1980 Donruss Prototypes

Topps monopoly over baseball cards was starting to crumble by the late seventies. Donruss and Fleer were both starting to make headway into the hobby, but they would still need a court decision to turn in their favor.

In anticipation to the late 1980 court ruling, Donruss made prototypes for cards, so they weren't caught off guard by a quick decision.

Donruss created three different prototypes. One of Reggie Jackson, one of George Brett and one of a blank card.

As you can see, this design is in line with the first official baseball sets from Donruss. There are bright primary colors and lots of precise lines. Donruss took so much care in this prototype, that the pictures look better than some of the pictures actually used in the 1981 set.

In fact, Donruss liked the picture of George Brett so much that they used it on two different cards in the 1981 set. Donruss used a cropped version of Reggie Jackson's prototype picture of one of his three cards in the 1981 set.

The most amazing aspect of the 1980 Donruss prototype is how similar it appears compared to the 1980 Topps set. Both feature flags wrapped around the top and bottom of the card and a large area for a picture.

Below is an uncut sheet of all three prototypes.

1912 T215 Pirate Cigarettes

This is one of the rarest examples of a tobacco card. These cards were only issued to American and British military personnel in the South Pacific during 1912. The chances of these cards being stowed away for the trip back home are almost non-existent. Most that were stationed in the South Pacific at that time were merely looking for a smoke break and not a baseball card.

There are 97 cards in the set, but no one is known to have a complete set. The closest was a 96 card set that sold for nearly one million dollars, including the auction fees. The only card missing was Danny Murphy. This set is so rare that in many instances each card only has one known copy.

For those of you with American or British relatives that were stationed in the South Pacific in 1912, check out the items in their estate. If you find a cigarette pack that looks like this, you might have a slim chance of finding a rare card!
The cards are in a similar vein as the Red Cross backed cards, also considered a T215 set. The main difference being the large illustration of the Pirate cigarette pack on the back of the card. If you are fortunate enough to run across one of these cards, consider yourself extremely lucky.

2009 Topps Update Sketch Cards

The idea of sketch cards are a wonderful idea. I'm always for art infiltrating the hobby. Good or bad, the final result is always up to the consumer. These cards have proven very popular with the collectors that have a background in fine arts. Those who don't appreciate the skill of an artist may have a harder time liking these.

The sketches are fine. I don't expect every drawing to look exactly like the player depicted. That's part of the fun of artwork. It allows you to peer into the mind of someone else and see the world through their eyes for a moment in time. No two people see the exact same things in any scenario. That's why a jury is made up of twelve people instead of just one person.

I bought this sketch card a while back. It was listed as Jason Frasor of the Toronto Blue Jays. It looked enough like Jason Frasor to have me believe it is him, so I put in a bid and ended up winning this 1 of 1 card for around $10.

I was a bit skeptical of Jason being portrayed on a sketch card. Middle relievers aren't usually the subject of special cards. It is Toronto, where people outside of Canada have a tough time knowing exactly who is on the Blue Jays team. Jason has been a part of the bullpen for several years. It made sense.

The back of the card doesn't list a name, which was worrisome. I went to Beckett.com to upload the image. I believe that there should be a picture of every card available to the public, so I try to contribute when I can.

There was a problem. I couldn't find a listing for Jason Frasor in this sketch set on Beckett's site. I'm used to not being able to find some cards when I search, only to find them later in a different search. I tried being less specific. Nothing. I tried just looking up Jason Frasor. This card was not among the list.

Finally, I looked up the checklist from the set. There were several Blue Jays listed. I could rule out all but one. Roy Halladay. Does this card look like Roy Halladay? I'm not so sure. Did an artist submit a sketch of Jason Frasor and Topps just decided that a Caucasian Toronto Blue Jays pitcher must be Roy Halladay?

The problem comes on the back of the card. There is absolutely nothing identifying the player as Roy Halladay or Jason Frasor or anyone else for that matter. I wouldn't expect the player's name to be on the front of a card like this. The sketch work is fine, but it's troubling that I would have to search to find out who this player is and still unsure after I see the answer.

Either way, I have a nice card on my hands. I'm just undecided as whether it will be a permanent part of my collection or not. Only time will tell.

babe ruth tobacco card

my grandpa pulled out a box of very old baseball cards he gave it to me going through i found a babe ruth pinch hit tobacco card. the card shows him holding three bats and a pouch of chew with a bit of a fresh chew sample inside. he said he got it at a rummage sale for 75 cents as a kid he never paid attention to it. i read up on this in a old newspaper i guess these cards where ment for adutls but they never though to look inside to find the sample. i do know that this was a way to get product name out and good for bussiness. im sorry guys i do not know more about this card i really wish i did

1992 ProSport Peanuts Classics Series 2

As part of a "non-sport" purchase, I received this pack of cards.  At first, I thought it was a general Peanuts card set.  The more I looked at the wrapper I thought this might be worth checking out as a baseball-related item.  Randomly inserted in packs was a "Stan Musial Hologram Card."  I opened the pack immediately.

Inside, there are 10 baseball-themed Peanuts cards.  The front of each card sports either a gold or silver border and a comic frame from one of Schulz's strips.  I thought that was a pretty cool thing to do to cards in and of itself.  But, when I turned the card over:

I saw that ProSport had printed the entire strip on the back!  Not only do you get the frame on the front, but the context of the frame within the whole strip as well!  What a great idea!

Of course, I did not pull the Musial hologram, but reading through the 10 comic cards was a thrill anyway.  Aside from Bazooka Joe, I hadn't seen cards with comics on them like this.

This is a cross-blog post. Related articles appear on the following blogs:

A Pack To Be Named Later
A Pack A Day
Things Done To Cards

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.

1991 UD Comic Cards 2

Let us delve into a pack of cards I received as part of a "Non-Sport" purchase.

Taz gives Reggie a high-five.  Each card features a title ("Seventh Inning Stretch" here), the Looney Tunes and UD logos and some kind of picture.  Sometimes, the pictures are of actual people.  Other times, well, it's just looney.

Every card ties the Looney Tunes cast into a baseball-related scenario.  The backs of the cards feature trivia questions with answers.  What was the name of the LAST Bugs Bunny cartoon to be released in theaters?  No, really, without Google.  Go ahead.  Okay, fine, it was in 1964 and it was "False Hare." Happy now?

I'm not sure if you put the cards in order they would tell a story. Judging by the dialogue, I would have to guess yes.  Judging by the talking bubles, I'd have to say the writers are probably out of work these days.  Well, most folks are out of work at UD these days.

This appears to be the title card.  Reggie and Nolan are smiling all the way to the bank.  Though, I'm not sure just how many of these packs were actually sold.  You can see the "photoshop" technique employed with multiple layers, masking, and more.

Do you see that!? Dupes. In a single pack, I get dupes.  Yeesh.

"So, Nolan, you're one of the greatest pitchers ever, right?  Well, we'd like to take some pictures of you pretending to talk to Bugs Bunny.  Yes, I said Bugs Bunny. Hello?  Hello, Mr. Ryan?"

*This post appears in a three-way cross-posting between "APAD," "A Pack To Be Named Later," and "Things Done to Cards."