1887-1888 Scrapps Die Cuts

Issued directly after the 1887 season, this 18 card set features 9 players each from the American Association's St. Louis Browns (the modern day Cardinals) and the National League's Detroit Wolverines (a team that disbanded in 1888). These two teams met in the World Series in 1887.

The Wolverines beat the Browns 10 games to 5. The Wolverines won the series on October 21st, but since the games were already sold, the teams played the remaining four games.

St. Louis Browns
1 Doc Bushong
2 Bob Caruthers
3 Charles Comiskey
4 Dave Foutz
5 Bill Gleason
6 Arlie Latham
7 Tip O'Neill
8 Yank Robinson
9 Curt Welch

Detroit Wolverines
10 C. W. Bennett
11 Dan Brouthers
12 Fred Dunlap
13 Charlie Getzen sic (should be Getzien)
14 Ned Hanlon
15 Hardie Richardson
16 Jack Rowe
17 Sam Thompson
18 Deacon White

While there are Hall of Fame players in the set (Dan Brouthers, Sam Thompson and Ned Hanlon), the most valuable and most sought out is the Charles Comiskey. 19th century cards are usually riddled with errors and this set is no exception. Charlie Getzien's name is misspelled.

These die cut cards were popular in its day and were prime candidates to be glued into albums. It's extremely rare to run across examples of these cards today that haven't spent some time glued into an album.

What have we learned from these cards? Despite what revisionists would have you believe the World Series and die-cut cards are not inventions of the twentieth century. They've both been here all along.

Die-cuts part deux

After discussing some classic die-cuts just last week, what arrives in the mail this week but a modern take on the technology? Welcome to my collection multi-MVP and lifetime "I Had to Work for Ted Turner" award winner Dale Murphy, resplendent in 1980s blue-on-blue-on-blue. The card places him (and his 1987 Donruss All-Star Pop-ups brethren) under the Astrodome roof in Houston. He made the team despite a relative lull in production, with an OPS+ of "only" 121. (This was sandwiched between OPS+ years of over 150.)

Some think almost 400 homers, back-to-back MVPs, and six different seasons slugging over .500 make a case for the Hall of Fame. Murphy certainly scared pitchers more than most hitters in the 1980s, even given a penchant for striking out. This photo clearly happens after contact, perhaps with Dale shooting another double into the left-center gap.

As good as card photography gets these days, it was sub-par during the 1980s and well-timed shots like this were few and far between. The same company's regular issue from that year went with a is-he-hunky-or-dreamy shot and even his 1987 Diamond King looks distracted. At least the pop-up puts us into the game.

Once you punch out the card and stand Dale up, I can't help but notice the copious Astrodome advertising just past his shoulders. Around the outfield, it's the Marlboro man, Budweiser, Coke, and FirstCity Bank. OK, Coke is acceptable for kids, but ciggies and beer? Did we learn nothing from the airbrush arteests of the late 1970s? I imagine a Friday-night-working editor seeing the ads in the background, scratching the crown of his thinning scalp, and saying "screw it, it's just a gimmicky pop-up set."

Die-cuts and ducats

I love this card, #5 from the 1934-36 Batter-Up set. It shows off the die-cut process seen in several issues from the 1920s and 30s.

As you can see from the cut line, kids could fold back the top half of the card and pose them vertically. On this Batter-Up card, NY Giants legend Carl Hubbell demonstrates a Golden Age leg kick and delivery, his knuckles only a few inches clear of the mound. It's an excellent photo for the set concept and almost jumps off the card as-is.

Other die-cut set competitors, like the 1920s Major League die-cuts and (super-rare) 1934 R304s, used a one-size-fits-all-players die, but the Batter-Ups have a different silhouette for each card, an expensive process the producer hoped would stand out--or up--from the competition. (The fact they released the set over a three-year period probably reflects the costs involved.)

Our generation saw Donruss dip their toe in the water with some 1980s pop-up sets. Some years, they went out in wax packs with regular cards. Others saw them as oddly matched add-ons to their oversize Action All-Stars, arguably a gimmick themselves. Even though I keep the cards in pages like other sets, I like their physical 3-D nature and opportunity for interaction. As a kid, I arranged my cards around a diamond on the bedroom floor, the better for real-game imaginings. It would've been great to see more sets with classic players and nice composition like the Batter-Ups at the time. ("Hubbell kicks and fires! Joe Cronin swings and smokes a liner toward right field, but Gehringer reaches out to snare it! Whatta play!") I did have a Cronin card at the time--as a faceless disc in my Cadaco-Ellis All Star Baseball board game. Something that recaptured the look of the 40s or 50s era would've been cool. (OK, ASB was cool. I propose my idea as cooler.)

The Batter-Ups aren't an easy set to complete these days, both for availability and expense. At 192 cards, it's nearly the size of Goudey's signature 1933 set and produced in considerably smaller numbers. You'll spend a lot of time and money trying for all the Hall-of-Famers and high numbers. (On the plus side, no pesky Ruth or Gehrig!)

Commons missing the "stand" outline typically go for less than $10. This Hubbell, creased, digned, but otherwise intact, cost about $50. If you like the cards and are on a budget, I recommend looking for cool poses in low grades and high-contrast colors. (They printed the set in several shades and the "warm" colors look muddier than sepia or gray.) Blank backs also mean you can mount or display the cards without missing out on stats or stories. As the 1934 All-Star Game starter, ol' Carl could even be the centerpiece for a 9-man National League lineup...