Marc Sarchet highlighted the incredible 1982 Union Oil Dodger Player Portraits in the March 1983 issue of The Trader Speaks with some information that seems to have been lost to the modern (digital) hobby. So, I’ve decided to highlight the set on my site.
Beckett includes the following information about the 26-card set on its website:
Artist Nicholas Volpe drew members of the Dodgers for a Union Oil giveaway. These color portraits are painted in pastel; one portrait a week was given away at the stations. The cards measure 8 1/2″ x 11″ and the backs contain statistics and other biographical information. An album which contained 20 plastic sheets to hold these cards was sold by the Dodgers for $6.
So, Beckett didn’t include information about the set’s extension beyond 20, the timeline of its release, the confusion from station owners, the lag between the 20th and 21st prints, the cost of sets or 100 print boxes, or that the Dodgers sold an album to house the set; here are a few photos of it.
Neither Beckett nor Sarchet mentioned that Volpe also painted fantastic Dodgers sets in 1962 and 1969. Also, elsewhere, I’ve read that the portraits were free if you bought at least 8 gallons of fuel at 76 Gas Stations.
And yes, PSA will slab these oversized portraits.
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