More than just black & white photos

Recently, I hopped online and purchased a few key items with some of my magazine-writing money and they're starting to arrive at my home now.

I'll probably lump the other purchases in together, but I wanted to reserve this one for a post of its own because of how much it means to me.

The 1977 Renata Galasso 45-card set -- what would become a full 270-card set and issued all the way into the mid-1980s -- may not look like much on its face.

The cards aren't valuable. The design takes its inspiration from 1960 Leaf, a rather unpopular set. All of the photos are black and white. And it wasn't issued by Topps or any other major card company.

None of this mattered to me when I first saw them advertised in the pages of Baseball Digest in 1978 (a subscription to Baseball Digest first started coming to our home in 1977 but I don't believe the ads started appearing until 1978 Topps hit the streets).

My only thought was "my goodness, these are cool. I NEED THEM NOW."

This is basically the Renata Galasso ad that I saw for the first time. The company issued the same basic ad with some updates each year. This is from a 1981 Baseball Cards Magazine edition.

Galasso is one of the pioneering dealers of her time and her promotion abilities were top-notch. Not only did she draw in the kids with cartoons in her advertising but what a brilliant way to get people to buy that year's complete set of baseball cards: add a bunch of cards that no one can get anywhere else!!!

Here is an ad image that I stole off of The Shlabotnik Report's blog. This is the ad from 1978 that I remember the most. That '77 DiMaggio card always appeared on the front (although sometimes it was Mantle, and later Gehrig).

To understand how significant and amazing these '77 Renata Galasso cards were, you need to place yourself in the time period of the late 1970s. Don't complain now. You'll learn something.

OK:

There was no Heritage.

There was no internet.

There were no cards available anywhere else except for Topps cards wrapped in wax or cello down at your local grocery or drug store, and food-issue cards found in your cereal box or underneath your Twinkies.

Cards you could order through the mail -- cards you had never seen anywhere else -- were fascinating.

Yeah, they were cards of old former players. I had never seen cards of those players before except on really old Topps or Bowman cards that I couldn't afford.

Yeah, they were black & white. I wanted them BECAUSE they were black and white. Don't you understand? These players were so old! They SHOULD be in black and white. This is what made the set cool.

And I had never seen 1960 Leaf before. When I see this design now, I first think of the Galasso Greats. As far as I was concerned then, Galasso and TCMA, which manufactured the cards, created that design.

So I longed for that set. Issue after issue of Baseball Digest I wanted it.

But I couldn't afford it. My allowance, even if I saved up, wouldn't pay for it (I still had packs to buy at the local corner store). My brother actually ordered the entire 1978 Topps set, but he didn't order from Galasso, so he didn't get the Galasso Glossy Greats.

That's what they were called then "Galasso Glossy Greats". Everything was "glossy" then. That's what was hot. Glossy cards. They were also called "Stars of the '50s" because the set included nothing but notable '50s players. Later, as the set expanded, Galasso went into earlier eras. But, originally, it was just a 45-card set of '50s stars.

I never did get the set back then. Years and years later, after returning to collecting and starting this blog, I started to see the cards again, here and there. One blogger -- Max, from The Starting Nine -- sent me one of them, the Don Newcombe, and I practically strained a nostalgia muscle from the thrill of owning the card.

I ended up getting all the Dodgers from the set, but it didn't seem adequate.

So for years -- years and years and years -- I didn't have what I really wanted.

Until now.

I own the 1977 Renata Galasso Glossy Greats Stars of the '50s, you guys!

Oh my god, 12-year-old me is so jealous.

It still bothers me a little that I once would have been able to get this set for "free," and now I had to pay for it, but no matter, I can show you the greatness.

This is another one of the cards that used to appear on the ads. And it is the first card image of Stan Musial that I saw and think of today when I hear the name "Stan Musial".

These cards formed my first perceptions of players from the '50s. Many collectors saw some of these photos years and years -- decades -- later on retro sets of the last 20 years. And I'd think, "oh yeah, that's one of the shots that was in that Galasso-TCMA set."

The set features many of those '50s "posed action" or "posed candid" shots that were so common from the 1950s through the 1970s. These are among my favorite baseball photos. I don't understand why we don't see these anymore with current players. Are we so obsessed with action that our brains can't even comprehend something like this?:

I think it would do so much for current players' PR if a photographer would simply show them carrying six bats at the same time.

Stuff like this -- is this supposed to be corny now? It still looks great. It's memorable. It looks grand. It's a wonderful baseball card. Even if it's staged.

I'm sure I gained my appreciation for multi-bat photos from this set.

Love the old-style wind-ups, too. That said "pitcher" to me as a youngster. We were much less about "efficiency" then.

A few more of the great old poses in the set.

Most of the '50s stars are here although there are a few folks missing. I noticed no card of Ted Kluszewski (he would show up in a later TCMA '50s set in 1979). There's no Yogi Berra. No Bob Lemon or Lew Burdette or Minnie Minoso.

Some of the players are shown on a team that wouldn't be your first association for the player.

Ralph Kiner ended his career with the Cubs, his final three years. Don Larsen went 3-21 -- 3-21! -- in his only season with the Orioles in 1954 (until a relief stint with the O's at the end of his career in 1965). George Kell's time with the Red Sox was brief and rather unnotable. Same with Enos Slaughter and the Yankees.

But the superstars are all here in this set, which makes it a very, very worthy representation of the '50s.

My plan is to eventually obtain the entire 270-card set. There are places online where you can buy the full 270-card set easily enough.

But I wanted to make sure I got the first 45 -- the Stars of the '50s -- first because that's what was advertised when I first saw those Baseball Digest ads. The later cards, although they still use the same design, stray from the consistency of the '50s Stars set. The fonts are off -- and that is just the thing to make my brain annoyed. Some of the cards are horizontal, which just doesn't look right on a set focusing on the olden days.

But to stay with what I like: I am so happy that this set is finally mine.

Forty-two years. It took me 42 YEARS to get this set.

Fulfilling my cardboard wishes as a child is what this hobby is all about for me. It's not about getting the most value. It's not about flipping. It's not about autographs or rookies or one-of-ones or exclusivity.

None of the above cards that I showed go for more than a few bucks, and they probably shouldn't even go for that much. But they are all I ever wanted when I was 12.

Someone sees "a bunch of black and white photos." I see a 12-year-old kid.

That is why I collect. For him.