"Missing" 1954 Burger Beer photos found

In recent weeks we've devoted a lot of attention in this space to 1950s-1960s collectibles of the Cleveland Indians. Now I want to turn your attention to Southern Ohio, and the Cincinnati Reds.

In that same era, Reds fans and collectors were blessed with at least as large and wide a selection of team-issued and sponsored collectibles as the Indians fans. In the same way, this wealth of goodies has translated to a large and fanatical collector following today.

That made it all the more curious that until now, the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards' listings of Burger Beer premium player photos included an issue pegged to 1952-1953, a 1955 issue, 1956-1957 and 1958-1959 sets and a catchall 1960-1964 compendium. But there was nothing for 1954.

That has changed. An issue that can be reliably pinpoined to 1954 has been reported and is being debuted here.

In the course of my cataloging work over the years I have worked with several dedicated Reds' specialists on building and updating checklists for the Burger Beer premium pictures. Names that come to mind as especially helpful in that work are Len Samworth, Moe Ryan, Bob Montgomery and Mark Reed. The latter pair have been instrumental in allowing us to finally postulate a checklist for 1954 Burger Beer premium pictures.

Burger Beer was one of the Reds' staunch supporters and (presumably) stadium concessionaires in the 1950s and 1960s. In that period they produced several distinctive styles of Reds' player pictures, though the manner of distribution is unknown . . . at least to me. The pictures may have been given as point-of-purchase handouts, or possibly used to satisfy fan requests for a favorite player's picture.

The Burger Beer premiums are all similar in format. They vary a bit in size, but all have portraits or posed action black-and-white photos on front, surrounded by fairly wide white borders. In the bottom border are some combination of player name (sometimes first and last, sometimes only last name), position, team name and team logo. Backs are generally blank, except for a few issues that have a short advertising message at the bottom.

Dating of the Burger Beer pictures is problematic and in the SCBC, they have been assigned to their various "sets" rather arbitrarily, generally based on shared photo characteristics and the uniform worn by the player, even when the players depicted might not have been on the Reds' roster in a given year. To me, these anomalies suggest that more than one style of picture may have been produced in any given season. Some players, in fact, are shown in the same pictures in different years, sometimes with minor cropping variations.

Here's a summary of what the Standard Catalog shows for these premiums:

1952-1953: 8" x 10-1/2". The REDS-within-C logo appears at bottom, with the player name and, usually, but not always, his position printed to the right of the logo in all-caps. Backs are blank. The current checklist stands at 12.

1955: 8" x 10". The Mr. Red logo appears in each bottom corner at bottom. The player's first/last name, position and, sometimes but not always, team name appear in all-caps in two or three lines. Backs are blank. The checklist in the 2011 catalog stood at 13, but we have been able to add a fair number to that, and will present an update in our next presentation.

1956-1957: 8-1/2" x 11". The only printing in the front bottom border is the player name in all-caps. On back, for the first time, the sponsor is identified in a line of type at bottom that reads: "COURTESY OF BURGER -- A FINER BEER YEAR AFTER YEAR". The checklist now stands at 27, with several players existing in more than one pose. The existence of this ad line raises the possibility that the issues long catalog as 1952-1953, 1955 and 1960-64 may not actually have any connection with Burger Beer, though they are accepted as such by collectors based on their similarity to the issues that bear the ad slogans.

1958-1959: 8-1/2" x 11". Again in this series, variations in poses are known, with the current checklist identifying 17 pictures of 13 players. Player name, sometimes only the surname, appears on front in bold capital letters. On back, at bottom, is a new slogan in two lines, "COURTESY OF SPARKLE * BREWED BURGER BEER / HAVE FUN -- HAVE A BURGER.

1960-1964: 8-1/2" x 11". These premiums are grouped together on the basis of format alone. All have two lines of type on front, presenting the player name and team. Backs are blank. Many of the players are found in more than one pose, some in as many as six. Backs are, once again, blank. Some specialty collectors have proposed breaking this "set" down into its component parts based on player selection and uniform shown. That may be feasible in the future, but the likely reuse of photos from one year ot the next would make it a complicated undertaking. The checklist now stands at 57 player/pose combinations.

