A 1980s Card Part 51 - 1987 Dixon's Negro League James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell

There is no 1980s Cardinals card this week.  Instead, I am going to use this space this week for a card of Cool Papa Bell, who was one of the best to ever take the field as a professional baseball player in St. Louis.  The Cardinals actually honor him with a statue outside of Busch Stadium.  

Major League Baseball just celebrated the 100th Anniversary of the Negro Leagues this past weekend by having their players wearing a uniform patch.  I think there might have been a decal on the side of the bases too.  The Marlins went one step further and wore throwback uniforms from the Miami Giants.  Maybe there were limitations with the celebration because of the pandemic, but the event seemed really understated.  

I am not really surprised.  

There were really good players in the Negro Leagues, many of whom have ended up in the Hall of Fame over the years.  Cool Papa Bell was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1974 and was widely regard as one of the best baseball players during the 1920s, 1930s, and into the 1940s.  

He was incredibly fast.  When you read about Bell, he feels like he might have been the inspiration for the 1980s Cardinals WhiteyBall teams.  Fits with the 1980s Cardinals post theme, right? 

Pitchers from that era feared Bell's base running, which often turned walks and singles into doubles and triples.  He put pressure on defenses with his legs.  Fielders rushed throws.  Pitchers paid attention to holding Bell on base rather than the batter they were facing.  On defense, he played shallow to take away bloop hits over the heads of infielders, but also had the foot speed to track down balls that were hit to deeper parts of the field.  

The Negro League Hall of Fame did a series of videos earlier this year where they got current and former players, former Presidents, and other notable celebrities to "Tip A Cap" in celebration of the centennial anniversary.  A few of the videos included a shout out to Cool Papa Bell including President Obama. 

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Magic Johnson also mentions Cool Papa Bell in his video, but it's a little longer.  Lorenzo Cain from the Milwaukee Brewers as well. I try to post the short ones so you're not here for half an hour.  

Let's get the card.  Here is Cool Papa Bell.  

I would love to tell you that I had a huge box of Negro League cards.  That it took my a long time to decide on the perfect card for this post.  However, there are not many cards with Negro League players around.  Fleer did well with a few years in the early 2000s, I also think there were a few in the 1970s.  

The 1987 Dixon set is my favorite though.  It's a black and white postcard style set that was created by writer Phil Dixon.  No fancy design, just a solid baseball card.  They pop up from time to time on Ebay, and there are single cards on COMC.  Not the easiest to find, but they are worth it if you can find them.  I flip through these a few times a year, read the backs of the cards, and try to learn something new about these former greats.   

As a former Midwesterner, Phil does a lot of different speaking events.  He's great, it's worth your time to go if he is somewhere nearby speaking.  You can also check out his books.  Great stuff. 

Here is the back of the card....

There are some really good information on the back of these cards.  12 seconds around the bases?  I can't find a time around the bases for Billy Hamilton, currently the fastest player in baseball, but he can go home to third in 11 seconds.  That's slower than Cool Papa Bell.  

I lived in St. Louis for more than 20 years, I did not know that there was a Cool Papa Bell Avenue.  I had to find out where it was in the city.  

I am driving down the street the next time I am in town.  

Phil Dixon's Negro League Set Part 2

I am going back to the Dixon's Negro League set for tonight's post.  I had picked up the set back at the end of April and made a post back at the beginning of May.  I still intend to make a few posts to show off all of the cards in the set.  With school winding down for the summer I took a little bit of time to finish scanning this set for posts.  Here are the next four cards in the set:

There are some really good players in this group of four including Josh Gibson up in the top right in the Grays uniform.  Gibson was the most noted power hitter in the Negro Leagues and is well know by many baseball fans.  For me, the best part of finding this set is learning about new players who had some great accomplishments.  Here are the backs of the cards which include a short write up by Phil Dixon who created the set and is a noted speaker on the Negro Leagues.

Out of the four cards in this group my favorite card has to be Joe Green on the bottom left.  First, the picture on the front of the card is really cool.  Clearly a posed photograph, but just something a little different that you don't normally see.  I also like the old catchers mitt.  Hard to beat.  In reading the back of the card it turns out that Green was noted for once hitting four home runs in a game which reminds me of one of my best 1990s Cardinals memories.....

Phil Dixon's Negro League Set Part 1

Way back in the fall I spent a little bit of time searching for some cards of former St. Louis Stars player Willie Wells.  Wells was one of the superstars of the Negro Leagues back in the 1920s and also spent time playing in Cuba where his play is also legendary.  I found a Perez-Steele postcard of Wells, but several of his other cards were really difficult to find.

One of the best sets of Negro League cards were produced by author, and speaker, Phil Dixon.  He has a few books out, like Wilber "Bullet" Rogan and the Kansas City Monarchs, and you can find some of his public appearances around the internet.  I have found single cards from the set floating around on sites like COMC and Ebay, but I have never been able to track down certain singles.  Most of the single cards that I have been able to find have run north of $5, especially on COMC, and I had never really tried to find the set.

Well, after letting the Willie Wells card slip down my list, I did a little looking a week or two ago and was able to land the entire 45 card set including a Willie Wells card.  Here's a look at my newest card of the St. Louis Stars Hall of Famer....

The cards are on white postcard quality card stock.  The Dixon cards are a quarter inch wider than the standard card and an inch taller.  The pictures are all black and white photographs.  Really simple design, but I like the look of these cards.  The backs of the cards feature a short biography.

I am not sure that I want to cram 45 cards into one post.  After all, I am sitting here trying to complete sets, show off the sets as I finish them, and take a little time to display my accomplishments.  Sure, I just bought all 45 cards, but it's still a completed set and you're not going to see many blog posts about Negro League cards.  So, I am going to split the set up and display a few at a time over the next two or three weeks.  We've done Willie Wells, here are four more including the bios on the backs of the cards.  The scans are aligned top and bottom.