Charles Conlon photographs and negro leagues ?
 

Did Charles Conlon take photographs of negro league players and was it ever transferred to cards ?

I do not believe so. In the 1933 All-Star and Negro League "Conlon sets" put out in the 1980s, the Negro League photos were not Conlon photos. Hard to say if he ever took photos of Negro League players. I am not aware of any but there could be. Though if there were any in the surviving negatives, I would imagine that The Sporting News would have included some as part of one of the 'subsets' in The Conlon Collection series they put out over the years. Maybe they were planning it for an unpublished series.

So to your questions, he may have, but if so none ever made it to cards (AFAIK).

ty

eddie--I did the Conlon Collection ( Mega Cards and The Sporting News) sets 1991 to 1995. In one of their 1995 sets they did interpose some Ken Griffey Jr images. I also have a Mega Cards Conlon based Ruth only set in 1992. Also did The Sporting News Conlon based sets in 1981, 1983 and 1984.

And I have the Worldwide Conlon sets from 1986 to 1988. Those included a 1988 World Wide Sports 1933 All Star set of 48 and a 1988 World Wide Sports 1933 Negro All Star set of 12. SCD listed it in their 2011 Standard Catalog, the last one with post 80 listings. It says that Negro All Star set was based on Conlon photos from the Sporting News archives files. If you need or want the checklist, let me know. Also have the set in you need any scans

Thank you Bob Lemke again

Thanks for reply ..but are you bob lemke or al richter ?..can i PM you

Fortunately I am not Bob, but the hobby is better for the likes of Bob and his work on the Standard Catalog. RIP Bob

Yes on pms

conlon cards
 

Thanks for reply ...i see you are familiar with the conlon set ...do you have the conlon colorized cards 47 in all..by the way do you know how the cards were colorized ? thanks hope to hear from you

ps apparently my Private messages are not going through maybe its because im new ..

Bob was a wealth of information, and happy to share it with anyone. When you have some time, visit Bob's old blog at http://boblemke.blogspot.com/ as it's still up and he was quite active on there for years. He was a very nice man who I am grateful I got to talk with a few times before his passing.

thanks i wonder who is keeping his blog up ..i believe its not free to keep a blog site up ?...

There are lots of Conlon sets, cards and other collectibles...the cards were even included in All-Star game programs one year...I think I have completed all sets and need just a dozen or so promo cards for everything I can think of...I even have Conlon Collection audio cards on a cassette tape...I have all the colorized cards set you mentioned but you should know there is a special Conlon Collection Day variation of Johnny Mize that was issued Sept 11, 1994...same pic but the back is different...has 28CCD instead of 28 and has the watermark on the backhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...766a32a5d6.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...721bc5eb88.jpg

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Great info and that Johnny mize ccd is nice thanks

This is what I have for Conlon


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I do not know what colorization process was used on the color set but all of the cards in it exist in B&W in prior sets. Also, the distribution of the color set is interesting. See below. In checking I do have both Mize variants. Also have the two All Star programs with the Conlon inserts still intact.

As to the missing prototypes from my list above I was going be checklists in the SCD Standard Catalog from 2011 ( last year they did post 80 listings). Not sure lists are accurate

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The 1995 Topps set had two versions of card # 3, a Conlon photo, celebrating Ruth's 100th birthday. There was also a 3C version of the card in the Conlon sets

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Al,

Not a slight at all toward Mr Lemke and all the work that he (and others) have done, but I'm not totally buying that the Negro League cards were Conlon photos, or not all of them anyway. And I would wager that they are definitely not from any of Conlon negatives The Sporting News had access to. The backs of the 1983 and 1988 cards would give the impression that they from Conlon photos, but its not clear (AFAIK) whether TSN had copies of the photos in their possession or if they were taken from another source.

I would be interested in knowing if you (or anyone) has a reference to the full source photo for any of the cards, as most (all?) of the photos on the NL cards were cropped from any original photos, and in some cases I believe possibly from a team photo. Also from looking through thousands of Conlon photos, some of the pics do not 'feel' like Conlon photos in style, composition, and/or quality (even allowing for the cards being a copy from a copy from a copy). Had TSN had an original negatives of the NL players they chose, they likely would have used them (including the 1991-1995 series). But it could be that any Conlon NL negatives were some of those glass negatives that Conlon himself destroyed, which were about 2/3 of all the glass negatives he produced, and the source photos could be directly linked back to Conlon by other means.

I'd be interested in any additional evidence that could provide that direct link or verification. As to the Conlon cards themselves, there's some great information on all the Conlon sets at http://conloncards.blogspot.com/

P.S. There are actually 3 printings of the 1991 set, unless I'm missing what you had (or was cut off) in your subsequent post. The 1st printing had Hall of Fame spelled out on the first 67 cards (no MLB logo), 2nd had HOF (year) with no MLB logo on back, 3rd had MLB logo. There is no visible/obvious difference between the 1st and 2nd printing for cards 68-330.

Thanks for info

There are lots of oddball Conlon items...here are a couplehttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6a4464860e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d00461e823.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...982514563d.jpg

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Hi the book that is in the photo ..may i ask is that a baseball card guide ?..and from what year ?..

