CALLAHAN HOF 1950-1956 - INTRODUCTION

I'd like to present a brief guide of the small Callahan cards distributed by the Baseball Hall of Fame (and apparently some ballparks) from ~1950 - 1956.  The size of the card is only 1.75" x 2.5" and they were produced in black-and-white format.  The front depicts a Marlo DeMarco pencil sketch of the player/manager/executive/umpire - with a thin line boader - some cards include the subject's replica signature.  The reverse side includes a detailed biography.  The set is not numbered.

I will try to be as factual as possible, however there are some areas of speculation - which I will try to identify as such.  Adding to the confusion, it is my belief that there are minor errors and omissions in the Sports Collector's Digest (SCD) Catalog.  If you have any additional information, or notice an error, please let me know using e-bay's message feature.  I would like to acknowledge Paul Jastrzembski who has provided some of the information for this guide.  If this guide proves helpful to you, please indicate so below - it's my only reward for presenting this material to you.  Happy Collecting!  -  bobfromramona

THE BASICS - CALLAHAN - 1950 - 1956

The Callahan Baseball Hall of Fame set of 1950 - 1956 is one of  the more challanging post WWII sets to complete.  Many of the 82 different players, umpires, managers, executive and HOF cards are quite plentiful and will be no problem to obtain.  Others - including variations and post 1950 inductees - can be very difficult to find and make collecting the entire 91 cards quite challenging.

Apparently the set was first issued in 1950 or 1951 (see notes on book below) with the currently existing Hall of Fame inductees (which then would have numbered only 58).  After that time new inductees were added - perhaps each year or every so often?  In addition to the Hall of Fame inductees, the set included an exterior and interior picture of the Hall of Fame (same as the Albertype & Artvue postcards) and the current baseball commissioner Albert "Happy" Chandler, who later (1982) became a member himself.  The cards were sold as one set in a little box (which is also collected), so obviously those inducted later on were issued in smaller numbers than those who were already in the Hall during the first issue of the set.  Therefore the 1955 inductees (DiMaggio, Lyons, Hartnett, Schalk & Vance) should be the most difficult to find.  Additionally some cards contained errors which were later corrected.  These later corrections - in most if not all cases - were probably issued in smaller numbers than the intial issue.

  The backside of the Callahan issue has a few paragraph biography.

CALLAHAN CHECKLIST

There are 82 different cards in the Callahan set.  In addition, there are 9 (discounting the Gehringer "variation") variations making a total of 91 cards in the complete set.  The key cards are DiMaggio and Chandler.  The Sports Collector's Digest Catalog lists a variation for Charlie Gehringer (dark hat) that probably never really existed.  SDC also omits the Heilmann variation.   Items in Bold Italics* indicate a variation exists (see section below).  The year of induction to the Hall of Fame is included for those inducted after 1950 (when the first issue was printed).

HOF Exterior*
HOF Interior*
Alexander, Grover
Anson, Cap
Baker, Home Run
Barrow, Ed  (1953)
Bender, Chief *  (1953)
Bresnahan, Roger
Brouthers, Dan
Brown, Mordecai
Bulkeley, Morgan
Burkett, Jesse
Cartwright, Alexander
Chadwick, Henry
Chance, Frank
Chandler, Happy
Chesbro, Jack
Clarke, Fred
Cobb, Ty
Cochran/e, Mickey*
Collins, Eddie*
Collins, Jimmy
Comiskey, Charlie
Connolly, Tom  (1953)
Cummings, Candy
Dean, Dizzy  (1953)
Delahanty, Ed
Dickey, Bill*  (1954)
DiMaggio, Joe (1955)
Duffy, Hugh
Evers, Johnny
Ewing, Buck
Foxx, Jimmie (1951)
Frisch, Frankie
Gehrig, Lou
Gehringer, Charlie (variation disputed - see variation section below & NEW Pictures!)
Griffith, Clark
Grove, Lefty
Hartnett, Gabby  (1955)
Heilmann, Harry* (1952)
Hornsby, Rogers
Hubbell, Carl
Jennings, Hugh
Johnson, Ban
Johnson, Walter
Keeler, Willie
Kelly, King
Klem, Bill  (1953)
Lajoie, Nap
Landis, Kenesaw M.
Lyons, Ted  (1955)
Mack, Connie
Maranville, Rabbit  (1954)
Mathewson, Christy
McCarthy, Tommy
McGinnity, Joe
McGraw, John
Nichols, Kid
O'Rourke, Jim
Ott, Mel (1951)
Pennock, Herb
Plank, Eddie
Radbourn, Charlie
Robinson, Wilbert
Ruth, Babe
Schalk, Ray  (1955)
Simmons, Al  (1953)
Sisler, George*
Spalding, Al
Speaker, Tris
Terry, Bill  (1954)
Tinker, Joe
Traynor, Pie
Vance, Dazzy  (1955)
Waddell, Rube
Wagner, Honus
Wallace, Bobby  (1953)
Walsh, Ed
Waner, Paul* (1952)
Wright, George
Wright, Harry  (1953)
Young, Cy