To these issues, we expect to add in the 2012 book a listing for 1954 Burger Beer premiums. This issue of 8-1/2" x 11" pictures can be distinguished by the appearance, on either front or back, of the advertising message, "Courtesy of Burger Brewing Co."

Players are identified only by name, in heavy upper- and lower-case typography. Thus far my contributors have pieced together a checklist of nine players and personnel. They are: Bobby Adams, Fred Baczewski, Dick Bartell (coach), Bob Borkowski, Jim Greengrass, Charley Harmon, Waite Hoyt (announcer), Andy Serminick and Birdie Tebbetts (manager). It is likely further pictures from this issue will be reported.

The continuing expansion of the Burger Beer checklists can be lain not only to the dedication of the Reds' collectors, but also to the easy exchange of information and, especially, images via the internet. While I expect that we'll continue to see new pictures added to the lists each year, the hobbyists' embrasure of emerging technology continues to bring us all closer to the ultimate goal of finalized checklists for these great old collectibles.

Your own reports of additions to any of the Burger Beer checklists are encouraged, providing you can verify them with scans or photocopies.

My 1977 Topps-style Namath Rams custom card

My latest custom football card creation is a bit out of my normal range.

For one thing, it's not a college football card; for another it's in a 1970s format.

As a kid, the last football cards I purchased on any kind of a regular basis were the 1960 Topps and the 1961 Fleer. By the 1970s I wasn't following football and I wasn't collecting cards.

Thus, it has been a fairly recent revelation for me that Topps cards in the 1970s didn't include team logos or identifiable helmet designs because Fleer had the exclusive with the NFL for those elements. I also didn't realize that Topps evidently had contracts with individual players, and that throughout the Seventies, some of the bigger name stars do not appear in some years.

The smaller number of cards in a football set in that era, and the need to have players represented from every team meant that each year Topps had to omit some players, especially rookies, who went on to Hall of Fame careers. In a few cases, though, it appears other factors -- probably player demands for higher royalties, kept some players off Topps cards. Lynn Swann, for instance, appeared on Topps cards in 1975-77, but never again, though he played through 1982. And Earl Campbell, who had a Rookie Card in 1979 Topps, never appeared on another Topps card through the end of his playing days in 1985.

The biggest star of the era, Joe Namath, did not appear on a Topps card after 1973. That prevented a card from picturing Namath with the L.A. Rams, to whom he gravitated for the 1977 season. Literally on his last legs by 1977, Namath was waived by the Jets and signed as a free agent by the Rams. The principal reason he cleared waivers is that any team picking him off the wire would be stuck with a $550,000 guaranteed contract.

I have always been a Namath fan; principally because it cheesed off my old man.

So, when I discovered there are some really nice Namath-as-a-Ram photos available, I decided to make a card "that might have been."

My initial quandry was whether to do a 1977 or a 1978 style card. A 1978 would have been cool because the stats on back would have represented his final career numbers. In the end, I chose the 1977 because I liked the format better.

The second big question was whether to honor Topps' handicap of not being able to picture uniform logos. After seeing a couple of '77 Rams cards on which Topps had airbrushed the "horns" off the helmet, I decided not to do so on my card.

I think I made the right choice.

I'm still sitting on a nice photo of Namath in a Rams jersey without a helmet. That would allow me to make a more accurate 1978 career-summary card, but I just don't have the burning desire to do so while I have so many other custom card projects to do.

As usual, I have a few extra of my '77 Namath cards available at $7.50 each, postpaid, email me at scbcguy@yahoo.com if you're interested.

Still more Indians . . . 1952 Fleet-Wing Gasoline

The Cleveland Indians were riding high in the American League between their World Series win in 1948 and their capture of the 1954 American League pennant.

Team-specialist collectors 60 years later are enjoying the fruits of the Tribe's popularity with its fans, as all manner of team-issued and sponsored player collectibles were forthcoming in that era.

