1981 Trackle Lynchburg Mets Darryl Strawberry

MinorLeaguer

God bless ebay saved searches. I've had this card on my ebay saved search list for 10+ years never garnering a hit and it finally reared it's head this morning. The Straw's first card (post-card actually). Not in the best shape, but who knows when another one comes around. I'm just happy to get a tough one crossed of my first-card collection want list! Will eventually sub it. Here's a pic below if you've never seen one and would like to see it:

BaltimoreYankee

Awesome! Congrats on obtaining a card that you've wanted for so long. This is what the hobby is all about.

lawnmowerman

Wow too cool! Congrats on finally picking it up. Please update the thread with a pic of the back once you get it in hand.

olb31

I live about 40 miles from Lynchburg. this is really good find. Not a huge strawberry fan, but find this card to be a great novelty. Congrats.

vladguerrero

Neat, never seen one before.

craig44

Great pickup. A great early shot of him. He looks so young there. What size is the card?

dberk12

That is a fantastic card. I am a Yankees fan (avitar may give it away) but always loved watching the Straw/Gooden era from afar. What could have been if not for the off the field issues....

rexvos

That is awesome. congrats.

FirstBeard

<< <i>always loved watching the Straw/Gooden era from afar. What could have been if not for the off the field issues.... >>

jackstraw

You have way too much time on your hands firstbeard...

Awesome card!

Dboneesq

<< <i>Please update the thread with a pic of the back once you get it in hand. >>



Congrats on finding something you have waited so long to own.


Here ya go Matt:

lawnmowerman

Awesome! Thanks Doug!

Ironmanfan

Ripken had a similar issue in 1981 with Rochester (same handwriting on the reverse). I've always considered these a collector's issue and not sure PSA would even slab them...Seems like someone just did a few of the bigger names of the time and would have preferred if entire team sets existed. I've always "cataloged" it as a 1981 "Real Photo Postcard" Rochester (though I don't think they were produced until the mid 1980's)

IMF

mariotown

<< <i>Ripken had a similar issue in 1981 with Rochester (same handwriting on the reverse)

IMF >>



He did? Do you have a copy you could post?

Kevin

Ironmanfan

<< <i>

<< <i>Ripken had a similar issue in 1981 with Rochester (same handwriting on the reverse)

IMF >>



He did? Do you have a copy you could post?

Kevin >>






IMF

MinorLeaguer

<< <i>Ripken had a similar issue in 1981 with Rochester (same handwriting on the reverse). I've always considered these a collector's issue and not sure PSA would even slab them...Seems like someone just did a few of the bigger names of the time and would have preferred if entire team sets existed. I've always "cataloged" it as a 1981 "Real Photo Postcard" Rochester (though I don't think they were produced until the mid 1980's)

IMF >>



IMF, great card! Also, I have the Bob Lemke Standard Catalog of Minor League Cards from 2000 and Trackle post-cards were listed as issued as various minor league team sets from 1979 - 1985, including the Lynchburg Mets in 1981 that was a 10-card set. Oddly, there is no Trackle 1981 Rochester post-cards listed in that catalog. With regards to your thinking they weren't produced until the mid 1980's, well that line of thought is at least partially not completely correct as team sets were made per Lemke. However, I could never say that it is definitely a completely false statement either as around 1990, Minor league cards were all the rage and "funky" things unfortunately did happen here or there. It's one of those things you take with a grain of salt and take items at face value because in most cases there isn't information to the otherwise. Therefore, with these things, you have to use logic and common sense the best you can to try and make a good decision. Along those lines, I'd appreciate it if you would let me know if the writing on the back of your Ripken is real ink or facscimile. These post-cards are all noted as players unidentified in the catalog. If it's real ink, then we just may have post-cards out of the same collection that the previous owner wrote on. If it's facsimile, then your card as well as mine could be... "funky" ;-)

Ironmanfan

<< <i>

<< <i>Ripken had a similar issue in 1981 with Rochester (same handwriting on the reverse). I've always considered these a collector's issue and not sure PSA would even slab them...Seems like someone just did a few of the bigger names of the time and would have preferred if entire team sets existed. I've always "cataloged" it as a 1981 "Real Photo Postcard" Rochester (though I don't think they were produced until the mid 1980's)

