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Collectibles |
NEWSLETTER |
July 2023 |
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Coins and Tokens Related To Baseball |
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Steven KeyMan |
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By Steven KeyMan |
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Founder of
Keymancollectibles.com,
and a long time
collector, Steven
KeyMan has more than 30
years of experience in
researching, and
cataloging information
on Baseball
Memorabilia.
Researching his own personal
collection, and helping others find
information on their
collectibles, the
website grew into the
largest online resource
for baseball
memorabilia |
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Ask
Steven: Direct your questions or feedback,
about Baseball Memorabilia to Steven KeyMan
Steve@keymancollectibles.com You can also Send
KeyMan pictures of your personal Memorabilia Display,
and get your own Free
Collectors Showcase Room featured on the website.. |
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Coin collecting, is the second
largest hobby after collecting stamps.
Merging the popularity of baseball
memorabilia to coin collecting, takes
the hobby to the next level. Relatively
affordable to the average collector,
these coins commemorates events in
baseball history, or issued as an
advertising premium.
The
1858 Pioneer Base Ball Club tokens
were made by the famous 19th-century
medalist and coin collector, John Adams
Bolen. The White Metal tokens were
minted to 125 pieces, and 75 were
struck in bronze. Possibly the first
baseball medal ever struck.
The coins were ordered in 1861 by team Secretary Charles Vinton done in
commemoration of the 3rd anniversary of
the formation of the Pioneer Base Ball
Club in Springfield, Massachusetts, in
1858.
The medallions were given to team
officials, employees, and players after
defeating the Boston Bowdoins. Team
members took such pride in their medals
that “Ham” Downing had his medal buried
with him. John Adams Bolen was born in
1826 and died in 1906. He is best known
for his series of small medals or
tokens issued in the 1860s through to
the 1890s.
Charge coins are the predecessors to
credit cards. First issued just after
the Civil War, they grew in popularity
in the years leading up to the Great
Depression. Given out by merchants or
departments stores the coins were
typically struck with an image or logo
of the company that issued it. There
was also a unique account number
attributed to the coin.
Loosely dated by the
Horace Partridge Sporting Goods logo,
the company issued 3 different Charge
Coins from the late
1920's-1930's.
The Horace Partridge Company was a
manufacturer and distributor of
athletic goods since 1847. The Boston
Bruins, Red Sox and Braves had their
uniforms made by Horace Partridge & Co.
for many years.
A Century of Progress International
Exposition World's Fair was hosted in
Chicago from 1933 - 1934, to celebrate
the city's centennial. "One of the
Biggest Thrills of the fair" was the
Safety Glass exhibit in the Travel and
Transportation building, that housed
the Automobile Theatre.
Safety Glass was demonstrated by a screen-enclosed tunnel through witch
visitors were invited to throw
baseballs at glass panels. The ordinary
glass would "Shatter and Scatter,"
while the ball
would "actually Bounce Back from a piece of Safety Glass." Everyone that
threw a ball at the exhibit
received a FREE Good Luck coin.
From 1951 to 1955,
spinning disk sports
team home schedule advertising tokens
were produced and patented by the
Bill-E-Company, of Lexington, Ky. The
patented "Spinning Disk" no. 2638706,
was filed in 1951, and granted in May
of 1953.
The tokens were produced to provide a pocket-piece with balance and free
spinning properties. The flat top and
bottom faces were provided with
embossments which may be used so that
one face provides advertising-media for
the sponsor, and the other face
provides schedules for baseball games,
or similar events. Thus used as a token
the disk becomes a practical permanent
advertisement for those who sponsor it
and give it free of charge to their
customers.
In
1955, Armour issued A free trading
coin in every
package of Armour Star
Franks. The Plastic coins, the size of
a silver dollar depicted 24 famous
ballplayers. Players includes; Yogi
Berra, Del Crandall, Larry Doby, Jackie
Jensen, Ted Kluszewski, Mickey Mantle,
Pee Wee Reese, and Warren Spahn.
The set also includes a "Mickey Mantel" error coin that was corrected. The
coins were issued in six colors; Deep
Red, Dark Blue, Light Blue, Bright
Yellow, Orange, and Green. There are
also a large number of various shades
of color. In 1959 Armour issued
20 coins, and in 1960 20 coins. The
1959 and 1960 coins were issued with
meat items such as hot dogs although 10
coins could also be obtained through a
mail in offer.
The
1962 Salada Tea & Junket Pudding
set consists of 221 coins, with the
additional 44 coin variations, 265. The
coins measure 1 3/8 inches and features
a paper colored photo of the player
inserted into a plastic disc, coin
number, team, player name and position.
The plastic discs come in 6 different
colors coded by team, and were issued
with Salada tea, and Junket pudding.
The set was originally released with 180 coins. but with the 1962
National League expansion, adding the
Mets & Colts enabled Salada to expand
the set size. Twenty expansion players
were added along with 21 other players,
and several player coins were dropped,
causing a scarcity of some coins.
