Standard Catalog Update #26 :1955 Wilson Franks Baseball Books

A year after issuing its 20-card set of baseball cards as package inserts, Wilson Meats created a series of four Baseball Books (“for boys”) and four Fun Books (“for GIRLS”) that were inserted into packages of Wilson Certified Franks.

As rare as the Wilson Franks card are, these booklets are even moreso. We don’t even know who two of the four featured players in the series were.
The Baseball and Fun Books were 16 pages “IN FULL COLORS” in a size of about 4-1/2” x 3-1/2,” printed on low-grade paper. The back page of each book is ambiguous as to whether there was one baseball and one fun book in each package of wieners, or whether there was just one book per package.

The front of the baseball book has a large comic book-style portrait of the player on a yellow background with a stylized baseball diamond. The typography reads, WILSON & CO., INC. / BASEBALL / AS THE STARS PLAY IT / (Title of book) / BY / (Player facsimile autograph) / (Team name)”. The inside pages have baseball tips presented in comic book illustrations.

We don’t know what the cover of the “girls” books looks like, or their inside pages. The Fun Books advertised on the back covers were: Circus Cut-Out and Fun Book, Western Cut-Out and Fun Book, Dress-Up and Fun Book, and, Travel Cut-Out and Fun Book.

The baseball books are: 1. Pointers on Pitching (player unknown), 2. Batting and Fielding Secrets (player unknown), 3. Playing the Infield (Harvey Kuenn), and, 4. How to Catch (Sammy White).
If you can identify, and verify through a scan or photocopy, the identity of the two unknown players in this series, we’d be happy to hear from you.