DEXTER PRESS HOF - INTRODUCTION

I'd like to present a brief guide of the Dexter Hall of Fame Postcards that were sold at the Baseball Museum in Cooperstown in the late 70's and early 80's.  Like the B&W and Gold/Yellow Hall of Fame Postcards, this issue depicts  players/managers/executives/umpires with a picture of their HOF plaque in front of a Blue, Red, Orange or Green background.  This set is not to be confused with earlier Dexter Press sets that were based on (then) current players and released in the late 1960's.

I also have other e-bay guides on  B&W HOF Postcards from Artvue and Albertype which you might find useful.  If you have any corrections or additional information regarding this guide, please contact me via the e-bay message feature.  Thanks and Happy Collecting!

THE BASICS - DEXTER PRESS

The Dexter Press Hall of Fame Plaques were apparently issued for sale in the Baseball Hall of Fame Museum gift shop in 1979.  The plaque's format was not as popular as its predecessors as the color and arrangement left little room for the player to sign.  There were only 54 different players issued (vs. ~169 possible inductees at that time).  They are of standard postcard size and stock with backgrounds of Red, Orange, Green and Blue.  As far as I am aware, each player was only printed in one color (so all Frank Chance cards are Red).  I am unaware of any variations in this set.

Although the set is limited to 54 postcards (Sports Collectors Digest lists 53 - omitting the Frank Chance - see picture above), and many - if not most - are relatively easy to obtain, it is a surprisingly difficult set to complete.  Personally, I worked on this set for two years trying to obtain the Babe Ruth postcard.  Other plaques that were difficult to obtain included Koufax, DiMaggio, Musial, Mays, Clemente, Mantle and Gehrig.

Generally, in other HOF Postcard issues, players like Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle etc. though the most desirable are also the most circulated postcards.  Remember that these were apparently sold individually in the HOF Gift Shop, so who are you more likely to buy: Babe Ruth or Amos Rusie?  Despite that, the Babe Ruth is definitely the most difficult in my estimation.  I have two guesses - and they are mere speculation - as to the difficulty of some and the ease of obtaining others:

Speculation #1.  The issue was so unpopular that they were pulled from the shelf after a limited print run(s).  The remaining stock was purchased and eventually found its way to the collecting market.  Therefore, if all players were printed in the same number, those purchased at the Hall of Fame (the most popular) could have been mailed or briefly cherished and then tossed by non-collectors.  This would dilute the poplular players' numbers in relation to the others that didn't sell at the HOF. 

Speculation #2.  The Orange Plaques may have had a lower print run.  When creating this guide, I noticed that the more difficult players were, in most cases, on the Orange Plaques.  Perhaps they weren't printed in the same numbers as the other colors?  Two definite exceptions to this rule is the Clemente (Blue) and Koufax (Red) plaques; therefore, I lean toward the first speculation.   Please contact me if you have hard information regarding this set (or further speculation).

  This is the reverse side of the Dexter Press HOF Postcard

  Examples of Blue (Clemente) and Orange (DiMaggio) Postcards

  Examples of Red (Koufax - signed) and Green (Boudreau - signed) Postcards

THE DEXTER HOF PLAQUE CHECKLIST

There are 54 Dexter Hall of Fame Plaques.  I am unaware of any variations in this set.
Bold* = The player depicted could have signed a Dexter HOF Postcard.
(Color) = The color, (Red, Orange, Green or Blue) of the plaque background.

Alexander, Pete (Blue)
Boudreau, Lou* (Green)
Campanella, Roy* (Green)
Chance, Frank  (not listed in the SDC Catalog) (Red)
Clemente, Roberto (Blue)
Cobb, Ty (Red)
Coveleski, Stan* (Red)
Crawford, Sam (Orange)
Dihigo, Martin (Blue)
DiMaggio, Joe* (Orange)
Evans, Billy (Blue)
Evers, Johnny (Red)
Faber, Red (Orange)
Flick, Elmer (Red)
Frick, Ford (Blue)
Frisch, Frankie (Blue)
Galvin, Pud (Red)
Gehrig, Lou (Orange)
Giles, Warren (Green)
Harridge, Will (Green)
Heilmann, Harry (Orange)
Hooper, Harry (Red)
Hoyt, Waite* (Blue)
Huggins, Miller (Green)
Johnson, Judy* (Green)
Joss, Addie (Red)
Keefe, Tim (Green)
Keeler, Willie (Blue)
Kelly, George* (Orange)
Koufax, Sandy* (Red)
Lajoie, Nap (Red)
Lloyd, Pop (Orange)
Mack, Connie (Green)
MacPhail, Larry (Blue)
Mantle, Mickey* (Orange)
Manush, Heinie (Green)
Mathews, Eddie* (Red)
Mays, Willie* (Orange)
Medwick, Joe (Green)
Musial, Stan* (Orange)
Pennock, Herb (Red)
Roush, Edd* (Red)
Rusie, Amos (Red)
Ruth, Babe (Orange)
Schalk, Ray (Green)
Simmons, Al (Orange)
Spalding, Al (Red)
Tinker, Joe (Green)
Traynor, Pie (Green)
Vance, Dazzy (Orange)
Waner, Lloyd* (Blue)
Williams, Ted* (Orange)
Wilson, Hack (Green)
Youngs, Ross (Blue)

Autographed Dexter HOF Plaque Postcards

Despite the small number of possible players that could have signed their Dexter plaque, it isn't a trivial matter to collect the entire set possible.  This is probably due to the fact that the set was not in print long, is not very popular, and the format does not lend itself to autographs. 

In my view the three most difficult autographed Dexters are Campenella (if you collect his post-accident signature), DiMaggio and Mantle.  Koufax, Musial, Mays and T. Williams are far easier to find but still more difficult than the remaining possible autographs which are fairly easy (Boudreau, Coveleski, Hoyt, J. Johnson, G. Kelly, Mathews, Roush, and L. Waner).  A quick review of the "easier" names reveals that all these players were very accommodating to autograph collectors both in person and through the mail.

******** End of Guide:  Color Baseball Hall of Fame Postcards - Dexter (1979) - Copyright 2008*********