John

1982 Jackie Robinson First Day Cover

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The USPS initiated a Black Heritage Stamp Series in 1978. On August 2, 1982, they issued one for Jackie Robinson. This advertisement, from the October 1982 Trader Speaks, is for a pair of 1st Day Covers with a B. Scott Forst stadium exclusive drawing on the left side.

There seem to be a few different 1st Day Covers for the stamp; the one advertised in Trader Speaks appears to be a little more challenging to track down but not any more expensive than the others.

Now, for the stamp specifically, it was painted by Howard Koslow, and 164,235,000 stamps were issued at a postage value of 20¢ each.

1901 Philadelphia Athletics Inaugural Season Tickets

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With the Athletics moving again, I thought it was a great time to share this strip of four regular-season game tickets from the Philadelphia Athletics’ inaugural season in 1901.

This strip was offered for sale in April 2000 by Ron Oser Enterprises.

Now, 1901 wasn’t just the first season for the Athletics; it was the first for the entire American League, too!

1950’s Wonder Bread Advertising Sign With Mickey Mantle and Stan Musial

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Here’s an early to mid-1950s Wonder Bread Cardboard advertising sign that features black and white portraits of Mickey Mantle and Stan Musial.

Mastro offered it in their July 1998 catalog and described the multicolored, blank-backed counter sign as 10-1/2” x 14-3/4” in Ex to Mt condition but with minor restorations. They also implied the Stan Musial fountain pen signature was authentic. The minimum bid was $1k.

The Mantle looks a little like the 1957 Jay Publishing New York Yankees Picture Portfolio “card,” but a touch wider.

The Musial looks a lot like one of Musial’s 1958 Jay Publishing “cards” (All-Stars Set A, All-Stars Set B, St. Louis Cardinals Set A, and St. Louis Cardinals Set B).

Brooks Robinson Card Show Appearances In Early 1982

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A few weeks ago, I shared an advertisement for the January 1982 Baltimore Sports Collectibles Show. I highlighted it because Brooks Robinson was signing on Saturday, January 16th, of the show. I noted that Robinson was a guest at a lot of shows back then.

Well, in the March 1982 issue of Trader Speaks, two more shows highlighted Brooks Robinson as a guest. First, the Central Jersey 8 had him on Sunday, February 28th, 1982.

Then, the Philadelphia Sports Spectacular 1 highlighted Robinson’s attendance on both days of their March 6-7 show, along with Stan Musial on Sunday and Chris Short on both days.

He was really making the rounds in early ’82!

Hobby influencers In The Spring Of 1981

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The Premier Issue of Baseball Cards was released in the Spring of 1981 as “the complete sports collectors’ magazine,” the team behind it introduced themselves with this great piece.

Bob Lemke was always known to make great cards, so I presume he designed these. Unfortunately, he died in 2017, but his blog remains online.

Here’s the cover of the issue, too.