1961 7-11 Baseball #5, Jack Fisher

I enjoy fellow blogger Core Contrarian's daily roll of baseball anniversaries, quotes, and players from every era. Each captures a little something of the player, decade, or card design and they're always worth reading. (Lou Gehrig's a recent favorite.)

In that spirit, here's a Contrarian salute to the peripatetic righty pictured on this obscure 7-11 card, who started pitching for Baltimore in 1959, but went on to San Francisco, New York, Chicago, and Cincinnati before hanging up his cleats a decade later.

On this date in 1965, Jack Fisher beat Pittsburgh 2-1, raising his record to 5-4. Being the Mets, he dropped 20 of his next 23 decisions and led the NL in losses. Only twice in those games did his New York teammates offer more than 3 runs of support.

Fisher rated not far below league average (89 ERA+) in 1965, so can pin most of his failings on New York's moribund post-expansion era. Al Jackson (1962), Roger Craig (1962, 1963), and Tracy Stallard (1964) all pitched competently but lost 20+ decisions for the Mets in those early years. (Few franchises have even one of these seasons; NYM had five in just four years.)

Founded in 1927, 7-11 now serves 18 countries and almost 40,000 locations. Modern collectors know their plastic discs inserted in Slurpee and Big Gulp cups, but this crude 30-player set marked the chain's first attempt at sports cards. Vending machines in 1961 offered seven cards for a nickel and featured both active stars and a couple of retired HOFers (Jimmie Foxx and Met Ott). Unfortunately, stores soon ceased the promotion and few cards survive.

Value: This low-grade #5 cost $10 on eBay a few years ago. I fortunately didn't have to pay a premium for Yogi Berra's signature on the back--such a deal! Roger Maris and Willie Mays prove most valuable at $200 or more for cards in decent shape.

Fakes / reprints: It'd be easy to fake this black-on-pink set, so be careful when purchasing stars and buy from dealers you trust.

1952 Parkhurst Frostade Baseball #5, Bill Jennings

The name Parkhurst might strike a chord with hockey fans. This Ontario-based company originally produced hockey and wrestling cards during the vintage-era 1950s and 60s, focusing on Detroit, Montreal, and Toronto teams. While they eventually left the market to Topps, enough fans remembered them that Pro Set licensed the brand name for new sets in 1991, at the height of modern card production (a.k.a., the junk era).

Cards measure 2" x 2.25", similar to 1951 Bowman

In addition to hockey and wrestling, Parkhurst made this single Canadian baseball set, produced in partnership with Frostade, a competitor to Kool-Aid. It features players from 3 International League teams, all of whom had MLB affiliations at the time: Montreal Royals (Brooklyn Dodgers), Ottawa Athletics (Philadelphia A's), and the Toronto Maple Leafs (St. Louis Browns).

The Parkhurst 100-card checklist includes several notable players, including future Dodgers Walt Alston, Tommy Lasorda, Jim Gilliam, and Johnny Podres. A "middle series" (#27-48) asks quiz questions or shows playing tips like "gripping the bat" and "catcher's stance" instead of actual ballplayers. (They also prove less popular with collectors.)

Hey kids! Guns! Just give a quarter to "Mr. Butch"on Duke Street and he'll set you up. (It's amazing how sketchy this all sounds, just a few generations later.)

Value: Jennings cost me about $5 on eBay. The Dodger stars cost $20 and up, depending on condition.

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

1968 Sports Memorabilia All Time Baseball Team #5, Christy Mathewson

Today's set shows one of baseball's earliest hand-drawn, collector-made sets, as the suitably named Art Ouellette contributed his pencil-and-pen likenesses to 15 superstar players, posed within a bright yellow frame.

Christy Mathewson had already retired from pitching when the US entered WWI. He enlisted in 1918 (at age 38!) and joined a unit working with chemical weapons (such as mustard gas). Unfortunately for Mathewson, accidental exposure to the gas during a training exercise left him hospitalized and vulnerable to tuberculosis, which he contracted and eventually died of at age 45.

Today, we know Christy's fadeaway as the screwball, a pitch that hooks away from the pitcher's dominant arm. (It's both "screwy" compared to the inward movement of sliders or curves and spins like the thread of a screw.)

Writer Damon Runyon crafted my favorite quote about Mathewson.

"Mathewson pitched against Cincinnati yesterday. Another way of putting it is that Cincinnati lost a game of baseball. The first statement means the same as the second."

The scan below (cribbed from eBay) shows a complete set, including its paper slipcover at upper-left. Bob Lemke's annual Standard Catalog called this one of our hobby's earliest direct-to-collectors issues, made by fans for sale to other fans.

