Vintage Sportscards

They're "Magic"

2012-02-15T08:30:00.027-05:00

Here's a card that you might have never seen before:

It's from 1948 (and probably into 1949 as well), and is really small, measuring 7/8" wide by 1 and 1/2" tall. It may not seem like much, but this is the very first baseball card set ever produced by Topps. That's right...before the 1952 Topps set, or the slew of 1951 issues, they actually released 19 baseball cards as part of a larger series of 252 cards.

These were called Magic Photos, and were issued as undeveloped pictures that needed to be made "wet" (some could dip them in water, and many would just spit on the cards) before the image appeared. The backs had a question that the picture could answer, but because of the manner they were treated, the pictures sometimes developed rather poorly.

The set of Magic Photos went way beyond baseball. Other sports (basketball, football, wrestling, Boxing) were featured, and so were actors and actresses. There were also American historical figures:

As well as landmarks and monuments:

Now there's a card that shows some uneven development.

If you're interested in finding out more about this set, check out The Topps Archives, which dives pretty deeply into the issue and its series.

Neat Design for Cards

2012-02-13T08:30:00.056-05:00

As part of my ongoing "side job" as a freelance writer working for the Card Connection Website, I come across some really neat designs from time to time. Currently, I am going through hockey sets and just stumbled across the last set Parkhurst issued in 1963-'64. They predated Topps as issuers of hockey cards, and for several years the two companies split up the six teams in the NHL.

And that team focus is part of the design of this set:

All of the Detroit Red Wings have this background image behind them, regardless of what their actual nationality was. Since they were the only team from the United States included in the set, this is appropriate.

So let's move North of the Border:

This is the background behind all of the Toronto Maple Leafs players. Although we now know the red-and-white flag with the maple leaf on it to be the National Flag of Canada, our friendly Neighbors to the North didn't actually adopt that as their flag until 1965. Before that, the Red Ensign shown above was flown, or the Union Jack (since Canada was still a Commonwealth of England), which was a part of the design. The Red Ensign is still in use, as the basis for the design of the Provincial flags of Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia.

Here's the twist...the Red Ensign was heavily favored by the English-speaking areas of Canada. So, for the players who played on the team from the heavily French-speaking Quebec:

The Montreal Canadiens didn't get a flag at all. Instead, they had parallel solid-color bars placed behind them. The colors changed; some had pink bars, as shown above, but others had blue. And there were also green-and-yellow and red-and-yellow patterns. I am not sure if there was a reason for which player received which color, if you know, mention it in the comments section.

The back design is really basic, considering the front design. There are some pretty basic stats and vitals...but most of the back is dominated by an advertisement written in two languages. The tabletop hockey game you see above was available for one dollar (Canadian, as it has an Ontario mailing address) and ten wrappers. I wonder how well that game was built, or if it was little more than heavily-reinforced cardboard.

On the "Strip"...

2012-02-10T08:30:00.085-05:00

It's been a little while since I've focused on "strip cards" on this blog. They were named by their manner of being issued by themselves as strips of between six and ten cards at one time. They really don't get a lot of appreciation in the hobby because they're often hard to identify, they look a lot like they were cut from a newspaper comics page and they can be easily damaged.

I have posted about the W512 set here and here, mentioned the W515-1 set here and answered a question about a W555 card here. Technically, the MP & Co. sets of 1943 and '49 and the 1948 Blue Tints were categorized as "R" series sets but appear to have been issued as strip sets as well, so they should be brought into any discussion of strip cards.

So, let's open up the textbooks to the "W" chapter and look at a few more sets...

W514 Sam Rice

Issued between 1919 and 1921, the W514 set was one of the larger strip card sets. There were 120 cards in all, with four cards that can be found as variations due to trades. The number in the lower right of the player's picture area is pretty helpful in identifying cards from the set. One major feature of the set is that it includes seven of the "Eight Men Out," (Jackson, Cicotte, Williams, Felsch, Gandil, Weaver and Risberg) and the card of "Shoeless Joe" is his only appearance on a strip card.

W520 Stan "Kovaleski"

The W520 set appears to have been issued around 1920. It is a relatively small set, with 20 numbered cards. Three of the cards (including the Stan Coveleski card shown above) have the player's last name misspelled. Where the W514 card had the player's full name, team and position, this one simply has a last name, with a number in the lower right corner.

W522 Art Fletcher

Collectors often confuse the W522 set with the W520. They were issued around the same time, had the same 20 players and featured the exact same pictures. However, the cards were ordered differently and given different numbers (running from 31-50). The number is also moved over to the left side of the card. It is not known who made either set.

That is a little more exposure for a card type that gets little attention. That not only deepens the mystery about them, but also keeps their prices really low due to a lessened demand.

