1934-36 National Chicle "Diamond Stars Gum" Baseball #5, Tom Bridges

This stylish card of Detroit righty Tom Bridges overlays a realistic, posed follow-through on top of an Art Deco outfield and horizon. It shows off the set's typical intense color (more pictures here), with vibrant red and green fighting for your visual attention. It's believed prewar sets show such colorful skies because the coal soot of urban industry transformed late afternoon sun into red, orange, and purplish clouds.

Tiger Stadium (aka Briggs Stadium in those days) might not allow for this exact shot, but the artist appears to have placed actual Detroit skyline highlights behind Tom. Boxes show the relative position of Tommy in black and two prominent "New Center" buildings in grey, as they were in the 1930s. I'm told our leftmost building's the Fisher Building, home to live performance at the Fisher Theater. Its steeple is broadcast tower for WJR. Our rightmost building appears in many skyline photos, but can't find a name so far.

Bridges' long, slender fingers enabled him to throw a highly effective curve. Toss in a decent fastball, adequate control, and you get plenty of strikeouts. Tom broke the Tigers team record for Ks in 1941, which stood until Hal Newhouser came along. This #5 Diamond Star Gum card discusses how pitchers grip the ball, appropriate for his talents.

"Pitching Tips - How to Grip the Ball. Most major league pitchers grip the ball with the fingers across the seams, to obtain a firm purchase. Tom Bridges of the Detroit Tigers, one of the most effective pitchers in the game, holds the ball thus. Yet a few well-known moundsmen hold the ball with the fingers between the seams. This is a matter of choice. But always be sure to hold the ball the same way, both for your curve and fast ball. Do not curl your thumb back when about to throw your curve, a familiar habit among schoolboy pitchers. Smart batters notice such habits. Hold the ball with medium firmness, keeping the fingers and wrist flexible."

I love this phrase: "Tom Bridges...holds the ball thus." That's old school sportswriting. Boston American columnist Austen Lake supplied the set's text and received a byline on each card. Also note those 1933 stats after his bio, because they're our key clue to tracking yearly variations.

National Chicle printed #5 Tom Bridges all three years of their 1934-36 run, revising his short bio paragraph with the previous year's stats. This 1935 series reflects Tom's 1934 win/loss record and World Series success. The copyright date remained the same across all of Tom's cards, even as the stats changed.

1936's printing switched to blue ink and include Tom's 1935 win/loss record. Detroit reached the World Series again in 1935 and this time Tom won twice.

VALUE: I was lucky to receive this card gratis from a collecting friend. Diamond Star Gum "commons" run about $10 on eBay, but players like Bridges, a key part of the first Tigers championship in 1935, could cost more if a team collector's on the hunt.

FAKES / REPRINTS: Many reprints and counterfeits exist for the full set and individual stars of this Diamond Stars set, so familiarize yourself with prewar's thicker card stock and other aspects of similar sets to avoid buying a reprint as the real thing. Bright white borders and thin paper are the easiest way to know for sure you have a postwar reprint.

1935 Diamond Stars uncut test sheet and the rarity of #68 Sam Leslie

In 2013, a Net54baseball.com collector shared this photo of an uncut test sheet from the middle of National Chicle's 1934-36 "Diamond Stars Gum" set. You can't tell from this side, but it's a classic of both baseball and Art Deco design.

Backs comprise #61 to 72. This is the flip of that test sheet, with no printed fronts.

Chicle printed their 108-card Diamond Stars Gum set across three years and this sheet is from 1935. This PSA-created graphic breaks down cards printed in each series.

PSA Diamond Stars 1934-36 variations

That group of 12 "reprints" in 1936 of earlier numbers supports the notion that each sheet comprised a dozen different players at a time. 1934 started with two sheets, #1-12 and #13-24. 1935 included the next four sheets, #25-36, #37-48, #49-60, and #61-72. Theoretically, test sheets could exist for any 12-player printing, but few paper artifacts survived the Great Depression.

The Net54 owner reported this breakdown of his 12-player, 35-card test sheet.