IMF >>



IMF, great card! Also, I have the Bob Lemke Standard Catalog of Minor League Cards from 2000 and Trackle post-cards were listed as issued as various minor league team sets from 1979 - 1985, including the Lynchburg Mets in 1981 that was a 10-card set. Oddly, there is no Trackle 1981 Rochester post-cards listed in that catalog. With regards to your thinking they weren't produced until the mid 1980's, well that line of thought is at least partially not completely correct as team sets were made per Lemke. However, I could never say that it is definitely a completely false statement either as around 1990, Minor league cards were all the rage and "funky" things unfortunately did happen here or there. It's one of those things you take with a grain of salt and take items at face value because in most cases there isn't information to the otherwise. Therefore, with these things, you have to use logic and common sense the best you can to try and make a good decision. Along those lines, I'd appreciate it if you would let me know if the writing on the back of your Ripken is real ink or facscimile. These post-cards are all noted as players unidentified in the catalog. If it's real ink, then we just may have post-cards out of the same collection that the previous owner wrote on. If it's facsimile, then your card as well as mine could be... "funky" ;-) >>



I know the Ripken isn't part of a team set, because I've never seen any other player from that club in this format. As far as the writing is concerned, under magnification, it appears to be real ink, but I can't be 100% certain. I know that a couple other advanced Ripken colelctors own this same card, so it would interesting to compare the writing on theirs (but facsimilie or not, you can tell that that it's the same handwriting style on both the Ripken & Strawberry cards).

As far as mid 1980's theory issue is concerned, is that I've been going to shows regulalry since the late 1970's and starting in the mid 1980's was when the Minor League card market started to hit (meaning that most teams were starting to come out with their issues), I started to see this Post card...Also around that same time period was the advent of the un-licensed & "Broder" cards...

Have you ever seen any other payers from that Lynchburg set? I'd be curious to see what Lemke said exactly about those issues....

Congrats on your pickup!

IMF

timpatg

He looks DYNOMITE in that pic

VintagemanEd

These are awesome.... What kind of value do they have?

MinorLeaguer

<< <i>

<< <i>

<< <i>Ripken had a similar issue in 1981 with Rochester (same handwriting on the reverse). I've always considered these a collector's issue and not sure PSA would even slab them...Seems like someone just did a few of the bigger names of the time and would have preferred if entire team sets existed. I've always "cataloged" it as a 1981 "Real Photo Postcard" Rochester (though I don't think they were produced until the mid 1980's)

IMF >>



IMF, great card! Also, I have the Bob Lemke Standard Catalog of Minor League Cards from 2000 and Trackle post-cards were listed as issued as various minor league team sets from 1979 - 1985, including the Lynchburg Mets in 1981 that was a 10-card set. Oddly, there is no Trackle 1981 Rochester post-cards listed in that catalog. With regards to your thinking they weren't produced until the mid 1980's, well that line of thought is at least partially not completely correct as team sets were made per Lemke. However, I could never say that it is definitely a completely false statement either as around 1990, Minor league cards were all the rage and "funky" things unfortunately did happen here or there. It's one of those things you take with a grain of salt and take items at face value because in most cases there isn't information to the otherwise. Therefore, with these things, you have to use logic and common sense the best you can to try and make a good decision. Along those lines, I'd appreciate it if you would let me know if the writing on the back of your Ripken is real ink or facscimile. These post-cards are all noted as players unidentified in the catalog. If it's real ink, then we just may have post-cards out of the same collection that the previous owner wrote on. If it's facsimile, then your card as well as mine could be... "funky" ;-) >>



I know the Ripken isn't part of a team set, because I've never seen any other player from that club in this format. As far as the writing is concerned, under magnification, it appears to be real ink, but I can't be 100% certain. I know that a couple other advanced Ripken colelctors own this same card, so it would interesting to compare the writing on theirs (but facsimilie or not, you can tell that that it's the same handwriting style on both the Ripken & Strawberry cards).

As far as mid 1980's theory issue is concerned, is that I've been going to shows regulalry since the late 1970's and starting in the mid 1980's was when the Minor League card market started to hit (meaning that most teams were starting to come out with their issues), I started to see this Post card...Also around that same time period was the advent of the un-licensed & "Broder" cards...

Have you ever seen any other payers from that Lynchburg set? I'd be curious to see what Lemke said exactly about those issues....

Congrats on your pickup!

IMF >>



IMF,

The Standard Catalog happens to have a pic of Jose Oquendo for the 1981 Lynchburg set. Says b/w, post card back, players unidentified, 3 1/2" x 5 3/8"

The Lynchburg set says the players in that set are
1) Mike Anicich
2) Al DeLano
3) David Guff
4) Gene Dusan
5) Roger Frash
6) Lloyd McClendon
7) Jose Oquendo
8) Bill Rittweger
9) Darryl Strawberry
10) John Violette

That's all the info it gives on that set. Looking at some other Trackle post cards sets listed from 1981, the sizes can differ slightly from team to team in a given year.

