Post World War ll
Misc. Cards
Baseball exploded in popularity after World War II, and many companies besides Topps and Bowman used baseball cards to help sell their products. In the 1950s, many big league cities had some kind of regional set of hot dog cards — in Cincinnati, cards came with Kahn's Wieners, while in New York, they came with Stahl-Meyer Franks. In St. Louis, cards could be found in packages of Hunter Weiners. Wilson Weiners, meanwhile, made a national set with players from many teams. In the late 1940s, baseballcards became popular in Cuba.
During the late 1940s, Sunbeam Bread, Remar Bread, Signal Oil and others produced cards of Pacific Coast League players. In 1952-53, Mothers' Cookies made colorful sets that included players from all eight of the PCL's teams. The coast league was an ideal place to play, with good salaries and even better weather, and many big leaguers ended their careers there, including (pictured below) Hall of Famers Ernie Lombardi, Arky Vaughan and Billy Herman. The league was also a stepping stone for those on the way up, including (see below) Casey Stengel, Billy Martin and Jackie Jensen. The last cards displayed here come from Union Oil in 1960-61. The '60 set features Seattle Rainiers, while the '61 set includes players from 6 of the 8 PCL teams, along with a few players from Japan's Taiyo Whales, who played an exhibition series against the PCL's Hawaii Islanders.
In 1952, Red Man Chewing Tobacco came out with the first of four series of colorful cards that showcased baseball's all-stars. Each card came with a tab that could be cut off, and if you had enough of them, you could redeem them for a cap of your favorite team. Unlike many sets from the era, this one has Ted Williams and Stan Musial. But there's no Jackie Robinson, likely due to his lack of consent. There's also no Mickey Mantle, who hadn't distinguished himself yet, but there are loads of other stars, including three cards each of Willie Mays.
In 1955, Kahn's Weiners — known as "The Weiner the World Awaited" — came out with its first set of cards, which featured Redlegs players in street clothes. The next year's set, see Frank Robinson's true rookie card below, also only included Cincinnati players. But in 1957, the Pirates were added. The Indians joined the set in 1959, while the Braves became part of it in 1964. By 1969, the last year these were made, players from the Mets, Cubs, White Sox and Tigers were also featured.
In 1958, Bell Brand Potato Chips came out with the first of four sets featuring players from the Los Angeles Dodgers. All of the images were captured at Vero Beach, where the Dodgers trained each spring. Represented are Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Maury Wills and many others. Also displayed here are Morrell Meats cards of Wally Moon — that's the L.A. Coliseum in the background — and Drysdale. The last image was taken at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles.
For kids who collected cards in the early 1970s, Kellogg's 3D cards offered something a little different from the various Topps products, which dominated the market. The 1971 set was very tough to complete because it was the only one you couldn't order through the mail. The 1973 set, meanwhile, was only 2D.
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