Bill Mastro Auction Catalog

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Barry- I think the Milwaukee edition with different title and dust jacket is a significant addition. I like the Gehrig, McGraw and Umpire editions being added. I sat in on a SABR discussion on this very topic many years ago and that roundtable agreed that all 19 should be included. As a collector I also think the 1958 Yankee update is different enough to warrant inclusion in a library. That edition appears to be listed in lot 335.

[baseballart]

Originally Posted by Hot Springs Bathers

Barry- I think the Milwaukee edition with different title and dust jacket is a significant addition. I like the Gehrig, McGraw and Umpire editions being added. I sat in on a SABR discussion on this very topic many years ago and that roundtable agreed that all 19 should be included. As a collector I also think the 1958 Yankee update is different enough to warrant inclusion in a library. That edition appears to be listed in lot 335.

Mike and Barry

I've never thought of Gehrig, McGraw or Umpire as part of the Putnam team histories, but have considered Milwaukee and 1958 Yankess as part of the set.

With ebay, all titles in the set now appear regularly, and Washington and the Phillies can no longer be considered "rare". Only Baltimore seems hard to find in high grade, with the spine on the dj normally found faded due to the original orange.

I'm working on a signed set, as all the authors seemed to be regular signers. (Warren Brown must have signed 50% of the White Sox and Cubs).

Max

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Max & Barry- I guess this is part of the fun of collecting, we can set our own parameters on what and how we collect.

Max as you know I too am adding/replacing copies as I can right now of signed copies. The Orioles DJ seems to fade even worse than the Giants. Mine is somewhat faded, I had a near perfect one about ten years ago but Mike S. in Memphis wound up with it in a deal.

Of course there is also the french version of the McGraw book and several titles can also be found in the small paper service editions sent to soldiers in WWII.

With the advent of eBay what used to pass for really tough or rare now seems to turn up more often. I have even begun to add editions to my series, as mentioned before the 1958 Yankees is quite different from the first several and there is a seven year gap in Cardinal editions.

However you collect the set it is in my opinion one of the best projects in book collecting. While it may not be the equivalent of the T206 Monster it is at least the 1951 Bowmans of books!

[baseballart]

Originally Posted by Hot Springs Bathers

Of course there is also the french version of the McGraw book and several titles can also be found in the small paper service editions sent to soldiers in WWII.

Mike

I was going to mention the French McGraw. I haven't seen any other French language editions, nor any bibliographic references to others.

I forgot about the armed services editions. I've seen the Yankees and the Cardinals and no doubt several others, but haven't bought any. Do you know the complete list of the Putnams published in this form?

As for collecting scarcity, I have two Putnams (later editions) which are still in their original mailing boxes. Incredible shape, but the prospect of finding others in their mailing boxes would be a daunting quest.

Max

[baseballart]

Originally Posted by Hot Springs Bathers

Barry- I think the Milwaukee edition with different title and dust jacket is a significant addition. I like the Gehrig, McGraw and Umpire editions being added. I sat in on a SABR discussion on this very topic many years ago and that roundtable agreed that all 19 should be included. As a collector I also think the 1958 Yankee update is different enough to warrant inclusion in a library. That edition appears to be listed in lot 335.

I've never considered the Putnam team histories to included Gehrig, McGraw and Umpire, but to include Milwaukee and the 1958 Yankee update.

Since ebay, the Putnams (including the three) are now easy to obtain, with the harder titles like the Phillies, Senators and Reds show up on almost a weekly basis. The Orioles is hard to find without the spine of the dj being sunned, but it shows up in nice shape often enough.

I'm trying to complete a signed set. Some are easy to find. Warren Brown seems to have signed every other copy of his books. Lieb was also a prolific signer (although I haven't seen any Baltimore copies signed), and Shirley Povich also seems to have signed a lot. Graham, Kaese and Allen are available, but perhaps not as common (are there any other authors?).

I've got a couple later printings in their original shipping boxes--now that will be a hard collection to complete ...

Max

[barrysloate]

I believe Max and Mike know the nuances of the Putnam series better than I do. I concentrated more on the early books, and while I had numerous Putnams over the years, I never had a complete set in my collection. But I'm learning more about them on this thread.

[Hot Springs Bathers]

The only Armed Services editions that I know of are Yankees, Cardinals, McGraw and Gehrig. The only other possibility for s service edition I believe would be the Dodgers. It was released at some point in 1945.

[Hot Springs Bathers]

The Putnam's and their editions that I know include;

Baltimore 1955 (actually history of the St. Louis Browns)
Boston Red Sox 1947
Chicago White Sox 1952
Cleveland Indians 1949
Detroit Tigers 1946
New York Yankees 1943, 1947, 1948, 1951, 1958
Washington Senators 1954
Connie Mack 1945, 1948 (history of Athletics)

Boston Braves 1948
Brooklyn Dodgers 1945, 1947, 1948
Chicago Cubs 1946
Cincinnati Reds 1948
Milwaukee Braves 1954 (update of the Boston Braves)
New York Giants 1952
Philadelphia Phillies 1953
Pittsburgh Pirates 1948
St. Louis Cardinals 1944, 1945, 1947, 1950

The Umpire Story 1953
The Story of Baseball 1950
The World Series Story 1949, 1950
Lou Gehrig 1942
John McGraw 1944

Just as an aside, has anyone ever seen a McGraw with a clean white dust jacket, they all seem to be dingy.

I mentioned earlier that I considered the set at 19 but actually 22 would be final number. This list of editions is not proclaimed to be final ,more a beta version. Please add years if you know of any.

[barrysloate]

That's great information Mike. We really should archive it for future reference.

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Thanks Barry, I am sure Max has a deeper understanding of the Putnam series and certainly you both know much more about the earlier issues on the game. I love all of them!

I like series of books, I have done a great deal of research on the Strode series of college football histories. A lengthy series that in no way compares to the well written Putnam baseball books, the Strodes range from excellent to gosh awful.

By the way Putnam started a football series that consisted of the Chicago Bears by Howard Roberts and the Green Bay Packers by Arch Ward. They also did two books in this period on Notre Dame. A later book by Roberts titled THE PRO FOOTBALL STORY would probably end their football offerings that match the period of their baseball books. All are well written.

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Shoot! I forgot Roberts Putnam book on the Big Ten. I'll shut up now.