• #61 Bill Werber x2
• #62 Fred Frankhouse x2
• #63 Travis Jackson x4
• #64 Jimmie Foxx x2
• #65 Zeke Bonura x4
• #66 Ducky Medwick x4
• #67 Marvin Owen x4
• #68 Sam Leslie x1 (apparent short print)
• #69 Earl Grace x4
• #70 Hal Trosky x2
• #71 Ossie Bluege x2
• #72 Tony Piet x4

It's not known if other sheets with different layouts "balanced" the staggered 1/2/4 numbering for #61-72, but one can argue that limiting some numbers would keep kids buying packs, hunting for numbers not easily found. No law mandated they fill in the gaps or make it easy to finish sets. National Chicle's crosstown rivals Goudey Gum teased collectors in 1933 by leaving #106 out entirely. Buyers eventually realized it didn't exist and complained to Goudey. They created #106 Nap Lajoie in 1934 to fill this gap and "complete" the 1933 set.

1935 Diamond Stars #68, Sam Leslie (short print?)

Today's #61-72 test sheet might not be the final (or only) card arrangement, so we don't know for certain Sam Leslie made it into packs at 1/4 the rate of guys like Ducky Medwick. But it sure seems possible.

If so, is Sam more valuable? Not necessarily. Sam's a common, so proves most valuable for Dodger collectors or as part of a complete set. Price pressure on one 80+ year-old card's controlled by the small number of people working on prewar sets in the first place. Even if Sam's "rarer," modern collectors can find #68 without much hassle on eBay.

VALUE: Uncut prewar sheets are nearly unheard of, so value is speculative. Low grade #68 Sam Leslie ranks with the Diamond Stars commons at $5-10.

FAKES / REPRINTS: Lots of Diamond Stars reprints exist and I always recommend buying prewar type cards from dealers you trust. If you plan to make prewar part of your collection, familiarize yourself with the various ways people faked them in the past.

REFERENCES:

• Net54 guide to counterfeit / reprint / altered cards
• Source Net54 thread for the 1935 uncut test sheet
• My look at the 1934-36 Diamond Stars Gum set
• My look at Goudey's 1933-34 Big League Gum sets , including #106 Nap Lajoie

Bobby Doerr

Sometimes when I'm down, I remember Bobby Doerr (our oldest living HOFer, now 99) started his pro career in 1934.

...when this guy still wore pinstripes.

1934 Quaker Oats premium, Babe Ruth

...and then I feel better. Here's to those long-term guys.

Hope you all have a good week.

Today's the day!

HAPPY

Happy Chandler served a long life in politics and earned a Cooperstown nod as MLB's second Commissioner of Baseball. As coda to Jackie Robinson Day this weekend, Wikipedia notes that Happy Chandler's "most significant action" as commissioner was approving Jackie's contract, officially allowing integration to proceed.

EASTER

No better day than today for some of Luke's "Easter Eggs":

"As a player, Easter was best known for his powerful home runs, colloquially known as "Easter Eggs". While with the Grays in 1948, he became the first player to hit a home run into the center field bleachers at New York's Polo Grounds during game action, a section that was 475 feet from home plate. During his rookie season, he also hit the longest home run in the history of Cleveland's Municipal Stadium, a 477-foot blast over the auxiliary scoreboard in right field; the only other player to match that feat was Mickey Mantle, who did it in 1960. Finally, during his twilight days with the Bisons, he became the first player to hit a home run over the center field scoreboard at Buffalo's home park, Offermann Stadium, doing so twice in a month in 1957. 

When told by a fan one time that the fan had seen Easter's longest home run in person, Easter is reported to have replied, "If it came down, it wasn't my longest."

Tip of the cap to Happy and Luke!

1916 (D329) and 1917 (D328) Weil Baking Co Baseball #5, Leon "Red" Ames and Fred Anderson

Louisiana! Home to endless choices for great food, great music, and Joanie on the Pony.

Louisiana! Erstwhile home to one of those food choices, Weil Baking Co., and their paeans to baseball, the 1916 D329 and 1917 D328 sets. You know them from this advertising back.

1916 D329 (1-3/8 x 3, above) is slightly smaller than 1917 D328 (2 x 3-1/4, below), which shows in the amount of white border.

Helpful D328 inscription, more scans on Net54

As often happens with early sets, hobby pioneers like Jefferson Burdick didn't have perfect data resources, so didn't put everything in perfect order. Based on player and team listings, we now know D329 came a year before D328. Their 200-player checklists run alphabetically and share many names in common, but changed enough year-to-year that D328 is Fred Anderson and D329 is Red Ames.

