1953 Glendale Meats (F-151) Prize Album

[Zach Wheat]

In the redemption process you described, how does the short printed Houtteman come in to play? Did all grand prize winners have to have a complete set including the Houtteman? Very interesting story, thanks for posting.

[Troy Kirk]

Really fantastic recollection! I love hearing these stories.

[JustinD]

That is a great item! The only other I have seen is the one REA had many moons ago.

I love this set and stupidly sold all my examples during one of my collection turnovers about a decade ago. I'll rebuild one of these days.

I did keep this Houtteman press photo from early on when Historic started posting the Detroit News archives for sale. There was some great stuff that popped up.

You might recognize this pose...

[insidethewrapper]

Why does there appear to be short prints if you could send in any of the cards ?
Any opinions ??

I always thought maybe that 4 players ( Houtteman, Ginsberg, Friend and Wright) were pulled from the set after the June 15th , 1953 trade. Three others only played briefly ( Carswell from 4/17 to 5/30, Jordan ( 4/16 to 5/10 and Sullivan last game was 5/16.

Wonder who sent in the most cards and how many ???? Somebody out there went to the World Series !

[bigfanNY]

John: Great Album and better story. Look forward to seeing you at National.

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by insidethewrapper

Why does there appear to be short prints if you could send in any of the cards ?
Any opinions ??

I always thought maybe that 4 players ( Houtteman, Ginsberg, Friend and Wright) were pulled from the set after the June 15th , 1953 trade. Three others only played briefly ( Carswell from 4/17 to 5/30, Jordan ( 4/16 to 5/10 and Sullivan last game was 5/16.

Wonder who sent in the most cards and how many ???? Somebody out there went to the World Series !

I always wondered the same. Hoeft is also listed as a scarcity. Houtteman was listed as being disproportionately more rare than the other 3 in the trade for some reason. The original VCBC article (Spring 2003) also speculates on the 3 "winners" watching the World Series and if they ate Stahl-Meyer or Glendale Meat hot dogs. Interesting stuff for an oddball set.

[darkhorse9]

Originally Posted by insidethewrapper

Why does there appear to be short prints if you could send in any of the cards ?
Any opinions ??

!

Houtteman was traded by the Tigers in June of 1953. I think it had more to do with that than with intentionally making it rare.

[insidethewrapper]

John: Any estimates of how many complete sets exist ?

[Zach Wheat]

Of the '53 Glendale Meats collector's I have communicated with, only 1 of us had completed the set. He had picked up the rare 4 early on and snagged the rest over the ensuing years in the pre-internet days.

Following is the VCBC article on Glendale Meats, from VCBC #36, Spring 2003.