Baseball "cards" in Newspapers

       Over the last 100 years or so, the sports section of various newspapers around the U.S. have featured illustrations or even "baseball cards" of baseball players.  In the 1920s and 1930s, syndicated columnist and cartoonist Jack Sords, in his "Sords Points" pieces, provided wonderful illustrations to go along with his pieces, both historical and contemporary, of all manner of athletes.

       By the 1970s and 1980s, the newspaper industry had undergone decades of cheapening, and there just wasn't room (or money) in a newspaper for cartoons that were neither funny nor political.  But as a small bonus some papers included series of short profiles designed as collectible "cards", to be clipped out of the newspaper and saved, such as these mentioned by the Uncataloged Baseball Cards blog:

1958 Cincinnati Enquirer Reds Scrapbook

1984 Cincinnati Enquirer Reds Scrapbook

1970-1971 Dayton Daily News

1981 Long Beach Telegram - Steve Garvey/Rod Carew


       Some of these have actually been catalogued and included in the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards, such as the sets from the Minneapolis Star in the late 70s:

1977 Minneapolis Star Twins Scrapbook - Rod Carew


       As I dig around in various online newspaper archives, I'll post the "card" sets I find here and the newspapers and issues they appeared in.  Incidentally, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazettes below are all available in the Google News Archive and the Chicago sets are available in the Chicago Tribune Archive.

Boston Daily Record, "Baseball Scrap Book", 1934
Burlington Free Press, "Free Press Baseball Cards", 30 March - 20 May 1978 (not every day)

Chicago Tribune, "Autograph Album", 04 July - 04 August 1963

Chicago Tribune, "Cubs & Sox Scrapbook", 12 June - 9 July 1977

Chicago Tribune, "Sox & Cubs Scrapbook", 22 June - 18 July 1980

Chicago Tribune, "White Sox Scrapbook", 13 September - 01 October 1983

Chicago Tribune, "Cubs Scrapbook", 05 September - 02 October 1984

Cincinnati Enquirer, "Reds Scrapbook", 02 March - 14 April 1958

Cincinnati Enquirer, "Reds Scrapbook", 22 February - 31 March 1959

Cincinnati Enquirer, "Reds Scrapbook", 22 February - 29 March 1962

Cincinnati Enquirer, "Reds Scrapbook", 09 March - 10 April 1963

Cincinnati Enquirer, "Reds Scrapbook", 12 March - 10 April 1964

Cincinnati Enquirer, "The Enquirer Book on the Reds", 11 March - 08 April 1965

Cincinnati Enquirer, "Reds Scrapbook", 06 March - 04 April 1966

Cincinnati Enquirer, "Meet your Reds", 12 March - 09 April 1967

Cincinnati Enquirer, "Reds Scrapbook" printed in 1984

Cincinnati Post, "Your Album of the Reds", 22 July - 22 August 1938, large photos of each player with facsimile signatures.  The series was started without fanfare, only a note along the bottom of the front page on July 22nd of the first photo, and ended just as abruptly. There were no photos on Aug 3 & 4, or Aug 6 & 8.

1938-07-22 Bill Myers

1938-07-23 Paul Derringer

1938-07-25 Willard Hershberger

1938-07-26 Ray Davis

1938-07-27 Lewis Riggs

1938-07-28 Joe Cascarella

1938-07-29 Buck McCormick

1938-07-30 Ernie Lombardi

1938-08-01 Gene Schott

1938-08-02 Dusty Cooke

1938-08-05 Junior Frey

1938-08-09 Lee Grissom

1938-08-10 Whitey Moore

1938-08-11 Harry Craft

1938-08-12 Johnny Vander Meer

1938-08-13 Bill McKechnie

1938-08-15 Edd Roush

1938-08-16 Harry Gowdy

1938-08-17 Wally Berger

1938-08-18 Lee Gamble

1938-08-19 Bucky Walters

1938-08-20 Don Lang

1938-08-22 Nolen Richardson

Dayton Daily News, "Bubblegumless Cards", 05 April 1970 - 26 May 1971

Detroit  Free Press, Bubblegumless Tiger Cards Sept 1968

[Escondido] The Times-Advocate, 11 April 1983, 29 full-color Padres cards, included in a special 1983 Padres supplement
Long Beach Press Telegram, 1980 (series of 26, two players per "card", all Dodgers and Angels)
Long Beach Press Telegram, 1981 (series of 26, two players per "card", all Dodgers and Angels)
Los Angeles Examiner, "Dodgers' Album" 1960
Los Angeles Herald Examiner, "Dodgers Scrapbook" printed in 1977
Minneapolis Star, "Twins Scrapbook", 04 July - 12 August 1977

