To get my Play Ball fix, I'll be showing all of my Play Ball Cubs cards over the next several days.
Gum, Inc. put out their first Play Ball set in 1939, ushering in the next era of baseball cards. The set contained 162 cards and featured players from 15 teams. In 1939 there were 16 teams between the National and American Leagues. And which team was excluded?
The Cubs.
The Cubs were the defending National League champions in 1939, but Gum. Inc. ignored them. I wonder what the reason was for the omission?
A second Play Ball set was released the next year and this time it included some Cubs! Five Cubs were among the 240 cards. Percentage wise, that is not even close to what is should be as 16 teams divided by 240 cards equals 15 players per team. But, hey, five instead of fifteen is better than none at all.
We get two Hall of Famers, a standout Cub player and manager, a guy who was at the tail end of his career, and a coach. That's quite a wide range of players!
Play ball returned in 1941 with color cards, really raising the bar. Unfortunately for me, the Cubs, like in 1939, were the only team to not be included.
As I think about the reason again, I wonder if it has something to do with gum. Play Ball was put out by a gum company. The Cubs were owned by a competing gum company. Did Gum Inc. want to stick it to Wrigley?
Seems likely that the gum business was the reason. But it could have been the other way around: perhaps Wrigley wouldn't allow the images of Cubs players to be used to promote a rival brand.
ReplyDelete