The 1964 Topps Coins baseball card
insert set consist of 164 coins that
measure 1 1/2" in diameter. The coins
were inserted into wax packs of 1964
Topps regular issue baseball cards. The
set features 120 players, and 44
All-Star coins that were released later
in the season. The
Checklist for the 1964 Topps Coins
includes; #1 Don Zimmer, #18 Brooks
Robinson, #26 Carl Yastrzemski, #55
Roberto Clemente, #96 Rusty Staub, and
#106 Sandy Koufax. The All Star coins
run from #121 to #150.
The St. Louis Cardinals were scheduled
to play 11 home games at the old Busch
stadium from April 12, to May 8, 1966,
before moving to their new home, Busch
Memorial Stadium on May 12.
A living Cardinal playing great of the past was honored at each of the
remaining games at the old stadium.
Everyone who attended the games
received a gold colored coin featuring
a sketch, and career highlights of the
player being honored.
Fans that attended the opener of the New Stadium received a Cardinal red,
trimmed in gold, St. Louis Cardinals
Commemorative, coin holder titled "Busch
Stadium Immortals."
Mardi Gras Doubloons also known as
"throws," commemorate various Mardi
Gras Krewes (parade or carnival
celebration). They are typically made
of aluminum and are thrown from floats
in carnival parades.
The first doubloons depicting a Major League ballplayer featured Babe Ruth
in 1967. A hundred Thousand
gold-colored; "Take Me Out to the Ball
Game" themed doubloons were created
byadvertising salesman Ed Muniz for the
new Krewe of Endymion.
In the years to come the Mardi Gras throw Doubloons were made of a light
aluminum so when thrown from a float it
would not injure anyone. They were also
made in different colors which
included; gold, yellow, red, blue,
green, purple, etc... Other players
that were the subject of dedication
includes; Mel Ott (1969 & 1990), Johnny
Bench (1976), Mickey Mantle (1996) Ted
Williams (2003) and others... See
Mardi Gras Baseball Player Doubloon
Checklist
The
1969 Citgo "Baseball Centennial
Series" Coin collection consists of 20
coins that measure 1 inch in diameter.
The brass plated coins were issued to
commemorate professional baseball's 100
Anniversary, 1969-1969. As advertised
"You get one of these 3-dimentiona,
gold-colored metal coins free with a
purchase at Citgo stations displaying
the BASEBALL PLAYER coin sign....."
You also received a collector's card with slots to display the coins, with
career highlights from each star on the
back. A cardboard coin display was made
available through the mail. The offer
was only available in Virginia, West
Virginia, Maryland and District of
Columbia.
There were 493 different 7-11 Slurpee
baseball coins produced from 1983 to
2000. The 1983 set was a west-coast
test issue which contains just 12
coins, six players from the California
Angels and six Los Angeles Dodgers.
In 1984, there were three regional releases of 24 players issued. The
first six coins of each set were the
same, but the next 18 players in each
set were more closely tied to the teams
from the “East”, “Central,” or “West”
regions the discs were issued in.
54 different players were used on the
1984 Super Star Sports Coins, and
each MLB team had at least one player
represented. The first six player
coins, numbered in Roman numerals in
all three sets are; I Andre Dawson, II
Robin Yount, III Dale Murphy, IV Mike
Schmidt, V George Brett, and VI Eddie
Murray.
On September 11, 1985, at Cincinnati's
Riverfront Stadium Pete Rose broke Ty
Cobb's career hits record when he hit
number 4,192. Celebrating baseball's
new all-time hit leader, Kahn's made
available this
Pete Rose Commemorative coin.
When you sent in 3 UPS symbols from any 3 packages of Kahn's Meat Franks,
Luncheon Meat or Bacon, you received
the commemorative coin 8 weeks after
Rose's record breaking hit.
The Pete Rose Commutative coin came mounted in a 3.75 by 5.5 inch card
that listed details of the record
breaking hit, a record that stood for
57 years.
In 1987, the Baseball Writers'
Association of America voted two major
league players into the Baseball Hall
of Fame, Catfish Hunter and Billy
Williams. The Veterans Committee
selected Ray Dandridge from the Negro
leagues.
A formal induction ceremony was held in Cooperstown, New York, on July 26,
1987 with Commissioner of Baseball
Peter Ueberroth in attendance. This
encased
Baseball Hall of Fame, 1987 inductees
coin, was sold at the museums
souvenir shop to commemorate the
occasion. The front depicts the three
honorees with the back featuring the
official Baseball Hall of Fame logo in
relief.
The artwork for the
1992 Olympic baseball coin design
was chosen from more than 1,000
submitted. The obverse of the baseball
coin, showing a pitcher throwing a
fastball to home plate, is the work of
free lance illustrator John R. Deecken.
After the coin was released, staff members of Krause Publications; the
nations largest hobby publisher, of
both baseball card guides and coin
collector magazine, discovered
similarities to the 1991 Fleer Nolan
Ryan card. Down to the wrinkles in the
uniform. In 1866, Congress issued an
act stating that no living person can
be portrayed on American currency.
Because Ryan's name does not appear on
the coin, officially, the pitcher
depicted on the coin, is generic.
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