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).

Colorful, silky and with quite the cachet of "cool".

       Once in awhile a non-card item catches the eye of the ever vigilant player collector.  Whether it be a can of RC Cola,  embroidered patch, various and sundry idols and graven images or a stamped and cancelled commemorative silk cachet.  'Tis the latter that brings together two of the most prominent forces in the collectible universe, that of baseball and stamps.  Though first day covers featuring baseball players have been around since at least the late 1960s (and probably a bit earlier), the field was hollow and incomplete until 1979 when the Gateway Stamp Company, one of the most prominent issuers of said novelties did put forth the first featuring one Dave Winfield:

      Renata Galasso, who had issued several sets of baseball legends sets with TCMA, entered the arena, issuing covers for various players and occasions from 1982-1984.  One of those commemorated the American League batting race of 1984 that saw the lead decided on the very last game of the season:

      'Z' Silk, often featuring artwork by Susan Rini, produced silk cachets and similar pieces from at least 1984-1997.  With the high quality of Rini's paintings, one almost has to wonder why none of the baseball card manufacturers worked with her for the various Diamond King sets considering how spotty some of Dick Perez's work was in the 1980s (such as the beak he gave Dave Winfield on his 1987 Diamond King card).  There were a lot of covers issued for Freehold, NJ collectibles shows:

      They marked every All-Star Game from 1985-1988:

     Gold Gloves:

      Milestones such as his 300th career home run:

      200th home run as a Yankee:

       5th straight season of 100 or more RBI (if Rickey Henderson hadn't missed 1/3rd of the 1987 season for injuries, Winfield would have ended up with seven straight seasons from 1982-1988, he only missed it by 3 RBI in 1987):

      And even just an impressive 1987 Opening Day:

      Colorano, who had been issuing covers since the early 1970s, captured the event of Dave's 400th career home run (Gateway did as well, I just haven't found it yet):

      Photo File, Major League Baseball's primary photograph licensee, has dispensed with the silk and gone to printing the photos directly on the envelope paper for their Hall of Fame Induction Day covers.  I presume a cover was issued for each of Dave's teams, but thus far, I've only see them for San Diego, New York and Minnesota (though the Hometown Hero Station cover for Minnesota may be something completely unrelated):

       They've added a great extra bit of color to my Dave Winfield collection, and at what I would consider fairly reasonable prices.  Even including the signed 1979 cachet, I've managed not to pay more than $10 for any of them.

       For more ecstatic philatelic fun, be sure to visit these blogs and sites for a wider look at the world of baseball first day covers:
Rickey Henderson Collectibles
The Pete Rose Baseball Collection

Or check eBay, maybe there are a few of your favorite player or team.

Cachets and First Day Covers on eBay