1916 D329 #5, Leon "Red" Ames

1917 D328, Fred Anderson

Most consider D328 and D329 sets as back variations of the 200-card M101-4 and M101-5 sets, as conceived and printed for licensing to regional businesses by Felix Mendelssohn. Felix's print company pitched its blank-back sets to businesses, who added ad info like "H. Weil Baking Co.," etc. Those businesses then sold or gave away singles, lots, and sets to baseball-loving customers as incentives.

Sample of M101-based ad backs

Because of the newspaper's nationwide reach and lasting appeal to baseball fans, The Sporting News is the easiest ad back to find in today's market, so collectors have also cast that umbrella name over these sets. Cards that still have blank backs are properly catalogued M101-4 or M101-5, depending on their checklist and cropping. OldBaseball.com's gallery of M101 backs shows all known examples, which vary greatly in rarity and price premium. For an updated, in-depth look at M101 back scarcity, see "Details of M101-4/5 Backs" at OldBaseball's Reference Library. It's great work.

Office, H. Weil Baking Co.

You can read much about H. Weil Baking Co. and see its set checklists at LouisianaCards.com, which specializes in that state's early 20th century baseball sets.

Value: I've seen low-grade M101s for $10, but Weil Baking runs 2-5x times that because of back scarcity. Weil's not a truly obscure back, fortunately, so you can find an affordable type card with patience.

Fakes / reprints: Many M101-based reprints exist, both as sets and for individual stars. Some eBay sellers are especially shameless about selling reprints without calling them out as reprints. Use caution and look for dealers who carry a breadth of authentic vintage material.

Top 5 Photos from R313 National Chicle "Fine Pen" Premiums

The 1930s produced great vintage sets, including some of my favorite individual cards.

1933 Goudey #155, Joe Judge

Those blue lines and bloused uniform, wow. Such clean, outstanding work.

Hand-tinted, line-heavy figures like this Joe Judge reflect similar Art Deco stylings of the era.

Laurence Fellows (1885-1964) - 1930s Fashion

Boston gum competitors National Chicle and Goudey, top card makers of the 1930s, each took a shot at on-card Deco, possibly sharing the same on-card artists, since both companies operated just a few miles apart in Boston and Cambridge, MA. National Chicle made "Diamond Stars Gum" in that style and it still looks great.

1934-36 National Chicle #9, Mickey Cochrane

Artists hand-painted each player from photos, adding spirit and depth to black-and-white originals. As with Mickey Cochrane, they often swapped out realistic backgrounds for something more artistic.

But painted pieces don't tell the whole story. As the Great Depression deepened and fewer fans had pocket change for luxuries, card makers cut costs by creating less "artistic" options to offer alongside their fancier packs. Both companies printed batches of postcard-sized "premium" photos later catalogued as R313 (National Chicle) and R314 (Goudey). Collectors swapped their card wrappers for these photo premiums in stores or via mail.

Since R313 and R314 black-and-white premiums aren't as familiar to modern collectors, let's look at five of them to get a feel for their style.

1. Chicago City Series, Washington Safe

Most R313s show player portraits, but several were action shots with descriptions scrawled on the front. I had to Google "Chicago City Series" for more context on this play at first.

"Chicago City Series" would've been familiar to 1930s fans, but it's a tradition that's gone by the wayside. It alludes to a postseason matchup between the Cubs and White Sox that ran 26 times between 1903 and 1942. After many of those regular seasons, both teams faced off in a World Series-like best of 7. (See SABR's overview of this particular city series.)

I'm not aware of play-by-play from these games, so can't say for sure what play this photo shows, apart from White Sox OF George Washington about to beat #14 (Cubs P Larry French) to first base, as French searches for the bag with a raised foot.

2. Glenn Uses Football Play At Plate

The play below's much more dramatic than #1's infielder grounder and could easily send a guy to the locker room for x-rays. I mean, look at that knee, ouch.

This play's from a preseason exhibition, given its rural background and long woolen sleeves on the runner. "Glenn" is Yankee Joe Glenn, a part-time backstop for several seasons in the Bronx and elsewhere (career stats). Not sure who the runner or umpire would be, but remember the shape of that tree on the left...

3. Joe DiMaggio Slams It, Erickson catching

This 1936 photo shows a dynamic Joe DiMaggio tracking his shot to left field and headed for first. It's one of Joe's earliest pro images and perhaps his first card in a real Yankee uniform. We know this is spring training in part because Joe entered Yankee camp as #18, but changed numbers by Opening Day.

