1990 & 1991 California Angels Photomation

1990

1991

     I'm just posting these here to document their existence.  I'm not sure how they were distributed, whether through the mail in response to fan mail, or as stadium or event giveaways.  In any case, in 1990 & 1991 the California Angels issued these series of 4"x8" black & white glossy photos, sponsored by Photomation Photo Lab in Anaheim.  Each photo features a facsimile autograph, as well as the players' uniform number, name and position.  Not sure exactly how many there were, but these are what I have seen on eBay:

1990

Scott Bailes
Pete Coachman
Mark Eichhorn
Mark Langston
Scott Lewis

1991

Jim Abbott
Chuck Finley
Gary Gaetti
Wally Joyner
Dave Parker
Lance Parrish
Jimmie Reese
Dave Winfield

There was an earlier set issued in color, but without the facscimile autographs.  Haven't nailed down the year (guessing 1988 due to the inclusion of Donnie Moore), but here are the photos I've seen:

Tony Armas
Stewart Cliburn
Joe Coleman
Sherman Corbett
Chili Davis
Brian Downing
Chuck Finley
Willie Fraser
Bryan Harvey
Jack Howell
Wally Joyner
Bobby Knoop
Marcel Lachmann
Kirk McCaskill
Mark McLemore
Donnie Moore
Johnny Ray

Dick Schofield
Moose Stubing
Mike Witt

A signature and a surplus of silk...starring Dave Winfield

      I try not to do it very often, but this past week I picked up a larger lot for a single item.   I was unaware of the existence of the above piece until I saw this lot, so I dropped the minimum $9.99 bid.  I'm not really sure what the proper terminology is for this, but it is the "postcard" version of the Z Silk cachet for the 9th Freehold Classic Sports Memorabilia Show.  A little Googling turns up several similar cards for other players, connected to other "Sports Memorabilia Shows" such as:

Dave Winfield - Travelling Man (Part 2): California Bound

     Fast forward 10 years to 1990, and Dave Winfield is making his comeback to baseball after missing the entire 1989 season due to back problems. After a dismal start (hitting just .213 in 20 games) to what would undoubtedly be his last season in pinstripes, the Yankees decided to get something out of him before he became a free agent and in May, dealt him to California for Mike Witt.  Witt was once part of what should have been a great starting pitching staff for the Angels with Chuck Finley, Mark Langston and Jim Abbott, but was now decidedly on the downswing of a surprisingly short career. Witt would do very little for the 1990 Yankees, and even less in 1991. Witt would then miss all of his 1992 season and be released by the team in 1993 and be out of baseball.

     Winfield on the other hand, seemed to find some spring in his step with the move to California, out from under the influence of George Steinbrenner, and would turn his season around with the Angels, hitting .275 with 19HR over 112 games. That revival would earn him Comeback Player of the Year honors. Big Dave went on to sign with the Angels for the 1991 season and have his best power year since 1983, with 28 home runs. Not bad for someone who the Yankees had written off. By 1990, there were now several players in the baseball card market, so Winfield's only real trade was covered by all the major update sets; 1990 Fleer Update, 1990 Score Rookie & Traded, Topps Traded and Upper Deck's High # Series.

     Donruss, although not actually having an update or traded set in 1990, did produce the last of their Baseball's Best sets (which had evovled from the 1987 Opening Day set) in the form of separate Best of the American League and Best of the National League sets.  These sets were released mid-season and were updated to reflect team changes since the previous year.  As a result, Donruss also had a 1990 card showing Winfield in his new duds:

Walkin' In A Winnie Wonderland

     An eclectic trio of Winfield goodies showed up today, spoils of the almighty eBay. The first was yet another silk cachet/first day cover/postmarked envelope with a picture on it, this time, Colorano's contribution commemorating Dave Winfield's 3000th hit on September 16, 1993.

     This is another that I didn't even know existed until I happened to catch the auction. I am still hunting for the Gateway version, but  I suspect the combination of lack of awareness/interest in silk cachets in general, and the somewhat suspect autograph on the front are what won me this beauty for just $0.99 + $2.50 S&H, but even for a potentially defaced silk cachet, I'm not complaining. It adds yet another piece of color and distinction to my otherwise card-heavy Dave Winfield collection.

     Lending more weight to the current card quotient are these two magazine inserts.  I picked these up in one of those auction lots that makes a player collector groan.  Already having one of the cards (the Cartwright's card from 1993), but only just learning about the second (the Pocket Pages card from 1991) because of the auction, I'm now the proud owner of 124 copies of that Cartwright's card and 6 copies of the Pocket Pages card.

     The top card is from Cartwright's Journal of Baseball Collectibles (which would later be broadened to "Sports Collectibles"). The bottom was from another magazine called Pocket Pages. I was an avid and active collector in the early 1990s and I'd never heard of either of these publications. At the moment, you can find a few highly priced ($20-$40) issues of Pocket Pages on eBay, and you can read a bit about the cards on my new favorite blog, Uncataloged Baseball Cards.

I also found an article on the Baltimore Sun's website mentioning the magazine back in 1995:

Collectors find out about card shows in lots of places -- magazines, newspapers, fliers at shows and word of mouth.

When Merrye Atkinson got hooked on autograph collecting, she knew there had to be a better way to find out where the players she wanted would be.

"It was hard keeping track," says the veteran magazine worker. "I thought, 'Maybe this should be a magazine.' "
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Three years ago, she started Pocket Pages, a monthly magazine devoted to show listings. At first it covered only California shows; now it is national.

Atkinson, the publisher, says the format has remained the same: show listings, an alphabetical listing of athletes and the shows they'll be doing, hobby news, news on freebies and six trading cards. An issue focusing on POGs included bottle tops instead of cards. In keeping with collectibility, each issue is printed with two covers. Subscribers can opt to receive both.

SOURCE: Baltimore Sun, January 15, 1995|By Ruth Sadler

     Long story short, I've got a TON of these Cartwright's Winfield cards available for trade (or free with SASE), and a handful of the Pocket Pages cards left over for any needy Winfield collectors.

     It seems in the early 1990s, everyone and their brother (and sister and uncle and landlord and dentist) thought there was a market for just one more sports collectible magazine. And in that climate, if you were going to publish a sports collectible magazine, how could you not include some "promotional" cards to "help sell the magazine"? Most of these magazines claimed whatever exception from licensing laws that other journalistic outlets such as newspapers and regular magazines employed to be able to publish photos of MLB properties without having to pay for the privilege. At some point, it became obvious that these magazines were selling baseball cards in a magazine-wrapper and Major League Baseball put a stop to the free-for-all.

     JS Sports Cards Plus and Memorabilia has several of these various magazines for sale on their site. You can have a look here for some cover shots of several of the various publications:

Cartwright Journal of Baseball Collectibles

Diamond Sports Memorabilia

Allan Kaye's Sports Cards

Legends Sports Memorabilia  (This is the only one I know of that printed a Winfield card I'm still missing.)

      Also publishing cards with their magazines around the same time were the more mainstream Baseball Cards Magazine, SCD's Price Guide Magazine, Topps Magazine, Sports Illustrated for Kids and Tuff Stuff.  Of the lot, only Sports Illustrated for Kids, which is a magazine about sports, written for kids, not a sports card magazine, is still issuing cards with each issue some 20 years later.  Considering I remember when they began publishing that back in 1989 or so, I was surprised to learn they're still going (and actually just paid for a subscription for it with some Delta Sky Miles points that were about to expire).