The 1976 D&S Enterprises Cool Papa Bell set celebrates the career of one of baseball’s legends. It’s an affordable must-have for fans of obscure collectors’ issues and baseball history.
I first learned about this set while flipping through the March 1976 issue of The Trader Speaks when I saw an advertisement for them directly from Douglas.
You can see that the 13-card, ~3” x 4”, complete set was available for $2.50. It was developed in partnership with Bell, so they included his commentary. Here’s what The Standard Catalog had to say about it:
The collectors’ issue was produced following the 1974 induction of James “Cool Papa” Bell into the Hall of Fame. Collector John Douglas collaborated with Bell to produce the set chronicling Bell’s career (1922-46) in the Negro and Latin American pro leagues. Fronts have vintage sepia-toned photos of Bell surrounded by a yellow, green or orange woodgrain frame with a title plaque at bottom. Backs are in brown-and-white with a drawing of Bell at top and autobiographical material at center. A description of the photo and copyright data are at bottom.
It’s cool that the HOF Favorite card is a reprint of Bob Laughlin’s 1974 Old-Time Black Stars portrait.
While the 1974 Laughlin Cool Papa Bell card alone will cost a few hundred dollars, complete 1976 Douglas Cool Papa Bell sets routinely sell for just $90.
The 1984 San Diego Padres Tony Gwynn Lite Beer promo card is a fascinating oddball issue. I spotted it in an August 1985 Baseball Cards Magazine ad from San Diego Sports Collectibles, but I’m unsure how it was originally distributed.
The advertisement says they were only released in the San Diego area in September 1984, but where and how? If you have the details, let me know in the comments.
The back of the card only includes information and statistics from his 1983 season, but the front honors the fact that he led the National League in batting in 1984 (with a .351 average, by the way).
The signed promotional card example pictured above was sold by Memory Lane Inc. on 11 January 2025 for $540, but you can pick up an ungraded and unsigned card for between $15 and $20.
Update 30 Jan 2025: A few collectors on X told me they were given out at a game as a stadium giveaway.
A few months ago, I shared this 1984 ad from Richard Gelman that offered a T206 Honus Wagner card for $23k and .25 cent 1981 MSA Mini Discs on the same page, but another collector highlighted another great buy: the $24.99 life of Mickey Mantle set probably had the autograph in it!
Here’s a zoomed-in scan of “The Life of Mickey Mantle” section highlighting the 1982 set that Authentic Sports Autographs (ASA) released.
The Standard Catalog wrote that:
This 72-card set chronicles the life of Mickey Mantle in contemporary photos, many from Mantle’s own collection and many picturing him with such stars of the era as Maris, DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Mays, etc. A total of 20,000 sets was produced; 5,000 of them feature a genuine Mantle autograph on card #1 and 15,000 sets have no autograph. Back of cards from the autographed sets are printed in blue while the unautographed sets have backs printed in red. Issue price was $25 for the autographed set, $13 for the unsigned version.
TCDB has more set info, including that blue back cards with serial numbers 1-10 had every card in the set autographed and auctioned off with bids due by May 1, 1982. They also wrote that the blue back sets were originally $19.99, but sets ordered after May 31, 1982, were $24.99, while the red back sets were originally $9.99, increasing to $12.99.
A few more notes shared by TCDB:
14 cards in the set were printed in full color, and 58 are black, blue, and white.
There was one card for each of Mickey’s seasons.
There was one card for each of Mickey’s World Series.
The set was written and researched by Fred McMane of UPI.
Photos from Mickey and Merlyn Mantle’s personal collection.
Sets began shipping in May 1982.
That info comes from the following advertisement; please let me know if you know its source.
Update 30 Jan 2025: Andrew Aronstein told me that his dad distributed this set through his advertising vehicle, The Baseball Advertiser which is where the ad came from.
Here’s an example of a signed card #1 that PWCC sold for $435 in August 2020, which is around what they’re selling on eBay these days.
Here’s what the unsigned card #1s look like:
I also found an uncut proof sheet (see The Uncut Sheet Archive for more), signed by Mantle, that REA sold for $690 in the summer of 2024.
The sets came boxed; REA sold this one, including the signed card #1, for $360 in October 2021.
In the introduction to my article The Finer Points of Baseball For Everyone Instructional Booklets I mentioned that I only discovered them from my hunt for their basketball-related cousins. Between that and a $10,500 sale for a complete set of 12 booklets in the fall of 2023, it seemed appropriate to dive deep into these incredible basketball collectibles.