Where's Joe?

2012-02-08T08:30:00.036-05:00

Today's post features an item that is owned one of my long-time collector friends:

It's a complete box (with flaps) from 1963 that includes three Bazooka cards on it, including one that shows Willie Mays. Over the years, these boxes have been cut into singles or panels, with complete boxes being harder to locate. For some reason, a number of copies of this particular box have found their way into the hobby and have made this one a lot easier to find. It's been speculated that a warehouse find (or an extra unused case) has been found.

Bazooka was a Topps product, which was on the scene shortly after the end of World War II. In fact, the immediate success of the brand brought some of the extra profit that would eventually be sunk into the company's cardmaking efforts. The familiar comic strip, complete with a send-in offer and a fortune, was wrapped around the gum slab by 1953, and Topps added cards to the multi-count retail boxes in 1959.

This box from 1963 contained 20 pieces of Bazooka gum (with 20 comics), the three cards you see in the picture, and five more cards tucked inside. Those were from a separate set of cards called 1963 Bazooka All-Time Greats. Here's an example:

For those of you who thought that gold foil was an element of baseball cards that Topps embraced in the early 1990s, here's proof (along with the 1965 Embossed cards) that they were definitely enamored of the shiny effects well before that.

There were 36 cards in the regular Bazooka set in 1963, and 41 of the All-Time Greats. The All-Time Greats were revisited in 1969-70; in those years, they were placed on the side panels of the box itself. The 1963 cards are distinguished by the fact that they're numbered. The later cards are also missing the gold leaf and have a different design.

In Action Cards - Series 4

2012-02-06T08:30:00.038-05:00

Today, I'll continue the series I've been doing here where I'm showing the backs of the "In Action" cards from the 1972 Topps set.

That set was split into six series through the year, with each having a subset of 24 cards that had a player and then a special "action" card of the same player. So far, I've shared the following series:

Series 1
Series 2
Series 3

In series 4, the 12 cards included one (also shown in each of the previous series) that previewed the puzzles that would be included in the next two series. The other 11 recapped highlights from 1971, under the logo of the home city of the player who is being honored. I'll show six of them today and save the rest for later.

Pre "Big Game" Post, Part 2

2012-02-03T08:30:00.029-05:00

There are two reasons for the name of this entry. First(and I really wouldn't need to say this now, but this post will be readable for a long time to come), the Super Bowl is going on this weekend. Second...last year's post had a similar title and racked up a whole bunch of hits.

When it comes to football, I only collect one team, and they aren't taking the field for the title this year. So, I'll do a "history lesson" that doesn't need to include them.

But before I talk about this card, I need to stop and talk about where this image came from. It comes from a site called The Vintage Football Gallery, which really needs to be on your bookmark page if you're at all interested in vintage football cards. The owner of that site, Mike, is also the writer of Nearmint's Vintage Football Card Blog, which appears right here in my Blogroll.

This card is the only football player included in the 50-card Goodwin Champions set from 1888, also known as N162. The link in the previous sentence goes to my own site, as it is a general sports set that includes baseball players as well. It features Henry Beecher, the captain of the Yale football team and a relative of Harriet Beecher Stowe (she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin just before the Civil War). It is regarded to be the very first football card in existence.

Class is dismissed. Enjoy the game.

Small "Concession"

2012-02-01T08:30:00.024-05:00

Today's card comes from 1956:

This is from the era when the PCL was largely seen as a "third" major league because there were no big league teams west of St. Louis. While that would soon change, these cards would remain in release for several years after baseball went West.

Measuring two inches by three inches, they were smaller than the "regular" baseball card size. The cards were released each year from 1954 through 1968 and only feature players from the Seattle Rainiers (or Angels, as they were called beginning in 1965). They are called "popcorn cards" because they were distributed along with the boxes of popcorn sold at the concession stands in Seattle's Sick's Stadium.

Say that three times fast.

Generally, there would be about 20 cards each year and would be changed as players came and went. As a result, there is a possibility that "new" cards might surface at some point.

Many years, the cards were blank-backed. However, in 1956 there were two types: a blank-backed card and one that has an advertisement for Gil's Drive-in Restaurant:

Looks like Gil's Drive-In is still in Seattle, but at a different address today.

An Alternate Hockey League

2012-01-30T08:30:00.130-05:00

At one point in the 1970s, three of the four major sports had rival leagues playing against each other. Baseball had its own labor problems, but the other sports had to deal with competition. Basketball had the American Basketball Association, the World Football League took the gridiron and hockey had the World Hockey Association.