Sport Hobbyist magazine reprinted some Famous Baseball Cards for subscribers starting in 1963, but that's the only collectors issue I know that precedes this one. Let me know if you've seen a self-made set that's older!

Value: Bought this #5 for under $5 on eBay. Bigger names like Ruth and Cobb cost a little more.

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

Type Site: '59 Topps (one f/g card at a time)

It's been a while since the last shout out to a blog follower's own blog, so let's fix that oversight! Today's profile features '59 Topps, a card-by-card profile of Commishbob's complete 1959 set.

Commishbob started blogging this set on Feb 13 with his favorite player, #472 Brooks Robinson. Each post discusses a card and what he remembers of the player or team. Here's a key piece for Brooks.

As I mentioned Brooks is my favorite baseball player. My twin sons are named for him and Jim Palmer. We've met Brooks several times and he's as nice as his reputation. When a small story appeared in the Baltimore Sun about my sons carrying the names of Oriole stars Brooks came up with my address and sent us signed pictures.

Brooks also holds a special place in my heart as the first guy to reply to questions I sent as a 13 year-old back in 1985. (Scan of his answers in my 1973 Johnny Pro Orioles profile.) Plus, he wore uniform #5--win/win.

Commishbob is a blogging machine, clocking in at 113 card profiles since that first February post. Check out '59 Topps for more!

1977 Gamecraft 1933 Baseball All Stars #5, Al Simmons

Chicago hosted the first major league All-Star game at Comiskey Park on July 6, 1933, and it's easy to see that year as a capstone for baseball's "classic" era. 11 future HOFers started the contest, a still-strong Babe Ruth hit its first home run, and Connie Mack managed AL's squad to a 4-2 victory over John McGraw, to name just three highlights. (With a personal time machine, that's the first All-Star game I'd attend.)

Given that first All-Star game's significance, I'm surprised it took someone until 1977 to create a board game based on its lineups. This Gamecraft package included all 36 players selected on four perforated pages, omitting only managers Mack and McGraw. Card backs supply a brief bio and include several codes that relate to in-game play. (Haven't seen a board or instructions, so not sure how the mechanics worked.)

Not many cards refer to players regretting their time off, even for number milestones like 3000 hits. Coming up "short" at 2927 hits didn't stop Simmons from reaching the HOF, as the writers selected him in 1953, three years prior to his death at age 54.

Value: Singles of non-superstars cost a few dollars, with guys like Ruth and Gehrig running $20 or more in good shape.

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

1963 JELL-O Baseball #5, Harmon Killebrew

Consider this post twice-honorable, as both thanks to those who served in our armed forces and for the life of all-time slugger Harmon Killebrew, who passed away on May 17th, 2011. America's first Memorial Day remembered fallen Union soldiers (as Declaration Day in Charleston, South Carolina), but grew over the years to encompass all service men and women.

Baseball grew significantly in the wake of our Civil War, enough to spur pro players and leagues by the 1870s. (Find more details at Wikipedia.) Many of America's 20th century pros served during WWI, WWII, and later wars, most trading a sports uniform for the combat version without hesitation.

While too young to fight in WWII, future HOFer Harmon Killebrew "served" during Vietnam as a goodwill ambassador to active troops, joining other MLB greats on a 1966 tour around South Vietnam. The roster also included Stan Musial, Hank Aaron, Joe Torre, and Brooks Robinson--here's an AP Photo of their departure on Nov 2.

Card front (blank back)

Most see this card and think of Post cereal because boxes of JELL-O pudding printed the same set of 200 players in parallel that year. The two brands show only cosmetic differences (JELL-Os are slightly smaller and use a narrower red stats divider), so dealers sometimes sell one version as the other. This complicates things for buyers, as some players are hard to find as one brand, but not for the other. Advanced collectors say completing a JELL-O set proves quite difficult, but low-grade type cards should cost less than $5.

UPDATE: Thanks to Night Owl Cards for including a scan of the 1963 short prints from his article about 1983 Beckett issues.

Value: Bought this for $10 at a show in 2005. Cutting quality makes a big difference in price and full boxes cost several times their trimmed equivalents.

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

1954 Bowman Baseball #5, William Hunter

1954 marked the third year of direct competition between Bowman and Topps, as both companies fought to make and sell the definitive "gum card" to kids. Each side tried out new design ideas, signed popular stars to exclusive contracts, and made year-to-year strides in overall quality. They stood less than two years from Bowman's failure and sale to Topps, but I doubt anyone would've predicted it when this set hit the street.

