#2 BABE RUTH, Yankees ~ The 300/400/500 Club card

Description: Periodically we experience problems with our scanner. Today is one of those days. Depending upon which view you choose, the first scan will show horizontal lines and/or cross hatching marks. Rest assured, these are not on the card itself. Usually scanning problems are confined to color pictures but today it's "advanced" to black and white! (You will note that the second scan (reverse side of the card) exhibits none of these problems.)Offered for your consideration is . . . Vintage 1980 Commemorative Trading Card#2 - BABE RUTH, New York Yankees ~ 714 Home Runs Issued in 1980 by Fleer artist R. G. "Bob" Laughlin - REPRINTED sometime before 2011Robert G. "Bob" Laughlin (1925-2006) was very active within our hobby from the 1960s onward producing card sets of his own creation (usually very limited editions of just a few hundred) as well as serving as artist for various Fleer baseball sets - perhaps most notably Fleer's All-Star and World Series sets.REPRINT: Although not marked as "REPRINT" the late Bob Lemke, longtime editor of The Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards and Standard Catalog of Vintage Baseball Cards, was advised prior to 2011 that the 1980 R. G. Laughlin "The 300/400/500 Club" set was apparently reprinted more than a decade ago. In his blogspot, Bob wrote:At my request, James [Gallo - who brought the news to light] sent a set of original Laughlins and what he suspected to be a reprint set. Darned if he isn't right! A comparison under magnification shows that the suspect set was made by rescreening genuine cards, resulting in lighter photo faces, and "blurrier" uniform details and lettering, since those details are now comprised of strings of multi-colored dots rather than solid, sharp-edged colors as on the originals. The card stock is indistinguishable between the two versions.A collector recently contacted us about whether our cards are original - as did another collector several months ago. In our original investigation, we did not uncover the Lemke article but having compared our cards with the example Mr. Lemke provided, ours are closer to the REPRINT version than the original. That this matter of reprinting went undiscovered for nearly 30 years speaks to the fact that the reprints are difficult to discern from the originals. Still, we want the cards properly identified so we will be modifying all 30 listings. Prices will be reduced by approximately 60% and we will attempt to locate previous buyers.This is card is from one of Bob's last efforts: A 30 card colorful tribute to "The 300 .400 500 Club" - 300-win pitchers, .400 hitters and 500-homer sluggers (since 1900). Card size is a rather unique 3-1/4" square. Cards of this size will fit in standard 4-pocket collector pages designed for old-style postcards. The backs are blank.ANY number of single cards (up to and including 8 by 10 inches in size) will be shipped USPS Ground Advantage for the single card rate, IF the buyer will request and await a combined invoice before paying. EBay standard envelope service is also available within its limitations. Unsure how to do this, please email us for instructions. Condition: Crisp Near-Mint Postscript: Our last scan has nothing to do with this listing. It is a picture of all-time baseball great Ted Williams with The Baseball Hobbyist's Steve Mitchell at a 1983 Connecticut sports collectors gathering - Ted's very first-ever collector event. On the second day of the show "The Splendid Splinter" visited with collectors and dealers and graciously posed for this photo. (Photo was taken by fellow collector-dealer Bob Thing, longtime Maine hobbyist). _______________________ Important: Shipping Information Our goal has always been to keep shipping costs low. Our objective is to sell cards and other things of interest to baseball hobbyists - not make money by overcharging on shipping. U.S. residents: We combine multiple items purchased so you pay only the shipping on the heaviest item - all other items ship free of charge. (An exception would be if an item must be sent via media/book rate.) All Other Countries: Email us first. To receive your combined shipping, please wait for us to send you a combined invoice. The eBay checkout system usually displays an incorrect shipping charge. (It is normally too high.) Please do not pay for each item separately; if you pay separately, there is no shipping discount. We pack your order carefully - sandwiching cards between cardboard and utilizing boxes, bubble wrap, etc., as necessary - to ensure your items arrive in the condition you expect. Items are shipped the next business day after we receive your payment. We ship 5 - usually 6 - days each week. Payment should be made within 7 days after notification of purchase. A-X ~ The Baseball Hobbyist and Gram invite you to visit their eBay Store ~

Price: 2.8 USD

Location: Edmonds, Washington

End Time: 2025-01-11T15:08:43.000Z

Shipping Cost: 1.25 USD