The Cards: 1951 Bowman Charlie Keller

Card Details:

Manufacturer: Bowman

Year: 1951

Card Number: 177

Paper: Cardstock

Size: 2 1/16” x 3 1/8”

Card Status: 12th Year

The Set:

The 1951 Bowman baseball Card Set consists of 324 cards that are color art reproductions of actual photos. The cards are slightly longer than the 1950 set, however, they maintain the same width. The set contains what many consider to be Mickey Mantles “true” rookie card along with the rookie cards of Willie Mays, Whitey Ford, Nellie Fox, and Monte Irvin with others sprinkled in.

Outside of the above-mentioned players who are in the Hall of Fame the set also contains cards for Hall of Famers Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Pee-Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Warren Spahn, Ted Williams, George Kell, Lary Doby and Enos Slaughter.

The 1951 set is the largest set produced by Bowman; with the 324-card size it is estimated that 85% of rostered players wound up with a card. There are 39 cards that utilize a horizontal orientation: most notably Mantle and Mays. There are also a few notable players that are missing within the set: Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial and Jackie Robinson.

INTERESTING NOTE: Card No. 195 (Paul Richards) is the only card that is an original piece of art. It is believed that he obtained his manager position after the start of production, thus, leading to an original caricature on his card.

The Card:

This PSA 7 (NM) example of Charlie Keller comes from my personal collection. The 1951 Bowman card was the 9th of Keller’s career and was his third with Bowman (1949 & 1950). Keller is portrayed in a vertical player portrait with a beautiful ballpark as the backdrop. Keller can be found on the right side of the card depicted finishing his swing. Just above the ballpark backdrop is a vibrant blue sky filled with white clouds. His name can be found in all caps within a solid black caption box at belt level of his portrait. While there are zero indicators of his team or positional information on the front of the card, it can be seen that he was a member of the Detroit Tigers thanks to the bright orange Old English D on his navy blue ballcap.

When you flip the card over to reveal its back you will see a plain card stock with black and red texts. At the very top is the players name in bold red and all capitals and near the bottom the word “Baseball” in all capitals as well in bold red. The remaining text on the back is in black and gives Keller’s important measurables as well as a short paragraph about his years in the league and a short note about his time in the service (1944). You can also find the card number just above the red “baseball” following the format of “No. 177 in the 1951 SERIES.”

The Player:

Bat: Left Throw: Right

Height: 5’10” Weight: 190lbs

Debut: 22 April 1939 Final: 14 September 1952

DOB: 12 September 1916 Death: 23 May 1990

Keller had a 13-year playing career (11 with the New York Yankees and 2 with the Detroit Tigers) in Major League Baseball. He ended his career with a .286 BA and .410 OBP. Charlie missed the 1944 season (age 27) due to serving in the military during World War II. All said and done, Keller collected 1085 hits, hit 189 homeruns, scored 725 runs, drove in 760 runs, and ended his career with a 43.7 WAR and 152 OPS+. Keller also ended his career with 285 more walks than strikeouts, leading the Major Leagues with 106 base on balls in 1943; he collected 100+ walks in 6 different seasons.

Many accounts indicate that Keller was adored by Yankees fans during his 11 seasons in New York, but they also point out that he was not well received and often hated by opposing fanbases. This hatred likely came from the fact that he was a part of what many consider to be one of the best outfields of all time: Joe DiMaggio, Charlie Keller, and Tommy Henrich.

There are many people who believe Keller may have been elected in to the Hall of Fame if it weren’t for chronic back issues; of his 13 year career he managed to play 100 or more games in only 6 seasons, thus, hindering his ability to make it to Cooperstown.

After retiring from his playing career Keller was on the coaching staff of the New York Yankees during the 1957 and 1959 seasons. He would later go on to establish Yankeeland Farm at which he would breed horses and benefit from owning syndicated shares of multiple stallions.

INTERESTING NOTE: Keller’s career is often compared, in relation to similarity scores, to the first 9 seasons of Magglio Ordonez’s career.