The WHA was brought about in part to circumvent two things that plagued NHL players by 1972: first, they were paid the lowest avearge salary of any major sport, and they were also tied to a team for an entire career by a reserve clause. Yes, they could be traded, but that was up to the teams rather than the players. In 1972, players were attracted to the new league by the promise of higher salaries and the elimination of the reserve clause from any contracts. The league wasn't initially considered to be a threat because it attracted college players, retired NHL veterans and the occasional star like Bernie Parent.

However, things changed when superstar Bobby Hull signed up. In an interview, he jokingly said he'd jump to the new league for a million dollars a year, a ridiculously large amount at a time when the average hockey player earned $25,000 a season. The Winnipeg Jets offered him that amount, and he took it. Other NHL stars followed, like Gordie Howe, Jacques Plante and Gerry Cheevers, but the league also scouted for new talent overseas. Europe and the Soviet bloc were largely ignored by the NHL, but were attractive to the WHA.

Collectors of Topps hockey cards might have never even known that another league existed because the company never acknowledged the WHA in any of its sets until the league fell apart. However, the Canadian-issued O-Pee-Chee featured them.

First was the 1972-73 base set. It was the new league's first season and OPC's final series that year included nothing but WHA players:

Since there weren't really any pictures of players in their WHA uniforms, they were airbrushed in...and in some cases, they didn't even look to be suited up at all.

For four years beginning in 1974-75, O-Pee-Chee issued separate sets of WHA cards that weren't part of their base NHL set. The first year was a 66-card that features a horizontal design and a generic team banner:

The first card in that set featured Gordie Howe, a legend who came out of retirement to play in the WHA, along with his two sons on the same team.

In 1975-76, the WHA set expanded to 132 cards. One subset was added, and this card is from that:

The first and second team All-Star squads ran through the halfway point of the set (cards 61-72). The stars and "All-Star" banner are simply an addition to the base card design.

In 1976-77, the WHA set remained at 132 cards. The All-Stars return, along with six cards showing the league leaders in several different categories and three that recap the postseason games. However, the base cards were given a little more design to look like they're hockey cards:

In 1977-78, the WHA set was cut back to 66 cards and all of the subsets (except for the one checklist card that appeared in each of the league's sets) were eliminated. There was one card commemorating Gordie Howe's 1,000th career goal, but the rest looked like this:

The WHA played its final season in 1978-79. At the time, the league was struggling financially and several of its teams were folding. Sensing their inevitable doom, they tried to negotiate a merger with six teams going into the NHL. Eventually, four teams would make the transition: the Edmonton Oilers, New England Whalers, Winnipeg Jets and Quebec Nordiques. Perhaps realizing the ship was sinking, no WHA cards were issued during that final season.

In 1979-80, the four teams began playing in the NHL and appeared as part of both Topps' and O-Pee-Chee's base hockey sets. In Topps' set, a card was issued that showed the logos of the NHL's newest teams:

As you can see, the New England Whalers changed their city name. Today, all four franchises are still in the NHL but only Edmonton remains in the same city or has the same team name.

In the Mood For Some Dessert?

2012-01-25T08:30:00.000-05:00

Today's post features a card that was subjected to torture by a young handler bearing a pair of scissors, and still shows the scars from that encounter:

All things being equal, the previous owner could have done a lot worse. Originally, the card made up the back of a box of dessert mix (gelatin or pudding, I'm guessing). The bottom edge of the card shows where the package was folded.

This is from the 1950 Royal Desserts set, which is a misnomer as the set was actually issued over a three-year period. There were 24 cards that made up the base set, but the biographies were updated through the set's run and some players eventually had two, three or four variations. In all, there are 47 different cards for collectors to chase.

Dick Sisler was one of three players with four different cards in the set (Andy Seminick and Ray Scarborough were the others). The variations can be ascertained by the final sentence in the biography, and the military service mention was on what is considered the first variation.

"Raised" Cards, the Prequel

2012-01-23T08:30:00.029-05:00

Last week, I showed a couple of cards that were given a contoured look and mentioned that they were perhaps inspired in part by the 1965 Topps Embossed cards.

The set was inserted into wax packs of Topps' regular cards that year as an insert set. The cards were made on gold foil and were embossed so that the player's image was given a raised contour. There are 72 cards, and each league has 36 players featured. The thing about the set that has bothered some collectors is the way they appear. Here's Brooks Robinson's card, for instance:

It really doesn't look like him at all. For that reason, it's nice that he's identified on the card. Like all American League players, he's given a blue-colored inset. National Leaguer were given a red inset, like this Hall of Famer:

For the record: despite several instances of Clemente being called "Bob" on Topps cards in the 1950s and 1960s, it appears he went by his full name Roberto. And that's what I'm going to call him.

