Anyone heard of Mel Bailey?

[39special]

I just bought a huge lot of 8x10's and a bunch have Photo by Mel Bailey Riverside Ca.
stamped on the back.They are all black and white,with some action shots,and a few from an allstar game.Most are from the '80's and '90's,a few older.I wanted to find out some info on
Mel.Couldn't find anything on google.
Any info would be great.

[oaks1912]

Mel Bailey is a long time collector going back into the 1950's. During the 60's he was stationed in Japan and is one of the guys responsible for bringing large amounts of Japanese baseball cards into the United States market. He was involved in the production of the Kabaya Leaf set in 1967. Mel was also a photographer and took literally tens of thousands of baseball player images over the decades. His photography peaked during the 1980's. The past few years he has been dealing with health issues, unfortunately.

[39special]

Originally Posted by oaks1912

Mel Bailey is a long time collector going back into the 1950's. During the 60's he was stationed in Japan and is one of the guys responsible for bringing large amounts of Japanese baseball cards into the United States market. He was involved in the production of the Kabaya Leaf set in 1967. Mel was also a photographer and took literally tens of thousands of baseball player images over the decades. His photography peaked during the 1980's. The past few years he has been dealing with health issues, unfortunately.

Thanks Mark!

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Mel also produced and sold a Japanese Baseball Yearbook one year, maybe for the 1967 season????

[Wite3]

Not that I love resurrecting old threads...but sometimes I am glad Net54 archives everything. I just purchased a small collection that included hundreds of autographs. One envelope of wallet sized black and white pictures from the 1960s just had "Mel Bailey's autographs" on the outside. Inside were approximately 50 photos from the early 60s. About half are autographed by the player and all contain a pencil notation on the back of who they are. The images are awesome. Looks like Spring training photos but it also includes some neat images of players from Hawaii team and a few other minor league teams as well (one with what looks like a DW on the hat, and one with a block letter R as well).

I am thankful, as usual, for Mark and this thread letting me know who Mr. Bailey was on my first google search.

[rkaluzok]

Why not resurrect an old thread.

Mel Bailey had a large collection of baseball guides. He was a major contributor to an article "A Baseball Guide History" by John Spaulding which appeared in the Sports Collectors Digest of July 1, 1988, page 148.

Since I have a large collection of baseball guides, I found the historical article very interesting.

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Any chance of posting that SCD article? I am a huge guide collector.

[4reals]

Not sure if anyone will see this but I live 15 minutes from this gentleman lived and his family is holding an estate sale this weekend. There are THOUSANDS of photos for sale. More than I could ever take home including a huge stack of 8x10 B&Ws. If anyone is interested in buying let me know and I can play middle man.

[jakebeckleyoldeagleeye]

I bought hundreds of NHL and WHA postcard sized photos and 8 by 10 photos from Mr. Bailey in the 70's. When I sent them out to get signed some players would ask me where I bought them as they wanted some. Same with old retired baseball players I was trying TTM were asking me about photos I bought from George Brace.

[mrreality68]

very interesting life and history on the man
Do we have examples of those photos to share?

[Sleepless72]

Hopefully bringing the Mel Bailey thread back from the dead with this post.

Does anyone know (approximately or specifically) when Mel Bailey started selling Real Photo postcards of his images? He usually included the date of the image on the back of the postcard, but I don't know whether he was selling them that way at the time. And when did he stop selling them? Were they available for order up until his death (I assume he has passed away), or did he close up shop earlier?

I have the same question for both Jim Rowe and George Brace postcards: start and finish. I would love to crowdsource checklists for them, but it would be even better if we had date ranges for these three distributors.

Thanks!

