1974 Laughlin Old-Time Black Stars - A Set Ahead of its Time
 

In 1974, when R.G. Laughlin produced this obscure set as an homage to the largely unknown and still unappreciated stars of the Negro Leagues, only four (Paige, Gibson, Leonard & Bell) of the 36 players featured had been enshrined in baseball's Hall of Fame. But Laughlin's choice of players was remarkably prescient -- over the next 32 years 18 more of these ballplayers received the call to Cooperstown. In all, 22 of the 36 cards in this set depict HOFers. It can be reasonably argued that for at least 9 of these stars, their '74 Laughlin card is their true RC since they had no other baseball cards produced of them before this set! (See Old Cardboard's HOF Rookie Cards page). Below are scans of all 22 Laughlin HOFers, listed by induction year and "Rookie Card" notation, if appropriate. Enjoy!

(To give credit where it's due: much of this info comes from Brian Hodes aka BKH, the proud owner of the #1 all-time and current-finest PSA registry set)

Satchel Paige (HOF 1971) & Josh Gibson (HOF 1972)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...A_registry.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...registry-1.jpg


Buck Leonard (HOF 1972; Rookie Card) & Cool Papa Bell (HOF 1974)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...A_registry.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...A_registry.jpg


Judy Johnson (HOF 1975; Rookie Card) & Oscar Charleston (HOF 1976)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...registry-1.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...registry-1.jpg


Martin Dihigo (HOF 1977) & John Henry "Pop" Lloyd (HOF 1977)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...A_registry.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...registry-1.jpg


Ray Dandridge (HOF 1987) & Andrew "Rube" Foster (HOF 1996; Rookie Card)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...registry-1.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...registry-1.jpg


Bill Foster (HOF 1996) & Willie Wells (HOF 1997; Rookie Card)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...registry-1.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...A_registry.jpg


Wilbur "Bullet" Rogan (HOF 1998; Rookie Card) & "Smoky Joe" Williams (HOF 1999; Rookie Card)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...A_registry.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...A_registry.jpg


Frank Grant (HOF 2006; Rookie Card) & Pete Hill (HOF 2006)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...A_registry.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...registry-1.jpg


Biz Mackey (HOF 2006) & Jose "Joe" Mendez (HOF 2006)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...registry-1.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...A_registry.jpg

...and here are the final four HOFers from the set:



Louis Santop (HOF 2006; Rookie Card) & George "Mule" Suttles (HOF 2006; Rookie Card)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...registry-1.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...A_registry.jpg


Cristobal Torriente (HOF 2006) & Jud Wilson (HOF 2006)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...A_registry.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...registry-1.jpg

Agreed, great set. Even more scarce is the 1978 version, although not the same star power as 1974, still 3 HOF'ers: Leon Day, Hilton Smith & Sol White (rookie card).

True, those '78s are tough to find. Here's the Sol White (HOF 2006) RC:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...A_registry.jpg

I picked up the Josh Gibson recently. Its really a great set in terms of its content and design too.

Ricky Y

In the mid eighties I had an opportunity to pick up uncut sheets of both issues. Not buying them was one of the earliest of my many mistakes in the hobby.

Tom:

Those uncut sheets would have been cool, never seen any of those available.

What is really amazing are the backs
 

Because there was no reference material at the time

Bob did a lot of research for those sets, as well as the Indianapolis Clowns set - he talked to several of the players as well.

Based on what I know about Bob's printing of sets, I would guess that he made 1500 or so of the 74 set, and maybe 250 or 500 of the 78s. Just as you guys said, the lack of "stars" in the 78 set greatly reduced demand. I think the 74 set is just a nicer looking set, too.

Interesting info on the production numbers, I never heard that information released before, thanks for sharing.

Thanks, fellas, for the info on this set. I'm still pretty much a novice concerning its history and distribution so it is much appreciated. In '74, I was in my last years as a mid-teen collecting cards (1975 Topps were the last packs I bought) but I have no recollection of the Laughlin sets (I grew up in LA). Were they only dist'd via mail-order? Did they come in clear cello packs or was there any designed wrapping associated with them? Does anybody own, or if not, has anyone seen "unopened" '74 or '78 Laughlins recently?

My guess would be mail order only sets.

Given the scarcity, yet affordability of these, and the number of RC's(especially in the '74s), I've had a lot of fun tracking down the Laughlin cards. I'm always excited as hell to find new ones...And I'll agree, the '78 seem WAY harder to find.. Just picked up these 3 '74s today...

