2020 Notes: this is the one of the first real features I did on my old site, and also a story about the first boxing card I got. On the same day that I got it, and saw the scrapbook that it came from, which is featured below, another gentleman came into my old local, where it came from, with another card album, this one holding the first 1951 Topps Ringsides I’d seen in person, including the Rocky Marciano card. I was hooked as soon as I saw those, and the rest is history. It was cool looking back at this post, and seeing how far things have come since then. Enjoy this look back at the scrapbook, the card I got from it, and the 2010-era Hobby Shop card display cases.
Image description: a 1948 Leaf Boxing John L. Sullivan trading card, in a plastic holder with gold screws. Boxer John L. Sullivan, a shirtless white man wearing blue pants with a white belt, assumes a boxing stance against a red background with a white border. Below him, “JOHN L. SULLIVAN” is printed in white letters on a black background.
I got this card last night, a steal at any price, much less $15, even with the glue damage on the back:
Image description: the back of a 1948 Leaf Boxing John L. Sullivan trading card. Some paper is stuck to the card, as it was glued into an album and removed from it. Text, in black letters on grey background, is as follows: “101—JOHN L. SULLIVAN 1st Heavyweight Champ 1882-1892 Won-32 Lost-1 Best Wgt. 195 lbs. Born-Boston Height-5’10” 1/2 Most “experts” list the first battle for the heavyweight championship of the world under Marquis of Queensbury rules with gloves and 3 minute rounds between Sullivan and James J. Corbett Sept. 7, 1892 in New Orleans. Corbett won by KO in 21 rds. However, Sullivan previously had been acclaimed as “first” champion by virtue of bare knuckle win over Paddy Ryan in 1882. Earned only $125,000 in ring, but more than a million dollars on theatrical and lecture tours. KNOCK-OUT BUBBLE GUM Collect this series of Boxing Greats You’ll be proud to show your gorgeous collection of Knock-Out cards in beautiful, specially designed 32 pg. Album. Get it for only 5 Knock-Out Wrappers and 25c. Striking color cover. Large (11 1/2″ x 8 1/2″) heavy black pages. Can display 168 Knock-Out cards. Send wrappers and coin to: LEAF GUM CO., BOX 5997 CHICAGO 80, ILL. Copyright 1948″
You see, there’s a great story behind that glue damage. This card was part of a pretty amazing collection that walked into my local card shop a few weeks ago. A man of about 70 brought in a leather-bound scrapbook he’d put together when he was about 9 or 10. In it, he had pasted newspaper clippings of some sports stories of the time, and further into the book, he’d also pasted a collection of probably about 100 sports cards (baseball, football and boxing), from the ’48 and ’49 Leaf sets and the ’49 Bowman set. We’re not talking lightweights here, either, as Ruth, DiMaggio and Teddy Ballgame were all represented on the baseball end of things, Doak Walker was in the football collection, and among the boxers, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson and the great John L. Sullivan (a criminally undervalued card even for its relatively late vintage, considering that “The Boston Strong Boy” was essentially the first American superstar athlete), pictured above, were just a few of the many names I saw.
The cards, aside from the paste jobs on the backs (which, all things considered, weren’t the worst I’ve seen by a long shot) were all pretty well-preserved and meticulously organized (including stencilled team names at the tops of the pages; the stencil was still in the scrapbook, too), especially considering that a kid of 10 or so, in the late ’40s did this. It’s actually a damn shame that the scrapbook was sold and disassembled after all this time, as it was a gorgeous time capsule and had to be full of memories for the owner, but from a business perspective, the collection would’ve been near-impossible to sell except by auction, which could’ve been dicey and a world of hassle.
Thanks to Bob at The Hobby Shop, I was able to take some pictures of the scrapbook, as well as some pictures of the other cards that were in it along with my John L. Sullivan card. Stand by for awesomeness.
Image description: an old, worn brown leather scrapbook, center, sits on top of a glass display case filled with trading cards.
The cover of this leatherbound beauty!
Image description: interior of a scrapbook shows, at left, a blank beige page, and at right, a brown stencil, about standard 8 1/2″ by 11″ binder size. Stencil contains the alphabet, numbers 1 through 9, and a about a dozen symbols.
The stencil used to letter the pages.
