Another vintagely awesome PWE

I love PWEs. Seriously. They could contain anything. They could be all of my favorite player. They could be all Bip Roberts. They could be vintage, new stuff, prospects, refractors. Anything.

Mark H sends some of the best PWEs out there, and this past one was no different. I mentioned something about some vintage Knicks once, and Mark of course said, "I've got some old Knicks for you."

But I'll get to that in a minute.

My favorite card, by far, was this Dr. Bobby Brown card. I had never seen one of these and had no clue what set it was from. Mark informed me it was from 1952 Berk Ross. No clue. So I hit the interwebs and here is a snippet I stole from PSA's website:

The 1952 Berk Ross set consists of 72 cards, each one 2” x 3”. Manufactured by the Berk Ross Company of New York City, card fronts have a posed “hand-painted” color likeness with the player’s name in white script. The images are framed in white. Card backs feature the player's name, position, team, personal data, and a line of statistics from the previous season. A headline at the top proclaims the set as the “Hit Parade of Champions.” Key cards include Joe DiMaggio (though he retired at the end of the 1951 season), Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Jackie Robinson, and Ted Williams. (The DiMaggio and Williams cards were not available in the 1952 Bowman or Topps sets, making the Berk Ross examples highly collectible). This unnumbered set is also anchored by a plethora of Hall of Fame subjects and stars including Richie Ashburn, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Bob Feller, Gil Hodges, Ralph Kiner, Johnny Mize, Pee Wee Reese, and Duke Snider. The set has a few notable errors: the backs of the Ewell Blackwell and Nellie Fox are switched, while the Phil Rizzuto card was issued with two different poses – one bunting and the other swinging. (http://www.psacard.com/cardfacts/Hierarchy.aspx?c=223#)

Sounds awesome! I need to track down the Rizzutos.

And the Knicks! Here are the Knicks. While I collected basketball cards growing up, I really know next to nothing about vintage NBA cards, so these designs are all new to me. They are from 1975-76 Topps.

Lastly, I have to show this. First, Action Packed is cool, so no issues there. Second, I'll always have a special place in my heart for Russ Davis, as he was the key prospect the Yankees sent to the Mariners in the Tino trade. Thanks, Russ!

Mark, as always, thank you!