All of Bob's independently sold (i.e., non-Fleer issued) sets were not sold in packages (OK, except maybe the 1980 Famous Feats set) but were sold as complete sets through Bob (mail order or at shows) or through a dealer he supplied with sets. He sold the sets for roughly $3 a set.

Bob did these as a labor of love, I think, and I doubt he ever made a ton of money on any of his independent sets. For most of his sets, he did a print run of 500 sets, which would allow him to recoup all of his costs for production. If he sold enough, he would do a second run (again of about 500) which would provide any profits from a set. As of 1976 (two years after the 74 set), the most sets he had ever produced of any of his sets was 1500. My guess is that 1500 number was for either his Great Feats set (from 72 with a great selection of popular players) or the Old Time Black Stars - those two seemed to be the most popular of his independent sets. The Long Ago set from '78 again seemed to be a lot less popular at the time, again I think because the player selection (and maybe the card design itself) was much less attractive. I would be very surprised if he did a second run of the 78 set, which is why I pegged the number of those sets at maybe 500. And since you guys are looking for the sets/cards to some extent, I am sure you would agree that the 78 set seems to come up even less often than a 1500 to 500 ratio would suggest. Bob may not have sold all that he printed of the 78 set, or maybe he eventually printed another run or two of the 74 sets (sometime after 1976).

Hope this helps! If anybody ever runs into any Laughlin original art or Stand-ups, let me know! Would happily trade for what I need!

Marty

Hmm... http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=146941

Variation?
 

Just picked-up another raw set of '74 Laughlins and noticed something I hadn't seen before on the back of Card #1 - Smoky Joe Williams: a Laughlin tag-line. Perhaps this is a set that was printed in a later run? Anyone else have this on the back of their #1 Williams?


http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...illiams74b.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...lliams74b2.jpg

Nice catch on the variation - I'll have to check my sets and see what I have. My guess would be that the 1974 tagline was the first printing, and the other would have been the second or third run. Bob did a similar thing with his 1967 WS set - the original print run has his address on the bottom of the back, while subsequent runs didn't. He talked about making subsequent runs obvious, but this is the first time I have seen that he may have done that with the 74 set.

I could only get my hands on two of my 74 sets, pretty sure I have one or two more (someplace!) - one had the Copyright line on the Williams card and one didn't. Not much help there. My set I picked up in probably 75 or so did not have it. The other set I got (from Bob's personal collection a few years back) did have the tag line. I know he was really proud of the set - I am guessing he kept a set from his first print run - so I will stick with the guess that the first print run had it and subsequent didn't. But that's just a guess!!

Happy collecting!

Collecting goal reached: #1 PSA-graded set
 

My first raw set I won in an eBay auction from bbcexchange in April, 2010. I graded all of the HOFers from that set at that summer's National in Baltimore and was thrilled when 5 cards came back Pop 1's (with none higher). One of these was the 1st PSA 10 (#29 Martin Dihigo) ever graded from the set out of a total population of 335 at that time. I subsequently graded most of the rest of the cards from that raw set pulling a few more "highest graded." I upgraded periodically over the next year buying graded cards online when they became available, but in February of this year another raw set appeared on eBay and I was lucky to see it first. B-e-collectibles was selling it for $99 and they immediately accepted my Best Offer of $89. When the cards arrived I was stoked, they were even sharper than they looked online. I submitted the entire set on the $5.25 February Special and 49 (business) days later the grades popped and I knew I now had the highest-graded set. It has a GPA of 8.542 with 27/36 of the highest graded and 17 of those are Pop 1's.

Here's the break-down from that submission: 1 PSA 4 (the only wrinkled card in the bunch), 3 PSA 7s, 2 PSA 7.5s, 14 PSA 8s, 12 PSA 8.5s, 3 PSA 9s and my second PSA 10 (#27 Biz Mackey). Thirteen of them represented upgrades and seven were now the highest graded examples; here's the sub:

