July 15, 2021: Summer Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/15/2021
Presented is a rather unique “team set” featuring the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers pictured in black-and-white photography on thin, off-white paper and including the odd attribute of the manager’s card being almost two inches taller than the 14 position players. The cards are 3-by-5 inches, with blank backs, and could perhaps have been issued as a newspaper supplement, based on a card stock that, while flimsy, is much sturdier than newspaper quality. The cards include facsimile autographs that could ostensibly be used to identify the players, but all are quite light and difficult to read. The two identifiable ones are the oversized 3-by-6 3/4-inch card of Manager Charlie Grimm and George Blaeholder, a former major league pitcher who played six seasons for the minor-league Brewers from 1937-42. Blaeholder, 104-125 after an 11-year career with the Browns, Athletics and Indians, is credited with developing the slider … and playing the accordion and banjo in the ersatz “band” that Brewer’s owner Bill Veeck put together to entertain fans before each ballgame. The “cards” present in essentially Excellent to Ex-Mt, with some tiny tears on a couple and a somewhat larger one of nearly ¾ of an inch on the Grimm piece, none of which detract materially from a handsome and uniform presentation. The presence of the manager and pitcher Blaeholder dates the set to either 1942 or 1943, the latter of which was a pennant-winning campaign that ended with a victory in the Little World Series.
Rare 1940s Milwaukee Brewers Team Set With Grimm, Blaeholder (15)
Click above for larger image.