Sports Cartooning & Topps Baseball Cards

Roy Carlson has a column at Sports Collectors Daily specializing in Topps Baseball cards.

Like many, I grew up watching cartoons on TV for hours on end every Saturday morning. When programming eventually shifted to adult content, I marched from living room to bedroom and submersed myself into yet another batch of cartoons – the ones found on the backs of baseball cards. I’ve always been fascinated with the comic artwork and fun facts. Thanks to these, I learned that Oakland Athletics outfielder Joe Nossek was an expert archer, and that speedster Lou Brock called New York Mets catcher Jerry Grote the toughest to steal against.

These cartoons supplemented photos and stats found in my cardboard stockpile and heightened the collecting experience. It was only natural to add original drawings to my collection years later, like these next two from the cards above:

Today in part 1, I’ll take you inside the ropes to witness behind-the-scenes happenings that enhance the cartoon experience. Then next week and the week after, I’ll reveal even more Topps magic in parts 2 and 3. All the original pieces showcased are from my personal collection. It’s so much more fun to share it with you than to have it hide in 3-ring binders.

Sports Collectors Daily has an archive of Roy’s Baseball Card columns including more about cartooning.

On the whole the Topps baseball card cartoonists remain unknown, though occasionally one stands out:

By far, my favorite Topps artist is Jack Davis. He skillfully adds so much wonderful detail into a tiny box. For example, look at the well-drawn catcher and pitcher, stadium grandstands with crowds of people and a classic photographer all proportionally illustrated to perfection on Ken McBride’s 1962 Topps card #268.

Roy Carlson isn’t the only one with original Topps baseball card art, David Moody also has treasures.

A few years ago the Moody family lent some pieces to The Baseball Hall of Fame who interviewed David:

HOF: Tell us about the layout of these cartoons. What do the panels look like?

DM: The staff artist at Topps would draw several individual player cartoons on a large sheet of thick art stock. Both the quality of the card stock and the number of cartoons per sheet differ by year. For example, in 1969, the artist typically drew nine separate player cartoons per sheet. In 1974, it was typical for the artist to draw 15 cartoons per sheet. In 1975, although almost every full sheet has 15 cartoons, there is one sheet with 28 separate player cartoons. That is the largest full sheet in our collection, and includes the cartoons that appeared on the Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson cards.

Unfortunately it is again strike three when attempting to find the identity of the artists:

HOF: Can you tell who the artists were for Topps baseball cartoons?

DM: Unfortunately, no. This has been a burning question of mine for years. I have looked high and low for an answer. In 2003, I picked up the phone and called Topps. To my surprise, after explaining that I was looking for the names of the artists who drew the cartoons on the reverse side of Topps baseball cards in the 1960s and 1970s, they put Sy Berger on the line (the grandfather of modern baseball cards). By the time I spoke with Mr. Berger, he was at least 80. I was shocked that he was still with Topps. I spoke with him for a long time, but he had no idea who the artists were. He laughed and told me “those guys are long gone.” Mr. Berger died in 2014. In 1969, a pack of Topps baseball cards cost five cents and I am quite sure these artists were paid peanuts. My best guess from that conversation and information that I have pieced together is that these artists were paid per cartoon. These artists were churning them out: Hundreds and hundreds of individual cartoons. For example, the same artist for the 1969 Topps Baseball set also drew the cartoons for the 1969 Topps Football set. Topps employed a different artist in 1974, and that same artist created the cartoons for each set of cards that Topps produced that year (Baseball, Football, Basketball and Hockey). Thankfully, Topps held onto the original artwork for many years, or these sheets would probably not exist. It has been 50-plus years since those 1969 cartoons were created. Even if those artists were in their mid to late 30s when they drew these cartoons, they are probably no longer with us. Likely, their names are lost to history.

But like those Jack Davis spot drawings above occasionally an artist’s style unmistakably stands out.

I enjoyed the cartoons on the backs of baseball cards so much and lament their disappearance. And now I’m going to talk about something else younger people don’t appreciate: Laughlin baseball card cartoons.

At NightOwlCards comes an appreciation of one such artist.

This article is about artist and cartoonist Robert G. Laughlin, an enterprising sort who sold his card drawings out of his home, partnered with Fleer for several ’70s sets and continued to make art and cards even after his relationship with Fleer ended. Laughlin passed away in 2006 and there’s really not a lot about him out there.

This made the article as challenging as any I’ve written for Beckett. Not only was I dealing with limited information on someone who died 15 years ago but his story is filled with legal copyright issues and conflicting info on the internet. Confusion is everywhere.

On the subject of confusing…

Don’t know if you saw that featured image of Roberto (Bob) Clemente of this post. Here it is again:

Jon Bois at SB NAtion certainly noticed:

The back of each card featured silly comics that acted out pieces of trivia. In these comics, every player was white. Barry Bonds was white. Barry Bonds’ dad was white…