DIFFICULT CARDS

The following rankings are based soley on my observations over the past few years.  I have no hard data on numbers that were printed.  I believe that the values listed in the SDC catalog neither reflect reality nor the difficulty of obtaining some of these cards.  In my opinion, the Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, Wagner and Dean are over-valued by SDC and most of the variations and post 1950 inductees are under-valued.  If you refer to the checklist, I have listed the year of induction for all folks after 1950. 
Extremely Rare
     The Joe DiMaggio Callahan may be one of the most difficult post WWII cards to obtain.  One veteran collector told me he doubted if there were 100 DiMaggio cards in existence.  I don't know about that, but I do know that this is a very rare card.
     Al Chandler - a very tough card to find.  He was forced to resign as Baseball's Comissioner in 1951 - probably shortly after this set was issued - which appears to be why this card is so rare.
Very Difficult
     Home Run Baker
     Gabby Hartnett
     Ted Lyons
     Ray Schalk
Difficult
     Most of the (b) variations (see below)
     Ed Barrow
     Tom Connolly
     Bill Klem
     Dazzy Vance (seems more plentiful than the other 1955 inductees?)
Somewhat Scarce
     Chief Bender (a)
     Dizzy Dean
     Bill Dickey (a)
     Rabbit Maranville
     Al Simmons
     Bill Terry
     Bobby Wallace
     Paul Waner (a)
     Harry Wright
Not Scarce - But Expensive
     Ruth & Gehrig are common but command a premium due to demand.  Cobb and - to a lesser degree, Wagner - is also in this category.

  The Chandler & DiMaggio are the key cards to this set.

CALLAHAN HOF VARIATIONS

Chief Bender (a) Final Paragraph ends "...immortal name for him."
Chief Bender (b) Final Paragraph ends "... died in 1954"
Mickey Cochran (a) Cochrane's last name is missing the trailing "e".
Mickey Cochrane (b) Despite SDC prices to the contrary, the correctly named card is M-U-C-H more difficult to find.
Eddie Collins (a) 2nd Paragraph begins "Eddie had every reason to be cocky..."
Eddie Collins (b) 2nd Paragraph begins "He was brilliant..."
Bill Dickey (a) 1st Paragraph ends "... he was right-handed all the way."
Bill Dickey (b) 1st Paragraph ends "...during his final year."
Charlie Gehringer - It is most likely that the supposed "dark cap" variation never existed.  SEE PICTURES AT THE END OF THIS GUIDE.   ***Please contact me with any contrary information.***
Harry Heilmann (a) Incomplete black lined border on front - Bottom line missing .
Harry Heilmann (b) Complete black lined border on front.
George Sisler (a) Last Paragraph begins "Sisler today is...".
George Sisler (b) Last Paragraph begins "Sisler was chosen as..."
Paul Waner (a) Incomplete black lined border on front - Bottom line missing .
Paul Waner (b) Complete black lined border on front.
Museum Interior (a) No Date on top of the reverse side list.
Museum Exterior (b) Date on top of reverse side list is "1954"
Museum Exterior (a)  Text ends "...playing days are concluded".
Museum Interior (b) Text ends "...to all baseball men".

  Mickey Cochran (a) & Mickey Cochrane (b)

 Harry Heilmann with and without complete border

 Paul Waner with and without complete border

  This 15 page booklet is 6"x9" and contains pictures of 62 Callahan cards (including the bios) and has a 1950 copyright.  60 pictures are of the first 60 inductees (including Jimmie Foxx and Mel Ott inducted in 1951?!!!).  The first page of this booklet (see below) also includes the HOF exterior card (not the interior) and Baseball Commisioner Happy Chandler.

  Here is the first page of the booklet with the HOF Exterior & Happy Chandler cards.  So does this booklet provide evidence that the first issue of the cards included only the first 58 inductees? (no Foxx & Ott), first 60? (including Foxx & Ott - but issued in 1951) or 62 including the 60 inductees plus Chandler and HOF Exterior?

EXCLUSIVE!!  GEHRINGER "WHITE & DARK CAP" SCANS

  Here is the typical Gehringer "White Cap" version.  PSA Slabbed.

 Here is the disputed Gehringer "Dark Hat" offered on e-bay ~2004 and selling for ~$75 if my memory serves me correctly.  In my opinion, it appears identical to the "White Cap" version.  I have been told that this submission has been withdrawn, but a check on PSA (in mid-2007) still showed this card as "DARK CAP".  PSA 11741699

The history behind these and other cards is one of the things that makes collecting vintage cards so interesting and so much fun!  If you have any additional information about this set, please contact me via e-bay messaging!  Please rate this guide below - only ~75 of almost 5,100 visitors to this guide have done so!

*** End of Guide: Callahan Baseball Hall of Fame (1950 - 1956) - Copyright 2006, 2007, 2008***