I used to have the exact same Nolan Ryan button. I picked the Ryan up with a Jim Palmer and two Reggie Jackson's many years ago. I can't find a scan of the Ryan that I sold but here are the Jim Palmer and one of the Jackson's. The Tarkenton football button from 1964 is also a very difficult button to find.

I do not have a photo of the other Clemente button from this series but if I remember correctly he has a yellow jersey on. If you go to the National, there are a couple of guys who have tons of Clemente items and he had both of them at his table. The one with the yellow jersey was around $200.00 (give or take) if I remember correctly.

Hi Scott,

Thank you. Any chance you could post the 2 Horlen images. I'm guessing one is the small mlbpa pin.... Thank you much.
Bob

Hi Bob,
You are correct. The second Joel Horlen pinback has the same image, but is larger and is marked Kelly's Zip.

I hope this helps.

Rob, Mike, Mark and all,

I also want to note that my pinback not only doesn't have the easel, it does not have the clear "film" over the image like Rob's Juan Marichal that has the easel (which I also own in my collection). Instead, my Ryan pinback appears to have the image directly printed on the front of the metal button, if you are following me...

It does appear that perhaps two processes were used when producing these pinback:

One which features the easel back and the clear film on the front of the button.
The other version has the photographic image applied directly to the metal pinback front with no easel back.

Can anyone else confirm this?

I recently had a beat up Clemente where water got beneath the clear plastic cover and it peeled off leaving only the printed image on the face of the button. When touched it feels like it was printed on paper and affixed with adhesive. The easel on the reverse was made of cardboard that suffered water damage and separated from the pin. This resulted in the back looking exactly like your Ryan. I'll see if I can locate it.

The font on Palmer looks closest to the Morgan than any pin I have seen previously.

Jim Palmer
 

Here is another Jim Palmer pinback that I just picked up.
I believe that these were manufactured during the 1980-1981 timeframe and they're about 1" in size.

I also have a Nolan Ryan from this same set. The funky old hat that he wore in his photo could only have been from the 1980 or 1981 season.

Posted this in the pickups section as well, but since it's an advertising piece for pins, thought I would show it here. 1920's Kolb's 7 inch wall-hanging ad featuring players on the Kolb's pins.

Greg

Holy smokes, is that a cool piece. Congrats, Greg! :)

I agree! :D

Can anyone tell me if this is a NEW YORK or a SAN FRANCISCO Giants pin? The back is blank. Ted Hake groups this with 5 other pins, including a MILWAUKEE Braves. That would put it between 1953-65 but beyond that I don't know. As you can see, I have the same pin in red, white and blue...

There are others - one photographer!
 

I own a Clemente from the same "issue". The work was done by a single photographer. I had researched it some time ago and cannot recall his name right now. He was a team photographer for a professional sports team. He did a number of portraits of Major Leaguers. I own/have owned both pins and proof photos of Clemente, Mays, Rose, G. Perry and a number of Red Sox players. I spoke with the photographers nephew a few years back. He still has the negatives, but was a bit skeptical about speaking with me about them - perhaps because whatever was "released" had no license. I have had my eye out for these pins for over 20 years - they are EXTREMELY scarce. The brewers group pictured is the first time I recall seeing any Brewers. The style of the photograph is the giveaway - They are always - players in uniform set against a solid color background - VERY high quality posing and image quality. The pins I have seen are also different sizes. I have seen at least 1 "super size" image of Clemente.

While we are at it. I am attaching an image of a Clemente pin I have not seen before. It appears to be an early stadium pin. Anyone know anything about it?

Further about the mystery pins
 

I also highly question whether they were actually sold or distributed at ball parks as given their quality and attractiveness I think they would be in MUCH greater supply today. Also how could they have been sold there without a license. I believe it was a pet project for the photographer who did produce VERY small numbers of prints and pins - possibly for friends and those close to him - perhaps started a project intended to get a license and never did. Based on the lack of availability and awareness among advanced collectors I strongly believe these did not have any type of mass distribution. If you have any you would consider selling - please contact me.

this one, right? Not 100% sure I buy the description....it could be true but sounds a bit like wishful thinking to get a wishful price.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/151175696575...84.m1423.l2649

"SUPER SUPER RARE 1 OF 2 OF THESE 1.75'' PINS THAT I KNOW OF THAT EXIST AND I OWN THE SECOND ONE. THIS PIN IS NOT IN DR. PAUL M. MUCHINSKY'S PINBACK BUTTON BOOK AND I HAVE ONLY SEEN THE TWO IN 25 YEARS OF COLLECTING. THERE IS A TED KLUSZEWSKI PIN FROM 1958 THAT IS OF THE SAME STYLE WITH LITTLE BASEBALL AFTER HIS NAME. IF YOUR LOOKING FOR THE ULTIMATE IN RARITY OF ROBERTO CLEMENTE OR PINBACK , THIS IS IT."

great info in your two posts!! You would think there would be someone on N54 who remembers buying them, when new, 40+ years ago.

