another fatal one in April 1970.

Some time ago I picked up a National Chicle 1934-1936 Batter Up Ripper Collins #78. It is smaller than I thought it would be, about the same size a standard modern card. There were three series of the Batter Up cards and this one is part of the first series. The first series was issued in 1934 and is available in several colors-red, brown, blue, purple and green versions, as well as the standard Black tint-the one I picked up, is the Brown Version. Also, below is an example of the pink version. The first series was longer and the size of the cards different at 2-3/8" by 3-1/2".  The cards were to be folded-with the center popped out so they could stand up which makes it a challenge to find with out the center being punched out.