Notable Achievements:

• 1937 MiLB Player of The Year (Newark Bears – International League)

• 5x AL All-Star (1940-41, 1943, & 1946-47)

• AL OPS Leader (1943)

• 2x AL Base on Balls Leader (1940 & 1943)

• 20 HR Seasons: 5 (1940-43 & 1946)

• 30 HR Seasons: 3 (1941, 1943, & 1946)

• 100 RBI Seasons: 3 (1941-42, & 1946)

• 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 3 (1940-42)

• 4x World Series Champion: 1939, 1941, 1943, & 1949 with the New York Yankees (did not play in 1949 World Series)

• Top-10 MVP Vote Getter (1941)

Population and Sales:

To date, there are 386 examples of Charlie Keller’s 1951 Bowman Baseball No. 177 graded by PSA. Of those 386 a total of 359 have a full grade, 24 have a half grade, and 3 have qualifiers. PSA has graded a total of 107,270 1951 Bowman Baseball cards, making Keller’s population a mere 0.35% of the total graded population. In relation to the PSA 7 grade, there are currently 88 examples with this grade, which is 24.5% of the 386 graded cards.

If we were to look at the SGC Grading population report in relation to 1951 Bowman, there are a total of 19,148 graded examples; 60 of which belong to Charlie Keller. Of these 60 examples 15 are graded an SGC (25%) and none are graded higher than an SGC 8.5.

According to Vintage Card Prices (VCP) prices range from $8.50 (PSA 3) all the way to $6,000 (PSA 10). The PSA 10 sale occurred back in May of 2008 via Mastro. The current VCP for a PSA 7 is only $31.49 with a low sale of $20.20 and a high sale of $53. In relation to SGC values VCP tells us prices range from $6 (SGC 1.5) to $13.99 (SGC 8). It is important to note that the value of an SGC 5.5 is listed as $29.99 which was sold on eBay in 2022 and there are no recoded sales after September of 2019 in relation to an SGC 8.   

Work Cited

1951 Bowman Baseball Cards: A Colorful Milestone, www.psacard.com/articles/articleview/5858/1951-bowman-baseball-cards-colorful-milestone/. Accessed 24 Jan. 2024.

1951 Bowman Charlie Keller | PSA Cardfacts®, www.psacard.com/cardfacts/baseball-cards/1951-bowman/charlie-keller-177/22354. Accessed 24 Jan. 2024.

Baseball Almanac, Inc. “Charlie Keller Baseball Cards.” Baseball Almanac, www.baseball-almanac.com/players/cards.php?p=kellech01. Accessed 24 Jan. 2024.

Baseball Cards - 1951 Bowman | Psa Cardfacts®, www.psacard.com/cardfacts/baseball-cards/1951-bowman/148. Accessed 24 Jan. 2024.

The Cardboard Connection. “1951 Bowman Baseball Cards.” The Cardboard Connection, 2 Feb. 2021, www.cardboardconnection.com/1951-bowman-baseball-cards-2.

“Charlie Keller Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More.” Baseball, www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kellech01.shtml. Accessed 24 Jan. 2024.

“Charlie Keller.” Charlie Keller - BR Bullpen, www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Charlie_Keller. Accessed 24 Jan. 2024.

Guide, Baseball Card Value Price. “Charlie Keller.” 1951 Bowman Charlie Keller #177 Baseball - VCP Price Guide, vintagecardprices.com/card/baseball-card-values/1951-Bowman-Charlie-Keller-177/69796. Accessed 24 Jan. 2024.

Putman, Peter. Top Ten Complete Baseball Sets of All-Time, www.psacard.com/lists/top-10-baseball-card-complete-sets. Accessed 24 Jan. 2024.

The Cards: 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson

Card Details:

Manufacturer: Topps

Year: 1980

Card Number: 482

Paper: Cardstock

Size: 2 1/2” x 3 1/2”

Card Status: Rookie

The Set:

The 1980 Topps Baseball Set contains a massive 726 total cards. Each of these cards has a full color photo that dominates the card front with the player’s name in all uppercase font directly above the photo along the top border. In the upper left-hand corner of the photo the player’s position can be found in a pennant; the player’s team can be found in a similar pennant in the bottom right corner. Each photo is surrounded by a thin, varying, color border and a facsimile autograph grades the photo as well.