The Red Sox varieties seem to be somewhat plentiful as I see them on ebay all the time. The others, not so much.

$5,000??? Wow!

Rare - absolutely - 5K???
 

The image I am familiar with and is from 1956-1958. The pin I have never seen before - which says A LOT - and in my humble opinion would be an indicator that if legit, the pin is in fact quite scarce. $5,000 scarce - that's a different story! Yes, It is the same one listed on ebay in the previous link.

I will try to look for additional info on the other pins being discussed and share when I find it.

Just picked these up
 

PM-10's

Nashville Boosters Pin 1907
 

This is the only one I've seen like this, certainly a lapel pin from 1907. Can anyone give me a value? Thanks! Skip

I hate to see this thread go dormant for nearly 2 months! :(

Finally found this guy after 15-20 years of looking. Of the KNOWN Giants PM-10s, I still need Haller, Pagan, Pierce and McCormick. Although I've never seen one, I think there may be a pin of Jack Sanford out there. It's crazy how readily available most of the Mays pins are while guys like Gabrielson are basically impossible. I get that the Mayses outsold everything else but you would think that, at 50 cents per pin, many kids would collect the whole team in the course of the summer. The Pagan is so rare I never even knew it existed until a few months ago. I love these things! :D

another bump attempt...

Rob Andrews played for the Giants 1977-79. He ran a baseball camp in the 80s and 90s. I had had the green, Year 1 pin for quite some time and had seen one or two other years. Then, from out of nowhere, a complete set surfaces on ebay with a Buy it Now. I love when that happens!

not too thrilling, I know, but I wanted to revive this thread.

even a blind squirrel sometimes finds an acorn....

I did a Buy it Now on the small Mays because the price was so good and I know how tough this pin is. The thing is, I didn't know it was the SMALL size until it arrived. The 2.25"s are WAY more scarce than the 3.5"s :D

Congrats on the small Mays pin. That's a tough one and the price was right too.

The BIG one took me forever to get and I was outbid a couple of times. I was like a kid at Christmas when I discovered my latest purchase was the SMALL size :D. I'm going to assume they made a small Marichal but I've never seen one.

Does anyone have answers to these questions regarding the 1969 pins:

A) How were they distributed?
B) Is there a complete checklist?
C) Why were some in Black and white, and some in color?
D) Why we're some created as 2 1/2 inch in addition to the 3 1/2 inch diameter?
E) Why are some extremely scarce?

That's awesome! I have collected these pins (mainly Twins players) for a number of years and have seen very few of the small pins.

To try and answer some of the questions.

I don't think a complete checklist exists. The Standard Catalog of Baseball cards had a checklist but it was not complete.

I'm thinking they were made for at least two years and possibly three. You are correct in that there are color and black and white versions of a number of the players. There are also different head shots that are both black and white. Here are two different Killebrew buttons that are both black and white.

I am not sure why two different sizes exist and I don't know why certain players are so difficult while others are so easy.

That's interesting, I did not know there was different head shots on some pins. This would make completing this set even more difficult than I thought. Thanks for the information.

Couple of New Ones...
 

Hi Mike, I didn't know about different poses either. I know I've posted this link before but here's my group of the 3 1/2" pins.
http://andysvintagepinbacks.homestea...969-MLBPA.html

Somebody with more energy than myself should tie together the SCD list with the contributions on this board and come up with a tentative master list.

Rob, nice one. I've never come across that one either.

I picked up these at a show last week. You know how I like the "low minor" leaguers. Paducah (Kitty League I think), and the Yuma Panthers.
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z228/andypcl/minors_zps07d3910f.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo minors_zps07d3910f.jpg"/></a>

Hey Andy,
Thanks for posting the photo group again. Very impressive collection. I do not have the energy to put together a checklist for these pins, but maybe somebody will. I'm sure as soon as it is "complete", another Pin would surface.

Wow! 59 cents originally. I paid $244 for my large Mays :eek:

I, also, was not aware of the different poses or the color examples. Not surprising that there are so many Killebrew pins, since the company was MN based....just like the large number of Twins player pennants.