There are a few cards that have been reported to have silver leaf instead of gold (I don't own any, nor have I ever seen one). Due to the way they were made, they show damage pretty easily, which is another reason some collectors have stayed away. However, it's one of those issues of the 1960s that offers a nice chance to complete a set cheaply. There are few cards to pick up, many are really cheap and even the stars (even Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Sandy Koufax) can usually be reasonable.

What's On the TV Set?

2012-01-20T08:30:00.093-05:00

Last week, I showed some cards sent to me by a fellow collector from the 1951 Bowman set. Here are some other cards that came with them from the 1955 Bowman set. There are four in all, and three are Yankees players:

The other card came from the team that had just beaten them for the American League pennant in 1954.

Mike Garcia was known as "The Big Bear" and made up a solid starting rotation of the early 1950s along with Hall of Famers Bob Feller, Bob Lemon and Early Wynn. In '54 he had led the league in ERA and shutouts in what would be his last truly effective year. He remained with the Indians through 1959 and then pitched a season with the White Sox and one for the Senators before retiring.

Born in California and being of mixed Mexican and American Indian heritage, Garcia aspired to become a jockey before he filled out into his 6'1", 200-pound frame. Before playing in the majors, he served in the Army as a signalman during World War II. After hanging up his glove, he stayed in Ohio and ran a dry cleaning business in Parma. He passed away in 1986, on the day of his 35th wedding anniversary.

One of Garcia's later teammates will be remembered by a line drive from this guy:

In 1957, Gil McDougald hit a line drive that struck Herb Score in the right eye. Score had been a promising pitcher who tore up the league the previous two seasons, but that was ended by one unfortunate placement of a ball. While things like line drives are part of the game, McDougald was shaken by the incident, saying he'd walk away from the game if Score were blinded. Fortunately, he came back from the injury in 1958 and it was arm trouble (not a lack of vision) that led to Score's decline.

Despite that one unfortunate incident, McDougald was a solid hitter who remained with the Yankees for his entire ten-year career. In that decade, he appeared in eight World Series and was on the winning team in five of them. In fact, when Bill Mazeroski hit that home run to win the 1960 World Series, he ended more than the Yankees' season...it would be the last time McDougald (who was standing near third base) would play in major league game.

McDougald later became the coach for Fordham University's baseball team and passed away in 2010.

I'm not sure which Yankees players are lining up for their turn in the batting cage in the picture above, but McDougald could be one of them.

Tommy Byrne was part of the Yankee rotation in the late 1940s, earning the nickname "Wild Man" because of control trouble. He led the league in walks issued three times and in hit batsmen five times. He was also dangerous with the bat, hitting 14 home runs and two grand slams. In 1951, he was traded from the Yankees to the St. Louis Browns, a team that lost more than 100 games. After splitting 1953 with the White Sox and Senators, he returned to the Yankees in 1954 and remained with them through 1957.

He had attended Wake Forest, and returned there after retirement. He even served as the mayor of Wake Forest, North Carolina from 1973-'87. He passed away in 2007.

In 1955, Byrne led the American League in Winning Percentage. He didn't lead the team in wins, however. This guy did:

It's not the prettiest card, but it's still welcome in my binder.

"Raised" Cards

2012-01-18T08:30:00.000-05:00

Today's entry goes outside what is normally the scope of this blog. However, the cards aren't found all that often.

Topps is known for occasionally testing ideas for new avenues when it comes to items that featured pictures of baseball players on them. In many cases, the cards were simply a re-introduction of a previous innovation. In 1985, the company issued a set of 30 cards that was a combination of the "Super" cards they issued in 1980 and the Embossed cards of 1965:

The scanner I used really doesn't do well with items that aren't flat, and I apologize for that.

These cards are from the 1985 Topps 3D set. They are essentially 4 1/4-inch by 6-inch plastic slabs with rounded corners which have the player features raised. The backs are entirely blank, except for a pair of small adhesive strips that allowed them to be stuck on a wall.

The- Bruce Sutter card is a portrait, which really doesn't demonstrate the full effect of the raised area. They called for action shots, as this Rick Sutcliffe card exhibits:

They were originally issued in packs, with one card inside (at a price of fifty cents). They have never been commonly collected, which have kept their prices low. In fact, a sealed wax box can be bought for $8.50 today.

Orientation...Not that There's Anything Wrong With That...

2012-01-16T08:30:00.043-05:00

(Just a quick note...this is the 300th entry to this blog. Hopefully, there's enough gas in the tank for 300 more...)

A couple of months ago, I ran an entry about the 1971-72 Topps hockey set. As part of my position writing content for the Cardboard Connection Website, I am learning new things about sets that I never knew before. Among those are the various hockey sets that were totally off my radar as a young collector but really need to be given more exposure, because the cards have a history that stretches back even farther than football or basketball when it comes to mainstream issues.

