1948-65 Cleveland Indians Team-Issued and Jay Publishing Photo Packs (200)

This incredible lot features 200 images chronicling the historic late-1940s and early 1950s Cleveland Indians when the club boasted a lineup of legendary Hall of Famers and picked up a pair of American League Pennants and the team’s most-recent World Series title in 1948. The classic team-issued photos from 1948-57 headline with names like Paige, Feller, Greenberg, Veeck, Boudreau, Gordon, Lemon and Wynn, giving way in 1958 to the charming Jay Publishing Photo Packs that were produced from 1958-65 and were a popular item for fans and collectors. The 5-by-7-inch black-and-white photos were issued in 12-card Team Packs and distributed at major league ballparks and stadiums, plus some stores, along with a mail-in offer. The huge grouping here, confined to the legendary Cleveland squads, is headlined by the elegant 6 ½-by-9-inch Team-Issued Photos, with the 1948 Satchel Paige (Fair) at the front of the class of the group of 200 or so that is in extraordinary condition, essentially Near-Mint or better, with the smattering of photos deemed Ex-Mt being those with those tiny dings common in team sets issued in envelopes. The original mailing envelopes are included with the vast majority of the sets, with condition typically ranging from Good to Very Good, still highly collectible as an element that faced some distress simply by virtue of being opened. Still highly collectable six decades later, the Picture Packs were typically printed on a glossy stock and featured portraits and in-action images of the players, often with multiple poses for many and, by the same token, many images were reused in different instances, sometimes making determining year of issue problematic. For the Jay Publishing group, the Packs are divided into Type One and Type Two categories, with the former from 1958-61 employing a sans-serif font and Type Two from 1962-65 with serif, helping to make the two periods relatively easy to distinguish. In the detailed listing that follows, every effort was made to attribute properly to specific years, but the nature of the undertaking brings with it a degree of flexibility in that area; a handful of condition anomalies are noted as well. The breakdown (200): 1) 1948 Indians Team Photos (10) – mostly Ex-Mt, with Paige (Fair), Veeck (Good) and Gordon; 2) 1949 Indians Team Photos Near-Complete Set (29/30) –with Avila, Boudreau, Doby, Feller, Wynn, Garcia, Veeck, Gordon, Greenberg, Lemon, Rosen and Vernon, plus Stadium and Coaches; 3) 1949 Indians Team Photos (14) – with Gordon, Greenberg, Lemon, Rosen, Veeck, Wynn and Coaches; 4) 1950 Indians Team Photos (19) – with Avila, Doby (2), Feller, Greenberg and Stadium; 5) 1950 Indians Team Photos (18) – group presents decently, but most have tape residue, with Avila, Boone, Easter, Feller, Garcia, Lemon, Lopez, Rosen and Wynn; 6) 1954 Indians Team Photos Set (27) – Ex-Mt to Near-Mint, with Avila, Doby, Feller, Garcia, Lemon, Lopez, Newhouser (VG-Ex), Rosen, Smith, Wertz and Wynn; 7) 1954 Indians Team Photos (11) – with Doby, Dente (Fair); 8) 1955 Indians Team Photos (20) – with Doby, Feller, Garcia and Lemon, Rosen, Score, Wynn and Kiner (Photo is affixed to the flap of envelope; could likely be decently removed); 9) 1957 Indians Team Photos (14) – 5-by-7 inches, including Colavito, Lemon and Wynn; 10) 1960 Indians Jay Publishing Near Set (11/12) – missing Temple, with extra Kuenn and Power; 11) 1960 Indians Jay Publishing Group (7) – with Kuenn, Grant, Power and Held; 12) 1963 Indians Jay Publishing Set (12) – Near-Mint or better; 13) 1964 Indians Jay Publishing Set (12) – Ex-Mt to Near-Mint; 14) 1964 Indians Jay Publishing Group (9) – missing Romano and Francona, with extra Tebbetts; and 15) 1957 Sohio Photo Album – 5-by-7 inches, 20 pages with no Stickers – Ex-Mt, with cover Very Good.