I'd love to find a 1983 Trackle Kinston Blue Jays David Wells too.

GDM67

<< <i>He looks DYNOMITE in that pic >>

I see what you did there...

Stone193

Have never seen this before.

Congratulations. Super pickup.

How were these distributed?

Ironmanfan

Ironmanfan

<< <i>

<< <i>

<< <i>

<< <i>Ripken had a similar issue in 1981 with Rochester (same handwriting on the reverse). I've always considered these a collector's issue and not sure PSA would even slab them...Seems like someone just did a few of the bigger names of the time and would have preferred if entire team sets existed. I've always "cataloged" it as a 1981 "Real Photo Postcard" Rochester (though I don't think they were produced until the mid 1980's)

IMF >>



IMF, great card! Also, I have the Bob Lemke Standard Catalog of Minor League Cards from 2000 and Trackle post-cards were listed as issued as various minor league team sets from 1979 - 1985, including the Lynchburg Mets in 1981 that was a 10-card set. Oddly, there is no Trackle 1981 Rochester post-cards listed in that catalog. With regards to your thinking they weren't produced until the mid 1980's, well that line of thought is at least partially not completely correct as team sets were made per Lemke. However, I could never say that it is definitely a completely false statement either as around 1990, Minor league cards were all the rage and "funky" things unfortunately did happen here or there. It's one of those things you take with a grain of salt and take items at face value because in most cases there isn't information to the otherwise. Therefore, with these things, you have to use logic and common sense the best you can to try and make a good decision. Along those lines, I'd appreciate it if you would let me know if the writing on the back of your Ripken is real ink or facscimile. These post-cards are all noted as players unidentified in the catalog. If it's real ink, then we just may have post-cards out of the same collection that the previous owner wrote on. If it's facsimile, then your card as well as mine could be... "funky" ;-) >>



I know the Ripken isn't part of a team set, because I've never seen any other player from that club in this format. As far as the writing is concerned, under magnification, it appears to be real ink, but I can't be 100% certain. I know that a couple other advanced Ripken colelctors own this same card, so it would interesting to compare the writing on theirs (but facsimilie or not, you can tell that that it's the same handwriting style on both the Ripken & Strawberry cards).

As far as mid 1980's theory issue is concerned, is that I've been going to shows regulalry since the late 1970's and starting in the mid 1980's was when the Minor League card market started to hit (meaning that most teams were starting to come out with their issues), I started to see this Post card...Also around that same time period was the advent of the un-licensed & "Broder" cards...

Have you ever seen any other payers from that Lynchburg set? I'd be curious to see what Lemke said exactly about those issues....

Congrats on your pickup!

IMF >>



IMF,

The Standard Catalog happens to have a pic of Jose Oquendo for the 1981 Lynchburg set. Says b/w, post card back, players unidentified, 3 1/2" x 3 5/8"

The Lynchburg set says the players in that set are
1) Mike Anicich
2) Al DeLano
3) David Guff
4) Gene Dusan
5) Roger Frash
6) Lloyd McClendon
7) Jose Oquendo
8) Bill Rittweger
9) Darryl Strawberry
10) John Violette

That's all the info it gives on that set. Looking at some other Trackle post cards sets listed from 1981, the sizes can differ slightly from team to team in a given year.

I'd love to find a 1983 Trackle Kinston Blue Jays David Wells too. >>



since it states that the players in the Kinston set are unidentified, could it be that the Strawberry you picked up isn't a Trackle card afterall and just made from the same person that made the Ripken?

just a thought....

IMF

vols1

I noticed the Smoltz has the same hand writing.
And every auction listed handwriting on back. postcards
Dale Murphy

MinorLeaguer

Definitely a mystery. One thing's for sure, the guy has great penmanship!

