Hobby history: Tracking down 1949 Leaf baseball

[trdcrdkid]

Thanks for the feedback, everybody. It's gratifying when historical research I do purely for fun helps out other people in their research. There's a ton of information in those old hobby publications, and now that I have pretty much everything from the mid-50s to 1990 (and quite a bit from before and after those dates) it's easier to trace things like this.

Speaking of Leaf, I'd like to figure out when the black and white set now known as 1960 Leaf became know as such in the hobby, because all the articles about it in the hobby literature at the time called it the "Sports Novelties" set, using the name that was actually on the cards.

Also, does anybody out there happen to know if Rich Egan is still around? He would be in his 70s now.

[Leon]

I learned a few things I didn't know. A good day. As for your questions, sorry but I don't know. And I would think Egan could even be in his 80s if he is still with us. That said, I don't know when he was born. The quest continues. Thanks for posting.

Originally Posted by trdcrdkid

Thanks for the feedback, everybody. It's gratifying when historical research I do purely for fun helps out other people in their research. There's a ton of information in those old hobby publications, and now that I have pretty much everything from the mid-50s to 1990 (and quite a bit from before and after those dates) it's easier to trace things like this.

Speaking of Leaf, I'd like to figure out when the black and white set now known as 1960 Leaf became know as such in the hobby, because all the articles about it in the hobby literature at the time called it the "Sports Novelties" set, using the name that was actually on the cards.

Also, does anybody out there happen to know if Rich Egan is still around? He would be in his 70s now.

[trdcrdkid]

Originally Posted by Leon

I learned a few things I didn't know. A good day. As for your questions, sorry but I don't know. And I would think Egan could even be in his 80s if he is still with us. That said, I don't know when he was born. The quest continues. Thanks for posting.

This article on Rich Egan from the December 13, 1973 Chicago Tribune (as reprinted in the March 1974 issue of The Collector Talks) says that he was 32 years old at the time, which would mean he was born in 1941. That also means he was 24 when he started writing "Egan's Alley".



Also, here are all the cards in the 1949 Leaf set, from Ted Z's article in the Fall 2006 Old Cardboard. "SP" indicates the short prints. I hope Brett and Lyman don't mind my posting these scans of the pages.

[hangman62]

that's just incredible info !

[steve_a]

Is there any evidence that the second series was ever distributed retail? Seems like all of the contemporary reports relate to the first series. Is it possible the SPs were just taken or given out from a printer? Also seems like the early SP accounts are from the mid-west while series 1 are from the east coast.

[trdcrdkid]

Originally Posted by steve_a

Is there any evidence that the second series was ever distributed retail? Seems like all of the contemporary reports relate to the first series. Is it possible the SPs were just taken or given out from a printer? Also seems like the early SP accounts are from the mid-west while series 1 are from the east coast.

Ted's Old Cardboard article discusses the retail distribution of both series. I don't have it with me because I'm at work, but as I recall, the second series seems to have been distributed only in certain limited areas of the country. I'll look it up tonight if Ted doesn't reply before then.

I know of three people who collected the entire 49-card first series in 1949 but were unaware of the second series until years later: Lionel Carter (Illinois), Buck Barker (St. Louis), and Ted Z. (New Jersey). Larry Fritsch, who owned the 33 second-series cards that Carter wrote about in 1960, lived in Wisconsin and had been about 11 years old in 1949, so he may well have bought them at the store himself. Walter Corson, who owned eight second-series cards in 1956, was in Philadelphia, but he was in his 50s and buying and selling cards in bulk, so who knows where those cards originally came from. Corson was running an antiques/card shop in Philadelphia in 1949 (see my bio of him: http://net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=232220), so it's possible they came into his hands through that. The finders of the remaining short prints, James Elder and Goodwin Goldfaden, were dealers who presumably bought them from the original owners, so who knows where those cards originated.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by steve_a

Is there any evidence that the second series was ever distributed retail? Seems like all of the contemporary reports relate to the first series. Is it possible the SPs were just taken or given out from a printer? Also seems like the early SP accounts are from the mid-west while series 1 are from the east coast.

Hi Steve

1st....my research indicates that indeed the 2nd (short-printed) series was marketed. The market areas were Boston, Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan.
Since 1981, I have acquired 2nd series cards from dealers residing in these 4 areas. St Louis maybe a possible 5th location; but, it is not certain.

Furthermore, Alan Rosen's 1989 find of four 24-count boxes of unopened waxpacks (576 cards) of 2nd series LEAF BB cards confirms these cards
were retailed to the public. Original source of these two boxes of LEAF's was Michigan. Also included in these boxes were the LEAF Premiums.

2nd....1st series cards were distributed from the East coast to the Mississippi River regions. And, perhaps beyond.


TED Z
.

[jsq]

576 scarce series cards still in pack,, yikes!! that was a truly great find.

thank you for sharing that memory.