Collector updates Wheaties comic book ads

Texas collector Otis Johnson has provided a good deal of updated information concerning the Dell comics back cover ads that featured sports stars' endorsements in the early 1950s.

He wrote. "I 'm sure someone will be able to complete the checklist of the Dell comics Wheaties ads for you, but, because I have a number of full comics with printing dates intact, I can shed some light on the timing of these issues.

"There are two obviously separate versions of the Dell rear covers: The 'Sparks' cover on which the athlete (and all other images) is represented by a life-like cartoon drawing, e.g., Doak Walker Sparks for Lions,' and the 'Spark Up' cover which has a color photo of the athlete filling the one quarter of the ad. . . 'SPARK UP... to pick off a baserunner!' says ROY CAMPANELLA.'''

Based on the comics in his collection, Otis believes the cartoon image ads appeared on comics dating from Fall 1952 to Fall 1953. The photo image ads date from Fall 1953 to Fall 1954. "So it appears these ads postdate the Wheaties cereal box cards of 1951 and 1952 by at least a season," he said.

"I am including scans of two photo ad athletes not mentioned in your blog/SCD article (Davies and Fears) and also several scans of the "Sparks" type ads," Otis continued. "Please note the ad featuring Ferris Fain; like Abel he is not part of the 1951-52 club. Also take a look at the Doak Walker ad. It is slightly different than the others yet the Tarzan comic I have dates from January 1953. I think I assembled a full set of both versions several years ago and will try to find any other examples I may have."

The scans that Otis sent were:

"Spark Up" photo series: Tom Fears (L.A. Rams), Bob Davies (Rochester Royals).

"Sparks" drawing series:

Sid Abel (hockey), Ferris Fain (White Sox), Gretchen Fraser (skiing), Ralph Kiner (Pirates), Stan Musial (Cardinals), Phil Rizzuto (Yankees), Preacher Roe (Dodgers), Doak Walker (Lions), and Bob Waterfield (Rams).

Pat Tillman made Hall of Fame, my custom card set

It was recently announced that Pat Tillman had been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

He made my own college football hall of fame when I learned the details of his life and death in 2004. A true American hero, you probably already know Tillman's story; if not, give it a Google.

For many years Arizona State has been my favorite football team in the Pac-10. I've even got a large decal of Sparky on the back of my custom-flamed gold PT Cruiser.

The Sun Devils had been unable to the crack Topps' lineup in the original 1955 All-American football card issue. Honestly, I'm not sure when an ASU player would have made it into my custom card homage to that set if Tillman had not made the ultimate sacrifice for his country. The Army's bumbling attempt to cover up the true story of Tillman's death did nothing to diminish my admiration for him.

When I decided in May, 2004, to create a 1955-style Tillman card, with a posthumous note on the front, I went right to the source to get a good color photo of him in college uniform. An e-mail to the sports information office at ASU drew a quick response in the form of the scan which I adapted for nmy card.

The team logo that appears is a direct steal from an original Topps card, which used a blue devil character for a Duke player. Since childhood, that stylized demon had been one of my favorite logos from the original All-American set.

Like most Americans, I knew nothing of Pat Tillman until his death. But I'm proud to be among those who have been able to pay tribute to a man whose life epitomized the title of All-American.

Ron Dayne added Badgers to All-American updates

I saw in the newspaper the other day that former Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne lost much of his prized football bling in a couple of burglaries. The swag, reported to have been taking in two seperate burglaries at two different apartments, was valued at more than $140,000 and included his 1999 and 2000 Rose Bowl MVP rings and the bracelet representing his Maxwell Award (nation's top college football player) from 1999.

Dayne is the player most closely associated with the resurgance of Wisconsin Badger football in the late 1990s. He was the reason my own interest in Big 10 football was reawakened in that era (then, as now, I was an SEC fan first and foremost).

So, he was a natural for one of my 1955-style All-American football cards. Wisconsin had not been represented in the original Topps AA issue of 195. The only real "names" among its alumns were Elroy Hirsch and Alan Ameche, and in 1955 they were under football card contract to Bowman.

While it has only been four or five years since I created my Ron Dayne custom card, I can't say for sure where I stole the picture that appears on front. It probably appeared on a football card from one of the "real" card companies.

The Great Dayne never fully carried over his college football success to the NFL, but had eight seasons of Sunday football. Here's hoping he gets back his jewelry commemorating that great college career.

Time for a Ricky Williams make-over

One of the earlier creations in my Second Series of 1955 All-American style custom football cards was Ricky Williams. I created the card shortly after Ricky announced his retirement in August, 20o4.

His first retirement was related to a pending suspension for using marijuana, and I noted something to that effect in the biography I wrote for the back of my card.

Williams, of course, returned to the NFL for the 2005 season, then played 2006 in the Canadian league while he sat out an NFL drug-related suspension. He played one game in 2007 before being injured. He was a productive running back for the Dolphins the past two seasons.

In light of the fact that Williams has rehabilitated himself -- at least to a degree of compliance with NFL standards -- I have to give some thought to whether or not to rewrite the biography on the back of my card.

This comes up because I just sent off the last of my original Ricky Williams custom cards to a collector who is going to meet with Williams and wants to get it autographed. (I know of the existence of one other autographed example of the card.)

