My Only (Intentional) '55 All-American Variation

Among the more than 125 baseball and football cards that I have created since 2003, the only intentional variations have been this pair of Troy Aikmans. (I have however, on occasion, been forced to make "corrected" versions of some of my cards to fix stupid mistakes, typos, etc., and I don't count the cards on which I have replaced subpar photos as variations, since the old versions have been destroyed except for my two personal file copies.)

Until I started researching 1980s college football for my various custom card creations, I was unaware that Aikman had played for both the Sooners and the Bruins.

I like Aikman as a TV football analyst. He's knowledgeable, understated and knows his limitations (i.e., he doesn't try to be funny). I didn't like him so well when he and the Cowboys were regulary kicking Packer keister back in the day.

I decided to create two varieties of Aikman All-American cards when I was poring over Sports Illustrated back issues for card-worthy photos and found pictures of him with both Oklahoma and U.C.L.A. While the original Topps 1955 All-Americans don't include any front variations (there are scarce wrong-back variations of Gaynell Tinsley and Whizzer White), there was a precedent for at least acknowledging two schools on card #99 Don Whitmire, who is listed with both Alabama and Navy.

Besides changing the color phots on my two Aikmans, notice in the background that while I used the same black-and-white photo, I flopped one of them so that #27 is shown running to the left on the Oklahoma version, and to the right on the U.C.L.A. card.

One nice thing about the variations is that I could use the same back for both cards.

Standard Catalog Update #37 : 1980 Topps Stickers Prototypes

A recent reader inquiry about the issue that is listed in the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards as "1980 Topps Stickers Prototypes" got me to thinking and wondering. The set has been listed for about 4-5 years, but looking back on it today, I am at a loss to remember why it is listed among the Topps issues, and why it was attributed to 1980.

Phil, our correspondent, wrote to inquire whether we had any information about the issue that has not been included in the catalog, and to point out that the player photos on the Bench-Wills sticker that he owns were actually taken from 1977-dated issues of Sports Illustrated magazine.

Phil's sticker, like all other reported examples, is unique and is stuck to a piece of cardboard. The actual sticker measures 3-1/2" x 2-1/2". On its face there is nothing to suggest any connection between the sticker and Topps. Yet, I'm quite sure that I would not have listed it as a Topps issue if there hadn't been some sort of proof provided when the issue was first cataloged. Though it hasn't been that many years ago, today I have no recollection of the circumstances surrounding the stickers' discovery, such as who, where, etc. (It's hell to get old!)

If this was, indeed, a Topps prototype, it appears to have been produced to test techniques for mass-producing die-cut peel-off stickers, something that Topps had never done to that point.

I'm going to rely on my original judgment and keep the stickers in the Topps section, at least for the 2011 edition of the "big book," but there are going to be some changes made to the introductory paragraph. In keeping with some other Topps prototype listings, I'm going to eliminate pricing for this set in the new edition. Each sticker pair seems to exist in but a single example, makig any pricing we may provide problematical.

Here is the checklist of known examples of this issue:

1. Johnny Bench, Maury (photo actually Bump) Wills
2. Nino Espinoza, Roy Cey
3. Dwight Evans, Carlton Fisk
4. Don (Ron) Guidry, Dave Parker
5. Regie Jackson, J.R. Richard

Tales of T212 #20 : George Wheeler

Back in the early 1980s I thought I'd combine my interests in minor league baseball and vintage baseball cards by assembling a collection of the Obak cigarette cards that were distributed on the West Coast in 1909, 1910 and 1911.I didn't realize it then, but those cards are so much rarer than most of the contemporary T206 cards from "Back East" that putting together complete sets of the Obak could take decades to accomplish -- and that's if a guy had more money than God to buy the cards when they became available.At about the time I started my Obak collection I also started researching the players who appeared in the sets. Over the course of several long Wisconsin winters I pored over microfilms of The Sporting News and The Sporting Life from the period several years before to several years after the Obak cards circulated, making prodigious notes on 3x5 file cards for each player in the set.I gave up trying to collect the T212s (that's the catalog number Jefferson Burdick assigned the three sets in the pioneering American Card Catalog in 1939), long ago, and have since sold off all my Obaks, one-by-one, first on eBay, then on the Net 54 baseball card forum. As I was selling each card, I included interesting tidbits about each player from my notes. The bidders seemed to like learning a little bit about these guys on the cards, so I thought I'd now begin sharing their stories here. Please excuse the lo-res nature of the card pictures; they were scanned for my auctions many years ago.

Ferreting out George Wheeler's identity was one the more challenging during my Obak biography quest. I had it wrong for a long time, attributing his Obak cards to George Harrison Wheeler, rather than the correct George Louis Wheeler. The George Wheelers' careers overlapped around the time of the cigarette card era.