That's not to say, though, that the embarassment of riches in the form of player photo collectibles is not without its challenges.

The fact that so many of these collectible series are in similar formats and often share the same player images has the potential to confound today's collector who is faced with a stray photo or a small group.

That's probably the reason that a 1952 issue by a Northern Ohio gas station chain has thus far escaped the notice of catalogers. Who knows how many of these Indians premium pictures reside in collections today, misidentified as team-issued picture pack photos.

In reality, there is not much to distinguish the 1952 Fleet-Wing player photos from contemporary picture pack fare. The pictures are a mix of portraits and posed action shots, bordered in white, bearing either a black or white facsimile autograph. According to Indians specialist Chuck Lobenthal, who provided the data and images for this listing, the pictures from the gas station promotion are the same as those found on the 1952 Num Num potato chips, though the Fleet-Wings are larger, at 6" x 9," and have the facsimile signatures.

Chuck says the principal feature differentiating the Fleet-Wing photos from the 1952 "Fine Pen picture pack issue is their size (the photo pack pictures are 1/2" wider, at 6-1/2"). and the heavier paper stock on which the Fleet-Wings are printed.

You can see the potential for confusion.

The album that was issued to house the Fleet-Wing pictures is actually somewhat smaller, at approximately 5-7/8" x 8-3/4". The horizontal format album has 32 pages. The inside front cover has the Indians home and away schedules. This is followed by five pages of information about the team and Fleet-Wing. There are then eight pages of player biographies, with instructions to scotch tape the pictures to the top of the page, presumably so that the photo can be lifted to read that player's comprehensive stats and analysis.

At the center of the album are eight pages of scorecards, then another eight pages for player pictures.

Chuck also has an 8-1/2" x 5-1/2" sheet that appears to have been a point-of-purchase window or counter display that explains how to obtain the album and pictures. One picture was given for each $1 purchase made at the gas station.

To assist collectors in correctly identifying 1952 Fleet-Wing premiums, we'll checklist them not only by player name, but also include the pose and the color of the facsimile signature.

Player Pose/Autograph

(1) Bob Avila Fielding, white

(2) Ray Boone Hands on knees, black

(3) Lou Brissie Pitching follow-through, black

(4) Larry Doby Fielding, black

(5) Luke Easter Kneeling w/bat, white

(6) Bob Feller Portrait, black

(7) Mike Garcia Pitching follow-through, white

(8) Jim Hegan Ready to throw, white

(9) Bob Kennedy Portrait, black

(10) Bob Lemon Portrait, black

(11) Al Lopez Portrait, black

(12) Dale Mitchell Portrait, black

(13) Al Rosen Batting, white

(14) Harry Simpson Batting, black

(15) Birdie Tebbetts Portrait, black

(16) Early Wynn Pitching, white

Conventional hobby wisdom would dictate that a gas station premium would carry a significantly higher market value than a team-issued or picture pack photo. However, the ease with which the Fleet-Wing pictures could be misidentified may mitigate against their achieving that sort of advantage.

1980(?) Union Novelty N.Y. Yankees

A collectors' issue that has heretofore remained uncataloged but that is found regularly on eBay and at card shows purports to have been issued by Union Novelty Co., Los Angeles.

The set features frequently-seen images of Yankees greats in a 3-1/2” x 5-1/2” black-and-white format. There is no indication of issue date. The cards may have been produced anytime between about 1980, when collectors' issues began to proliferate within the hobby, and 1995. The latter date was the year of Mickey Mantle's death, and authnticated examples of the cards bearing Mantle's autograph are known.

The cards were produced in two styles. One version has printing on front with the player name(s), references to the team and a card number from within a series of 20. Backs of this type are identical, describing the card as “one in a collection of nostalgic prints of famous athletes.” The second type has nothing on front except the player photo with a white border. Backs of this style are arranged as a postcard. There is no price differential between the types.

