Checklist of my custom baseball cards, 1951-56

Until now, there has been no place where all of my custom cards could be found in checklist form.  It is my intention to update this posting as new cards are created. Similar checklists for my other baseball, non-sports and football custom cards will also be posted.

Custom card availability. Unless noted, all of my custom cards are available to collectors for $12.50 each, postpaid for one or two cards; $9.95 each for three or more (mix/match). To order, email me at scbcguy@yahoo.com for directions on paying via check/money order, or to my PayPal account.

1951 Bowman
325 Satchel Paige, Browns
326 Kevin Saucier, Browns

1952 Bowman
253 Satchel Paige, Browns

1952 Topps
408 Satchel Paige, Browns
409 Rogers Hornsby, Browns
410 Duke Markell, Browns
411 Luis Marquez, Braves
412 Nellie Fox, White Sox
413 Jack Daniels, Braves
414 Johnny Logan, Braves
415 Sam Hairston, White Sox
416 Gene Conley, Braves
417 Bill Sharman, Dodgers
418 Bob Hope-Bing Crosby
419 Paul Pettit, Pirates
420 Buzz Clarkson, Braves

1952 Red Man
27 Mickey Mantle, Yankees

1955 Red Man
26 Ernie Banks, Cubs

1953 Bowman black-and-white
65 Jackie Robinson, Dodgers
66 Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Dodgers


1953 Topps
253 Richie Ashburn, Phillies
261 Jim Pisoni, Browns
267 Harry Hanebrink. Braves
268 Stan Musial, Cardinals
271 Quincy Trouppe, Indians
281 Bob Hope, Indians
282 Bing Crosby, Pirates




1953 Johnston Cookies Milwaukee Braves
26 Joey Jay
27 Harry Hanebrink

1954 Bowman
225 Charlie Pride, Memphis Red Sox
226 Hank Aaron, Braves
227 Ernie Banks, Cubs (w/bats)
227 Ernie Banks, Cubs (portrait)
228 Warren Spahn, Braves

1954 Topps
251 Charlie Pride, Memphis Red Sox
252 George Crowe, Braves
253 Jack Faszholz, Cardinals
254 Mickey Mantle, Yakees
255 Bobby Thomson, Braves
256 Ralph Kiner, Cubs
257 Ralph Branca, Tigers
258 Joe Adcock, Braves

1955 Bowman
322 George Crowe, Braves
323 Sandy Koufax, Dodgers (belt to cap)
323 Sandy Koufax, Dodgers (letters to cap)
324 Duke Snider, Dodgers
325 Roberto Clemente, Pirates
326 Warren Spahn, Braves

1955 Topps
123 Sandy Koufax, Dodgers (green)
123 Sandy Koufax, Dodgers (yellow)
175 Richie Ashburn, Phillies
186 Charlie Grimm, Braves
203 Mickey Mantle, Yankees
209 Bob Hazle, Redlegs
211 Bobby Thomson, Braves
212 Johnny Logan, Braves
213 Ralph Kiner, Indians
214 Ralph Branca, Yankees
215 Phillips Paine, Braves
216 Bob Thorpe, Cubs
217 George Crowe, Braves
218 Nino Escalera, Redlegs
219 Luke Easter, Indians
220 Joe Adcock, Braves

1956 Topps
7     Paul Pettit, Hollywood Stars
9     Bill Mazeroski, Hollywood Stars
12   Satchel Paige, Miami Marlins
341 Casey Stengel, Yankees
342 Charley Peete, Cardinals
343 Frank Robinson, Redlegs
344 Tom Gastall, Orioles
345 Charlie Grimm, Braves
346 Tommy Lasorda, Athletics
347 Bill Mazeroski, Pirates
348 Stan Musial, Cardinals
349 Bob Hazle, Braves
350 Stu Locklin, Indians
351 Brooks Robinson, Orioles
352 Rocky Colavito, Indians

'55 Topps expands George Crowe custom lineup

Regular readers of my blog know that growing up as a fan of the Milwaukee Braves in the mid-1950s, backup first baseman and pinch-hitter extraordinaire George Crowe was my favorite ballplayer.

What you may not know is that I often create my custom baseball, football and non-sports cards on the basis of an image that pops into my head and refuses to go away until I've put all other card creations on the back burner and brought that image to life.

That's how it was with my latest custom, a George Crowe card in the style of 1955 Topps.

This is my third Crowe custom, and it likely won't be my last. In years past I've created Crowe cards in the format of 1955 Bowman and 1954 Topps, filling some gaps in Crowe's "real" baseball card legacy. Crowe never appeared on a Bowman card in the 1950s. In the Topps lineup he was included in the 1952 and 1953 sets, then absent until 1956 when he had his last Topps card as a Braves. In the 1957-58 sets he's pictured with the Reds and in 1959-61, with the Cardinals. Big George is also found among many of the regional and team-issue card sets of the 1950s.  

I set aside nice pictures of Crowe when I find them, waiting for the day the inspiration strikes to create yet another George Crowe "card that never was."

"New" Rails and Sails: City of Miami

As I mentioned in my blog back on Jan. 29, recently my custom card creating has been concentrated on making train cards in the 1955 Topps Rails and Sails format.

This pair of "City of Miami" cards will likely be my last train cards for a while. As much as I enjoy researching the trains of the streamliner era of the 1940s-1960s, there are some other things I want to move on to. 