Again it was the SABR Minor League Database that straightened things out for me. This George Wheeler was really even a Wheeler, he was born George L. Heroux in Methuen, Mass., on either July 30 or Aug. 3 (sources differ), 1869. George was a right-handed pitcher who is said to have thrown lefty on occasion; he was a switch hitter, as well. Naturally enough he began his pro career in the northeast, at the age of 22 in 1892. Between 1892-1896 he played in the Class B New England League for Manchester/Lawrence, Lewiston and Bangor.

In mid-September of 1896 he made his major league debut with the Philadelphia Phillies. He was 1-1, earning a permanent spot in the 1897 rotation. He had an 11-10 record that year and pitched part of each of the next two seasons with the Phils, playing with Rome of the N.Y. State League in between major league tours (and also in 1900-1901). His overall big league record was 21-20 with a 4.24 ERA.

Wheeler also pitched in the American League, but it was in 1900 for the Milwaukee Brewers, before the A.L. was considered a major league. After opening the 1902 season with the Syracuse Stars of the NYSL, Wheeler took his act to the West Coast, where he spent the rest of his baseball days, increasingly filling the role of a utility player and pinch hitter. He played with Los Angeles in 1902 and 1903, before the formation of the Pacific Coast League as aClass A minor league. He opened 1904 wiht L.A., then moved to San Francisco through the 1907 season. He was traded back to the Angels in 1908 and closed out his playing days with them in 1911. He appears in al three Obak card sets of the era.

In 1913-1914 he managed Fresno in the outlaw California League and in mid-season 1914 joined the Northwestern League's umpiring staff. When his baseball days were over, Wheeler retired to farming. He died in Santa Ana, Calif. on March 21, 1946.

Standard Catalog Update #36 : 1954 A's Stickers

Considering that the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards' 20th edition is in the works, the set which is listed as 1954 Philadelphia A's Stickers is a relatively new addition to the comprehensive guide.

It was added about four years ago with a checklist comprising 10 players, and it was noted that "The issuer of this novelty set and the exact scope of its checklist are currently unknown."

We still don't know who issued it, or how it was distributed (my best guess would be a stadium concession stand souvenir). We do, however, have a better idea of the set's scope, thanks to reports from a couple of collectors, most recently including Scott Roberts, who provided the scans shown here.

The stickers are black-and-white, printed on gummed paper. They are uniformly about 4-1/2" wide, but range in height from about 6-1/2" to 8-1/4", depending on the pose. An instruction printed on each piece says, "Moisten back. Paste on Cardboard and cut out."

In 1954, The Athletics were in their final season in Philadelphia. They ended the season with a 51-103 record, 60 games behind the pennant-winning Cleveland Indians.

Here's the revised checklist for the sticker set:

1. Joe Astroth
2. Don Bollweg
3. Bob Cain
4. Joe DeMaestri
5. Marion Fricano
6. Forrest Jacobs
7. Eddie Joost
8. Alex Kellner
9. Morrie Martin
10. Ed McGhee
11. Arnold Portocarrero
12. Vic Power
13. Bill Renna
14. Jim Robertson
15. Bob Shantz
16. Pete Suder
17. Bob Trice
18. Elmer Valo
19. Leroy Wheat
20. Gus Zernial

As you can see, there were no Hall of Famers on the team, and only a few players who are recognized as even minor stars today -- Zernial, Shantz, Power. The checklist stands at 20, which is a nice round number. The only regular missing is third baseman Jim Finigan. Whether or not this checklist will stand remains to be seen.

The "big book" currently lists the stickers at $25 in NM, $12.50 in EX and $7.50 in VG for most players, with a few of the bigger names at $35, $17.50 and $10.50. That seems cheap to me considering the age and scarcity of these collectibles, but the few that have sold recently at auction haven't generated sufficient demand to warrant raising the prices.

Tales of T212 #19 : Harry Scharnweber

Back in the early 1980s I thought I'd combine my interests in minor league baseball and vintage baseball cards by assembling a collection of the Obak cigarette cards that were distributed on the West Coast in 1909, 1910 and 1911.I didn't realize it then, but those cards are so much rarer than most of the contemporary T206 cards from "Back East" that putting together complete sets of the Obak could take decades to accomplish -- and that's if a guy had more money than God to buy the cards when they became available.At about the time I started my Obak collection I also started researching the players who appeared in the sets. Over the course of several long Wisconsin winters I pored over microfilms of The Sporting News and The Sporting Life from the period several years before to several years after the Obak cards circulated, making prodigious notes on 3x5 file cards for each player in the set.I gave up trying to collect the T212s (that's the catalog number Jefferson Burdick assigned the three sets in the pioneering American Card Catalog in 1939), long ago, and have since sold off all my Obaks, one-by-one, first on eBay, then on the Net 54 baseball card forum. As I was selling each card, I included interesting tidbits about each player from my notes. The bidders seemed to like learning a little bit about these guys on the cards, so I thought I'd now begin sharing their stories here. Please excuse the lo-res nature of the card pictures; they were scanned for my auctions many years ago.