Image description: 2 newspaper clippings containing black and white photos from reports on old college American football games are glued onto a ruled page of binder paper in a scrapbook. In the pictures from the clippings, white men play American football. In the top clipping, a scrum of football players appears. In the bottom clipping, a white man wearing a number 16 jersey runs with a fooball while two other white men stand nearby, one wearing a dark jersey, possibly with a number 38 on it. There is text above the photos in the clippings, but it is not entirely legible in the picture.
Image description: 2 newspaper clippings containing black and white photos from reports on old college American football games are glued onto a ruled page of binder paper in a scrapbook. In the pictures from the clippings, white men play American football. In the top clipping, 4 football players are visible, and at the center, one of them is grabbing number 26 from behind as numbers 60, left, and 86, right, look on. In the bottom clipping, a white man wearing a number 41 jersey runs with a fooball, left, while a scrum of 3 other men struggle with each other to the right of the phot. There is text above the photos in the clippings, but it is not entirely legible in the picture.
A few pages of college football clippings!
Image description: a ruled piece of binder paper, in a scrapbook, with “PRO FOOTBALL” stencilled onto it in black ink. “PRO” is written horizontally at top center, and “FOOTBALL” is written diagonally, left to right, across the center of the page.
The front page of the pro f00’ball section.
Image description: a ruled piece of binder paper, in a scrapbook, with “SENATOR” stencilled across the center of the page in blue ink.
From the baseball section, a young man runs out of room to stencil in “Senators”.
Image description: a ruled piece of binder paper in a scrapbook, with square brown stains on the page, from where sports trading cards were once glued to it.
The back page of the Red Sox section. If you look closely, you can see where the cards were.
Image description: baseball cards featuring white and black baseball players in plastic holders fill a display case. From top to bottom, top row: 1956 Topps Al Kaline, 1956 Topps Karl Spooner, 1956 Topps Roberto Clemente, 1955 Topps Jackie Robinson. Second Row: 1954 Bowman Willie Mays, 1949 Leaf Ted Williams, 1954 Topps Ted Williams, 1954 Topps Hank Aaron. Third row: 1973 Topps Hank Aaron, 1965 Topps Steve Carlton, unknown 1954 Bowman card, 1970 Topps Ernie Banks, unknown New York Yankees player on 1956 Topps card. Fourth row, at bottom: 1973 Topps Nolan Ryan, 1974 Topps Nolan Ryan, 1970 Topps Nolan Ryan, 1955 Topps Sandy Amoros, 1954 Topps Tommy Lasorda.
Image description: baseball cards featuring white baseball players in plastic holders fill a display case. Top row: 1957 Topps Mickey Mantle, 1949 Leaf Lou Brissie. Bottom row, from left to right: 1968 Topps Mickey Mantle, 1949 Leaf Babe Ruth, 1949 Leaf Elmer Valo.
Image description: approximately 26 baseball and basketball cards featuring white and black baseball players in plastic holders fill a display case, too many to name all of, but 1968 Topps Roberto Clemente, 1949 Bowman Yogi Berra, 1949 Leaf Phil Rizzuto, 1949 Leaf Dom DiMaggio, and a stack of “Assorted Iverson” are in top row from left to right. 1957 Topps Frank Robinson, 1954 Bowman Yogi Berra, 1949 Leaf Joe DiMaggio, 1949 Bowman Bobby Doerr and an Upper Deck Dirk Nowitzki are in second row from left to right. Third row has 1970 Topps Johnny Bench, 1966 Topps Pete Rose, and 1949 Bowman Bobby Doerr from left to right. Fourth and bottom row has 1968 Topps Johnny Bench, 1954 Topps Whitey Ford, and 1964 Topps Pete Rose from left to right.
Image description: trading cards featuring white football players in plastic holders fill a display case. Visible are 1949 Leaf cards of Johnny Lujack, Doak Walker, Sid Luckman, Bobbie “Blonde Bomber” Layne, Bob Waterfield, and a 1965 Topps Joe Namath card.
Image description: trading cards featuring white football players in plastic holders fill a display case. Visible are 1949 Leaf cards of Chuck Bednarik, George McAfee, Sammy Baugh, and two cards of Don Maynard.Image description: trading cards featuring white and black boxers and football players in plastic holders fill a display case. Visible are 1949 Leaf football cards of Bob Waterfield and Harry “Chick” Jagade, and 1948 Leaf boxing cards of Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Jake La Motta and Max Schmeling.