When flipped to the reverse each card follows the typical Topps theme. Statistics, biographical information, and a cartoon with a snippet about the player can all be found.

This set is anchored by Carlton Fisk, Gary Carter, Johnny Bench, Eddie Murray, Ozzie Smith, George Brett and Reggie Jackson.

The Card:

Rickey Henderson’s 1980 Topps rookie card possess a vertical orientation. The photo is of him at Homeplate in a yellow Oakland A’s uniform. The position and team pennants follow the Athletics color theme of yellow and green, respectively. The color photo that dominates the front is surrounded by a thin blue border.

The back of his card carries a blue color theme to match the front photo’s border. The cartoon on the back depicts a 7-steal minor league game of Rickey’s, “Rickey had 7 stolen bases in one game at Modesto. May 26, 1977.”

This card tends to be extremely difficult to find well centered. Also, for some unexplained reason, the corners tend to be rather blunt from cutting and are susceptible to flaking which pull down grades when submitting. This card is also highly counterfeited, BUYER BEWARE.

The Player:

Bat: Right Throw: Left

Height: 5’10” Weight: 195lbs

Debut: 24 June 1979 Final: 19 September 2003

DOB: 25 December 1959 Death: N/A

Rickey Henderson put together a 25-year playing career and was one of the first players to habitually refer to themselves in the third person. In fact, when he was seeking a contract with the San Diego Padres the voicemail he left the General Manager went like this:

“Kevin this is Rickey. Call on behalf of Rickey. Rickey wants to play baseball.”

Over his career Henderson played for 9 different teams: Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego Padres, Anaheim Angels, New York Mets, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox and LA Dodgers.

During his playing time many sportswriters did not care for his personality; he tended to talk himself up because he felt underappreciated by the public. However, he is widely considered to be the greatest leadoff hitter of all time.

In 1979 Henderson became the youngest player to ever steal three bases in a single game, beating a record held by Ty Cobb. Unfortunately, for Rickey, he is no longer the youngest player to do so. Juan Soto took down the 40-year record during the 2018 campaign.

Henderson not only had speed, having stole 1,406 bases in his career earning himself the nick name “Man of Steal”; he also had pop in his bat. He ended his career with 297 Homeruns, 81 of which were to lead off a game, along with 510 doubles.

Rickey ended his career with 1,406 stolen bases, 3,055 hits, 2,295 runs scored, 2,190 walks, .401 OBP, 297 HR and a .297 BA. He is part of the Class of 2009 elected to the Hall of Fame.

Notable Achievements:

• 10x All-Star (1980, 1982-88, 1990-91)

• AL MVP (1990)

• 1989 ALCS MVP (1989)

• 1x Gold Glove (1981)

• 3x AL Silver Slugger (1981, 1985 & 1991)

• NL Comeback Player of the Year (1999)

• AL OBP Leader (1990)

• AL OPS Leader (1990)

• 5x AL Runs Scored Leader (1981, 1985-86, 1989-90)

• AL Hits Leader (1981)

• 4x AL Base on Balls Leader (1982-83, 1989 & 1998)

• 12x Stolen Base Leader (1980-86, 1988-91, 1998)

• 20 HR Seasons: 4 (1985-86, 1990 & 1993)

• 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 13 (1980, 1982-86, 1988-91, 1993, 1996 & 1998)

• 50 Stolen Bases Seasons: 14 (1980-86, 1988-91, 1993, 1995 & 1998)

• 100 Stolen Bases Seasons: 3 (1980, 1982-83)

• 2x World Series Champion: 1989 (Oakland Athletics) & 1993 (Toronto Blue Jays)

• 5x Top-10 MVP Vote Getter (1980, 1981-82, 1985 & 1989)

Records Held

• Career Runs: 2,295

• Career Stolen Bases: 1,406

• Single Season Stolen Bases: 130 (1982)

• Career Stolen Base Attempts: 1,731

• Single Season Stolen Base Attempts: 172 (1982)

• Caught Stealing Career: 325

• Single Season Caught Stealing: 42 (1982)

• Career Walks (Right-Handed Batter): 2,190

• Career Leadoff Homeruns: 81

Population and Sales:

According to PSA a total of 109,206 1980 Topps Baseball cards have passed through their grader’s hands. Of those, 22,632 or 20.7% of the total population are Rickey Henderson’s rookie card. Rickey’s card has 21,632 with full grades, 477 “+” or half grades, and 558 with qualifiers. Nearly 80% of the graded Henderson’s can be found in grades 7-9; 5,347 7s, 9,922 8s, and 2,008 9s grace the population report. PSA 10s are extremely rare with only 25 specimens earning the mark.