[gonefishin]

Mel Bailey passed away in 1981. He partnered with Bud Ackerman back in the early days. The following link will educate you regarding both men:

https://japanesebaseballcards.blogsp...orters-of.html

This article and the PSA article (link below), explain in detail about their endeavors in Japanese baseball cards, especially the 1967 Kabaya Leaf.

https://www.psacard.com/articles/art...all-card-issue

I owe a debt of gratitude to both men, as reading these articles are the reason that I was educated enough to stumble upon what I think was a tremendous find. A few sealed packs of 1967 Kabaya Leaf. Prior to this discovery, no one had knowledge of the sealed packs or what they looked like. An unopened pack and having one in hand have gone a long way in clarifying some of the mystery about the pack, distribution, cost, etc.

Both these gentlemen should be given a tremendous amount of credit regarding the establishment of the Japanese baseball card market in the U.S.

Attached is a photo of one of the PSA certified packs.

Sorry I couldn't be of any assistance with your photo questions.

[whiteymet]

The above post mentioned Bud Ackerman. Bud is the guy who introduced me to the "advanced" hobby back in 1963. Until then my hobby activity was trading with other kids in the neighborhood.

I grew up in South Jersey near Philly. I saw an ad Bud placed in the Sporting News offering Japanese cards. He was located near Washington D.C.

It so happened we had family in the area and on one of our visits I persuaded my father to drive me to Buds apartment.

Bud told me his story about being in the service in Japan and bringing back the cards to the states. I ended up buying some from him. But what turned out to be the best thing is he gave me a handful of 39 Play Balls. I had never seen cards so old. And he gave me a few old copies of collector publications. Can't recall now which, but this was well before The Trader Speaks, and I think even the Ballcard collector from TN. Whatever the publication was I found an ad in the back from a guy in Arkansas named John England and his wantlist included a few of the 39 PB's Bud gave me.

I wrote John and he made me an offer though I don't recall what he either traded me or bought them for, but it must have been a good deal for me. Because there was another ad from a guy in Pittsburgh name Chuck Blazina. He was also looking for 39 PB's. So I offered him a similar deal that John England had extended to me.

Boy did I get a scathing letter back from Chuck, about what a thief I was and never to contact him again. It brought tears to the eyes of this 13 year old new to the hobby kid.

Strange thing is I got to meet and know both John and Chuck a few years later at some of the early "conventions in Cleveland and Detroit. I told Chuck the story about the deal John gave me and that I had no idea I trying to rob him, We had a good laugh over it.

Odd how one name I had not thought of in years brings back so many memories......

And I have Bud to thank for giving me and starting me to have now 60 years of enjoyment in the hobby.

[whiteymet]

Mel Bailey also issued a B&W minor league team set in 1962 of the Omaha Dodgers.

See:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/382884431751

[Scott Garner]

Mel Bailey also produced RPPC player postcards in the 1970's.
Here is one that is in my advanced Nolan Ryan collection that was produced in 1978.

[oaks1912]

"Mel Bailey passed away in 1981. He partnered with Bud Ackerman back in the early days. The following link will educate you regarding both men"


Hi Jim,
While I never found an obituary for Mel, he was still alive when I visited his wife Donna in the early 2010's. At the time Mel was institutionalized dealing with memory issues....Nice pack... Mark

[gonefishin]

Thanks Mark, I took that information from the article. Unfortunately, I never met either gentleman and only know what has been written about them.

[Sleepless72]

Big thanks to everyone who contributed to this latest discussion of Mel Bailey's contribution to the hobby. We did get some good information here. I think Mel Bailey should get more credit for having produced the Omaha Dodgers set (beyond Net54, anyway), so I'm going to try to get that fixed.

His and Bud Ackerman's part in bringing Menko cards to the U.S. is worth knowing, and I had a lot of fun looking at the scans. In a perfect world, I'd be rich beyond my wildest dreams and be collecting Menkos along with everything else I blow my money on, but it's probably not going to happen.

