1979 TCMA Tulsa Drillers Baseball #5, Fla Strawn

Cecil "Fla" Strawn turns 56 this Monday (July 30), about 35 years since he first played pro ball. This card's photo shows Fla at age 23, but he looks more seasoned thanks to a Tom Selleck mustache and ropey forearms. That year's Drillers team--named for Tulsa's long history with oil--played in the AA Texas League, an 8-team association that also included squads from Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas.

Not sure who left that white bar on the photo, which could be stray editing tape on the working copy or an artifact from the original negative. Everything else matches TCMA's 1979 "yellow wave and white border" style (archive of similar posts).

Fla spent three seasons in the Texas farm system, mostly in blue-collar towns Butte, Tulsa, and Tucson (career stats). These days, he works for Texas Lutheran University (sans mustache), and owned a fertilizer business at some point between (or alongside?) playing pro ball and coaching others with the same dream. TLU offers an email address, so I'll drop a line and see what Fla remembers about those years in the Midwest.

Erstwhile 1960s catcher Jim Schaffer managed Tulsa to a 58-75 finish in 1979. Their TCMA set includes 24 players, with no variations that I could find.

1. Wayne Tolleson
2. Joe Russell
3. Len Whitehouse
4. Jim Capowski
5. Fla Strawn
6. Steve Finch
7. Dan Dixon
8. Ray Rainbolt
9. Steve Nielsen
10. Mark Mercer
11. Ron Gooch
12. Jack Ramirez
13. Jim Schaffer, Manager
14. Rick Lisi
15. Terry Bogener
16. John Butcher
17. Jim Barbe
18. Ron Carney
19. Dave Crutcher
20. Nick Capra
21. Mel Barrow
22. Hal Kelly
23. Bill Rollings
24. Roy Clark

Bill Rollings and Roy Clark don't appear in the 1979 Tulsa team roster, so I assume they were coaches or trainers.

Value: Fla cost $2 at MinorLeagueSingles.com and his teammates will run about the same.

Fakes / reprints: Haven't seen any in the marketplace.