Wednesday, September 16, 2009

1960 Nu-Card Baseball Hi-Lites

In 1960, Nu-Card, Inc. came up with a 72-card set of oversized cards featuring baseball highlights (Hi-Lites). The cards are 3-1/4" x 5-3/8" (postcard sized, maybe?). The fronts feature a newspaper-like layout with the card number in the upper left corner, a clipart catcher, the "Baseball Hi-Lites" text and an "EXTRA***" across the top. Under that, the place and date of the featured event, plus "Ptd. in U.S.A. (c) NCI, are listed like a newspaper date used to be:


The headlines are in red lettering with a sub-heading under it in black. There is a "representative" photo (more on THAT in a minute) that takes up the center of the card. At the bottom, in two column layout, the details of the hi-lite.

I have a Bob Feller, Rocky Colavito, the "Unassisted Triple Play" above, and an Early Wynn in my personal collection:


Now, you may notice something about the Wynn below:


The card features a write-up about Early Wynn crushing the Yankees in the 1954 season to keep them out of the pennant. The place on the paper reads "Cleveland." Early Wynn did play for the Indians in 1954. So, what's the problem? The picture is actually from Wynn's team AT THE TIME THE CARDS WERE MADE! You see, Wynn played for the White Sox in 1960, hence the "wrong" picture for the featured event!

Wait a minute! Doesn't that remind you of a recent set in which the photo on the card may or may not have had anything to do with the event on the card!? Wow, talk about going vintage!

On a more positive note, the back of each card features a trivia question. Unlike later sets that did this and made you hunt down the card with the answer, these cards actually give the answer and then refer you to the card that has more info! How nice of them.





Here is the list of cards in the set:
1 Babe Ruth Hits 3 Homers In A Series Game
2 Johnny Podres Pitching Wins Series
3 Bill Bevans Pitches No-Hitter Almost
4 Box Score Devised By Reporter
5 Johnny Vander Meer Pitches Two No Hitters
6 Indians Take Bums
7 Joe Di Maggio Comes Thru
8 Christy Mathewson Pitches Three WS Shutouts
9 Harvey Haddix Pitches 12 Perfect Innings
10 Bobby Thomson Homer Sinks Dodgers
11 Carl Hubbell Strikes Out 5 A. L. Stars
12 Pickoff Ends Series
13 Cards Take Series From Yanks
14 Dizzy And Daffy Dean Win Series
15 Mickey Owen Drops Third Strike
16 Babe Ruth Calls Shot
17 Fred Merkle Pulls Boner
18 Don Larsen Hurls Perfect W. S. Game
19 Mickey Cochrane Bean Ball Ends Career
20 Ernie Banks Belts 47 Homers Earns MVP
21 Stan Musial Hits 5 Homers in One Day
22 Mickey Mantle Hits Longest Homer
23 Roy Sievers Captures Home Run Title
24 Lou Gehrig2130 Consecutive Game Record Ends
25 Red Schoendienst Key Player Braves Pennant
26 Midget Pinch-Hits For St. Louis
27 Willie Mays Makes Greatest Catch
28 Yogi Berra Homer Puts Yanks In 1st
29 Roy Campanella NL MVP
30 Bob Turley Hurls Yankees To WS Champions
31 Dodgers Take Series From Sox in Six
32 Carl Furillo Hero as Dodgers Beat Chicagoin 3rd
33 Joe Adcock Gets 4 Homers And A Double
34 Bill Dickey Chosen All-Star Catcher
35 Lew Burdette Beats Yanks In Three World Series G
36 Umpires Clear White Sox Bench
37 Pee Wee Reese
38 Joe Di Maggio Hits In 56 Straight
39 Ted Williams Hits .406 For Season
40 Walter Johnson Pitches 56 Straight
41 Gil Hodges Hits 4 Home Runs In Nite Game
42 Hank Greenberg Returns to Tigers From Army
43 Ty Cobb Named Best Player Of All Time
44 Robin Roberts Wins 28 Games
45 Phil Rizzuto Two Runs Save 1st Place
46 Tigers Beat Out Senators For Pennant
47 Babe Ruth Hits 60th Home Run
48 Cy Young Honored
49 Harmon Killebrew Starts Spring Training
50 Mickey Mantle Hits Longest Homerat Stadium
51 Braves Take Pennant
52 Ted Williams Hero Of All-Star Game
53 Jackie Robinson Saves Dodgers For Play-off Serie
54 Fred Snodgrass Muffs Fly
55 Duke Snider Belts 2 Homers Ties Record
56 Giants Win 26 Straight
57 Ted Kluszewski Stars In 1st Series Win
58 Mel Ott Walks 5 Times In Single Game
59 Harvey Kuenn Takes A. L. Batting Title
60 Bob Feller Hurls 3rd No-Hitter of Career
61 Yankees Champs Again
62 Hank Aaron Bat Beats Yankees In Series
63 Warren Spahn Beats Yanks in W. S.
64 Ump's Wrong Call Helps Dodgers Beat Yanks
65 Al Kaline Hits 3 Homers Two In Same Inning
66 Bob Allison Named AL ROY
67 Willie McCovey Blasts Way Into Giant Lineup
68 Rocky Colavito Hits 4 Homers in One Game
69 Carl Erskine Sets Strike Out Recordin World Ser
70 Sal Maglie Pitches No-Hit Game
71 Early Wynn Victory Crushes Yanks
72 Nellie Fox AL MVP

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