Today's card relates a similar baseball struggle between St. Louis's two franchises, the AL Browns and NL Cardinals. After the city's only crosstown World Series in 1944, pitched competition for fan dollars ultimately escalated into both sides trying to drive the other out of town. Business strategy played a large role, as the Cardinals went for wins and the Browns for "entertainment," so their outcome said as much about sports as an industry as baseball as a pastime.

When the Cardinals "won" this business battle, the Browns (a.k.a., "the Brownies") moved to Baltimore after the 1953 season and became the Orioles. Bowman card editors must've written the back text prior to 1954 and then retouched Bill's jersey from BROWNS to ORIOLES just before printing. (Squint and you can still see BROWNS in there.) Find a shot of their "real" opening day jersey at The Baltimore Sun.

The legendary Bill Veeck owned those Browns prior to their move east and made some enemies in his failed struggle to drive the Cardinals out of town. They must've written a book or two about that era, but check out Wikipedia's entry in the meantime. Fascinating stuff!

Many sets today seem laid out in random order, but not 1954 Bowman. It started with Yankee Phil Rizzuto at #1 and then went through the same 16 teams, in order, for the entire set. Ted Williams originally appeared as #66, but was withdrawn and replaced with teammate Jimmy Piersall due to Ted's exclusive contract with Topps. (Catalogs call Williams #66A and Piersall #66B.)

1. Yankees (...American League teams follow)
2. Red Sox
3. A's
4. Indians
5. Orioles
6. White Sox
7. Tigers
8. Senators
9. Giants (...National League teams follow)
10. Dodgers
11. Pirates
12. Reds
13. Cubs
14. Cardinals
15. Phillies
16. Braves

When you hit #17, this order restarts with Tom Gorman, a Yankee.

1954 Bowman baseball #17, Tom Gorman

Player trades led to a handful of exceptions, but they're rare birds overall. Almost every card reliably fits into its place in this 16-team rotation.

1954 Bowman #66a, Ted Williams

This infamous #66 became Bowman's "temporary Ted Williams." It's believed Topps threatened legal action due to an exclusive card deal with the Splinter and forced Bowman to replace his spot. Both companies signed a number of players to the exclusive right for cards, with Bowman often getting the better end of things. This time, Topps turned the tables on them.

I assume Bowman's adherence to their checklist order explains our "switch-hit" for Piersall at #66. Ted Williams first took up a "Red Sox" space (#66), so would need a Boston replacement. If we assume Bowman created most of their 1954 layout in advance, Piersall sat much later at #210, the final "Red Sox" space for a 224-card set.

1954 Bowman #66b, Jimmy Piersall

Since Jimmy stood furthest from #66 when he took over for Ted, perhaps Bowman thought they'd pull a double swap and find an alternative player for Piersall himself by the time they printed his sheet. If they did plan such a move, it never came to fruition. Card text mistakes led to numerous mid-set revisions, so perhaps Bowman scuttled any full-card swaps in favor of fixing their bevy of smaller problems and stuck with Piersall at #210, giving him two cards that year.

UPDATE: Found front and back scans of 1954 Bowman's wax packs!

I'm a little surprised to see a label as simple as "Bowman's Baseball," but perhaps they put so much money into the card art, there wasn't enough time or budget left for the wrappers.

Value: Low-grade singles cost a few dollars or even $1 each in lots.

Fakes / reprints: Ted Williams stature makes his #66 card a common target for faking or reprinting.

1947 Kellogg's All-Wheat Baseball #5, Lining Up Grounder

Some sets look so innocuous, you assume there's little to say about them. I started down that road with this simple, 3-color card featuring a Goofus and Gallant-style infield tip on the front, but should've known to expect more. Much more.

Actual size is 2.5" x 1.75"

Kellogg's set scope is what makes this card just a tip of the iceberg. They first cross-marketed cereal with baseball and other sports in the 1930s, soon after Wheaties achieved success by adding player endorsements. (Read more about that at "Wheaties and Sport" at PopHistoryDig.com.) Two brands, Pep and All-Wheat, used sports issues as in-box promos, and although the latter existed for less than a decade, it no doubt pleased kids by creating three of these 150-card sets to collect and trade.

No year appears on the card, but All-Wheat published their first set of 150 cards in 1945, second in 1946, and today's version in 1947. They cover a bunch of different subjects, sport and non-sport, so the baseball subset's only 20% of its total release. (As implied by the English/French backs, Kellogg's marketed this cereal in Canada.)

It's hard to place in perspective now that baseball didn't establish itself as the predominant collectable card until Bowman and Topps kicked off larger-scale production and competition a few years later. Instead of featuring specific star players, sports tips, animals, military uniforms, combat vehicles, and fish all make an appearance.