Known variously in his playing days as "Henry" or "Harry," Scharnweber was a light-hitting shortstop. He was born in Iowa in 1882 and spent his early years as a professional ballplayer around the Midwest.

He debuted in the Three-I (Illinois-Indiana-Iowa) League in 1902, playing for both Bloomington and Rockford at the Class B level. When he hit only .179 for the year, he was sent down to Class D Grand Forks for 1903 and Waterloo for 1904 (the team carried the unlikely nickname of the Microbes).

Scharnweber returned to the Three-I League for 1905, and spent the next four seasons with Springfield, including managing the team in 1907 at the age of only 25 (they finished third). In 1909 he moved out West to the Vancouver Beavers of the Northwestern League, also a Class B circuit. He played with Vancouver for six seasons -- remarkable consistency for the minor leagues in that era. He man aged the team in 1914 and won the NWL pennant. The team finished fourth in 1915 under Scharnweber.

His whereabouts from 1916-1919 are unrecorded. In 1920 he joined the newly formed South Dakota League as manager of the Mitchell Kernels, and at the age of 38 played some shortstop and hit .295. The Kernels won the pennant that year, and also in 1921 and 1922 with Scharnweber at the helm. One of Scharnweber's prize players in 1920 was future Hall of Famer Jim Bottomley, playing in his first pro season. The league folded in mid-1923.

Scharnweber must have hung around the Mitchell, S.D., area after his playing days, because that's listed as his locale on the U.S. Patent (#2,088,753) he was granted in 1937 for an automotive air cooling apparatus!

Standard Catlog Update #35 : 1966 Mantle anomaly

Some weeks back reader Steve Stazenski contacted us about an unusual 1966 Topps Mickey Mantle card he had in his collection. The card is unusual in that its number on back appears to

have been printed in green, rather than the usual orange/red ink.

My first thought was that this might be a Venezuelan-issued '66 Topps. While I'd never heard that the card numbers of the South American version Topps cards were green, I'd never heard that they weren't.

I posed some inquiries on some of the baseball card forums and a couple of the top Venezuelan specialists informed me that the card numbers on that issue were not green, they were the same color as the player name and stats box, just like on the Topps U.S.A. cards.

One or two collectors raised the idea that the "50" on this card may have turned green as a reaction to chemical exposure. I'm not inclined to accept that theory, because there is no indication that any of the other red ink, nor the black, nor the card stock had been altered by a foreign substance.

The theory that seems most plausible to me, but which I have been unable to verify, is that this particular Mantle was cut off the three-card salesman's sample strip that Topps used back in the 1950s and 1960s to alter retailers on the look of the product. While the backs of those strips usually were predominantly given over the a sales pitch, at least one card on the strip was usually presented with a full back, again to give the retailer an idea of what the new cards had to offer.

I'm hoping that one of you can provide a scan of such a 1966 sales strip to verify this notion. Otherwise this card will have to be considered merely an anomaly or curiosity.

1952 Red Man Mickey Mantle Custom Card

I've expanded my custom card repertoire with this latest creation. It's a "what might have been" fantasy card of Mickey Mantle in the format of the 1952 Red Man tobacco cards.

My custom Mantle is in the original 3-1/2" x 4" format. To better replicate the original Red Mans, I used a thinner cardboard stock for this one. It really has the "feel" of the originals.

As opposed to most of my custom cards, on which the back -- which usually has biographical details, stats, cartoons, etc. -- takes more time to create than the front, this one was a snap. Since the backs of 1952 Red Mans (and 1953, 1954, 1955, as well) were "generic," I only had to scan an original and clean it up a bit.

The front is essentially a mashup of three elements. The background is from the front of a 1955 Red Man Whitey Ford card. With one click in my Photochop Elements graphics program, I flopped the image and moved the Yankee Stadium details from the left to the right side of the card.

The coupon at bottom started out on a scan I found on an auction site of a 1952 Red Man Ted Williams card. I changed the card number and cleaned up the typography and color bars.

Mantle's picture came from the cover of the 1953 Dell Baseball Annual. I had to do a lot of trial-and-error cutting and pasting to find a size and positioning that would allow for maximum detail yet still leave room for the text box.

I've always been frustrated that the Photoshop Elements program doesn't have the ability to create justified text . . . at least not that I've ever been able to find on my ancient 2.0 version.
After giving the matter some thought and trying a few workarounds, I determined that if I wanted to create justified text such as usually found on baseball cards, I'd just have to bite the bullet and do it the hard way. After writing my text in the designated space, I nudge every single word of it into a position that creates a pretty good approximation of justified type.

There's currently one more Red Man-style card on my to-do list, though I don't know when I'll actually get it into production. You'll see it here first.

As always, you can access images of many of my custom card creations at www.tinyurl.com/customcards. If you think you'd like any of the actual cards as holiday gifts, contact me for details at scbcguy@yahoo.com.