Second 1952 Indians Picture Pack reported

I know it seems like we've been seeing more Indians than Custer, but I really don't mind. I wish we had as many dedicated vintage team specialists for the other teams as we do for Cleveland. These reports expertly expand the scope of our coverage of team-issued collectibles that we can share with the rest of the hobby in the pages of the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards, and possibly some day, in other, even more comprehensive, venues.

The most recent addition to the body of knowledge again comes from Chuck Lobenthal, who presents the straight scoop on two different 1952 Cleveland Indians picture packs. Why the team chose to produce two distinctly different photo packs in some years during the 1950s is a mystery to me. And, because the pictures from each version are sometimes the same, or nearly so, this has created collector confusion over the years. And that's aside from the confusion that results when pictures from packs issued in different years are found accumulated together.

The two 1952 photo packs are slightly different in format, and Chuck has labeled them, in true hobby tradition, as Fine Pen and Wide Pen, because the principal difference between the two sets of photos is the thickness of the facsimile autographs.

The first set, which Chuck calls the Fine Pen set was issued in a red-and-white envelope labeled Cleveland Indians 1952 Autographed Photos. These pictures are 6-1/2" x 9," blank-backed. The checklist provided by Chuck is:

(1) Bob Avila

(2) Ray Boone

(3) Lou Brissie

(4) Bob Chakales

(5) Merrill (2 L's in first name) Combs

(6) Larry Doby

(7) Luke Easter

(8) Bob Feller

(9) Jim Fridley

(10) Mike Garcia

(11) Steve Gromek

(12) Mickey Harris

(13) Jim Hegan

(14) Bob Kennedy

(15) Bob Lemon

(16) Al Lopez

(17) Dale Mitchell

(18) Pete Reiser

(19) Al "Flip" Rosen

(20) Dick Rozek

(21) Harry Simpson

(22) George Strinweiss

(23) Birdie Tebbetts (2 t's in last name)

(24) Early Wynn

(25) George Zuvernick

The second set, the Wide Pen issue, came in a red, white and blue envelope titled Cleveland Indians 1952 Photos. These pictures are somewhat smaller than the Fine Pens; they measure 6" x 8 3/4".

The checklist for the Wide Pens is:

(1) Bob Avila

(2) Johnny Berardino

(3) Ray Boone

(4) Lou Brissie

(5) Merril (1 L in 1st name) Combs

(6) Larry Doby

(7) Luke Easter

(8) Bob Feller

(9) Jim Fridley

(10) Mike Garcia

(11) Steve Gromek

(12) Mickey Harris

(13) Jim Hegan

(14) Sam Jones

(15) Bob Lemon

(16) Barney McCoskey

(17) Dale Mitchell

(18) Pete Reiser

(19) Al Rosen

(20) Dick Rozek

(21) Harry Simpson

(22) Birdie Tebbets (1 t in last name)

(23) Joe Tipton

(24) Early Wynn

Chuck found three players with the same picture but different facsimile autographs: Combs, Reiser and Rosen. All the others have different poses for each player in each pack. Also, as you can see, each pack has some different players.

The appearance of Joe Tipton in the Wide Pen set indicates it was produced later in the season, as he was not on the roster until June 23, when he was claimed off waivers from the Philadelphia A's.

Regardless of relative scarcity of the two sets, there is probably little practical difference in the market value of the two versions. Each should be about $150 in Near Mint condition, half that for Excellent and $45 or so in VG.

Bill Veeck playing with baseball cards

In recent months there have been thousands of vintage newspaper photos and negatives offered on eBay from a variety of sources. One of those that recently caught my attention was this 1959 photo of Chicago White Sox owner Bill Veeck displaying a handful of contemporary Topps baseball cards.

The image was offered as an original 4" x 5" black-and-white negative, and I was able to buy it very reasonably.

The photo was taken June 4, 1959, when Veeck was the guest speaker at the Headline Club dinner in Chicago's Sheraton Hotel. The caption indicated Veeck had pulled out from a group of "baseball playing cards" the card of Early Wynn, who was to pitch the next day's game.

Chicago's headline club provides support and networking for area journalists, reporters, editors, photographers, news executives, educators and students.