Sale prices are steadily rising. Per PSA, an authentic mark currently grabs around $37.96 and the last 10 to sell pulled in $180,100 on February 16, 2021 via PWCC Auctions on eBay. The current VCP on a PSA 7, like mine, is $275.96 with a high sale of $400 and a low of $185.73. I purchased mine back on July 22, 2020 for a measly $71, I’d say a 288.67% price increase in a short 7 months is a nice return!

Work Cited

1980 Topps Rickey Henderson | PSA CardFacts®. www.psacard.com/cardfacts/baseball-cards/1980-topps/rickey-henderson-482/37164/.

Glew, Kevin. Collecting Rickey's Cards - Henderson Headed for Cooperstown. www.psacard.com/articles/articleview/5581/collecting-rickeys-cards-henderson-headed-cooperstown.

Glew, Kevin. PSA Set Registry: 1980 Topps Baseball Cards -Tomorrow's ... www.psacard.com/articles/articleview/5490/psa-set-registry-1980-topps-baseball-cards-tomorrows-vintage.

“Rickey Henderson Stats.” Baseball, www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/henderi01.shtml.

“Rickey Henderson.” Baseball Hall of Fame, baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/henderson-rickey.

“Rickey Henderson.” Rickey Henderson - BR Bullpen, www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Rickey_Henderson.

The Cards: 1951 Bowman Enos Slaughter

Card Details:

Manufacturer: Bowman

Year: 1951

Card Number: 58

Paper: Cardstock

Size: 2 1/16” x 3 1/8”

Card Status: 11th Year

The Set:

The 1951 Bowman Baseball Card Set totaled 324 cards, however, it had an initial run of only 252 cards when late in the production run the “High Number” series was printed. This high number series cards were card numbers 253-324. To date this set is the largest set ever produced by Bowman. With the high number of cards in the set it meant that 85% of all players in the league during the 1951 season ended up receiving a card in the set.

Most of the cards in the set have a vertically oriented player portrait. Each of the portraits used were recognizable press photos of the players turned color painted masterpieces by Bowman. There were a small number of cards, 39 to be exact, that were horizontally oriented; most significantly both Mickey Mantle (No. 253) and Willie Mays (No. 305), both their true Rookie Cards.

Within the set you will find one unique card and that would be card number 195 of Chicago White Sox Manager Paul Richards. Richards was given an original piece of artwork in the set, a caricature. It was thought that he received this artwork because he was hired in as Chicago’s manager after the production of the set had already been started.

The ’51 Bowman set is loaded with Hall of Famers! The list includes: Whitey Ford (No. 1), Yogi Berra (No. 2), Robin Roberts (No.3), Phil Rizzuto (No. 26), Bob Feller (No. 30), Roy Campanella (No. 31), Duke Snider (No. 32), George Kell (No. 46), Johnny Mize (No. 50), Bob Lemon (No. 53), Enos Slaughter (No. 58), Pee Wee Reese (No. 80), Warren Spahn (No. 134), Larry Doby (No. 151), Ted Williams (No. 165), Casey Stengel (No. 181), Richie Ashburn (No. 186), Monte Irvin (No. 198), Nellie Fox (No. 232), Leo Durocher (No. 233), Mickey Mantle (No. 253), Frank Frisch (No. 282), Bill Dickey (No. 290), Al Lopez (No. 295) and Willie Mays (No. 305). The noticeable player missing from the set are Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial and Jackie Robinson.

The Card:

Enos Slaughter is portrayed in a vertical player portrait with strong reds and blues of the St. Louis Cardinals uniforms. The only addition to the front of the card is a subtle black block with a white all capitals player name near the bottom of the card.

