TRISTAR's upcoming Obak Minor League Baseball card set just might be a game-changer itself
While many baseball card companies have added pop culture personalities and icons as well as historical figures to sets in recent years in an effort to draw more mainstream fans (or non-collectors) into trading cards, they haven’t achieved anything close to what TRISTAR‘s upcoming Obak set delivers.
And it’s so simple. They’ve been there all along.
You see, Obak, which is a modern-day nod to the tobacco cards of the same name from a century ago, arrives next Monday and it includes a 25-card set of “Game Changers.” They’re people who influenced the game we see today in stadiums around the country — and really the globe, though they are showcased on the smaller stage of a Minor League Baseball set.
It’s a set that includes promising prospects of today, some of the game’s greatest Hall of Famers in their farm-team threads, past MiLB Player of the Year winners, a crop of Minor League Baseball’s legends that you’ve likely never heard of but have rich and storied careers.
But the Game Changers especially caught my eye.
Who are they?
Some are pioneers you’ve never heard of. Others are ones who have influenced the very habits you have if you’re reading about baseball cards today.
Check out just a few of them in our exclusive early sneak peek at the checklist:
No. 71 Emmett Ashford — The first African-American umpire.
No. 72 Russell “Lena” Blackburne — He’s best-known for “Lena Blackburne Rubbing Mud,” the mud used to rub down baseballs before each and every game.
No. 73 Pete Browning and John “Bud” Hillerich — Bud spun a bat for the local hero, Browning, ultimatety creating the first Louisville Slugger.
No. 75 Henry Chadwick — He’s credited with devising the box score.
No. 76 Mike Coolbaugh — His untimely death in 2007 while coaching first base for the Arkansas Travelers led to the mandatory wearing of batting helmets by base coaches.
No. 78 Washington, James & Benjamin Duke — The industrialists who are credited with inserting cardboard advertisements into products featuring baseball players … baseball cards.
No. 79 Bud “John W. Jackson” Fowler — The first African-American professional baseball player (1878).
No. 85 Virne Beatrice “Jackie” Mitchell — The first woman to sign a professional baseball contract. Once struck out Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game.
No. 91 Fritz & Louis Rueckheim and Henry Eckstein — They invented Cracker Jack.
For a closer look at the card backs — a little more information on each of these subjects (in minimal tobacco card style) — click on the images below.
Chris Olds has collected sports cards and memorabilia since 1987. Before coming to Beckett Media, he wrote about the hobby for the Orlando Sentinel on his blog, SportsStuff, and for the San Antonio Express-News and The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News. Do you have a comment, question or idea? Send e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com.
Congratulations TriStar Productions,Inc.! I’m partial to the Emmett Ashford card :)
Emmett Ashford is perhaps the most noted “unsung hero” the game of baseball has ever known. He overcame foul and low-life treatment even greater than Jackie Robinson, leading to his lingering in the minor leagues during the best years of his career! He was a man for all seaons; a true baseball celebrity.
Bob “Hubba Jubba” Moss, White Hall, AR