Conlon Baseball Cards

[ALR-bishop]

Anyone else collect these ? There is a thread or some posts in this forum somewhere discussing them but I could not find it. The cards were published between 1983 and 1995 by various entities including the Sporting News, Curtis Management, MegaCards and maybe others. The sets are easy to find and inexpensive, but some of the prototype, promo and variation cards can be very tough. This site is pretty comprehensive in covering them, including the rarities. I think I am down to need one card

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrE...tgRYHpyB52WL0-

[G1911]

Very fun cards, great photography of the old timers. I picked up boxes of the first three mainstream series 1-990. Collation of series 2 was bad and I missed like 6-7 of the cards in my box. Need to pick up the 94’s now, haven’t gotten into the promo cards etc.

[ALR-bishop]

The first 67 in the initial 990 cards come 3 ways. The ones with no MLB copyright are semi tough, mostly because it requires review of the back. The one with Hall Of Fame spelled out rather than abbreviated to HOF are easy to spot but hard to find. The promos and prototypes for each year were distributed like salesman samples. Some are pretty scarce. Four of the prototypes from 91 are really hard to locate because there were limited amounts printed and they are not stamped as promos but just lack a copyright line on the back. The site above is pretty good at laying out the whole “checklist”

[Zach Wheat]

I collected this set when it was first issued and thought it was one of the neatest sets. I loved all the detail in the cards and the not frequently seen images. It quickly became my favorite set to flip though and read.

Did not know the info in this thread. Thanks Al-R

[DHogan]

I picked up a pack of Conlon cards when they first came out, at a convince store near my house. I pulled a Shanty Hogan card. I've never heard of him before. I started a collection of vintage cards of Shanty Hogan cards that I could afford. Then I started collecting other players in any sport, who's first or last name was Hogan. I used to ask my wife before hand if I could spend our money on any card over $200.00 or more. She always said yes. She said because it makes me happy. God she was an amazing woman.

[pawpawdiv9]

I still have the Ruth’s I got in the mail
I also got the magazine
Think it was MegaCards
I”ll post pics when I can

[bnorth]

Add me to the liking them list. I picked up a big lot of them from a fellow member a few years ago.

[ALR-bishop]

To get 4 of the Conlon promo cards I had to buy 4 copies of the 1992 All Star Game Program ( San Diego) because 4 different Conlons were pop up inserts in them.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/28603376466...Bk9SR_bL7cy9ZA

[bxb]

I love the Conlon cards. Great photos and many have excellent statistical summaries on the back.

I have graded about 20 of them for my set registry HOF set. I know their value is perhaps less than the cost of grading, but I love the cards, and life is too short.

Also the 1994 American Archives set. Same reasons.

[robinsonmantle]

Great photos of HOFs, great set!


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[ALR-bishop]

Three of the 4 promos from 91 had been on my list for a long while. They had a limited production and while most Conlon prototypes or promos had a large back stamp indicating that status, these had no stamp and could only be distinguished from the regular set cards by the lack of a copyright line on the bottom back. A recent ebay auction allowed me to get the 3 I was missing but only by purchasing an uncut sheet with 6 copies of all 4 of the promos

https://www.ebay.com/itm/126532737488

[Rich Klein]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Three of the 4 promos from 91 had been on my list for a long while. They had a limited production and while most Conlon prototypes or promos had a large back stamp indicating that status, these had no stamp and could only be distinguished from the regular set cards by the lack of a copyright line on the bottom back. A recent ebay auction allowed me to get the 3 I was missing but only by purchasing an uncut sheet with 6 copies of all 4 of the promos

https://www.ebay.com/itm/126532737488

Al:

Thanks for the tip but in doing the COMC work the biggest difference to me is one line of copyright info on the back for the promos and two lines for the regular (base) cards

If you have something else please let me know

Rich

[ALR-bishop]

You are right Rich but that is what I in artfully meant by the lack of a copyright line. They had only one of the two lines on the regular cards. The link to the eBay listing shows what the backs look like. All the other promos, including a couple of others from 1991 have prototype or promotional or 13th National or All Star Fan Fest or some other slogan stamped on them. Looking for no copyright cards would be easier than looking for one of two lines


The Conlon blog site in the link I gave is the best source I know for all the Conlon card issues from 83 to 95, including the scarcer material. The Standard Catalog, back when it did post 80 listings, missed a lot of stuff and had it in different locations pursuant to the main sponsor of the sets for each year

[Rich Klein]

Not relating to the thread but just as an FYI, Megacards which produced these sets were always incredibly helpful to us at Beckett and cataloguing these cards were a lot of fun because they actually, ahem, answered any questions we might have.

Rich

[Section103]

Great cards, though a bit hard to peg them down as they are modern productions, but distinctly not modern. Along those lines, someone was reproducing high quality photos of Conlon images about 10-15 years ago. I should have snatched up photos of the players I collect but are also relatively low-profile players. They werent particularly cheap (worth it, just not cheap) and I waited much too long. Anyway, goes without saying that George Conlon was a master who provided great things with his talent.

[Bigdaddy]

I collected a couple of these sets, including the World Wide Sports issues. While most of the players were deceased, I was able to get a few autographs on them and a few of the TSN issues. The TSN issues were glossy and some of the guys ended up signing on the back.