The Post War Cards Newsletter #13
Discover more from The Post War Cards Newsletter
The Post War Cards Newsletter #13
👋 Welcome to the latest issue of The Post War Cards Newsletter, the newsletter that celebrates #TheHobby.
🗓️ Every other week, I share unique content about vintage sports cards, hobby & sports history, and industry activity with collectors.
😎 Sound cool? Feed your hobby soul with issues sent directly to your inbox:
🏆 The Mayor’s Trophy Game
I run the oddball archive on my website, where I document non-mainstream sets. A cool one I wrote about a few months ago is the 1952 Brooklyn Dodgers Schedule Card set. It’s made up of only four postcards, printed before the 1952 season by the Dodgers’ ticket office to drum up interest in the games. The back of each postcard shows the 1952 Dodgers home schedule on the left-hand side.
If you look closely, and this isn’t something I covered in my set synopsis, you will see a mid-season exhibition game against the N.Y. Yankees. The thing is, there was no interleague play at the time. The game was part of something called the Mayor’s Trophy Game, which was originally between the Yankees and the Giants, but sometimes the Dodgers also participated. The series stopped after the Dodgers and Giants moved west following the 1957 season but was revived in 1963 when the Mets joined the National League.
For this July 21, 1952 game at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees won 5-3, with Mantle hitting a two-run homer in the 8th to break a 3-3 tie, after which the game was called so the Yankees could catch a train.
✍️ Great Hobby Writing
Crocodile Sports Cards: A Walk Back in Time - 1967
Nine Pockets: Two Pro Sports in One Day (Almost!)
Collectors Dashboard: Michael Jordan Rookie Cards Impact of 1984-85 Star on 1986-87 Fleer
Pre-War Cards: Meet the World’s Most Inexpensive Playing Days Cards of Honus Wagner
Beckett: One-Sheet Collections: The Tallest Players in NBA History
The Topps Archives: Get your Rah Rah’s Out
⚾️ The Big Hurt’s Big Hurt on Pitchers
Aaron Judge and Mike Trout have had some incredible statistical seasons recently, but no one has had a 7-year run like Frank Thomas had in the 1990s.
He is the only player in MLB history with seven consecutive seasons with a .300+ batting average, 100+ RBIs, 100+ runs scored, 100+ walks, and 20+ HRs. He did this between 1991 and 1997.
Frank Thomas had a lot of great cards over his career, including the infamous 1990 Topps #414 NNOF card, but my favorite from those 91-97 years is probably the 1992 Upper Deck Frank Thomas #87 White Sox Team Checklist.
By the way, I think a lot of folks overlook that Thomas was more highly regarded as a football prospect out of high school and wasn’t even selected in the 1986 amateur baseball draft. So he accepted a scholarship to play football at Auburn University!
🏈 The Flea
You should consider OPC Canadian Football League (CFL) card collecting if you want a really unique hobby journey. The CFL has a long history, with the same nine teams playing between 1958 and 1981. But a lot of those team’s histories go back even further; the Toronto Argonauts were founded in 1873, playing a modified form of Rugby. A fun fact is that the Argonauts are the oldest pro sports team in North America that is still using their original name.
And one of the best CFL cards ever made features an Argonaut. It’s Eric Allen’s 1972 OPC CFL #37 card. The pose on the front is fantastic, and his nickname, “The Flea,” is featured on the back.
In 1971, while at Michigan State, Allen set the NCAA single-game rushing record with 350 yards on 29 carries in a win over Purdue. He was a fourth-round draft pick of the Colts in 1972 but didn’t sign.
🗞️ In the News
NBC News: Digital LeBron vs. analog Mantle: Sports collectibles remain hot despite NFT boom
Sportscasting: Derek Jeter Wants to Lock Up Your Sports Trading Cards in His $9 Million Vault
BarstoolSports: We May Have A McDonald's Monopoly Game Scandal In The Sports Card Hobby
Sports Collectors Daily: Fractional Shares Platforms, Too, Have Largely Suffered in Market Downturn
MLive: Man sent to prison for selling counterfeit sports cards
World of Reel: Netflix Boards Safdies-Sandler Movie, Set Around the World of High-End Sports Card Collecting
🏅 On the PostWarCards Blog
October 17th, 2022: An Official Letter About How Many 1991 Topps Desert Shield Cards Were Made
October 18th, 2022: Mr. Mint Alan Rosen’s Find II
October 24th, 2022: A Quick Look at NFL and AFL Trading Card Rights in the Early 1960s
October 25th, 2022: 5 Things I Learned By Reading the Vintage Hockey Card and Collectible Price Guide
🥊 Rocky Balboa and Ivan Drago
The only thing that could make the 1985 Topps Rocky IV packs any better would be the inclusion of the eye of the tiger.