NEAR MINT 7 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 1 SMOKY JOE WILLIAMS Card
NEAR MINT-MINT+ 8.5 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 2 RAP DIXON Card
NEAR MINT-MINT+ 8.5 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 3 OLIVER MARCELLE Card
NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 4 BINGO DeMOSS Card
NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 5 WILLIE FOSTER Card
NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 6 JOHN BECKWITH Card
NEAR MINT-MINT+ 8.5 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 7 FLOYD GARDNER Card
NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 8 JOSH GIBSON Card
NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 9 JOE MENDEZ Card
VERY GOOD-EXCELLENT 4 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 10 PETE HILL Card
NEAR MINT-MINT+ 8.5 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 11 BUCK LEONARD Card
NEAR MINT-MINT+ 8.5 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 12 JUD WILSON Card
NEAR MINT-MINT+ 8.5 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 13 WILLIE WELLS Card
NEAR MINT-MINT+ 8.5 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 14 JIMMIE LYONS Card
NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 15 SATCHEL PAIGE Card
MINT 9 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 16 LOUIS SANTOP Card
NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 17 FRANK GRANT Card
NEAR MINT+ 7.5 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 18 CHRISTOBEL TORRIENTI Card
NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 19 BULLET ROGAN Card
NEAR MINT-MINT+ 8.5 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 20 DAVE MALARCHER Card
MINT 9 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 21 SPOT POLES Card
NEAR MINT-MINT+ 8.5 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 22 HOME RUN JOHNSON Card
NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 23 CHARLIE GRANT Card
NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 24 COOL PAPA BELL Card
NEAR MINT-MINT+ 8.5 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 25 CANNONBALL REDDING Card
MINT 9 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 26 RAY DANDRIDGE Card
GEM MINT 10 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 27 BIZ MACKEY Card
NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 28 FATS JENKINS Card
NEAR MINT-MINT+ 8.5 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 29 MARTIN DIHIGO Card
NEAR MINT 7 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 30 MULE SUTTLES Card
NEAR MINT-MINT+ 8.5 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 31 BILL MONROE Card
NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 32 DAN McCLELLAN Card
NEAR MINT 7 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 33 JOHN HENRY LLOYD Card
NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 34 OSCAR CHARLESTON Card
NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 35 RUBE FOSTER Card
NEAR MINT+ 7.5 1974 LAUGHLIN OLD-TIME BLACK STARS 36 JUDY JOHNSON Card

Date Received: 2/27/2012
Date Shipped: 5/4/2012
Order Status: Shipped

I also now have a second complete graded set (GPA 7.792) that I 'd like to sell. Any ideas how best to do so? Consign it to PWCC? Sell it myself on eBay either as a complete set or individually? Thanks for any input.

Very nice! The brown borders on this set are very challenging for condition sensitve collectors to be sure. I would think, and your submission would follow, that getting the first and last card in a PSA 8.5 or better might be very hard, since they almost always distributed in decks of 36 with those two getting the brunt of the handling.

Are you going for the 1978 set next? :)

Thanks Marty, no current plans to go after the '78s -- the lack of stars in that set reduces my interest. Any suggestions on how best to maximize my return on my second graded-set of '74s?

I'm sure there are differing opinions, but I would think that you would probably do better selling them individually - the HOFers, especially in high grade, might do well for you. I'm not much of a seller, so I'm not sure about the best venues to move them - maybe others will have some good guidance. Good luck!

IMHO since the entire set is PSA graded, I think that the complete set consigned to one of the auction houses such as Hake's, which has done quite well with Negro League cards and memorabilia lately, might realize the best prices for you, especially if it is the 2nd or 3rd best set on the registry.

Thanks Marty & Phil for your suggestions -- I'll be sure to check-out Hake's Auctions as a possibility if I decide to sell the set intact.

Just picked this up off the 'Bay as a potenital upgrade for my PSA registry set. Here's my question: crack-out or try to cross-over (I'd be OK with a "PSA 8")? If "cracked" does anyone have an easy and fool-proof method of extracting a card from a BVG case?

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps2ae77081.jpg

I would do the cross-over service and let the experts handle it.

Sorry for the spam, but I figure if you're interested in reading about these cards, you may also be interested in picking some up for your collection. I'm breaking-up my second PSA-graded set, currently ranked 4th with a GPA of 7.72. All 36 cards are being individually auctioned on eBay by PWCC, ending this coming Thursday (April 3rd) between 9:48-10:06pm EDT. Here's a link to the auction closing first: card #1, Hall of Fame pitcher Smoky Joe Williams PSA 7.

I tried Hake's Auction House but they didn't respond to my inquiries.

Thanks, and if you have any questions please respond to the thread or PM me.

Good luck if you decide to bid!

Andy

Picked this up at the National last year:

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...y%20signed.jpg

Now that's a cool '74 Laughlin!! Well done.