And I was are of Mel's RPPCs; I have 40-50 of my own (all Pirates), which is what inspired my initial post. There's a lot of misinformation concerning the RPPCs out there: cards being attributed to Brace or Burke that have Rowe's printing on the back (and I understand why this is, of course) as well as Bailey's cards being attributed to Rowe (or nobody because Bailey's not that well known). Not to mention all the lots being advertised as postcards that are actually just prints.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to pin down when he started and stopped selling his RPPCs. I'll keep digging. In the meantime, anyone who has Mel Bailey postcards knows that he almost always included the year the photo was taken, which is a clue for us. All of mine are dated between 1970 and 1979, but I've read that Mel was active basically from sometime in the 1950s until sometime in the 1990s. There's a Bobby Thomson dated 1950 on eBay right now, but when he started selling that image as postcard is still a mystery. I've also come across several Mel Bailey postcards dated 1993 but none later, at least not so far. If anyone has a Bailey postcard with a date of 1994 or later, that could help establish one end of the bracket.

The quest continues. Thanks again, everyone.

[Greenmonster]

Here's a photo of a group of collectors I hosted at my home in 2000. The National was in Anaheim that year. Mel is kneeling 6th from left between myself and Vic Pallos. Mel was a wonderful guy, started photographing from the stands at ballgames and later he was the team photographer from the Angels and his work was picked up by the BB card companies and several national magazines.

[gonefishin]

Great photo Jim - thanks for posting. It brought back many memories because that's the last, and only, Nationals I went to. My father-in-law lived in Fullerton and he and my daughter went to the show together. He has since passed, but I really enjoyed that show with them. I remember us buying some packs at the show and I had a lot of the cards stamped with the National logo. One of which was a Brady rookie! That card is long gone - if I had only known!

[Leon]

This thread was moved from the memorabilia section to get a few more eyes on it. Some good information in it.....

[Treakle23]

Mel Bailey passed away in 2014. He stopped shooting around 2004. I don’t think he produced too many postcards after 1994 or so. At this point, Kodak was no longer producing much of the postcard stock. He did produce 4x6 color photos and would usually write the players’ names on the bottom center.

Mel sold to about 35 regular customers and would advertise in collectors’ publications. Typically, they were team collectors. They would usually get one of each player for each season. Mel would print multiples of some popular players if he thought he might sell them, but I’ve never really seen more than a handful of the same postcard for sale.

MLB knew Mel, but let him fly under the radar regarding licensing because he wasn’t doing it on a large scale and only doing it for collectors.

If someone requested an older image, Mel would print a postcard in later years; however, I’ve only noticed that with images of the 1961 Yankees and some 1960’s players liked Ernie Banks and Brooks Robinson. Most of them seem like they were printed the year they were taken, based on the rough edges. Also, there really aren’t that many out to there of star players. The Nolan Ryan one shown in this thread is a perfect example. Popular players, but only a handful ever come up for sale. Probably part of an Angels team run.

Mel shot for Baseball America and Street and Smith. He shot many minor league players like Elway in Oneonta and Griffey Jr. in San Bernadino.

Mel typically wrote the players’ names and year in pencil in the upper left-hand corner. Jim Rowe used all capital letters in the top center. George Brace wrote in the top center in very tiny print (pen). Ed Broder would write on a diagonal in sharper using all lower-case letters. If I’m incorrect on any of these, please let me know.

I’ve rambled on long enough here.

[Brick442]

For years I collected those Mel Bailey RPPCs (along with Elder, Brace, Rowe, McCarthy etc). The thing I liked best about Bailey's was that you would be able to find the very obscure guys. I even found a PC of my old Little League coach, photo taken in the Arizona Instructional league in 1976 (he only made it to AA). I often had comments from these obscure players depicted that they never realized a photo was out there of them in pro ball until I sent to them to be signed.

Bailey seemed to have photographed virtually everyone, including minor leaguers, from 1972-1991 and many years before and after. If I was looking for a photo of a certain player I could certainly find him on a Bailey PC.

I downsized my collection in 2010 because my kids were only into my signed Topps cards and signed ROML Baseballs and I needed space. I must have had about 2,500 signed Baileys that I unloaded, among other PCs.