This is the checklist:

1 Mickey Mantle
2 Mickey Mantle
3 Mickey Mantle
4 Mickey Mantle
5 Mickey Mantle
6 Mickey Mantle
7 Roger Maris & Mickey Mantle
8 Mantle & Maris
9 Lou Gehrig
10 Lou Gehrig & Joe DiMaggio
11 DiMaggio and Bauer
12 Joe DiMaggio
13 Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio
14 “The Yankee Clipper” Joe DiMaggio
15 Roger Maris
16 Whitey Ford
17 Yogi Berra
18 “The Iron Horse” Lou Gehrig
19 Phil Rizzuto
20 Babe Ruth

A reasonable retail value for the set would be about $40. Single cards sell for $3-5 each.

1967 Indians Yearbook . . . Wasn't

The dean of vintage baseball card and memorabilia collectors in Maine is indisputably Bob Thing. He has been contributing bits and pieces for the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards as long as there has been a Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards.

Responding to our recent spate of Cleveland Indians collectibles reports, Bob sent a care package of information regarding a number of Indians picture packs and related items from the 1950s and 1960s. His reports are especially useful in cataloging because they are "first-hand." That is, the checklists that he provided are derived from sets that he personally ordered from the team when they were issued, and which have remained in his hands continuously.

One of the hazards of checklisting team-issued photo packs 40 or 50 or 60 years after their issue, is the possibility that photos from different years were intermingled as the sets went from the original purchaser through several later owners to today. Another complicating factor is the widespread hobby belief that some teams issued different versions of their photo packs as the season progressed to reflect roster changes as players were called up or traded. The picture pack that was sold during spring training might not have corresponded identically to that sold at World Series time.

While Bob was able to provide checklists for each Cleveland Indians picture pack from 1956-1962, and while those lists will be incorporated into the SCBC data base, that's not the focus of this presentation.

What I want to share with you here is the 1967 Cleveland Indians "Yearbook." I put the title in quotation marks because the '67 Indian yearbook wasn't what the hobby generally thinks of in regards to that term . . . an 8-1/2" x 11" stapled publication with pages of player photos and data and team information.

Rather, the 1967 Cleveland Indians Yearbook was a 7" x 9" folder that held, loose-leaf style, a set of player photos and a few other specialty pictures. Each picture was printed on heavy paper stock, about 6-3/16" x 8-11/16". Most of the player pictures were color poses, though a few were in black and white. Fronts have a white border with the player name at bottom. Backs are in black-and-white with an informal player photo, complete stats, biographical details and career highlights.

The sample back that Bob sent shows Rocky Colavito holding a hunting rifle with a taxidermy moose head in the background. That photo is so politically incorrect by today's "standards" that if it appeared today PETA would picket the Indians' ballpark and Rocky would be sent away for sensitivity training.

While we normally don't include yearbooks in the Standard Catalog, I think this merits an exception because of its loose-leaf nature. The player photos could easily become seperated from the folder and collectors might logically look for them in the "big book." Also, the nature of the loose photos makes it easy for them to be sold individually. Thus they are more like baseball cards than a yearbook.

Here's the checklist; black-and-white pictures are noted.

(1) Bob Allen

(2) Max Alvis

(3) Joe Azcue

(4) Steve Bailey

(5) Basebelles Night at the Stadium (b/w)

(6) Gary Bell

7) Richard Booker

(8) Larry Brown

(9) Rocky Colavito

(10) George Culver (b/w)

(11) Vic Davalillo

(12) Vern Fuller

(13) Gus Gil

(14) Pedro Gonzalez

(15) Steve Hargan

(16) Chuck Hinton

(17) Indians Field Leaders (George

Strickland, Del Rice, Mgr. Joe Altobelli,

Pat Mullin, Clay Bryant)

(18) Jack Kralick

(19) Lee Maye

(20) Sam McDowell

(21) John O'Donoghue

(22) Dick Radatz

(23) Vincente Romo (b/w)

(24) Chico Salmon

(25) Sonny Siebert

(26) Duke Sims

(27) Willie Smith (b/w)

(28) Luis Tiant

(29) Leon Wagner

(30) Wahoo Club (Al Rosen, Larry Brown)

(31) Fred Whitfield

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.