How To Play Better Basketball 101
A few auction catalogs and VintageBasketball.com show that a complete set of How To Play Better Basketball booklets has twelve items. Here’s the checklist:
Ball Handling
Basic Rules and Court Layout
Conditioning
How To Dribble
How to Pass
How to Pivot and Fake
How to Shoot
Drills for Defense
Drills for Offense
Man-To-Man Defense
Plays for Offense
Zone Defense
Like the baseball booklets, they’re full-color printings in a newspaper-like material saddle-stitched like a magazine. However, I keep reading that the basketball ones are 4-7/8’’ x 3-1/4’’ while the baseball ones are ~ 4-5/8″ x 3-3/8’’. However, I suspect they were printed and manufactured by the same people and are likely the same size, with a bit of variation from cutting back in the day. While the baseball booklets each have 16 pages, the basketball books have been described as having eight pages, but I haven’t found a complete set of scans from any of them, nor have I been able to speak with anyone who owns one; please reach out if you have one!
Now, not only are the basketball variations way rarer than the baseball ones but there are also two variations!
Hood Diary How To Play Better Basketball Booklets
While the baseball booklets have dozens of advertising backs through the years, the basketball ones only appear to have one produced around 1963 for Hood Dairy when the Bob Cousy Hood Dairy basketball card was produced.
VintageBasketball says they have a Copyright for Lane and Young Incorporated inside with an address of 128 Mallory Ave. New Jersey City, NJ.
Robert Edwards Auctions sold a collection of six of these booklets with a Hood Diary advertisement, a Bob Cousy quote, and his facsimile autograph on the back that they dated to 1963 in the description. They did mention that they vary a bit from natural diamond cuts when it comes to sizing. They sold for just $360 in the summer of 2021.
REA’s 1963 Hood Dairy How To Play Better Basketball Booklets – Image 1
REA’s 1963 Hood Dairy How To Play Better Basketball Booklets – Image 2
REA’s 1963 Hood Dairy How To Play Better Basketball Booklets – Image 3
REA’s 1963 Hood Dairy How To Play Better Basketball Booklets – Image 4
Interestingly, underneath the right side logo that says “Another Hood Food For Fitness,” there is an indistinguishable copyright emblem. That same logo appears on the baseball booklets; it’s just another point showing how they’re related.
1962 Finer Points Of Baseball DX Dealer Booklet
Indistinguishable Copyright Emblem
1968 Topps Test How To Play Better Basketball Booklet Pack Inserts
The How To Play Better Basketball Booklets’ second variation was blank-backed and used as an insert in 1968 Topps basketball test packs. The Topps Archive’s blog wrote a post called Better And Better that shared some history behind the test packs and booklets. In the summer of 2017, he got to see the pack, cards, and How To Shoot baseball booklet and noted that it was folded in half to fit in the pack, that the interior was set up like a small comic book, and that the back of it (the booklet) was blank. Here’s the photo he shared.
The Topps Archives Photo of MHCC’s 1968 Topps Test Pack
In September 2017, Mile High Card Co. sold an opened 1968 Topps Test basketball pack, booklet, and cards for $4521.60. They described the booklet as having eight pages of colorized diagrams but having no mention of Topps; here’s their auction photo.
MHCC 1968 Topps Test Pack, Booklet, And Cards
In the summer of 2021, REA sold a collection of seven different blank-backed folded How To Play Better Basketball booklets for $6600. Again, Topps folded down the middle because the booklets were too large for the pack otherwise.
REA’s Topps Test How To Play Better Basketball Booklets – Image 1
REA’s Topps Test How To Play Better Basketball Booklets – Image 2
REA’s Topps Test How To Play Better Basketball Booklets – Image 3
REA’s Topps Test How To Play Better Basketball Booklets – Image 4
Finally REA sold the following complete set of 12 booklets plus an original 1968 Topps Test envelope for $10,500 in the fall of 2023.
REA’s Topps Test How To Play Better Basketball Booklets Set of 12 – Image 1
REA’s Topps Test How To Play Better Basketball Booklets Set of 12 – Image 2
During bidding, I reached out to REA for a bit more information. They confirmed that each booklet was blank-backed, but the only one that displayed any condition issues was the How To Shoot Booklet; none of the others were folded, so perhaps they were extras that didn’t make it into packs. Also, I asked for some information about the internal copyright; they sent me back this photo showing a stamped 1966 copyright and the same Lane & Young, Inc. data that VintageBasketball said was in the Hood Dairy versions of the basketball booklets.