Wynn did, indeed, start the June 5 game against the Red Sox. He pitched seven innings, giving up six hits (including a home run to Frank Malzone), two runs, six walks and striking out five. After facing three Boston batters in the eighth with the score tied 2-2, Wynn was relieved by Gerry Staley, who got the win when Chicago scored three in the bottom of the eighth.

Besides Wynn's card, among the two dozen or 30 cards that Veeck is holding, all appear to be in the card number range of 205-278. Other players that are identifiable are Don Larsen, Chuck Essegian, Orlando Pena, Ron Kline, Carl Furillo and Ellis Burton.

That's about all there is to say about this great vintage baseball card photo; I just wanted to share it with you.

Who was Jimmy Wyatt, and why . . . ?

A reader recently brought to my attention an interesting baseball card because he had been unable to find it listed in the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards, or anywhere else.

The card purports to be a 1956 Remar Bread regional of Oakland Oaks catcher Jimmy Wyatt, and is autographed "Jim Wyatt" at top on front.

Nothing unusual at first glance, except that conventional hobby wisdom is that Remar stopped issuing baseball cards in 1950. The Bay Area bakery had previously issued team sets of Pacific Coast League Oakland Oaks in 1946, 1947, 1949 and 1950, and team-photo cards in 1945 and 1948.

Collector Jeff Legendre had initially sent scans of his mystery card and later agreed to send me the card itself for examination.

I'm stumped.

While visually similar to the Remar Oaks player cards, there are significant differences with his Wyatt card. The 1946-1950 Remar cards measure 2" x 3", printed on thin cardboard in black-and-white on front and in red (1946) or blue (1947, 1949, 1950) on back.

Jeff's card is 2-5/16" x 3-5/16" and is black-and-white both front and back.

The back of the Wyatt card follows closely the format of the 1950 Remar set. There are player stats at top, and ads at the bottom for Sunbeam Bread and for radio and television stations that broadcast Oaks games.

On the back of the card in question, the lower portion appears to have been photographically copied from a genuine 1950 Remar, with subsequent loss of some fine details, while the stats at top vary subtly in typography and punctuation from a 1950 card, such as using a "0" instead of a long dash. That's not to say that if Remar had decided in 1956 to resurrect its baseball card program that such minor differences would not have resulted.

But it is unlikely that Remar would have issued Oaks cards in 1956, because Oakland did not field a team in the Pacific Coast League -- or anywhere else in Organized Baseball -- in 1956. In fact, professional baseball did not return to Oakland until 1968, the American League A's came to town.

And Jimmy Wyatt?

More than cursory searching on the internet failed to turn up anybody by that name who was associated with the 1955 Oaks. Neither was there a Jimmy/Jim/James Wyatt of that age playing anywhere else in the minors that season.

Yet, there on the front of the card is a photo -- visually consistent with those found on other years of Remar cards -- of a player identified as Jimmy Wyatt. It appears as if the printing plate for the cardwas not created from a pristine copy of this photo, however, as what looks like a major crease in the upper-left corner, and some black spots and streaks to the right of the player's head were likely present on the original photo.

While all of this could have been determined from the scans that Jeff sent, I wanted to examine the card in-hand to look at the paper and printing. Doing so compounds the mystery. The thin cardboard stock on which the card was printed displays exactly the type of aging that one would expect in a 55-year-old baseball card. The overall white borders and background have mellowed to a cream tone, with slightly darker edges. Those edges, and the corners exhibit the kind of light handling that would also be consistent with a mid-1950s card.

Examination of the printing under magnification shows that the Wyatt card was printed by offset technology current half a century ago. It is clearly not something that was computer-generated in the recent past.

So, what do we have here? Darned if I know. My best guess is that the person identified on the card as Jimmy Wyatt had some sort of connection to the Oaks at one time, though clearly not as a player. (In fact, the stats on back, purporting to be from the 1955 PCL season, don't add up. If a player has 46 hits in 124 at-bats, his batting average is .371, not .238 as shown on the card.)

I'd guess this card was a fantasy or custom card created by Wyatt or a friend or family member as a tribute to whatever his connection had been with the team. If so, the creator has my admiration. As a custom card maker myself, I can appreciate how difficult it would have been to create such a card in pre-computer days. This card was likely printed more than 25 years ago, and I could be persuaded that it was indeed a late-1950s product.

If you can shed any light on this mystery card, or this particular Jimmy Wyatt, please post a comment or drop me an email at scbcguy@yahoo.com.