An update and a plea after the Chicago National. Last year I decided to go after the '78s too and I now have the highest-graded '74 and '78 Laughlin Black Star sets on the PSA registry. Crossed-over seven cards from BVG and SGC to PSA in Chicago, here are the two biggest successes:


http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psb8msdwcr.jpg http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psfl6njusy.jpg




Checking the pop report after the National, I was blown away to discover that these five have recently been added to the population:

#15 Satchel Paige (HOF) PSA 9 (Pop 1, none higher)
#16 Louis Santop (HOF) PSA 10 (Pop 1, 3rd "10" ever graded from this set)
#19 Bullet Rogan (HOF) PSA 10 (Pop 1, 4th "10" ever graded from this set)
#31 Bill Monroe PSA 9 (Pop 2, none higher)
#34 Oscar Charleston (HOF) PSA 9 (Pop 2, none higher)

If anyone has these or knows who does, I am VERY interested in obtaining these cards via purchase, trade or a combination. Please PM me.

Thanks.

I love these cards it has a certain charm to them and ofcourse the big name stars. I have a Josh Gibson and am glad I got it!

Ricky Y

As mentioned above, I noticed that the population of PSA 10s had doubled for this set after the National. I had sub'd the first two Gems and they're still monstrously tough for a 40-year-old issue with only 4/705 = 0.57% Gem Mint 10s in the total population.

I am thrilled to report that I was able to track them down and procure both for my collection. I now own all four 10s from the '74 set and the two from the '78.

Of these two new 10s, I'm particularly stoked about the Rogan which has been one of the set's tougher cards. Until this 10 popped, the highest-graded was one PSA 8.5 (no 9s).

Enjoy their pristine beauty!


Attachment 285242 Attachment 285241

I was able to procure the three other upgrades to my set and I now am tantalizingly close to my ultimate goal for the 1974 Laughlins: to own the highest-graded example of each card. With these three "9's" below (the Paige is a Pop 1, the others are Pop 2's) I now have the highest PSA-graded example for 31 of the 36 cards in the set.


Attachment 285243 Attachment 285244 Attachment 285245

Beautiful cards, Andy! Not big on grading cards, but those 10's are incredible! As anyone who has ever tried to put one of these sets in pages can attest, these cards are slightly wider than a standard card, which makes any of these cards that were stored/stacked with standard cards very likely to have received dings on the corners or marks on the edges, and those brown borders don't lie!

I kind of kick myself for not just picking up sets of these when I was a kid and they were a few bucks. I did manage to assemble a pretty nice lot a few years ago when the recession had prices way down:

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...ck%20Stars.jpg

I did buy a set or two when I was a kid, and really liked them. But then again, there wasn't much sports related that I didn't like, and collecting ADD had me in its grips! I was trying to make some kind of order out of a lifetime of collecting chaos the other day, and I found this nice Baseball Nostalgia catalog, along with a nice order form that I never used! What do you think, Adam, should we find Doc Brown's DeLorean and try to use the catalog to order a few?

Short prints
 

Are there any short prints in this set? I see folks on eBay claim so every once in awhile but I cannot verify if there is/isn't?.

Hey Whiffers! Welcome aboard!

There are no short prints in the set, as they were all sold as complete sets by Bob and dealers. That being said, there are certain cards that are clearly more popular than others, and the entire set was printed in very low numbers (my educated guess is about 2500 sets or less) so I guess you could really say all cards are "short prints" when compared to most other issues of the day.

Happy collecting!

Welcome Wiffers--- what else do you collect ?

Glad to see this thread resuscitated after almost two years! I too would like to welcome Whiffers.

Thought I'd take this opportunity to update you Laughlin collectors on the progress of my '74 & '78 PSA registry sets.

For the '74 set I've recently added the Lloyd (Pop 2, none higher), the Rube Foster (Pop 3, none higher) and the Charlie Grant (Pop 1, & now the 7th PSA 10 extant from the set).

[Attachment 281038 Attachment 281039 Attachment 285232


I bought a couple of high-grade '78 sets online late last year, and they produced the Chappie Johnson (Pop 3) and the Crutchfield (Pop 1). I bought the Holloway (Pop 1) slabbed off eBay:

Attachment 285229 Attachment 285231 Attachment 285234

I love your sets, especially the 74's!

As of today, I'm very pleased to report that I've been able to upgrade my set to the current Finest Possible GPA and Set Rating. I now own a highest-graded example of all 36 cards in the set, with one-third (12) of them Pop 1's. Many thanks to Brian Hodes, aka BKH, for agreeing to trade me the only three cards on the planet that could allow me to complete this goal. Here are the three 9's (all Pop 1's) that I acquired:

Attachment 285731 Attachment 285730 Attachment 285729

Congratulations! Awesome!

Freakin' awesome!