Vintage Variations

A substantial amount of talk surrounding the new 2010 Topps Cards revolves around the subject of short printed card variations sharing the numbers of base cards. Years ago variations happened due to poor editing/proofing/ fact checking or updates and print processing changes. Today they happen in an effort by the manufacturers to created a buzz about their product.

This weekend Ben Henry over at The Baseball Card Blog published an interview with Bob Lemke, editor of the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards, who also writes his own baseball card blog. Bob Lemke's Blog covers discoveries of "NEW" vintage variations as well as several other subjects. I have added the Lemke Blog to my sidebar and imagine that if you enjoy vintage cards will likely do the same.

Those of you that have collected the 2009 Obak cards may be interested in his reviews of Obak originals. He's displaying the Obak cards in combination with several paragraphs of research he's done on each player. pretty impressive for what were often forgotten players from over a century ago.

Bob is also in the process of producing custom cards that never were for players from the tobacco set era. He has recently produced T202 Hassan Tri-Fold Card of the Red Sox 1910s outfield.

1959 Topps Variations

The 1959 Topps set I am building has it's share of variations and errors. There are three different Warren Spahn cards to collect which all have variations on his birth date. In one of the middle series of the set about a half dozen cards have two variations, one that mention the player has been traded or optioned and one card that does not. One of the cards that holds this distinction is for Harry Hanebrink:

1959 Topps #322b Harry Hanebrink (includes Traded Statement - Click to Enlarge)

The Trade Statement is contained in the Red Box. The cards that do not have a traded or optioned statement are harder to find. While I believe I have all of the cards with variations, I (of course) do not have any of the scarcer and more valuable versions.

On March 31st 1959 Hanebrink was dealt from the Braves to the Phils as part of a six player deal involving Gene Conley, Ted Kazanski, Stan Lopata, Joe Koppe and Johnny O'Brien.

Hanebrink's 1959 season with the Phils was his last in the majors. He was not issued a Topps card in 1960. As far as I know this is as close as you can get to a Harry Hanebrink Phillies card.