Since I need to replenish my inventory of this card, in fairness to Ricky, it would seem only right to expunge the last sentence from the original version when I go back to press. However, that smart-ass remark has made my Williams card one of the most popular among my custom creations. What do you think?

When I do reprint the card, I'm going to lighten up the player photo a bit, since my Photoshop technique has improved some since I created the initial version. The photo I used came from the back of a "real" Ricky Williams football card from one of the major manufacturers.

Back in 2004 I was working the SCD booth at the George Johnson autumn card show in Chicago when a youngster of 7-8 years of age stopped by the booth. He was wearing a replica Ricky Williams Dolphins jersey. I asked him if he was still a Ricky Williams fan. He said he was, so I gave him one of my cards. I told him he was the only other person in the world to have that card, and he seemed truly appreciative.

My one-year anniversary

I see that it has been just over a year since I began this blog.

This will be my 174th post, aeraging about one new entry every other day.

I had no idea what kind of readership to expect. My view counter shows nearly 12,000 visits since inception, an average of more than 32 per day.

Recent months have seen me slow down a bit in my postings, but I've still got a lot to share, so I expect to continue into the forseeable future.

Thanks for your interest, the kind words and the participation via the comments section. Speaking of which, just about every time I post a new entry, I get a resuest to comment from some entity that consists of a lengthy paragraph of, I believe, Japanese typography. I clicked on it once, and got directed to a page offering Asian pornography. That's why I preview all comments before allowing them to be posted.

Collecting as an investment, circa 1971

As I've mentioned here in the past, as part of my quest for player photos to make some of my custom college football cards I buy the annual Pigskin Preview issues of Playboy magazines from the 1960s and 1970s.

While I didn't find any player pix I have an immediate use for in the Sept., 1971, Playboy, I did find a lengthy article that might be of interest to today's collectors. The article dealt with collecting as an investment. The traditional "mature" collectible fields were covered: stamps, coins, furniture, art, silver, etc. While baseball cards were mentioned, it was exactly that, the two words "baseball cards."

What I found most interesting about the article was how timeless the advice was in terms of collecting with an eye towards future value appreciation. The article stands up well, even nearly 40 years later.

In an effort to share the article with collectors, I made a pdf and posted it on google docs. I've tried like heck to post a direct link to the article in my blog, but can't make it work. You can find the article by going to google docs and entering Playboy Collector article001.pdf in the search box., or you can paste this address into your browser:
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8UTLzJhXU0fZThiMGI0NTktMTM1Zi00ODM1LWEwMWMtNDVlMWZkMGM1ZmE4&hl=en

It would be an interesting exercise to scour the article for specific mentions of various collectibles and their prices in 1971, and see how they've done since.

Staubach was my first non-1955 custom card

Once I had created a few 1955 Topps-style All-American football cards some years back, I naturally began to wonder whether I had the chops to break out of that format and work in a different genre.

My first experiment was the cr4eation of a 1952 Bowman-style card. I was only a year old when the '52B cards were issued, but as a youngster as I inherited shoebox hoards from older kids and traded with others in the neighbordhood, more than a few 1952 Bowman football made their way into my holdings. Those artwork cards have always appealed to me because of the set's mix of college and NFL players, as well as the varied backgrounds behind the player art . . . some were representations of football fields and lockerrooms, some were merely color abstractions.

In contemplating the checklist for my own football card creations, I knew that any college set of mine would need a Roger Staubach card. While photos of Staubach as a Navy quarterback are available, I've always had a special attraction to the artwork portrait that appeared on the cover of Time magazine's Oct. 18, 1963, edition. (Coincidentally, an action color photo of Staubach was scheduled to appear on the cover of Life magazine's Nov. 29, 1963, issue, but was pulled following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Only a few copies of the Staubach-cover issue are known . . . it would also make a good football card.)

After deciding to do my Staubach in the 1952 Bowman style, I scoured eBay and found a copy for about $15. My next decision was whether to do my card in the large or the small size in which Bowman made its football set in 1952. I chose the large (2-1/2" x 3-3/4") size because not only did it offer a larger display for my creation, but as a kid I do not remember ever owning of the '52B in the smaller (2-1/8" x 3-1/8") format.

I thought putting the Time portrait art on a card would be an easy job, but the proportions didn't exactly translate between the two formats. To give myself enough room to display the name banner and the Navy logo without obscuring some of what I felt were themore important details of the portrait, I had to add a litle bit to the length of the picture. I was still rather new to Photoshop Elements at the time, so I'm sure I made the job more complicated than necessary, but by judicious application of the graphic program's pattern function, I was able to add a little bit of wrist, jersey and jersey number to the portrait and create what I think is a pleasing arrangement of the design elements.

For the background of my card (on the magazine cover Staubach appears against a light blue sky), I used that which had appeared on the 1952 Bowman George Halas card.

Another difference I quickly discovered between making a 1955 Topps-style card and a 1952 Bowman-style is that the latter offered much for room for a biographical summary, so I was able to tell much more of Staubach's story.

Over the years I've createrd a handful of other Bowman artwork-style football cards, including two different versions of a Brett Favre, which I'll share here some day.