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Rarely Made Cards


As mentioned in my One Card Away post, I've been trying for 15 years to collect at least one card of each member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In that post, I exclaimed my excitement of obtaining Ben Taylor and Andy Cooper cards from the superb the Graig Kreindler Negro League Centennial Set, which whittled my HoF want list down to one card -  John Schuerholz.

From my experience, the Taylor and Cooper cards were thee most elusive of all Negro League cards to collect; however, there were several other Negro League cards that took quite a long time to collect as well. These elusive cards include the following Hall of Fame players:

2020 Negro League Centennial Set, card #74.

2020 Negro League Centennial Set, card #26.

2020 Negro League Centennial Set, card #136.

2020 Negro League Centennial Set, card #93.

2020 Negro League Centennial Set, card#56.

The 2020 Negro League Centennial Set is by far the most comprehensive card collection of people associated with the Negro Leagues I have ever seen. I don't want to take anything away from the great 1986 Negro Leagues Baseball Stars by Larry Fritsch Cards, as that WAS the most comprehensive Negro Leagues player set until this Centennial Set. The artwork by Kreindler is fantastic, the stories on the card backs are great, and the set not only includes Hall of Famers, but it also includes a great many non-HoFers, executives, women players, and one especially sweet card dedicated to all of the "Unknown" players.

2020 Negro League Centennial Set, card #128.

On the card back it says "This player represents the many unknown players whose stories have been lost to time." I tip my hat to the folks that supported the making of this card.
 
I'm not going to show the many cards in the set of the non-HoF players because there are dozens of them. But, I am going to show...

The Executives - Hall of Famers:
2020 Negro League Centennial Set, card #21.

2020 Negro League Centennial Set, card #87.

2020 Negro League Centennial Set, card #148.

2020 Negro League Centennial Set, card #177.

2020 Negro League Centennial Set, card #65.

The Executives - Non Hall of Famers:
2020 Negro League Centennial Set, card #176. O'Neil was a true Ambassador.

2020 Negro League Centennial Set, card #5.

2020 Negro League Centennial Set, card #163.

2020 Negro League Centennial Set, card #162.

2020 Negro League Centennial Set, card #44.

and Women Players:
2020 Negro League Centennial Set, card #167. I just learned that Toni Stone inspired a book and a play of her story. 

2020 Negro League Centennial Set, card #179.

2020 Negro League Centennial Set, card #88.

This great set also included a 1916 Zee-Nut Jimmy Claxton reprint. Claxton was the first black man to play organized white baseball in the twentieth century. According to Wikipedia: "On May 28, 1916, Claxton broke the professional baseball color line when he played two games for the Oaks [the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League]. Claxton pitched in two games of a doubleheader for a combined total of two and one third innings. He allowed three runs, four hits, and four walks. The Zee-Nut candy company produced a baseball card for Claxton, making him the first African American baseball player to appear on a baseball card. Within a week, a friend of Claxton revealed that he had both African American and Native American ancestors, and Claxton was promptly fired."


The Centennial Set celebrates the Centennial of the founding of the Negro National League on February 13, 1920 at the Paseo YMCA in Kansas City, Missouri. If you have any interest in the Negro Leagues I can't recommend this set enough.

Stay well,

CinciCuse Bill
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Comments

  1. BoJuly 29, 2020 at 8:02 PM

    Some friend. Did Zee-Nut stop making the card?

    ReplyDelete
  2. CinciCuse BillJuly 30, 2020 at 8:08 AM

    Right. With friends like that, who needs enemies!

    ReplyDelete
  3. FujiJuly 30, 2020 at 8:37 AM

    Love the artwork and the comprehensive list of players making up the checklist. I'll check out their site again. Maybe it'll be a back to school present for myself ;D

    ReplyDelete

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