Carefully organized in a red three-ring binder, each one of Jim Haller’s baseball cards tells a story.
There’s his 1954 Topps card featuring Curt Roberts, the first African-American player ever to play for the Pirates in the major leagues. His 1953 Carlos Bernier card depicts the man believed to be the first nonwhite player in Pirates history. Then there’s his prized 1953 Ralph Kiner card — “the Cadillac of cards back then,” Mr. Haller, of Shaler, said — a keepsake that piqued an interest that became a lifelong obsession.
These collectibles are more than just 2.5-by-3.5-inch pieces of firm paper; they’re remnants of the past that illustrate the history of baseball and his beloved Pirates.
An avid student of the game, Mr. Haller’s cards are the centerpiece of a presentation he has been giving for nearly three years and will give again Sunday at West Overton Village and Museums in Westmoreland County as part of its parlor talk series. The talk, titled “Growing up with Baseball in Pittsburgh,” details the history of the Pirates organization, with a particular focus on an eight-season stretch from 1953-60 when his fandom first sprouted and developed.
“To me, it’s still our national pastime,” the 70-year-old Mr. Haller said. “It’s the greatest game in the world. I know football and love the Steelers and Penguins and all that, but the Pirates are my team.”
Mr. Haller’s PowerPoint presentation lasts about 45 minutes and he spends a few minutes per slide, something that can be difficult given his deep passion and knowledge.
He has been giving the talk for only a handful of years, but the roots of the presentation go back much further. Growing up on the North Side, Mr. Haller often visited a drugstore down the block from his house. There, he was mesmerized by a collection of baseball cards on display in a glass case, particularly the Kiner card that was so coveted by other boys in his neighborhood.
The cards were an introduction to a sport by which Mr. Haller quickly became transfixed. He played on recreational teams and later at Oliver High School, but his formative years were spent playing with other kids in his neighborhood. During the summer, they would play from morning until the street lights came on, sometimes on stone fields where they used rocks as bases.
Naturally, he also began following the local team. In 1956, he started listening to Bob Prince and Dick Bingham call Pirates games on the radio, a season in which Dale Long hit a home run in eight consecutive games, a major league record. From there, Mr. Haller was hooked.
“They were my heroes, those guys,” he said of the Pirates.
As he grew older, he steadily lost touch with the cards he once compulsively collected before he lost them altogether. It remained that way until he reached his 40s, when he stopped at a sports collectible shop down Liberty Avenue from a Downtown Pizza Hut he was managing at the time. He would go into the store and buy five or six cards at a time, and after a few months, his original collection was largely intact.
By 2008, when he began volunteering at the Heinz History Center, a museum administrator asked him about putting together a presentation on the Pirates and their history. With the team mired in a 20-year run of losing seasons, Mr. Haller saw it as an opportunity to speak of the franchise for which he grew up rooting.
“I wanted to do something to teach the kids what a great organization the Pirates are,” he said.
With his daughter’s help, he put together a PowerPoint presentation. Beginning in August 2013, he began taking his talk on the road, speaking at historical societies and independent living homes and for various groups.
The presentation at West Overton will be his 21st, a feat he never would have anticipated all those years ago when he bought his first card.
“They’ve gotten so popular,” Mr. Haller said. “I guess people like them.”
Mr. Haller will present “Growing up with Baseball in Pittsburgh” at 2 p.m. Sunday at West Overton Village and Museums, 109 W. Overton Road in East Huntingdon near Scottdale. The talk is free but a $5 donation is suggested. Information: http://www.westovertonvillage.org/event/parlor-talk-growing-up-with-baseball-in-pittsburgh/
Craig Meyer: cmeyer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @CraigMeyerPG
First Published: March 11, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
