[Rob D.]

To clarify the years/colors of Cleveland Indians pencil clips:

Black -- 1948

Brown -- 1949

White -- 1950

Blue -- 1951

Blue -- 1952

The way to tell a 1951 clip from a '52 is that the 1951 clips have a white, union logo on the underside of the rim of the celluloid button. The 1952 clips do not.

There are 90 different clips known.

1948 -- 20

1949 -- 20

1950 -- 19

1951 -- 12

1952 -- 19

Larry Doby is the only player to have a clip each of the five years they were made. His pose is the same each year, albeit cropped a bit differently some years.

Luke Easter has clips in 1950, '51 and '52. His photo is the same in 1950 and '52 (though cropped differently), but the photo used in 1951 is completely different.

During the years I spent putting together my set of 90, I spoke to a lot of different clip collectors. There never was a consensus of any color being harder to find than another. For a few guys, the white clips were harder. For others, 1951's gave them trouble. Tom found the browns clips tougher to find, but I've never seen anything that indicated they are.

There most certainly are specific players in specific years who are really, really tough. A few that come to mind off the top of my head are Joe Gordon in 1948 (but he's an easy clip in '49), Al Gettel in 1948 (when I bought mine on eBay about 10 years ago, I paid close to $300, and there was a ton of sniping at the wire), Mike Tresh in 1949 and Pete Reiser in 1952.

I know of three complete sets in the hobby, and the third one was completed just within the past year. Of course there probably are more complete sets out there. The most fun I've ever had in the hobby was tracking these down and putting together the set.

If anyone wants a checklist of the 90 known, feel free to e-mail me.