Book: San Diegan's ‘Klediment Tales' includes items representing lifetime of baseball memories

One of the more common laments among sports fans of a certain age is: "I wish my mom hadn't thrown out all my baseball cards."

Longtime San Diegan Andy Strasberg saved his cards.

"But in addition to that, I also saved the wrappers," Strasberg said.

We all know how vintage cards have skyrocketed in value over the decades, some going at auction for millions of dollars.

Even the wrappers to those cards can be worth hundreds of dollars. The wrapper from a pack of 1952 Topps baseball cards sold on eBay last month for $750.

"Value is not why I saved things," Strasberg said. "It was to get closer to the game and the experience.

"Buying baseball cards, I realized that just the cards alone would not unlock those memories. So I collected the wrappers."

Does he still have the gum that came along with the cards?

"I do," he said.

Remember the smell? Oh, yeah.

"You smell that gum, and it'll take you back,” Strasberg said. “But the wrappers, you would see all the wrappers outside the candy store when I was growing up in New York. You'd know by the wrappers they got the latest series (of cards), and I would go pick up the wrappers."

It turns out that Strasberg held onto just about everything from his childhood. Adulthood, too.

"They unlock memories," Strasberg said. "I love photos. I love real objects, whether it be the key to my first car, which I still have, a drawing from my 7-year-old niece, who's now 57. My dad's pipe that he used to smoke with. … It just connects. It immediately opens up the door and takes me back. And there are very, very few things that I didn't keep that I hoped that I would keep."

Strasberg, 78, has spent a lifetime gathering keepsakes. Many of them are baseball-related, stemming from his love of baseball and the Yankees - especially Roger Maris - in his youth and working in the Padres’ front office from the 1970s through the 1990s.

Strasberg’s collection of baseball memorabilia is one of the finest in the nation - or at least it was.

He has gotten rid of everything in recent years. Items have been donated to the San Diego History Center, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and other museums or placed for auction. Strasberg made a point to get a picture of the items and write down the stories behind them before they went out the door.

He chose 61 of those items to highlight in his book “Strasberg's Base Ball Klediment Tales,” which was a Casey Award finalist by “Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine” for outstanding baseball books.

Klediments?

“Kled-i-ments, noun plural: belongings you just can't throw away. A keepsake. An artifact. A memento. A possession of great personal worth often unrelated to its intrinsic monetary value."

"I found the word years ago," Strasberg said. "I came across it and thought, someday, this word is going to be very useful to me. What I didn't want is to use the word souvenir, memorabilia, artifact. I wanted a word that had a little bit more of a feeling to it and make it different, because all the klediments that I have are unique.

"As my wife pointed out, they've all got back stories, where if you go into a card shop or you go bid on an item, you're investing money, and maybe it's a great item, but it doesn't have the back story."

Strasberg has a tale to tell. Others have a receipt to show.

Roger that

While most youngsters growing up in New York in the late 1950s and early 1960s were Mickey Mantle fans, Strasberg gravitated to Maris. His devotion was rewarded in 1961, when Maris hit 61 homers to break Babe Ruth’s single-season record.

"After the 1961 season, I wrote a letter to WPIX and asked them for a copy of the video of Roger Maris hitting his 61st home run,” said Strasberg, who would strike up a friendship with Maris and his family. “They sent me back a letter saying while they had the videotape, it was like 3 inches wide and the only way you could play it was if you had a videotape machine, which was the size of a refrigerator and cost $10,000. So what was I thinking?

"In the early 1980s, two things happened: One is I reached out to a guy who works for the Boston Red Sox, Jim Healy, and I asked if he had a tape-recorded broadcast of the radio broadcast of Roger Maris hitting his 61st home run. He did, and he sent it to me. The other is Marty Appel, who was working for the Yankees, he got me the 1961 television special that's 30 minutes long about Roger Maris. Both of those items are a QR code in the book.”

There are two dozen QR codes in the “Klediment” book, giving readers an opportunity to be listeners and viewers as well as readers. One of the QR codes leads to a reading by Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully. At one stage of his life, Strasberg worked for radio station KGB and stated on the air that Scully is the greatest broadcaster in our lifetime.

"To prove my point," Strasberg said, "I asked Vin if he would record a shopping list, and he did."

Years later, ESPN found out about it and included it in a 2016 broadcast. The clip can now be found on the internet.

Strasberg met Scully in 1975, when he was asked to give the broadcaster a ride to the airport so he could catch a flight after a game.

"That's when I had the experience of both of us getting into the car, and when he started talking, my reaction was to turn up the sound on the radio - and he was sitting right there."

Strasberg also asked Scully to do a spoken word version of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life." And that's the QR code in the Klediment book that people can access. As one could imagine, it’s tremendous.

My card, sir

When he was 12, Strasberg began mailing a letter to the Yankees each year requesting an interview to be a ballboy. He knew full well that you had to be of legal age to do it, but Strasberg wanted to plant the seed six years early.

