Louis Heilbroner informational index card

[oaks1912]

The Heilbroner Baseball Bureau was established in 1909 and collected data and statistical info of professional players. Much of this information was the foundation of the Heilbroner Blue Books, which were published and marketed primarily to baseball insiders during the early-mid 20th century. Mostly consisting of 3 x 5 index cards with abbreviated stat / notations and questionnaires, which were larger and more detailed. Most of the questionnaires came from Karl Wingler, a dedicated Heilbroner employee who assembled thousands of these questionnaires (most filled out in the player's hand). The 3 x 5's were sold (many decades ago) to SABR co-founder Ray Nemec who used them as the basis for his player profiles / and lifetime records. Nemec passed away a few years ago and the index cards were broken down

[DeafSports]

are they 1/1? Would some players have few index cards filled up?

I have obtained Richard Sipek, Ben Wade, Bill Voiselle, and George Binks.

[prewarsports]

Essentially the way this worked was that a blank card with the players name typed at the top was sent to a player during his first year of pro ball, or if he was a good college player they would be sent to him in college and even high school. He would fill this out and then it would updated every season on the back with the current teams etc. They would sometimes send cards years later with updated information to the players with printed information and ask for revisions or updated info. A few of the players in the collection had 2-3 cards, filled out at various times in their careers, but each card is a unique 1/1 for sure and the earliest ones would be of the greatest importance. They are some of the coolest pieces of memorabilia ever to hit the hobby in my opinion!

[Scott Garner]

FWIW, I would totally agree with what Rhys just said.
Each one of these is totally unique, whereas IMHO the ones with extensive hand written info by the player can offer a unique look at facts about them that you may not easily find elsewhere.

So far I have purchased 3 of these cards from the seller, but I find myself looking daily at what new ones are being listed...

[TUM301]

I`m with you guys on these items. Have seen them pop up on EBAY from time to time and did purchase a Bib Faulk about 6 weeks ago. Liked the Faulk so much grabbed 3 more, Rube Walberg,George Blaeholder and Charlie Root. As mentioned a rather unique way to collect pieces of player/baseball history especially when many of the items contain a lot of hand written information.