Philadelphia Bulletin, Phillies Stand-Ups, 25 July - 29 August 1949
Philadelphia Bulletin, Athletics/Phillies 1949
Philadelphia Inquirer, "Fightin' Phillies Album", 17 September - 1 October 1950, included in the Suday magazine supplement, 8 per issue, 4 per page

Sports Stamps 28 Apr 1936, Tue Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, "Sports Stamps" printed, on weekdays, 1936 across several different major regional Hearst-owned papers such as the Detroit Times, Buffalo Times and Chicago American

14 April Gus Suhr

14 April Pie Traynor

15 April Paul Waner

15 April Lloyd Waner

16 April Bud Hafey

16 April Tommy Padden

17 April Fred Schulte

17 April Cookie Lavagetto

18 April Arky Vaughan

18 April Clarence Struss

19 April reprinted the first 10 stamps with added brief bios of each player.

From the 20th, bios were included with each stamp.

20 April Ralph Birkofer

20 April Bill Swift 

21 April Bill Brubaker

21 April Hal Finney

22 April Cy Blanton

22 April John Tising

23 April Red Lucas

23 April Waite Hoyt

24 April Guy Bush

24 April Floyd Young

25 April Mace Brown

25 April Jim Weaver

27 April Woody Jensen

27 April Al Todd

28 April Jewel Ens

28 April Honus Wagner

New York Giants

29 April Bill Terry, mgr

29 April Travis Jackson

30 April Mel Ott

30 April Dick Bartell

1 May Carl Hubbell

1 May Hank Leiber

2 May Hal Schumacher

2 May Fred Fitzsimmons

4 May Slick Castleman

4 May Harry Gumbert

5 May Gus Mancuso

5 May Mark Koenig

6 May Burgess Whitehead

6 May Joe Moore

7 May Fred Marberry

7 May George Davis

Chicago Cubs

8 May Lefty Grimm, mgr

8 May Woody English

9 May Gabby Hartnett

9 May Phil Cavaretta

11 May Lon Warneke

11 May Larry French

12 May Bill Lee

12 May Roy Henshaw

13 May Chuck Klein

13 May Tex Carleton

14 May Stanley Hack

14 May Billy Jurges

15 May Augie Galan

15 May Frank Demaree

27 Jul Dusty Cooke, Red Sox

27 Jul John Whitehead, White Sox

28 Jul Buddy Myer, Senators

28 Jul Earl Whitehill, Senators

29 Jul Carl Reynolds, Senators

29 Jul Ossie Bluege, Senators

30 Jul Buck Newsom, Senators

30 Jul Jake Powell, Yankees

31 Jul Bucky Harris, Senators mgr

Cleveland Browns

31 Jul Lee Tietje

1 Aug Julius Solters

1 Aug Lee Roy Mehaffey

3 Aug Harland Clift

3 Aug Lyn Lary, Browns

4 Aug Rogers Hornsby, Browns mgr

4 Aug Russ Van Atta

5 Aug Joe McCarthy, Yankees mgr

5 Aug Connie Mack, Athletics mgr

6 Aug Casey Stengel, Dodgers mgr

6 Aug Chuch Dressen, Reds mgr

7 Aug Bill McKechnie, Braves mgr

7 Aug Steve O'Neill, Indians mgr

8 Aug Ivy Andrews, Browns

Later the series was expanded to include other athletes.