1961 Topps Jim Golden: Error or variation?

As mentioned last time, we're going to take a look at a little-known error/variation card from the 1961 Topps baseball set.

The usually encountered version of Dodger pitcher Jim Golden's card in that set has on back the card number 298.

One of the hobby's veteran vintage card collectors, John Rumierz, is credited with discovering a rare error/variation of that card on which the card number appears to be 293. John says he discovered three examples of this error more than 30 years ago. He has retained two, and one was traded to Larry Fritsch in some long-forgotten transaction.

I remember Larry showing me this error/variation more than 25 years ago. As far as I know, he never found another example among the dozens or hundreds of 1961 Jim Golden cards that passed through is inventory.

While I can't recall definitely, I seem to remember that at some point in the distant past, we ran an article on this anamoly in SCD, seeking reader input as to the existence of further specimens. None were forthcoming. It's possible, though not likely, that Rumierz' three cards are the only ones that have ever been identified.

His reason for reopening an inquiry about this card was his desire to have it authenticated by PSA. That grading company is loathe to authenticate/grade any card that is not listed in one of the major baseball card catalogs, and to date, the Golden has remained uncataloged.

I don't know if that will change, because the #293 Golden is a printing mistake, rather than a true variation. At some point in the printing process, perhaps right at the stage at which the back printing plate was being made, a stray foreign object appears to have obscured part of the "8" digit in the card number, giving it the appearance of a "3".

It takes a sharp eye and probably a lot of experience poring over 1961 Topps card numbers to discern the difference in the "3" on the back of the Golden error and the typical digit found on Topps cards that year. For illustrative purposes, I've digitally enhanced the numerals from a normal card and from the error Golden.

On the typical 3, the ends of the top and bottom arms at left are truncated flatly horizontal. On the broken 8 from the Golden card, the ends of those arms are angled, and the bottom arm appears to have an "ear" at the left tip. Note also that the center bar of the regular 3 extends to the left almost as far as the right end of the top and bottom arms. On the error Golden cards, the center bar is just a nub.

Frankly, I'm not inclined to list this error/variation in the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards. In recent years, due to the information explosion made possible by the internet, the ease of scanning images, and the creation of large and active on-line sales and trading sites, the number of reports of vintage cards exhibiting visual variations has grown exponentially.

The vast, vast majority of those cards are the result of unintended mishaps in the printing process, rather than variations that were created by intentional changes made in the design, paste-up or printing stages.

While there are avid collectors of every cards that has a gap in a black photo frame, stray blobs of ink or areas of missing color, to attempt to legitimize all of them by cataloging them seems impossible. Many of these printing flaws show up in various stages on different cards and could require multiple listings on a checklist to describe each. Again, with the revolution in computer-assisted publishing bringing costs down, a catalog of even the most minute error cards is not out of the realm of technical possibility, although given the limited number of collectors that care about such things, such a catalog would never be commercially feasible as an ink-on-paper product.

It can certainly be argued that some of the most valuable post-war baseball cards are printing errors not unlike the #293 Golden. These include the 1957 Gene Bakep, the 1958 Pancho Herrer and the 1990 no-name Frank Thomas. These cards are from several hundred to many thousands of dollars. It is largely because these cards have attained such demand and value in the hobby market that they are included in the SCBC. If any of these had not been discovered until recently, it's doubtful they would have been cataloged. In fact, recent research by dedicated error collectors has shown that the same printing mishap that created the no-name Thomas card also affected a dozen or so other cards on that press sheet, though much less visually arresting and none on an iconic rookie card of a future Hall of Famer.

I'd be interested to see your comments about the #293 Jim Golden, and whether your own collection harbors an example. If a sufficient market for the card was to develop, the issue of its inclusion in the Standard Catalog would be revisited. But that's kind of a Catch-22. The major grading companies will not sanctify the card unless it is listed, and many collectors will not pursue it unless the grading companies will slab it.

Clearing up 1960 Topps proof confusion

I no longer have a shelf full of back editions of the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards, so I don't know how long the book has carried the listings for the 1960 Topps proofs, nor how long that listing has incorrectly referenced one of the cards.

Recent editions of the catalog show three 1960 Topps proofs, one of which is listed as "(Existence not confirmed.)". The proofs differ from the regularly issued versions of the same players' cards principally in the team logos that appear in the lower-left corners on front.