"Erickson catching" is Reds backstop Hank Erickson, who played sparingly in 1935 and failed to stick in the bigs for 1936 (career stats). This is Hank's only card in a Cincy uniform and he appeared on just one other during his career, as a minor-league Toronto Maple Leaf on Goudey's aforementioned R314 Premiums.

Remember that tree earlier? Look behind Joe and you'll recognize the same limb and leaf structure. Also compare the angled roof above that umpire to the circular inset on this postcard from New York's St. Petersburg training site. It confirms where we are: the ball fields at Crescent Lake Park.

Given the similarity in camera angles, I suspect both card photos come from the same 1936 Yankees vs. Reds spring training game. It wouldn't be the first or last time a card maker saved money by creating several cards from the same game!

TIP: Want a DiMaggio card from his playing days? This R313 remains his most affordable, running $100-300 in low grade.

4. Oswald Bluege for WGN

This candid of lifelong Washington Senator Oswald Bluege holding a WGN microphone is ahead of its time and would be right at home in a modern Topps set. High five to National Chicle for including something so whimsical at a time when baseball served as an important distraction from the Great Depression for many Americans.

5. Honus Wagner

The immortal Honus holding a baseball. That works for me.

Wagner turned 62 in 1936 and was inducted that year as part of baseball's "first Hall of Fame class" with Ruth, Cobb, Mathewson, and Walter Johnson. He's shown in uniform as the Pirates hitting instructor and continued in that capacity through 1952.

If you're ever in Pittsburgh and stop by its terrific PNC Park, you can still touch history by visiting the Honus Wagner statue. The Flying Dutchman himself attended its unveiling in 1955 and his likeness followed the Pirates to a pair of new ballparks since. The past is never far away!

1980 AL baseball TV broadcast slides #5, Earl Weaver

I recently asked Twitter, are these cards?

Computer-driven graphics hadn't taken over sports coverage in the 1970s and 80s, so TV producers leaned on still photos when they needed an inset or single-player highlight. For example, did Weaver get tossed out once again arguing balls and strikes? (He's third all-time in ejections, with 94.) Here's a photo to flash on the screen while talking about it.

I took Earl's HOF visage from what appears to be the "team set," numbered contiguously for convenient storing and use during Baltimore broadcasts.

TV needed to cover multiple teams and sports, so Earl and his Orioles are just one of many, many slides out there. Not sure if it's possible to make a comprehensive list of what "full sets" would be, but the numbering will help someone who wants to take on that challenge.

I expect hunters of specific players are most likely to grab slides for their collections. Here's an interesting one, Pete Rose during his 1984 stint with the Expos (as of writing, it's $17 BIN).

Poll results: Twitter responses voted 10-to-1 that slides don't count as "cards," but commenters agreed they're interesting. Best wishes to those taking on the challenge!

Value: eBay sellers list single slides and team sets for $10-40 (here's an example), depending on the mix of players.

Fakes / reprints: Even for stars and HOFers, I doubt photo slides are valuable enough to spend the time and trouble faking.

World Series 2016 Giveaway Winners!

Gonna sneak this post in before game 7 ends to avoid the rush. :-)

Remember this guy? I sure do.

WHO WON: My recent World Series giveaway wrapped up neatly. Run totals for game 4-5 (7-2 and 3-2) were 14 runs. Congrats to John Hogan, who got closest at 13!

Runners-up:

Madding (12)
gcrl (11)
arpsmith (10)
Richard (9)
Jon (8)
Admin (7)

Not gonna leave anyone out, so let's get team lots to all six runners-up. :-)

Everyone above, please email me your account name, choice of team lot, and mailing address to glidden dot matthew at gmail for prizes! As always, thanks for reading.

World Series Game 4 and 5 Card Giveaway!

I will guess that it's been a year-plus since I gave cards away on this site, which is a year-plus too long. Let's turn this World Series of Baseball into some fabulous prizes.

WHAT YOU DO

There will be at least two more games, so predict the total runs scored by both team in games 4 & 5. For example, if you think they'll end up 6-3 and 4-2, your guess is 15 runs. Post your guess down there in the comments.

Run totals must be unique! If you duplicate someone else's guess, you'll need to back up and pick again.

Might be obvious, but guesses must be in before the start of game 4 and I'll contact the winners after game 5.

WHAT YOU GET

Closest guesser gets this truly assorted assortment!