Treakle23

I've been doing some research over the past two years on these postcards. The photographer's name is Brook Treakle. He passed away in 1991, but he took a lot of photographs for the Peninsula Pilots in the Carolina League; in fact, his photographs were used for the two 1980 TCMA Peninsula Pilots sets with Julio Franco. I've been on a mission to acquire more of these. I actually have two other Strawberry postcards and a Dwight Gooden. Others I've acquired include Dale Murphy (Richmond), Billy Bean and Kevin Mitchell (Tidewater), Dennis "Oil Can Boyd," and many others. Brook would photograph the players before games and they would often ask him for copies of the photos for friends an family. They occasionally appear on eBay. A Prince William Barry Bonds and a Roberto Bonilla (both from 1985) were sold a year or so ago. Treakle's trademark is his immaculate hand-printing on the backs of the cards. When he passed away, his mother sold his collection. It was broken-down into three groups: photo postcards, negatives, and autographs. A lot of the autographed items have appeared on eBay. I found out the two collectors who purchased the negatives and the postcards. I don't know what quantities he produced the postcards in, but I have to believe it couldn't be more than a handful. He also took pictures of photographs in books and made postcards out of them, He referred to them as "photo negatives."

Time4aGansett

Great information. Thanks for sharing!

ReggieCleveland

@ said:
I've been doing some research over the past two years on these postcards. The photographer's name is Brook Treakle. He passed away in 1991, but he took a lot of photographs for the Peninsula Pilots in the Carolina League; in fact, his photographs were used for the two 1980 TCMA Peninsula Pilots sets with Julio Franco. I've been on a mission to acquire more of these. I actually have two other Strawberry postcards and a Dwight Gooden. Others I've acquired include Dale Murphy (Richmond), Billy Bean and Kevin Mitchell (Tidewater), Dennis "Oil Can Boyd," and many others. Brook would photograph the players before games and they would often ask him for copies of the photos for friends an family. They occasionally appear on eBay. A Prince William Barry Bonds and a Roberto Bonilla (both from 1985) were sold a year or so ago. Treakle's trademark is his immaculate hand-printing on the backs of the cards. When he passed away, his mother sold his collection. It was broken-down into three groups: photo postcards, negatives, and autographs. A lot of the autographed items have appeared on eBay. I found out the two collectors who purchased the negatives and the postcards. I don't know what quantities he produced the postcards in, but I have to believe it couldn't be more than a handful. He also took pictures of photographs in books and made postcards out of them, He referred to them as "photo negatives."

That is fantastic information. Thank you very much for taking the time to share it.

Arthur

Kid4hof03

@ReggieCleveland said:

@Loserjew said:
I've been doing some research over the past two years on these postcards. The photographer's name is Brook Treakle. He passed away in 1991, but he took a lot of photographs for the Peninsula Pilots in the Carolina League; in fact, his photographs were used for the two 1980 TCMA Peninsula Pilots sets with Julio Franco. I've been on a mission to acquire more of these. I actually have two other Strawberry postcards and a Dwight Gooden. Others I've acquired include Dale Murphy (Richmond), Billy Bean and Kevin Mitchell (Tidewater), Dennis "Oil Can Boyd," and many others. Brook would photograph the players before games and they would often ask him for copies of the photos for friends an family. They occasionally appear on eBay. A Prince William Barry Bonds and a Roberto Bonilla (both from 1985) were sold a year or so ago. Treakle's trademark is his immaculate hand-printing on the backs of the cards. When he passed away, his mother sold his collection. It was broken-down into three groups: photo postcards, negatives, and autographs. A lot of the autographed items have appeared on eBay. I found out the two collectors who purchased the negatives and the postcards. I don't know what quantities he produced the postcards in, but I have to believe it couldn't be more than a handful. He also took pictures of photographs in books and made postcards out of them, He referred to them as "photo negatives."

That is fantastic information. Thank you very much for taking the time to share it.

Arthur

I couldn't agree more! I love these sort of issues, to get information like this is rare!

maddux69

I have something similar, but definitely not Treakle as it has different handwriting on the back. I picked it up from Fritsch years ago on a whim.

Treakle23

This Greg Maddux photo postcard is the work of photographer Mel Bailey. He passed away a few years ago, but took thousands of photos in Japan, during spring training, and for minor league teams. I spoke to his son within the last year and his father shot a lot of photos for "Baseball America" and "Street and Smith." His son told me his father used to sell these photo postcards in the back of "Sports Collectors Digest Magazine." Although they weren't authorized by Major League Baseball, they kept an eye on Mel; however, they let him fly under the radar because he only sold his postcards to maybe thirty collectors. He wasn't mass-producing them and I guess he knew a lot of people and they let him slide by. When he was stationed in Japan, Mel not only took photos, but he would also bring the first Japanese baseball cards to America.

After researching Brook Treakle, I tried identifying a lot of photo postcards. I had purchased two John Elway ones from when he played with the Oneonta Yankees in 1981. A long-time collector named Ray Medeiros said he recognized the handwriting on the back as that of his good friend Mel Bailey. Mel's son said he was with his father when they stopped in Oneonta to check-out a Yankee prospect who was supposed to be a great college quarterback. This is where Mel Bailey took the Elway photos.