Beginning in 1968-'69, Topps and O-Pee-Chee began issuing separate hockey sets. While OPC generally had the larger set and featured many more stars, the designs were largely shared, except that the OPC cards were bilingual and were generally printed on lighter cardboard stock (and had a "Made in Canada" copyright line). There was a big difference in the designs when the 1971-'72 set rolled around. Let's take this card of a legendary goalie:

The front design was the same between 1971-'72 Topps and OPC. This card was #45 in both sets. That was common in some years, but it wasn't always a consistent thing.

Now, here's the Topps back:

Notice the back is oriented vertically. Since Dryden was a rookie, it's not obvious that the set was the first to use year-by-year career stats on the back, instead of a simple previous year/career line used nearly every year before this. A lot of yellow is used on the back as well.

Now, here's the O-Pee-Chee back:

The words are the same, and so is the cartoon. Both have French translations added to the back. However, the back is laid out horizontally, with the elements in a different location. The cartoon is larger and clearer. The stats are similarly year-by-year (though that still can't be seen in Dryden's example). And no yellow at all is used here. It's one of the few cases where Topps' back is brighter than the one used on its OPC counterpart.

RIP "Goodie"

2012-01-13T08:30:00.049-05:00

While I like to focus on the cards and sets that form the main interest of vintage sports cards, it is impossible to build a Hobby without people. So, when a pioneer leaves us, he deserves mention.

Earlier this month, Goodwin "Goodie" Goldfaden passed away at the age of 97. He was one of the few remaining "old school" dealers who were active before the Hobby; in fact, he was a seller of sports-related memorabilia for more than 80 years.

George Vrechek wrote an article about Goldfaden that appeared a few years ago in Sports Collectors Digest which can be read here. This photo appeared in that column and shows Goodie at a California convention in 1976:

He was one of the first dealers based on the West Coast, and there are some remembrances out there about his small shop on Santa Monica that was only big enough to accommodate a few people at one time. It was remembered that a collector would simply go to the front and tell Goodie what they needed and he would go back into the store and find it.

Though he was one of the early sellers, he didn't seem to consider himself a "pioneer" but simply a businessman. However, his passing still silences the memories of a Hobby back when it was a totally different type of pastime. He'll be missed.

"Stand-Up" and Take a Swing

2012-01-11T08:30:00.000-05:00

Here's a card Topps issued in 1964:

Beginning in 1960, Topps issued a wide variety of cards to be sold on their own, rather than as inserts with their base cards. These are called Stand-Ups, due to the way they were designed. They were die-cut around the player and the top half was perforated to allow the cards to "stand up" after being folded.

There were 77 cards in the set. On the printing sheet, 55 of the cards were double-printed, which made the other 22 cards a little scarcer. Many of the short-printed cards include Hall of Fame players, such as the McCovey card shown above, Carl Yastrzemski, Warren Spahn and Don Drysdale.

Full cards are in the same standard 2 1/2-by 3 1/2 format used for regular Topps cards. As you may have guessed, cards that have been used as they were designed are much less valuable than those that have been untouched.

1951 Bowman Cards on Parade

2012-01-09T08:30:00.107-05:00

I recently had a stack of cards show up in my mailbox from another collector. Included in the stuff I placed into my binders were these well-loved beauties from the 1951 Bowman set:

Card #125 -- Bill Rigney, New York Giants

Rigney didn't get to play in the majors until he was 28; however, that was in 1946 and he was like many other players who needed to focus on an entirely different problem for the few years prior. He spent much of World War II in the Coast Guard. Despite the late start, he was a regular in the Giant infield pretty quickly and was quick to pay attention when Leo Durocher became manager in 1948. Once his talent diminished due to age, he would later become a manager himself, leading the Giants during their move West and later with the Angels and the Twins before one last hurrah with the Giants in 1976.

Rigney passed away in 2001.

Card #64 -- Bill Werle, Pittsburgh Pirates

Bill Werle was also a World War II veteran (he served in the Army late in the war) and a manager, although his teams were minor league clubs. A PCL star before and after his time in Uncle Sam's employ, Werle broke into the majors in 1949 with Pittsburgh. In 1952, he got a hard time from the team's management and would be traded to the Cardinals in May. After that season, Boston picked him up, and he played with the Red Sox for a couple of years before returning to the PCL. In 1967, Werle was 46 and coaching with the Giants when it was discovered he was only 19 days shy of receiving a players' pension. He was activated for a short time so he could get it. He became a scout after his managing days were over.

Werle passed away in 2010 after suffering from the onset of Altzheimer's.

Card #131 -- Cliff Chambers, Pittsburgh Pirates

Cliff Chambers spent World War II in the Army Air Corps, which delayed his big league debut until he was 26 years old. His major league career lasted from 1948-'53...and his lifetime record was 48-53. In 1951, he tossed a no-hitter against the Boston Braves but still found himself traded to the Cardinals mid-season.