The proof card that the Standard Catalog has promulgated misinformation lo these many years is that of Faye Throneberry. The books lists under 1960 Topps Proofs card #436 Marv Throneberry, and lists its existence as unconfirmed.

Thanks to a report by veteran vintage card specialist John Rumierz we now have the real story. John obtained examples of each of the three proofs many years ago from former Topps employee Bill Haber. Actually, John calls these cards "team variations," and he has a legitimate point. Most of what the hobby identifies as proof cards are unfinished in some way, usually blank-backed. The three First Series 1960 Topps rarities are fully printed both front and back.

Let's examine each.

Card number #9, Faye Throneberry, in the commonly encountered issued version, pictures him in a Senators uniform, lists his team on front and back as the Washington Senators and has a Senators logo on front. The proof/variation version differs only in that the team logo at bottom-left is that of the N.Y. Yankees.

Unlike the players on the other two proofs/variations, Faye Throneberry was not involved in a pre-1960 season trade that necessitated reworking his Topps card. Throneberry, in fact, never played for the Yankees. He was with the Senators from mid-1957 through the 1960 season.

It is likely the appearance of a Yankees logo on the front of the proof/variation card is the result of somebody at Topps mixing Faye up with his brother, Marv. I can't fault them for that, since we did the same thing in the SCBC. Marv Throneberry was involved in the multi-played deal on Dec. 11, 1959, that sent Roger Maris, Kent Hadley and Joe DeMaestri from the K.C. A's to the N.Y. Yankess for Marv Throneberry, Don Larsen, Hank Bauer and Norm Siebern. I'm still unsure exactly how that factored into Topps putting a Yankees logo on the first version of Faye Throneberry's card, but that's what happened.

Another of the players involved in that trade also has 1960 team variation cards. Kent Hadley's card, #102, was initially printed with his photos in A's uniform, his team listed as New York Yankees and an A's logo. The only change made on the "regular" version of the card was the substitution of a Yankees logo on front. Hadley's proof/variation is the only one of the trio that has been publically sold in recent memory. In Nov., 1999, a NM example sold for $13,500.

The third card in this group was the most extensively changed. As initially printed, card #58 had Gino Cimoli pictured as a St. Louis Cardinal, listed his team that way on both front and back, and had a Cardinals logo on front.

Cimoli was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Dec. 21, 1959, prompting Topps to halt the presses and rework Cimoli's card. While Cimoli is still pictured with the Cardinals on the regularly issued card, his team designation has been changed on front and back to "Pittsburgh Pirates," the logo on front was changed to the Pirates, and the trade was noted among the bullet points on the back.

You know, after working through all this, I'm not sure that the catalog listing for these three cards as "Proofs" shouldn't be deleted and the three cards added to the main checklist as variations. What do you think?

The number of extant specimens of the proof cards is unknown. My best guess would be that there are fewer than five of each, it could be as few as two or three.

In his recent correspondence, John raised the subject of another rare 1960s "variation" that is worthy of presentation. We'll look at that next time out.

Crossing Bleier off my "wish list"

In my Sept. 1 posting about how I got into creating custom 1955 Topps All-American style football cards, I published a "wish list" of former college players that I would like to include in my on-going update set.

Quick to respon was Indiana collector Harold Dieter, who sent me a card of Rocky Bleier in his Notre Dame uniform. The card originated in one of the early 1990s Collegiate Collection team sets of former Fighting Irisher players.

The portrait on the card was just what I needed to create my Rocky Bleier tribute card, and just a couple of weeks later, it was finished and I was sending a couple of the cards off to Harold. Now I'm sharing it with you.

Why Rocky Bleier? Primarily because he is virtually a local boy. Bleier was born and raised in Appleton, Wis., about 45 minutes east of my locale here in Iola. He is probably the most famous and accomplished football player native to Wisconsin; certainly in this part of the state.

Bleier attended St. Francis Xavier High School in Appleton. On the varisty football team from 1961-1963, his teams were 9-0 each season. He was All-State running back three times and All-Conference as a linebacker one season and defensive back another. In three seasons he amassed 2,985 rushing yards, 55 touchdowns and a 9.4 yard average. His uniform #23 is the only one retired by the Hawks, which named their football field for him.