REA’s Topps Test How To Play Better Basketball Booklet Copyright Example
The baseball booklets all have a specific year copyright and either a Vital Publications, Inc. or WM. C. Popper & Co. copyright.
Final Thoughts
Like the Finer Points of Baseball For Everyone booklets, the How To Play Better Basketball items are another great example of a significant historical collectible; the basketball ones are more card-adjacent. However, despite a clear relationship between the sets of booklets (appearance, type, design, that little copyright symbol on the backs of both), I haven’t figured out a relationship between Vital Publications/WM. C. Popper & Co. and Lane & Young Inc., whose copyrights were printed inside the booklets. So, if you have more information about these companies or booklets, please leave a comment or email me.
Robert Laughlin’s creative sets have become super popular lately. In March 1976, he advertised two great 42-card sets in The Trader Speaks: the 1976 Laughlin Indianapolis Clowns and the 1976 Fleer Baseball Firsts.
Here’s a quick primer on these vintage gems!
First, naturally, let’s cover the 1976 Fleer Baseball…Firsts! The Standard Catalog says, “This 42-card set from Fleer is titled “Baseball Firsts” and features several historical moments in baseball, as captured through the artwork of sports artist R.G. Laughlin. The cards are numbered on the back, which is gray card stock with black printing. The set is not licensed by Major League Baseball.”
Obviously, based on the ad, Laughlin was allowed to sell these sets directly for $3.75 each, but TCDB also says that “These cards were inserted into packs of Fleer MLB Real Cloth Baseball Patches as stabilizers and are not mentioned on the pack itself.” However, the display boxes mention a color trading card in each pack, along with the four patches.
The set’s key cards are #5, Four Straigh Homers (Lou Gehrig), and #12, Baseball Cards.
Regarding the 1976 Laughlin Indianapolis Clows, The Standard Catalog shares that “in a departure from the style of most Laughlin issues, this 42-card set does not use his artwork but rather black and white photos framed by a light blue border. The cards are oversized at 2-5/8” x 4-1/4”, with red printing on front and back. The cards are numbered on the front.” It’skey cars belong to Hank Aaron and Satchel Paige.
Did you notice the special to subscribe to Bob Cards’ Inside Pitch? I’d love to get a run of these; let me know if you have any for sale.
In Mastro & Steinbach’s August 1997 auction catalog, I saw this stunning 1930s Dizzy Dean Grape-Nuts cereal advertisement. More research led me to find three total cardboard counter display versions from the Gashouse Gang era, showcasing vintage marketing at its finest.
Here’s the full ad description from the catalog:
From the glory days of the old Gashouse Gang, this striking easel-backed cardboard counter display (approx. 22-1/2″ x 26-1/2″) features the colorful Hall of Famer, Dizzy Dean, making a pitch for Grape-Nuts cereal. Still attached is the cardboard holder along with an original pamphlet which promoted Grape-Nuts’ Dizzy Dean premium offer. A hint of soiling, along with a minor crease in the upper left and missing tab on the lower right do not detract from its otherwise colorful and attractive appearance. One of the nicest cardboard display ads you’ll find from this era. Minimum Bid $300
REA sold the same version of the Grape-Nuts counter display as Mastro & Steinbach offered for $630 in the fall of 2024. They also included a photo of the back but noted that the easel wasn’t original.
Most auctioneers date this next version to 1934. While appearing to be more common, it sells for more than the previous example, usually for just over $1k these days. It’s ~26” x 40” in size.
This final version seems the scarcest and is described as 20-1/2” x 26-1/2” in size. Like the previous examples, the easel isn’t original.
There may be other cardboard counter display examples out there, too, because there are certainly posters with different designs; if you know of any, let me know in the comments.
Here’s the original artwork Dick Perez painted for the 1989 Donruss Bobby Boniila #2 Diamond Kings card.
Ron Oser Enterprises offered it in a lot with a few other signed Perez originals in April 2001. I think the piece is 11” x 17”. I previously shared the Mike Schmidt card from this lot on the blog.
Here’s the final card, followed by a side-by-side comparison.
The final card’s colors may have been touched up, but the scan of the original art from a small picture in an old catalog probably isn’t super accurate either.