The back of my card #207 gives a pretty good capsule history of the early days of the Illinois Central Railroad's City of Miami.

The luxury streamliner originally ran from Chicago to Miami every third day into 1957, then every other day until service was discontinued in 1971.

It started out with a seven-car consist (that's a railroad term I learned in my research), the GM diesel pulling the cars that had been designed and built by Pullman-Standard.

There were four named coaches -- the Poinsettia, Hibiscus, Japonica and Camellia -- each seating 60 passengers, except the Camellia, which was a women-and-children-only coach and featured an on-board nurse-stewardess. The Bougainvillea was a combination baggage and dormitory car, with berths for 12 crewmen. That coach, until 1958, also contained the train's "Jim Crow" seating, 22 seats for black passengers.

The 48-seat dining car was named Palm Garden and there was a tavern-lounge-observation car called the Bamboo Grove, with 32 seats in the bar area and 22 in the observation area. Both were initially unavailable for use by blacks.

My card shows the original paint scheme of the City of Miami, in tropical orange and green, with scarlet trim. All of the cars' interiors were decorated in a tropical theme. After World War II, the train was repainted to conform to the IC's chocolate brown and orange decor.

In 1949 sleeping coaches were added to the City of Miami.

Collectors of 1955 Topps Rails and Sails cards will notice that my "Bamboo Grove Car" card is a departure from the original set, which featured only exterior views of the trains and ships.

1955 Bob Thorpe, rehabbed already

After reading my  blog for Oct. 10-11, a colleague noted that I was not completely satisfied with the portrait picture used on the 1955 Topps-style custom creation.

He sent along a couple of new choices of Thorpe in a Cubs uniform. Turns out Thorpe went to spring training with Chicago in 1957 and was pictured in the yearbook.

That picture had the requisite contrast and after I colorized it, I thought it came up to the standards of "real" 1955 Topps cards. In any event it is a great improvement.

Bob Thorpe, '55 Cubs, added to my custom cards

            It's not surprising that Bob Thorpe didn't have any Bowman or Topps cards while he was active in pro ball. Despite an impressive minor league record, he played only two games in the majors, both with the Cubs in 1955.
           One has to be careful when discussing Bob Thorpe of the early 1950s; there were two of them in the big leagues. Benjamin Robert Thorpe was an outfielder for the Boston/Milwaukee Braves 1951-53. Robert Joseph Thorpe was a pitcher for the 1955 Chicago Cubs. It is the latter who is the subject of my most recent custom cards.

Thorpe had been named the outstanding high school athlete of Southern California in 1952, when his San Diego High School team won the Southern California state championship. He then pitched his San Diego American Legion Junior team to second place in the national finals and was named American Legion Player of the Year.

Signed by the Cubs for a reported $15,000, Thorpe pitched for Class C Stockton of the California League in 1953, with a 16-8 record. From his first year in pro ball, he was widely heralded as a pitcher, rather than just another teenage thrower. He didn’t have a great fastball, but kept hitters off balance with off-speed pitches and an outstanding change-up. He threw a curve that dropped off the table and he could deliver it with pinpoint accuracy.

Returning to Stockton in 1954, the young right-hander tied a league record with 28 wins, the most in Organized Baseball that season. He started 33 games and finished all but one of them, pitching 300.1 innings. His 2.28 ERA led the league. He was named California League Most Valuable Player.

That performance earned him a call-up from the Cubs for 1955, the first time the team had ever advanced a player from Class C to the majors.

The Cubs debuted Thorpe before the Wrigley faithful in the final game of the 1955 exhibition season, with the White Sox visiting.

Starting before the crowd of 19,504, Thorpe was only able to last two innings. While he struck out four, he walked five and gave up four runs on four hits.

That outing appeared to shake the confidence of Cubs manager Stan Hack and he limited Thorpe to mop-up appearances in two games with no decision before he was optioned to Des Moines on May 9, where he was 10-10.

He developed arm trouble and in the next two seasons in the Pacific Coast League was 14-22.

In the Rule 5 minor league draft after the 1957 season, the Pirates drafted Thorpe for 1958, but he spent the entire season on the disabled list after undergoing an operation to remove bone chips from his right elbow.

He tried a comeback with Columbus in the Sally League in 1959 but retired after three games.

Working for his father-in-law as an apprentice electrician on a power line near San Diego, Thorpe was fatally electrocuted March 17, 1960. He was splicing a high-powered 2400-volt electric cable. He instinctively jumped back as the power hit his palm and his elbow grounded against a metal transformer box. The force of the current burned his fingerprints into the metal base of the awl he was using to apply insulating fluid.
Thorpe had only one "real" baseball card during his playing days. He is found in the scarce 1955 Old Homestead franks team set of the Des Moines Bruins.
I chose to create two different Bob Thorpe cards. My 1955-format card is what might have been when he was a highly touted rookie. My 1958-style card is an optimistic look at what Topps might have done if Thorpe had not been injured.
As hard as it was to find suitable photos of Bob Thorpe to make the '55-style custom, getting the photo of Thorpe was a purely a stroke of good fortune. 
The spring training picture of Thorpe as a Pirate has been in my files for two or three years, if not longer. In fact, I don't remember now from whence it came. I do know that a google-search for Bob Thorpe photos does not return this image.
For those who have an interest in my custom card-making process, tomorrow I'll share some of the challenges I faced in making the 1955-style card.