In Andy's group (which I had somehow missed on previous visits to your site), it looks like the majority of players are a All-Star caliber.....but there are certainly some exceptions! Hate to admit, I'm not familiar with Bill Melton or Jim Hickman. Odd, also that they decided to do a Ruth and Gehrig.

As for scarcity, I had never seen the original packaging (thanks, DWR!), but that makes me think these must have been sold in dime stores and not at the ballparks. They really must not have sold that many because, whereas Mays PM-10s are a dime a dozen (figuratively speaking), these 1969 pins of Mays hardly ever turn up on eBay. Besides Mays and McCovey, Marichal is the only other Giant I know of.

I may start working on a checklist. Or not. :p

Clemente
 

Is anyone aware of any Clemente variations - a small pin, color photo, etc?

I have never seen a small or colored photo Clemente pin. You would think that since these were made in Minnesota the Twins players would be very easy but they actually are quite difficult to locate. Here are pictures of a few that aren't in the group photo. I have either had or seen both the Carew and Oliva in both sizes. I can't find a picture right now but I have had a few Mickey Mantle's from this series (all the same photo). They are not impossible to find.

One has to assume that these pins were not a big seller for MLB. Even the big name stars are difficult to find, but the lesser-known players are almost impossible to find. Several years ago, a Ken Holzman sold on eBay for $118. I have never seen one since.

I'll start a checklist from Mike's, Andy's and Paul M's pictures and any other source I can find. I may even add an eBay search....not to buy but just to see what's out there.

Here are a few more pictures. These are not mine but I have seen these before.

Also, I know of the following:
Richie Allen
John Ellis
Cleon Jones
Jerry Kenney
Brooks Robinson
Frank Robinson
Ron Swoboda
Al Kaline
Jerry Koosman B&W
Joe Pepitone

^^^ very cool. Crazy how they pandered to the Yankees :rolleyes:

I guess there were no legendary Twins, ca. 1969.

Brooks Robinson
 

Anyone have a picture of the Brooksie pin (if there is one)?

I have Yaz, Reggie Smith, and a B&W version of Conigliaro. They are the genesis of my addiction. They are the first three items added to my collection in 1970. My dad bought them for me during my first MLB game at Fenway. Not much monetary value but priceless memories are attached to them.

I have one from this series with Frank Howard of the Senators.

dwr says there is one, two posts up ^^^^

B&W or color? Size?

hmmmmm.....so they WERE sold at ballparks (and maybe at five and dimes as well). The "Rah-Rah" packaging led me to believe these were sold in stores. It seems like most stuff sold at ballpark concession stands was sold without packaging.

I went through Paul M's book. Unless I missed something, the scan below is all I found. Paul dates these to 1970 and they are smaller still, at 1.75". They are extremely similar to the pins we've been discussing but lack the MLB logos, have different fonts and have 4 stars per side, rather than 5. I'd have to imagine Paul bought these as a set from someone...

The Frank Howard I have is B&W in the larger size.

are those all 3.5" and B&W, that you remember? :confused:

I don't own any of those Standard Catalogs :eek:, probably because I'm not a "card guy." I want to pick one up now. Does it matter what year I get and/or whether they are called the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards or the Standard Catalog of Vintage Baseball Cards? I see both on the internet.

Thanks!

They were all 3.5" buttons.

Here are a couple of photos of the price guide. The prices are way out of whack but it gets you an idea of some of the players in the series.

From my early research, it appears there were no Indians, Pilots, Royals, Astros or Padres in this set. Plenty of Yankees, Red Sox, Mets and Cubs. :cool:

The spreadsheet is coming. :p

If you get the 2009 version, the included DVD (make sure it's still in there) has the entire guide in pdf format on it. Later guides had CDs or DVDs as well, but only had pdfs for the parts they didn't want to print in the hardcopy catalog (minor league? I may be remembering that wrong), not the entire catalog.

The "digital format" may or may not be your thing, but it sure makes searching for particular players a heckuva lot easier.

Expos...
 

Those 69's Expos are actually pretty tough to find. If anyone can help me finish out the set, please let me know. Thanks!
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z228/andypcl/expos_zpsb43c1935.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo expos_zpsb43c1935.jpg"/></a>

Expos
 

I hit the wrong button and wanted to add that the guide I have doesn't list these, only the 1970 Expos. I'm not sure what a full set consists of...
-A

I only see the last three (3) players listed within the catalog. So, does that mean the others were not produced and/or were they not listed in the catalog?

They were produced but not listed in the catalog. The catalog is only a partial list of what is out there.