Indianapolis Clowns Team Issued Postcards????

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Posted By: Paul

This postcard of Goose Tatum of the Indianapolis Clowns just arrived from Lelands. It appears to be from a set of postcards issued by the Clowns in the 40s or 50s. Can any of you confirm that this is the case? Have any of you seen any postcards from this set before? I had thought there were no card sets of Negro Leaguers with their U.S. teams. (I'm not trying to start a debate about that twice-signed real photo postcard of Josh Gibson.)

Also, if you look at the back, you'll see an offer for 8x10 photos of the Clowns' players. Have any of you seen one of those?

I'd really like to pin down the date of the postcard. Please let me know if you have any information on exactly when Tatum played for the Clowns. Thanks.

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Posted By: fkw

Didnt find any other info on the postcard, beside the printing company is still in business.

But I did find the same image on this site.
http://www.pitchblackbaseball.com/nlotmgoosetatum.html

PS. If I owned it Id call it 1946-49....... he played for the Ind. Clowns from 1946-49.

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Posted By: Brian C.

Hi, here are my two. Goose was with the team from '46-'49. Juggling Joe Taylor was a nonplaying performer with the Clowns during '48-'49, according to Alan Pollock's book on the Clowns. Taylor autographed this postcard in 1951. In the message he refers to himself as being a protoge of Ed Ellis, another African American juggler of the day. I've also seen a Toni Stone Clowns pc from the same series. I think the Hank Aaron which sold for a significant sum in Hunts was from this series, too. Best regards, Brian

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Posted By: Paul

Wow. Thank you both. I'll have to take a look at the Hank Aaron again. I thought it had a different appearance and did not have the ad on the back.

Edited to add: Here's a link to the Aaron. It does look different to me and there's no mention of the ad on the back.

http://www.huntauctions.com/online/imageviewer.cfm?auction_num=33&lot_num=792&lot_qual=