"When I was 18, I got the letter back that I wanted," Strasberg said. "It said you have been scheduled for the interview for the position of ballboy."

He was to meet with Bill Bergesch, the Yankees’ manager of stadium operations. Before the interview, he went to a printer and had business cards made up:

Andy Strasberg, ballboy, New York Yankees

At his interview, Strasberg said: "With all due respect, Mr. Bergesch, that'll be a valid business card with the conclusion of this interview. Forty-five minutes later, I got the job.

"He took me down to see Pete Sheehy, the equipment manager, and he showed me where my locker was. This is December, and my locker is about three feet from Mickey Mantle's, but there's a wall in between us."

Strasberg was given a Yankees cap and sent on his way. He was to call on March 1 and set up a time to report for orientation, sign paperwork and get fitted for a uniform.

On March 1, Strasberg called the Yankees office and asked for Bergesch.

An operator put him on hold.

"The next voice that comes on," Strasberg, said, "is a gentleman with a southern drawl who said, ‘This is Colonel Stallings speaking, how can I help you?’”

Strasberg explained that he was hired to be a ballboy for the 1967 season but he was interrupted in mid-sentence.

"Stallings says, ‘Mr. Bergesch doesn't work here anymore, and neither do you,' and hangs up on me," Strasberg said.

His dream crushed, Strasberg was beside himself with anger. He tracked down Bergesch's home phone, called him and went off. Strasberg was, of course, oblivious to the fact that while he's out of a job as a ballboy, Bergesch was out of a job that provided the income for a mortgage, two car payments, college tuition for two kids …

When it finally hit him, Strasberg said, "Mr. Bergesch, I'm sorry. I apologize." The man said, "Andy, I hope you get a job in baseball" before hanging up.

A decade or so later, Bergesch was back with the Yankees. Strasberg had been hired by the Padres when their paths crossed in the press box.

"I stick out my hand," Strasberg said, "and I say, Mr. Bergesch, my name is Andy Strasberg. You probably don't remember me, but …"

"Oh, I remember you," Bergesch said.

To this day, Strasberg keeps the Yankees ballboy business card in his wallet (he has gone through several over the years from the original box of 50).

"The reason I've got that card is because it taught me one of the most valuable lessons in my life," Strasberg said. "Sometimes things don't work out. And the key is how you respond after."

Maybe the Yankees could close the circle on the story and bring Strasberg out for one game as ballboy. If he signs an injury waiver, of course.

‘Magnet for memorabilia’

Much of Strasberg’s book is devoted to items collected during his time with the Padres, offering longtime fans a stroll down memory lane. There is a photo from 1975 - when opening day against San Francisco was delayed not once but twice by rainouts - coinciding with Strasberg joining the organization.

There’s a signed glove used by first baseman Willie McCovey, an athletic supporter worn (and autographed) by pitcher Fred Norman, an oversized bat Tony Gwynn used in a promotion for his first batting title, a money clip (and $1 bill) from Jerry Coleman and various other items dropped on Strasberg’s desk as the Padres’ “magnet for memorabilia.”

At one time, Strasberg was in possession of the pitcher’s rubber and rosin bag Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser used the night he broke the record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched against the Padres at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. The mound went to the San Diego Hall of Champions. Several years ago, Strasberg gave the rosin bag to Hershiser.

"It's on his desk, and it makes him smile," Strasberg said.

Not-so-splendid splinter

During a 1976 game against the Dodgers at San Diego Stadium, Padres left-hander Randy Jones was pitching to the Dodgers' Bill Russell to lead off the seventh inning. The shortstop broke his bat on one pitch and a shard hit teammate Steve Yeager in the on-deck circle, piercing the catcher's throat.

Yeager was rushed to the hospital, where he had surgery to remove splinters from the life-threatening injury.

The teams remained on the field to finish the game after the harrowing incident. Afterward, Padres traveling secretary Doc Mattei derisively suggested giving the part of the bat that impaled Yeager to Strasberg "for his collection."

"They had washed off the blood, and they gave it to me," Strasberg said. "I held onto it and didn't know what I was going to do with it."

When the Dodgers hosted the All-Star Game, Strasberg had the bat auctioned off with proceeds going to the Baseball Assistance Team. Yeager played nine more seasons in the major leagues. The incident inspired the invention of the throat guard that became an essential piece of a catcher's mask.

Pick one

Strasberg collected literally thousands of items over seven decades. What is his favorite? The answer to that came in October of 2003, when the Cedar Fire raced through San Diego County and threatened Strasberg’s East County home.

"It came within six blocks of my house, and my wife said, ‘Where do we begin?' Strasberg said.

"And I picked up the bat that Roger Maris gave me in 1965. I told her this is the most important thing in my collection, so we're good."

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This story was originally published April 24, 2026 at 3:54 PM.