In the last year or so I also purchased some of these postcards from Larry Fritsch. They are one-of-a-kind, but I believe they are a bit pricey. I did purchase quite a few of them, including a George Brett postcard when he played with the Omaha Royals. I've recently purchased a few thousand Mel Bailey postcards. What I like most about them is they were taken during spring training and include a lot of players even in the Florida Instructional League. One of my favorites is a Cecil Cooper from spring training with the Cardinals. I knew her never played there, but I researched it. It turns out the Red Sox let him go in the Rule 5 free agent draft in 1971 to the Cardinals. After spring training, the Cards didn't keep him, and returned him to the Red Sox. A nice little bit of trivia.

I've been trying to identify a lot of postcards I've recently acquired. I can identify Brook Treakle and Mel Bailey. I've also learned to identify Jeffrey Morey, Doug McWilliams, and a few others. It can be a little time-consuming sometimes, but I enjoy the hunt.

maddux69

Thanks for the info and welcome to the board. That is wild to think that Mel was the first to introduce Japanese playing cards to America. That aspect of the hobby has grown tremendously even before Ohtani made his way to the MLB and now we know who to thank.

Treakle23

Thanks, Jason. Do you have any other Bailey postcards!

JBrules

Great thread. A huge fan of postcards.

maddux69

@Treakle23 said:
Thanks, Jason. Do you have any other Bailey postcards!

No, just picked up the one Maddux postcard unfortunately.

jeffo81

Here is another Strawberry from the 1981 Lynchburg I just picked up this weekend at a flea market.

jeffo81

Here is the back - Card is near mint, no scratches or creases. It was perfectly protected in the 4 pocket card sheets.

doubledragon

@jeffo81 said:

Here is the back - Card is near mint, no scratches or creases. It was perfectly protected in the 4 pocket card sheets.

Absolutely beautiful! I didn't even know those existed. Thanks for posting.

gonzer

I've had this Ryan forever

Ironmanfan

I have a few Mel Bailey issued Cal Ripken Jr. postcards, but these are my favorites (from 1980 & 1981):

IMF

Treakle23

@gonzer said:
I've had this Ryan forever

@gonzer said:
I've had this Ryan forever

@gonzer said:
I've had this Ryan forever

@gonzer said:
I've had this Ryan forever

Treakle23

I have the same Bailey Ryan. Great postcard.

Treakle23

@Ironmanfan said:
I have a few Mel Bailey issued Cal Ripken Jr. postcards, but these are my favorites (from 1980 & 1981):

IMF

I also have these Ripken’s and some others. I still haven’t found a Treakle Ripken for sale.

gonzer

@Treakle23 said:
I have the same Bailey Ryan. Great postcard.

Treakle, any background info on this postcard? Thanks in advance.

Treakle23

Background info on which postcard?

gonzer

...

gonzer

@Treakle23 said:
Background info on which postcard?

The Ryan, value, year possibly made? Having the 'Kodak' logo dates it back before the 80's I'm guessing. Thanks.

Treakle23

As far as value goes, there is a lot of about 10 or 12 Nolan Ryans (including this one) selling for $480 on eBay right now. Larry Fritsch is selling hundreds of these on eBay, but is probably overpriced, selling stars for $70 to $150 each. I would say the Ryan is worth between $50 and $100, depending on what someone is willing to pay for it. I could see it selling for around $100. I spoke with Mel Bailey's son about a year ago. His father would run a classified ad in the back of "Sports Collectors' Digest" and sell these postcards. He said there were only about 30 collectors who regularly bought from his father. I asked him if his father would produce postcards of older images years later and he said yes (and would still right the original year on the backs of them in pencil). It's possible that this Ryan from 1969 could have been printed anywhere from 1969 until around 1992. Bailey was still printing postcards until at least 1993 on Kodak photo postcard paper. That being said, he might have printed anywhere from 2 postcards or up to 100 of certain players. No matter when they were printed, there aren't a lot of them in circulation and I would still say their value is more in the scarcity of them rather than the time they were printed. I now have several thousands of these in my collection. Most of them were taken during spring training, which means there are a lot of star rookie postcards taken two or three year prior to their first Topps, Fleer, or Donruss rookie card appearances.

gonzer

@Treakle23 said:

Thanks so much for that information Treakle, you're a scholar and a gentleman.

Treakle23

Thanks. You’re half-right. I was a scholar.