Trinidad Y Hno Cuban League Team Premium

[aelefson]

Hi-
I recently acquired the Cuban League Team premimum scanned below and I had a few questions regarding it. I was able to find on www.cubanball.com a webpage devoted to the four booklets issued in 1948-1949. Mine is the Habanas

http://www.cubanball.com/Images/BBCards/MiscSets/TriniTeam/triniteam.html

Were these issued at the ballpark or were these a mail away offering or point of sale? How scarce are these? Have any sold recently? I was only able to find a record of a set of 4 selling at Lelands in 2001 for 250.00. I am guessing the booklet containing Monte Irvin is the most sought after, followed by the one with Buck Leonard. Is this correct?

Please provide any information regarding these. Please also feel free to post your own booklets or anything related to the Habanas.
Thanks in advance,
Alan Elefson
aelefson@hotmail.com

[ElCabron]

Not sure how they were issued. My guess is that they were intended to be autograph books players could sign on the page their picture appears on.

The one with Buck Leonard (Marianao) is by far the most desirable and valuable. Since Leonard has no known cards, many HOF collectors use this is the closest card-like item they can find. It's also much more rare than the Almendares or Habana booklets.

With Cuban team collectibles, items from Cienfuegos and Marianao are always fairly scarce. Almendares is the most plentiful, followed closely by Habana. Then there is huge gap, followed by Marianao and then followed closely by Cienfuegos.

Monte Irvin appears in the Almendares booklet. While there should be a premium on Monte Irvin items, I don't believe there is much of one with regards to these booklet. It could be because he also has a Cuban card from the same era as well as numerous ones in the U.S.

Hope this helps,

-Ryan

[aelefson]

Thanks Ryan! I really appreciate the information. I did not know that about Buck Leonard. Any additional input is welcome as well.
Thanks,
Alan