2001 Fleer Greats Of The Game #46, Lester Lockett autograph ⭐ Negro League
Lester Lockett never made it to The Show and his Negro League career is one of those that doesn’t always get the spotlight, but he was the kind of steady, fundamentally sound player who helped his teams win and earned the respect of both teammates and opponents.
His best season, statistically, came with the Baltimore Elite (pronounced E-Light) Giants in In 1948, when he led the league in batting average (.362), hits (85), and total bases (126).

One of the older cards I have.

I recently learned about the vintage era of card collecting (pre ~1985) versus the junk wax era (late 80’s and early 90’s). My luck is that I collected during the junk wax error 😑

Here’s a link to all the pre 1985 cards on eBay: https://ebay.us/d7QBr2

Two great facts on Cooper is that he had older brothers who played in the Negro Leagues and one of them caught for Satchel Paige. And the other is that Cecil Cooper batted .352 in the year 1989 but he didn’t get much attention because George Brett was flirting with .400

I made a new friend at the national this year, Angel Colon, a collector and somewhat of a historian from Puerto Rico.

He showed me drafts of these amazing books about various Puerto Rican professional league card sets, and I offered to help edit. I got my name in the Acknowledgments section, pretty cool, and with some very good company!

The visuals are amazing and all of the history is fascinating. If he has any copies left to sell I will drop a link below soon.

1951 Bowman #6, Don Newcombe ⭐ MLB Pioneer
On September 19, 1956, Don Newcombe hit two HRs in one game, for the third time in his career. The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Cardinals in a 17 – 2 slaughter.
Don Newcombe played in the Negro League for the Newark Eagles.

1951 Bowman baseball cards are small pieces of cardboard art. ❤

1967 Topps #472, Pirates Rookies George Spriggs RC ⭐ MLB Pioneer
OTD, MLB Pioneer, George Spriggs made his MLB debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
At the time George Spriggs made his debut on September 15, 1965, only 12,423 had ever played in The Show. The odds of making it are astronomical. If you were a black man in the 1950s and 1960s, the odds were even more stacked against you.
George Spriggs played in the Negro League for the Detroit Stars.

Collect What You Love.❤