Taylor---I have no independent knowledge as to the source of the photos used in the World Wide 1933 Negro All Star set beyond the statement in the 2011 Standard Catalog that they came from the Sporting News Conlon files. I do agree that those 12 photos have a different look from those that serve as the basis for the other Conlon set

On the 3d 1991 Conlon set I need some clarity of what I am missing. I have one set where the first 67 cards have HOF and a year in a banner on the front of the cards, and the backs of those 67 have a copyright for both The Sporting News and Curtis Management. For cards 68 to 330 there is no HOF banner on the front and only The Sporting News copyright is on the backs. None of the 330 cards has the MLB logo.

The second set also has the HOF banners on the first 67 cards but also has the MLB logo in addition to the copyrights for The Sporting News and Curtis Management. From 68 to 330 there are no HOF banners but they do have the MLB logo and the Sporting News copyright ( No Curtis Management ).

Walk me through the makeup of the 3d set

Orioles---I would be interested in sharing a list of the promo or prototype cards we have and a list of ones we think we still need. Both of my lists are based on the checklists in the 2011 Standard Catalog

Al, the 1991 Conlon "Hall of Fame" stripe cards are not well known or documented. They are much tougher to find. I believe the entire 1991 Conlon set of 330 comes with and without the MLB logo on back under the card number. The 3rd variation has the first 67 HOFers come with "Hall of Fame" in the stripe on front, all without the MLB logo.

I'm not sure how the dated Johnny Mize was issued, but it wasn't at the Cardinals game on 9-11-94. The last game of the season was 8-11-94 due to the strike that year.

Great catch on the Mize Randy. No telling now where Bob got that info


There is even a Conlon version of the Topps 88-90 Sport Shot Portfolios ( Folders)

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0ge....gnqh0E6TgXkA-


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Randy,

Thanks for provide the visual for Al (and others) before I could back to it. Much better than any 'description' I could have provided. :)

Al,

Randy's pics above show the examples of the the 3 printings better than I described. With cards 68-330 it is at least difficult if not impossible to tell the difference between the first and second printing, since the only noticeable difference is the "Hall of Fame" vs "HOF - date" on the front of the first 67 cards. The backs are identical for the first and second printing.

Regarding Conlon NL photos. I have no direct knowledge either way as well, but was wondering if this was more of an assumption due to legend and/or poor record keeping on the TSN part that was then included in the SC as well. I'm not aware of any early NL 'type' photos from Conlon, though I am by no means an expert in that area. Just that I haven't seen any and the look/feel of the photos used for the NL cards is different from all the other Conlon photos I've seen. I would expect that any Conlon NL Type I photos would bring huge money.

Definitely a lot of Conlon material came out in the '90s. There is a Conlon 3 ring binder as well for the collection.

Well, now on another search. Picked up 57 of the 3d version of the first 67 yesterday ( Hall of Fame spelled out)

Still interested in comparing noted with Orioles on the promo/prototype cards

Another Conlon variation that is not well know. Curt Davis comes 3 ways:

1. Cardinals on front, MLB logo on back
2. Cubs on front, MLB logo on back
3. Cubs on front, NO MLB logo on back.

I will post a few more oddball Conlon itemshttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...dcebb9a11b.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...38c2e1d55f.jpg

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The Conlon autographed insert cardshttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...fbd9fbf2eb.jpg

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Postcard bookshttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...9e746a1658.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a628d31d9b.jpg

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Hardcover bookshttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...f7ef6b90ab.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...b9372e7f04.jpg

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Feller card separated and nothttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2fd5dbcfb3.jpg

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Ty Cobb Toys R Us gold foil cardhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...0d8fc5e99a.jpg

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1988 Hardees/Coke sethttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...55c68c650a.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...36a9454b53.jpg

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1991 to 1994 unopened boxeshttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...06be4ffa5f.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...9e89de719c.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...e03a0bd680.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ff20f3648d.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6d85fbc0dd.jpg

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Front, back and inside of a sales sample folderhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a3560ef556.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...bd1d6bcfa5.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...e4a415c7c6.jpg

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Bookmark

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The Sporting News 1983 Conlon 1933 All Star Game set of 60 is discussed in this passage from the Conlon Blog

https://conloncards.blogspot.com/p/1...-all-star.html

The checklist is included in here

http://citygate.net/BLOG/conlon_checklist_1981_1988.pdf

No variation is listed for the set on the blog, but the 2011 SCD Standard Catalog ( the last one to include post 80 listings) lists two versions of Pepper Martin, 31, with and without teeth showing. I looked for it a long time without success. I finally found one, but it is not a variation, it is a prototype card, one of 3 for the set. The other two, Gehrig, 3 and Bush, 44 have the same photo on front, but all 3 of the prototypes have the phrase
"Baseball Americana brought to you by..." on the back. That phrase does not appear with the regular cards in the 60 card set. Why they did not stick with the no teeth version of Martin is a mystery and was dumb

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Friendly bump for Conlon

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