1978 TCMA 1941 Dodgers Baseball #5, Tom Drake

If my art history 101 class had it right, Pablo Picasso spent the early 20th century painting in muted shades of blue and green. This "Blue Period" reflected both his deep depression and fascination with European street life and its people. Months of daily work went onto canvases like this Spanish guitar player.

The Old Guitarist (1903)

By contrast, Pablo could've knocked out this salute to the residents of Flatbush Avenue (aka Ebbetts Field) in one afternoon.

OK, OK, that's hardly art, but it looks like TCMA published this 43-player set during their own "Blue Period." I think they tinted black-and-white photos to match Brooklyn's own uniform colors. This looked distinctive--if drab--without using a more expensive, multi-color printing process.

The onset of WWII cut many teams to the quick, as most fit men of fighting age enlisted. The veteran-based Dodgers, however, kept theirs largely intact and stayed above .500 through 1943.

Speaking of players in the service, see a young Pee Wee Reese (and many others) in TCMA's own 1975 WWII Postcard set.

Value: Mr. Drake cost $2 on eBay. HOFers Reese and Ducky Medwick run a few dollars more.

Fakes / reprints: Don't know of any reprints, though it'd be pretty easy to do, given the one-color fronts.