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| The Conlon Collection #1216 |
Names like Albert Wentworth Demaree evoke gentility, as perhaps characters from a F. Scott Fitzgerald novel dabbling on the mound between evening soireés. A vintage version of Michael Jordan, stepping away from dominance in one arena to try his luck with another.
In a sense, that's correct: Al's skills with horsehide paralleled similar art talents with a brush and his drawing extended far beyond his 8 years as a serviceable pitcher (career stats).
Demaree drew the bodies for these unusual stand-up "cards" and black-and-white photo bust capped them. Collectors folded the curved base of each cut-out in two places to form a vertical stand-up about 4" tall.
Ernie Orsatti's card (borrowed from R304's OldCardboard.com profile) shows those horizontal fold lines more clearly. A player's name and birthplace appeared below the fold lines. #5's base shows Al's handwritten Samuel Dewey (Sam) Byrd and Born Breham, GA.
Dietz printed a starting roster of nine fielders and one pitcher for each team, ten cards total. Multiply that by 16 franchises, plus 4 umpires each for AL/NL, and you reach its estimated checklist of 168. While a collection discovered in 2010 added 30 new entries to its list of known players, question marks remain for several numbers.
The Dietz Gum Co. of Chicago, a subsidiary of Leaf Gum, sold these cards for the 1934-35 seasons as "Ball Players In Action" chewing gum. Customers who brought 10 wrappers to their candy store could trade for a paper baseball diamond, similar to how Goudey offered player photos for wrappers throughout that decade.
In a sense, that's correct: Al's skills with horsehide paralleled similar art talents with a brush and his drawing extended far beyond his 8 years as a serviceable pitcher (career stats).
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| 1934 R304 #5, Sam Byrd |
Demaree drew the bodies for these unusual stand-up "cards" and black-and-white photo bust capped them. Collectors folded the curved base of each cut-out in two places to form a vertical stand-up about 4" tall.
Ernie Orsatti's card (borrowed from R304's OldCardboard.com profile) shows those horizontal fold lines more clearly. A player's name and birthplace appeared below the fold lines. #5's base shows Al's handwritten Samuel Dewey (Sam) Byrd and Born Breham, GA.
Dietz printed a starting roster of nine fielders and one pitcher for each team, ten cards total. Multiply that by 16 franchises, plus 4 umpires each for AL/NL, and you reach its estimated checklist of 168. While a collection discovered in 2010 added 30 new entries to its list of known players, question marks remain for several numbers.
The Dietz Gum Co. of Chicago, a subsidiary of Leaf Gum, sold these cards for the 1934-35 seasons as "Ball Players In Action" chewing gum. Customers who brought 10 wrappers to their candy store could trade for a paper baseball diamond, similar to how Goudey offered player photos for wrappers throughout that decade.
UPDATE: Thanks to John Racanelli for locating an original wrapper in Leaf's lawsuit over their 1949 set that describes how the exchange for a baseball diamond worked.
Al Demaree served as The Sporting News cartoonist for decades and contributed to baseball products like 1947 PCL Signal Gasoline.
Unfortunately, it's reported Al was robbed of significant savings near the end of his life and died without a cent to his name. May we all fare better when that time comes!
Value: Even lesser-known R304 players cost $300-400 each in low grade. Want a guy like Babe Ruth and don't have thousands to throw around? Fuggedaboutit.
Fakes / reprints: It'd be difficult to pass fakes of a set this rare, but also profitable enough that someone's probably tried doing it. Caveat emptor!
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| 1948 Signal Oil, "Kewpie" Barrett (art by Al Demaree) |
Unfortunately, it's reported Al was robbed of significant savings near the end of his life and died without a cent to his name. May we all fare better when that time comes!
Value: Even lesser-known R304 players cost $300-400 each in low grade. Want a guy like Babe Ruth and don't have thousands to throw around? Fuggedaboutit.
Fakes / reprints: It'd be difficult to pass fakes of a set this rare, but also profitable enough that someone's probably tried doing it. Caveat emptor!
2 comments:
Bid on one of these last week. Didn't win it .
Only seen a single (high-grade) #5 on eBay for $1100, quite a price point. Not sure if this one will ever come off the type list.
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