Cliff Chambers is still around today and living in Boise, Idaho. He appears to be warming up next to a radio transmitter in the picture on the card.

Card #132 -- Cass Michaels, Washington Senators

Cass Michaels' real name was Casimir Kweitniewski, and he played under that name as a rookie in 1943. He was 17 that season, a little young to be called to service. He would spend twelve seasons in the majors -- mostly with the White Sox -- and had recently joined the Senators in 1950. He went back to Chicago in 1954, but a beanball thrown by Marion Fricano left him with blurry vision and ended his career.

He later ran a neighborhood bar in his native Detroit. He passed away in 1982.

Card #161 -- Wes Westrum, New York Giants

Wes Westrum was also in the Army during World War II. While in the service, he managed a ballclub made up of soldiers from Greenhaven, New York, a place that was not only a disciplinary post, but also served as a POW camp for captured enemies. The experience would be helpful when he became the second manager of the New York Mets in 1965.

In 1951, he was a key component to the Giants team that won the National League pennant. The team's regular catcher, he led the league in baserunners thrown out. He was also the catcher shown on the very first cover of Sports Illustrated magazine in 1954. Sadly, cancer took Westrum in 2002.

Card #173 -- Hank Arft, St. Louis Browns

Hank Arft's World War II service career saw him in the Navy, where he was on hand in Tokyo harbor during the Japanese surrender on V-J Day. His major league career lasted from 1948-'52 and saw him mostly as a fill-in player. 1951 would be his busiest season in the big leagues. Unfortunately, his career was spent with the St. Louis Browns, a team that would lose over 100 games in '51. He later became an embalmer after retiring.

Sadly, Arft was also claimed by cancer in 2002.

Cereal-Box Treasures

2012-01-06T08:30:00.003-05:00

This weekend, the Pittsburgh Steelers line up against the Denver Broncos for the first round of playoff action. So here are a couple of cards from my collection of Steelers cards:

This Roy Jefferson card is from the 1970 Kellogg's set. It could be obtained either inside a box of cereal or through a complete-set box-top redemption. The 1970 set can be distinguished by the blue helmet and the lack of a border. The background is layered and the Xograph process gives it a three-dimensional look.

Here's the back of the card:

Interesting to see that Jefferson led the league in pass receiving in 1968 and '69, as the Steelers were one of the worst teams in football and traditionally favored a ground attack. That said, these numbers don't include AFL teams, where the most potent passers and receivers were.

The other Steeler among the set's 60 cards includes this quarterback, whose name makes the perennial fourteen year-old boy inside me chuckle:

Dick Shiner's card exhibits the cracks that frustrate the more condition-conscious collectors. Since the process used to give the cards a 3-D look are prone to cracking even if the card has been encapsulated, there are collectors who don't even bother with Kellogg's cards.

Here's the back of Shiner's card:

Unlike Kellogg's baseball sets (which ran every year through 1983), the football sets were issued only in 1970 and '71. The '71s are much harder to find, as they weren't available through the company as complete sets as they were in 1970.

A Little Prespective on Hall of Fame "Stats"

2012-01-04T08:30:00.001-05:00

I was listening to another argument about who should and shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame recently, after the news broke that Ron Santo was going to be inducted. It reminded me of something I noticed a few years back when I added this guy's card to my 1961 Topps set:

This card was printed about midway through Sandy Koufax's career. He had six major league seasons behind him, and six more before he called it quits after the 1966 World Series. Now, take a look at the back of this card:

Halfway into a Hall of Fame career, Sandy Koufax had a losing lifetime Win/Loss record. He was 36-40, despite playing on two teams that won the World Series. This isn't the stat line you expect to see in the middle of what we now consider an illustrious career.

Of course, it was what Koufax would do over the next six years (129-47, two more World Series rings, 3 seasons with 300+ strikeouts, 3 unanimous Cy Young awards, 4 no-hitters including one perfect game) that would get him into Cooperstown. Few dispute that he wasn't the most dominant pitcher in baseball between 1961 and '66, but the career stats shown above aren't what you'd expect to see out of a top-notch performer midway through a career.

In Action Cards - Series 3

2012-01-02T08:30:00.032-05:00

This is a continuation of a series on this blog that shows what was on the backs of the 1972 Topps "In Action" cards. As with all series, there were 12 cards in Series 3 that were part of a 24-card subset that was seeded base/action. Two of the cards repeated the previews of upcoming series: one was for Series 3/4 and the other was for Series 5/6. The other ten were a new feature to baseball cards.