8 Aug Johnny Revolta, golfer

10 Aug Glenn Cunningham, runner

10 Aug Jesse Owens, runner

11 Aug Tony Canzoneri, boxer

11 Aug Fritzie Zivic, boxer

12 Aug Sam Parks, Jr., golfer

12 Aug Gene Sarazen, golfer

13 Aug Jack Sharkey, boxer

13 Aug Joe Louis, boxer

14 Aug Jimmy Braddock, boxer

14 Aug Max Schmeling, boxer

15 Aug Babe Risko, boxer

15 Aug Freddie Steele, boxer

17 Aug Bobby Jones, golfer

17 Aug W. Lawson Little, golfer

18 Aug Jock Sutherland, Pitt coach

18 Aug Howard Harpster, Tech coach

19 Aug Judge Walter P. Steffen, coach

19Aug John (Clipper) Smith, coach

20 Aug Pop Warner, coach

20 Aug Harry Kipke, coach

21 Aug Horton Smith, golf pro

21 Aug Jimmy Thomson, golf pro

22 Aug Helen Wills Moody, tennis

22 Aug Tony Manero, golf pro

24 Aug Ty Cobb, baseball star

24 Aug Jess Willard, boxer

25 Aug Emil Loeffler, golf pro

25 Aug Vincent Eldred, golf pro

26 Aug Bill Tilden, tennis

26 Aug Ellsworth Vines, tennis

27 Aug Gus Dorais, football coach

27 Aug Lou Diegel, golf pro

28 Aug Johnny Risko, boxer

28 Aug Bert Munhall, trainer

29 Aug Fred Perry, tennis

29 Aug Helen Jacobs, tennis

31 Aug Ray Eberle, announcer

31 Aug Wilmer Allison, tennis

1 Sept W.C. Fownes, Jr., golfer

1 Sept George A. Ormiston, golfer

2 Sept Jack Cummings, City League baseball

2 Sept Heine Boll, City League baseball

3 Sept Mary Kuhn, golfer

3 Sept Betty Abernety, golfer

4 Sept David O'Loughlin, tennis

4 Sept Frank Broida, tennis

5 Sept Lou Ambers, boxer

5 Sept Sixto Escobar, boxer

Pittsburgh Press, "Buc-A-Day", 05 March - 29 March 1972 

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, " '72 Pirates Album", 06 March - 06 April 1972

1 Gene Alley (March 6)
2 Steve Blass (March 7)
3 Nelson Briles (March 8)
4 Dave Cash (March 9)
5 Roberto Clemente (March 10)
6 Gene Clines (March 11)
7 Vic Davalillo (March 13)
8 Dock Ellis (March 14)
9 Dave Giusti (March 15)
10 Richie Hebner (March 16)
11 Jackie Hernandez (March 17)
12 Ramon Hernandez (March 18)
13 Bob Johnson (March 20)
14 Bruce Kison (March 21)
15 Milt May (March 22)
16 Bill Mazeroski (March 23)
17 Bob Miller (March 24)
18 Bob Moose (March 25)
19 Al Oliver (March 27)
20 Jose Pagan (March 28)
21 Bob Robertson (March 29)
22 Charlie Sands (March 30)
23 Manny Sanguillen (March 31)
24 Rennie Stennett (April 1)
25 Willie Stargell (April 3)
26 Bob Veale (April 4)
27 Luke Walker (April 5)
28 Bill Virdon (April 6)

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, " '73 Pirates Album", 21 Feb - 21 March 1973

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, " '75 Pirates Album", 03 March - 04 April 1975

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "Pirates Portraits", 13 June - 18 July 1977

San Diego Union, "Meet the Padres",  8 March - 19 April 1981
San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco Giants 16 October 1987
Seattle Post-Intelligencer,  "Pilot Profiles", 1969
Wichita Eagle-Beacon, Monday papers, 1983-1985 @ Uncatalogued Baseball Cards: 1983, 1984, 1985

Other sports:

Basketball
The Michigan Daily, Wolverine Trading Cards, 1984
November 28, 1984 - Antoine Joubert, Gary Grant, Robert Henderson, Garde Thompson, Leslie Rockymore, Chuck DeGlopper, Gerary Rudy, Roy Tarpley, Rich Rellford, Steve Stoyko, Ron Gibbs, Butch Wade.

Football
Cincinnati Enquirer, Bengals Scrapbook, 3 Aug - 14 Sept 1970

Hattiesburg American, "Eagles Cards", 28 November - 16 December 1988

University of Southern Mississippi, 75 players, 5 players per issue

Tallahassee Democrat bubble gum-less FSU/FAMU cards, 18 September - 20 Novenber 1982

NASCAR

The Tuscaloosa News, Talladega's Legends Posters, October 6-23, 2001
1 Tony Stewart
2 Bobby Labonte
3 Darrell Waltrip
4 Bobby Allison
5 Mark Martin
6 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
7 Bill Elliott
8 Sterling Marlin
9 Cale Yarborough
10 Dale Jarrett
11 Kevin Harvick
12 Neil Bonnett
13 Jeff Gordon
14 Davey ALlison
15 Richard Petty
16 Dale Earnhardt
17 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Soccer
Seattle Times, "Seattle Sounders" printed August 1980
10 Aug Jack Brand/Mike Ivanow
11 Aug John Ryan/Bobby Howe
12 Aug David Nish/Jeff Stock
13 Aug Tommy Hutchison/Bruce Miller
14 Aug Ian Bridge/Steve Buttle
15 Aug Bruce Rioch/John Andersen
16 Aug Mark Peterson/Roy Greaves
17 Aug Alan Hinton/Frank Barton
18 Aug Max Thompson/Alan Hudson
19 Aug Roger Davies/Jeff Bourne