When you flip the card over to reveal its back you will see a plain card stock with black and red texts. At the very top is the players name in bold red and all capitals and near the bottom the word “Baseball” in all capitals as well in bold red. The remaining text on the back is in black and gives Slaughter’s important measurables as well as a short paragraph about his recent years in the league. You can also find the card number just above the red “baseball” following the format of “No. 58 in the 1951 SERIES.”

The Player:

Bat: Left Throw: Right

Height: 5’9” Weight: 185lbs

Debut: 19 April 1938 Final: 29 September 1959

DOB: 27 April 1916 Death: 12 August 2002

Slaughter had a 19-year playing career in major league baseball. He ended his career with a .300 even batting average. Enos served in World War II from 1943-45 missing the prime years of his career (age 27-29 seasons). While serving in the war Slaughter served with both Joe Gordon and Vic Wertz in the Army Air Corps. During his 19-year playing career he collected 2,383 hits, scored 1,247 runs, hit 169 homeruns and drove in 1,304 RBI.

After having played 13 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals Enos was traded to the New York Yankees prior to the start of the 1954 season. Slaughter was extremely and openly upset about the trade, shedding tears in public. During his time with the Yankees he became a platoon player in the outfield, helping lead the Yanks to two World Series titles in 1956 and 1958.

He became known for his “Mad Dash” during which he ran through the stop sign of his third base coach during Game 7 of the 1946 World Series. Having run through the stop sign and hustling as hard as he could Slaughter ended up scoring what would be the game winning and World Series winning run.

After retiring in 1959 he went on to be a player/manager in the minor leagues for the 1960 and 1961 season. Later, Enos became the head coach of Duke University’s baseball team from 1971-77.

“I give it everything I’ve got. Always have played that way and I’ll do it as long as I can. Anyone who don’t should be sellin’ peanuts up in the stands.” – Enos Slaughter

“To be a big league ball player, you have to love the game. This is a pretty good game and a pretty swell way to make a living. The conditions in the majors are fine and the money is good. So I say keep yelling and hsutling every minute you’re in uniform.” – Enos Slaughter

Notable Achievements:

·         10x NL All-Star (1941-42 & 1946-53)

·         NL Hits Leader (1942)

·         NL Total Bases Leader (1942)

·         NL Singles Leader (1942)

·         NL Doubles Leader (1939)

·         NL Triples Leader: 2 (1942 & 1949)

·         NL RBI Leader (1946)

·         100 RBI Seasons: 3 (1942, 1946-47)

·         5x Top-10 MVP Vote Getter (1942, 1946, 1948-49 & 1952)

·         Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1985 – Veterans Committee

Population and Sales:

To date there are 542 examples of Enos Slaughter’s 1951 Bowman Baseball card have been graded by PSA. Of those 542 a total of 507 have a full grade, 30 have a half grade and only 5 have qualifiers. PSA has graded a total of 99,531 total ’51 Bowman Baseball cards, making Slaughters 542 examples less than 1% of the graded population. When you look at the 507 full grade cards 418 of them (79.3%) fall within the PSA 3-7 grades. There has yet to be a PSA 10 to pass through the grading process and only ten cards have earned a PSA 9. Prices range anywhere from $10.50 for a PSA 1 all the way up to $595.99 for a PSA 9, which sold on September 16, 2019 via Probstein on eBay. The current VCP on a PSA 6, which is the grade of the card in my PC, is $54.30 with a high sale of $67.46 and a low sale of $35.

Work Cited

1951 Bowman Enos Slaughter | PSA CardFacts®. www.psacard.com/cardfacts/baseball-cards/1951-bowman/enos-slaughter-58/22235/.

“Enos Slaughter Stats.” Baseball, www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/slaugen01.shtml.

“Enos Slaughter.” Baseball Hall of Fame, baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/slaughter-enos.

“Enos Slaughter.” Enos Slaughter - BR Bullpen, www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Enos_Slaughter.

Putman, Peter. 1951 Bowman Baseball Cards: A Colorful Milestone. www.psacard.com/articles/articleview/5858/1951-bowman-baseball-cards-colorful-milestone/.