They use a game situation, using the names of actual players, and ask the owner to determine what the result would be, according to the rules (and assuming that the umpire actually makes the call according to "The Book."). It's a feature that was adapted from a regular column in Baseball Digest but apparently wasn't popular, since it never appeared again in a Topps base set.

Reading through them, I got some right and some wrong, just as I did when I was a regular reader of the magazine. Here they all are; see how good you can do (right-click if the letters are too small):

A Deeper Look - 1941 Play Ball

2011-12-30T08:30:00.000-05:00

Before 2011 comes to an end, let me go in depth on a set that celebrated its 70th birthday this year. I've already covered 1941 Goudey and 1941 Double Play, so here's the last nationally-issued set of that year.

(This text has been largely swiped from this Web page about the set, but I wrote that also.)

1941 was the last of the run of "Play Ball" sets issued by Gum, Inc. before the second World War halted production of new baseball card sets for seven years. This was a smaller set than either the 1939 or 1940 Play Ball issues, having only 72 total cards.

Just as they had done in 1940, Gum, Inc. improved upon their previous design. The 1941 Play Ball set was, in some ways, a colorized version of its 1940 set but without the baseball gear. Many of the players' cards featured the same picture shown on their 1940 cards, only with color added. Beneath the picture, there was a banner with the player's name (often with his nickname in quotes) that stretched across the card.

Here's an example of a card from the set:

Card #26 -- Harry "Gunboat" Gumpert, New York Giants

This card is a sentimental favorite, as one of the readers of my old newsletter was the nephew of Harry Gumbert and sent me an email once about playing catch in the backyard with "Uncle Harry." That must have been an awesome memory.

The card backs, like all Play Ball issues, featured a lengthy biography; there is no copyright date, however. At the very bottom of most cards in the set is a caption: "Watch for other famous sports stars, famous fighters, tennis players, football heroes, etc. in this series." The set seems to have been intended as part of a larger "Sports Hall of Fame" set, but the other cards never surfaced. The cards that are missing that caption feature an advertisement for Blony gum.

And here's what the back of Gumbert's card looks like:

Having color on the cards wasn't the only thing that makes these cards stand out, it's the way that color was used: backgrounds are vivid and sometimes multi-colored, shadows and perspective are shown. For some, the look was too much like comic book art and just needed the captions of 1938 Goudeys, for others, it was the best work on cards since the Art Deco that marked Diamond Stars cards in the mid 1930s. In any case, it was bold.

The key cards in this issue feature Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio, both of whom had memorable seasons in 1941 (DiMaggio had a record 56-game hitting streak and Williams batted .406; no other player has since reached .400). This set is notable as the only issue featuring all three DiMaggio brothers, and a rookie-year card of Hall of Fame shortstop Pee Wee Reese can be found here as well. Of the three Play Ball sets, this one is probably the easiest to complete due to its small size.

This would be the last major baseball card set for the next seven years, as card production was halted when the United States entered World War II. Not only were the paper, cardboard, and printing supplies were needed for the war effort, so were the players; DiMaggio, Williams, Charley Gehringer, Bob Feller, Pee Wee Reese, and many other players left the league and joined the military to do their part. By 1948, Gum, Inc. (which by that time would be renamed Bowman) would begin a new era of collectible baseball cards.

Play Ball cards were issued in four wrappers. The design was the same, but the colors were different. They came in green:

orange:

red:

and yellow:

As you can see from the wrappers, a penny bought two cards and a piece of gum.

A Loss in Our Little Fraternity

2011-12-28T08:30:00.004-05:00

Last year, I featured these cards, which led to my very first giveaway on this blog:

In that post, I mentioned these cards came from another trader (who wasn't a blogger). With these cards -- which put me past the halfway point in the 1952 Topps set -- he also sent this one, which was a signed mock-up of a book about a player whose World War II story is inspirational:

These were sent to me by a trading buddy named Ryan Diselrath.

Today, I received a message that Ryan passed away last month. He was only 31 years old. Here's a link to his obituary.

What that article doesn't tell you is that Ryan had some issues with seizures. One of those seizures in 2007 ended up making him a quadriplegic with only limited use of his left hand. Despite that, he still collected. He really enjoyed the cards, even the ones that weren't anywhere near pristine. He also lived his life to the fullest extent possible...which is an admirable thing to do in any situation.

I realize very few who read this will have had any interaction with Ryan. But as a member of our little fraternity of collectors, it's sad news indeed.

Rest in peace, Buddy.

Topps Wax - 1971-'80

2011-12-26T08:30:00.100-05:00

A lot of unwrapping was done over the weekend. So, here are some packages that are still wrapped up (not mine, however...the temptation to rip them open would be too great). For many, these will be a walk down memory lane; for others, they'll be an interesting time capsule:

1971 Topps Pack

The '71 pack is unique because of its artwork. A notation appears at the bottom about an insert (which was a coin).