Scan courtesy The Carburetor Shop

This Duryea Gas Buggy (another #5) comes from a Historical Autos subset. See the MrBreakfast.com profile of All-Wheat for a complete set scan.

Scan courtesy series profile at DinoFan.com

Kinda sad that of the 15 cards in this Strange Animal subset, only three feature dinos, and the brontosaurus doesn't even exist.

As shown by this store display, cards came as box inserts on 2x4 perforated sheets, with subsets mixed together. (I.e., no "all baseball" sheet.) Being able to just fold and separate cards kept them in much better shape than other food makers who put scissors in the hands of 4 year-olds. *cough* HOSTESS *cough* POST *cough*.

It's not enough to collect cards without an album, right? Not sure how many kids managed to finish theirs, but this is a pretty cool all-around set. Who knew how much would be revealed from that first small card?

Value: Low-grade singles cost a few dollars. Dealers rarely know which year to assign to the set, so remember 1st set = 1945, 2nd set = 1946, and 3rd set = 1947.

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

1952 Mother's Cookies PCL Baseball #5, Joe Grace

Yesterday's profile of Duke Snider (1950 Drake's #5) wasn't the only 1950s issue to cross-promote baseball and snack food. Oakland-based Mother's Cookies published two of their own in 1952 and 1953, but starring Pacific Coast League players. Both 64-player sets feature solid-background, hand-tinted photos, and capture the heyday of local pro ball prior to MLB's westward expansion.

PCL teams fielded plenty of good players, both up-and-coming youngsters and older guys like Joe Grace who finished their pro careers in California, Oregon, or Washington. The favorable Pacific weather also led to long, long seasons; San Francisco, for example, won a seemingly impressive 100 games in 1950...but finished at .500 by also losing 100. (Season stats at Baseball Reference.)

As a kid, I was psyched to sift through stacks of old stamps--the 1952 version of me would've sent away for that H. E. Harris "Treasure Hunt" Mixture without hesitation.

Value: Low-grade singles cost $10 or less. Chuck Connors, star of TV's The Rifleman, appears on card #4 and is popular with both baseball and Americana fans. (Mother's Cookies cards come with rounded corners, which doesn't reduce value unless you can see additional wear.)

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

1950 Drake Bakeries Baseball #5, Duke Snider

It's easy to look at 1949's World Series outcome, Yankees beat Dodgers in 6, and think it was "just another classic season." That results-only view, however, masks one of baseball's closest regular-season finishes, as both league pennants came down to their final day, Sunday, Oct 2.

In the AL, New York hosted Boston with both teams tied for 1st and Joe DiMaggio just returned from a month-long bout of pneumonia. The Yankees gave up a multi-game division lead to the Red Sox the previous week, but prevail 5-3 in this decisive game. (Ted Williams goes 0-for-2, missing a Triple Crown by tiny fractions of batting average, but wins his second MVP.)

In the NL, St. Louis trailed by 1 in the standings, but thumped Chicago 13-5 in their game, forcing Brooklyn to win at Shibe Park and get in. Philly took Dem Bums to extras tied at 7, but yielded two runs--and the pennant--in 10 innings. (One-year wonder Jack Banta pitched 4.1 innings of scoreless relief and picked up the win.)

R.I.P. to HOFer Duke Snider, who enjoyed a break-out season in 1949 and made his first of 7-straight All-Star games in 1950. (Career stats at Baseball Reference.) Not sure exactly where they took this picture, but assume it's from New York, as the original home of Newman Drake and home base for his chain of bakeries.

Drake's, best known now as makers of Ring Dings and Devil Dogs, assembled this set's 36-player checklist from only 3 cities: Boston (Braves/Red Sox), St. Louis (Browns/Cardinals), and New York (Dodgers/Yankees) and likely limited distribution to those metro areas. Picking those six teams was no accident, as eight of baseball's previous nine World Series featured at least one of them--and often both.

• 1941: Yankees beat Dodgers
• 1942: Cardinals beat Yankees
• 1943: Yankees beat Cardinals
• 1944: Browns beat Cardinals (only all-StL World Series)
• 1946: Cardinals beat Red Sox
• 1947: Yankees beat Dodgers
• 1948: Indians beat Braves
• 1949: Yankees beat Dodgers

Prized in part for their rarity, few cards from this set survive to the modern day and fewer still in high-grade, as those black borders bend and chip easily. (Full player list and more set details.)

Value: Snider cost $125 on eBay some years ago. The set's HOFers run into the triple digits--even in low grade--and commons can cost $50+.

Fakes / reprints: This obscure set's best pursued by advance collectors, due to cost and rarity. I recommend buying cards of this vintage from well-known dealers.