• Autographed cards of Dave Cash and Greg Luzinski
• 1980 Baseball Immortals Series 1 of DiMaggio
• 1976 SSPC Tony Oliva
• Vintage Mariners cloth sticker
• 2015 CWS/NYY ticket : Mark Teixeira set MLB record for switch-hitting HRs in one game
• Choose a team, get a card lot for that team!

Next five closest

• Choose a team, get a card lot for that team!

May you all be as lucky as this guy!

1949 Bowman PCL Baseball #5, Xavier Rescigno

This Bowman PCL type card comes from the sort of set that tilts me to extravagance. It's been a white whale in the hunting, vanishing further into the distance each time I got close. Sometimes, one would appear at a show for $150. I'd skip it as "too pricy" and then see the same card appear on eBay for $300. I'd swear at myself, vow to "just buy it" when one appeared at a show, and then see nothing but slabbed copies for $500.

1949 Bowman PCL #5, Xavier Rescigno

This month, at last, a friendly dealer sold me this PCL #5 at a double-digit price, no haggling. It feels trite to say karma delivered at last, so let's stick with "patience is a virtue."

My new #5 looks about the same as "normal" 1949 Bowmans (set profile), so why all the high prices? On the surface, it is like other 1949 Bowmans, with a blasé, block-color design that only looks good on guys like Satchel Paige. But that's not the real PCL story.

1949 Bowman #224, Satchell (sic) Paige 

The real PCL story is rarity. Bowman packaged and sold their MLB packs all over the USA. Probably hundreds of thousands of MLB cards remain in the hobby, but I suspect just a few hundred cards exist for each PCL player.

My new #5 bears a great nickname, Xavier "Mr. X" Rescigno (career story). Kids in Pittsburgh might've remembered Mr. X as the day-in, day-out Pirates reliever during wartime, but his skills declined once peace returned and the rest of Xavier's career happened in the minors.

Pacific Coast League players appeared on cards as far back as the 1900-1920 tobacco era, but almost always for sale in or near PCL cities. Bowman's PCL set was a unicorn: an East Coast attempt to sell West Coast ballplayers.

Philadelphia-based Bowman published this one series of 36 cards, labeled them "PCL No. 1 - 36," and salted them into late-season packs of the "normal" 1949 baseball set. Furthermore, it's believed Bowman test-marketed them in just two cities: Philly itself and Portland, OR. That's a tiny window of opportunity for collectors, so it's fortunate that test marketing wasn't the only way this set survived.

Note the edges of my Rescigno are hand-cut, not factory cut, but it's otherwise the "right size." This means it was never in a factory-wrapped pack of cards. You can bet dollars to donuts that it came from a factory scrap sheet cut up by Meyer's junk shop on Filbert Street in Philly.

Meyer's paid garbage collectors to scavenge for potentially valuable factory discards like uncut baseball card sheets. Shop hands later scissored the sheets by hand into single cards and sold them to collectors. Kudos to Dave Hornish for finding a 1978 article from The Trader Speaks that tells the story.

PCL's hand-cut card story, via Lew Lipset and Net54

If you like similar tales from the dawn of postwar collecting, check the whole thread on Net54 for more. Also catch this thread with personal recollections on the factory-cut cards.

So how rare are PCL cards? A low grade Bowman MLB single might be $2-3, but low-grade PCL singles run $50+. If any of Bowman's 36 PCL players were considered superstars, they'd cost $1000+.

Hand-cut cards represent a hefty percentage of what's known in today's market, so finding cards from this set would be twice as hard without Meyer's efforts to make a buck back in the late 1940s.

Here's another look at the PCL card back. Today's collectors can also find the "baseball game and bank" under the name "Sealtest Dairy Products." The on-box game used white pins to track gameplay on the base paths shown on the panel below.

Hunt Auctions sold this game and bank for $100 in 2010

I suspect Bowman bought a bunch of baseball tchotchkes on the cheap and added them as on-card promos to sell more packs and track how many customers they had in various cities. An earlier MLB series showed this ring ad instead.

Here's that ring in the flesh.

If you do go hunting 1949 PCL cards, bring a lot of patience and/or a lot of money. If possible, bring both!

Value: This #5 cost me $90 and I'd happily pay that price again for a factory-cut version.

Fakes / reprints: Complete reprints exist for the PCL set, both as single cards and uncut sheets. It's likely fakes also exist due to the set's rarity. Bowman MLB and PCL sets use the same card stock and basic design, so you can pick up cheaper MLB cards to familiarize yourself with what real PCL cards will be like, should you want to seek out type cards with some piece of mind.