1972 Topps Pack

The font Topps used to spell out "Baseball" was interesting, especially considering the design of the cards in 1972 (some of my collecting buddies have nicknamed them "Psychos").

1973 Topps Pack

There were actually several different designs used in 1973. This one shows a manager having a casual discussion with an umpire (he looks a little like Dick Williams); the others showed a batter, a catcher and a pitcher. Packs from the final series also included cards from earlier series, and those wrappers have a notation on them about that.

1974 Topps Pack

1974 was the first year Topps issued the entire set at one time rather than in series. The packs that year let the kids in on the news.

1975 Topps Pack

Topps made their 1975 cards in two different sizes. The regular-sized cards were issued nationally and mini cards were tested in specific areas. Both had the same pack design covering them up. Though I wasn't collecting cards at this time (I was 3 that year), I recognize the design from this card that came in my possession about 5 years later:

1979-80 Wacky Packages, Series 3

It's interesting that the year was placed at the top of the Wacky Package (as it was on the 1975 edition of Wacky Packages), since the original baseball wrapper didn't include that info.

But I digress:

1976 Topps Pack

Topps recycled its 1974 design two years later, but made sure they placed the year underneath the baseball in case anybody thought it was an "old" pack.

1977 Topps Pack

This has become a memorable design over the past few years. It was incorporated into the design of this book cover:

It is also part of the design around the Baseball 1977 blog.

1978 Topps Pack

Topps used a similar font for "Baseball" (but tilted) for its 1978 pack. they also went with a catcher on its pack for the first time since 1973.

1979 Topps Pack

Now, here's a pack I remember. 1979 was the first year I busted open new packs of baseball cards, and that image of a batter standing beside a catcher and getting ready for the pitch will always be emblazoned in my mind.

1980 Topps Pack

As the notation indicates, there were three more cards included in the pack. If memory serves correctly, the price of the packs went from 20 cents to a quarter (or from a quarter to thirty cents), so Topps was giving the impression that they were offering more value. Once again, the 1974/'76 design was used, only with a blue background instead of red. This would be the basic design Topps would continue to use through 1992, with a yellow banner on top of the ball giving the year of issue, and a rotation of blue, green and red for the background colors.

Cards Inside Other Cards

2011-12-23T08:30:00.028-05:00

Christmas is on Sunday, and since this is the the last scheduled post before the Holiday, here's a card I recently had sent to me from a fellow collector from Indiana named Randy:

It's not the best looking card in my 1972 set, but it fills one more hole in my binder. The '72 set is my birthyear set, so every step closer I get is a positive one.

Wilson is part of the semi-hi numbers, the fifth series of six in the set. The semi his are fairly tough (unless you want to shell out the money to buy them) and the hi numbers are even tougher. I still have about 115 cards to go on the set (making it the only set I'm working on since 1967 that has a wantlist over 100 cards).

The reason I'm showing it here today is because it came inside a different type of card...one that looks like this:

Nothing like vintage cardboard to spread the Holiday cheer around.

Merry Christmas! May all your stockings be filled with cards and wax packs.

In Action Cards - Series 2

2011-12-21T08:30:00.001-05:00

Last week, I showed the backs of the "In Action" cards from the first series of 1972 Topps. In the second series, there were also 12 "In Action" cards, with six of them repeating backs that showed the features planned for series 3 through 6. The other six cards looked at the past:

Two of the cards showed the batting leaders through the seasons, one for the American League (above) and another for the National League:

It's a shame there wasn't enough space to fit the averages on the card, though. That would have been interesting to see how batting .400 was fairly common in the first few decades of the 20th century, especially considering the lower averages in the late 1960s.

Two of the cards featured the top pitchers, based on their ERAs, and this time the numbers are included:

Once again, the American League leaders are above and the National Leaguers are below:

The stats omitted results prior to 1913, but those have since been tabulated by baseball historians and can be found on Baseball-Reference's site. What's interesting is that in 1971, the leading pitcher's ERA was under 2 in both leagues. That was accomplished again in 1972, but never again.

Finally, there were two cards that showed the pennant winners:

As you might expect, the New York Yankees are named frequently. However, it's worth pointing out that during the league's first two decades, Boston and Philadelphia were the stalwarts (with Detroit and Chicago getting the rest of the pennants).

Here's something you may not have known: Brooklyn won the National League pennant (and the World Championship, by default) in 1900. They also won it in 1899, but that isn't shown on this card. So, 1955 really wasn't their first time with a title...but it was before the American League appeared, so for whatever reason, it isn't considered to be "legitimate." If I were a Brooklyn fan, I'd argue that it definitely was.