While many schools felt that Bleier was too small (5'10", 175 lbs.) for big-time college football, Notre Dame's new coach Ara Parseghian was willing to give him a chance. and Bleier became a major contributor at starting halfback to the Irish's National Championship team in 1966. He was named captain of the 1967 team.

The Pittsburgh Steelers chose Bleier in the 1968 NFL draft, but not until the 16th round. He was the 417th player selected. Bleier had a decent rookie season with the Steelers, playing in 10 games. Then he was drafted again -- into the U.S. Army at the height of the Vietname War.

On Aug. 20, 1969, Bleier's unit was ambushed and he was shot in the left thigh. As he lay wounded, a grenade landed nearby and tore up his right foot. He earned the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his combat service.

While rehabilitating form his injuries, Steelers' owner Art Rooney sent Bleier encouraging messages and told him they would support his return to the NFL, even as his doctors told him that was an unlikely outcome.

Bleier spent the 1970 season on Pittsburgh's injured reserve list, and most of 1971 on the taxi squad, though he was activated for six games without seeing any action.

In 1972, with his old college quarterback Terry Hanratty leading the Steelers offense, Bleier began to work himself into an integral part of the dynasty that won Super Bowl titles in 1974-1975 and 1978-1979. His best season was 1976 when he rushed for 1,036 yards and his combined 1,330 yards rushing and receiving were tops on the team.

Bleier retired after the 1980 season. In December of that year, his book Fighting Back was adapted for an ABC-TV Movie of the Week starring Robert Urich. (I saw a note while googling around that Urich played college football at Florida State . . . I'll have to look into that.)

So in a nutshell, local boy makes good and triumphs over adversity. That's why I had Rocky Bleier on my wish list for a custom card. As always, I've got a few extra Bleier cards available, drop me a line at scbcguy@yahoo.com if you're interested.

I received a couple of other offers to help on my wish list that seem like they will pan out. Watch this space for update.

1951 Fischers Bread label data sought

As mentioned in a previous posting, veteran collector Larry Serota is a frequent contributor both to this column and to the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards.

For years he has unselfishly shared his research and "finds" with the rest of the hobby, so when he recently asked for our help on one of his collecting projects, it was a pleasure to accomodate him.

Larry is deep into what the hiobby used to call "oddball" issues . . . collectibles that are outside the norm of bubblegum cards.

One of his on-going quests is the completion of a master set of 1951 Fischer's Bread labels. Back in the early days of sliced bread, before plastic bags and twist ties, loaves were sold in colorful waxed paper wrappers that were sealed on the ends by a square of gummed paper. These end labels were often decorated with images of baseball and football players, Hollywood celebrities, Disney characters, etc., giving them a collectible aspect that it was hoped would entice children to ask their mom to buy one brand over another.

Because these labels were theoretically capable of surviving numerous openings and closing over the life of a loaf, they are ususally found today (if they are found at all) in wretched condition. Heavy multiple creases, tears, even missing pieces are the rule, rather than exception. And even at that, the early 1950s baseball bread end labels readily sell for $100+ for even "common" players.

One of these regional issues is known within the hobby as Fischer's Bread labels, though that name does not appear anywhere on the 2-3/4" square (except for the bobbed corners) labels. The labels have a red panel at bottom with "Bread for Energy" and they carry a B.E.B. copyright.

Thirty-two players are known in the Fischer's Bread label set, but there are 48 pieces in a master set. The labels are found with backgrounds of either red, blue or yellow, but 16 of the players can be found with two different colored backgrounds.

Larry's research shows there are eight players found only on yellow backgrounds, and four each that are exclusively red or blue. Eight other players can be found on both red and blue backgrounds, and four each are known in both red and yellow or blue and yellow types.

He has identified five players each in the red and blue subsets that are candidates to also exist in yellow. He believes only one player from each list will be found in yellow. From among the red-background labels, he's looking to ascertain which of these players also exists in yellow: Harry Brecheen, Billy Goodman, Cass Michaels, Andy Pafklo or Roy Smalley. The roster of blue-background labels that should yield one yellow version is: Ned Garver, Willie Jones, Eddie Joost, Roy Sievers and Earlky Wynn.

If you can help complete this master checklist by sending a scan of one of those elusive yellow-background labels, please contact me at scbcguy@yahoo.com.