Asgardian Cardboard

While most of the money in our hobby goes to the card companies, grading resources, supply manufacturers, and secondhand vendors, another large source of collective collecting budgets go towards shipping services.  The United States Postal Service, UPS, DHL, FedEx, etc. get a lot of the blogosphere's money in exchange for delivering our PWE's, RAK's, trade packages, Ebay winnings and sellings, redemptions, etc.  Sure, baseball cards are not the most lucrative part of their business model, but there's no doubt that our hobby and community would not be what it is today without these mailing services.

Now,one of these titans of shipping is getting directly involved in the hobby.

What you see above is a sheet of classic card reprints, produced and printed by Asgard Press and sold in limited FedEx Office centers across the United States.  These perforated cards come in panels - of which there are four - featuring eight cards each from the early tobacco card era.  According to Asgard, the cards chosen originally hail from the Benjamin K. Edwards Collection, which was donated to the Library of Congress by Carl Sandburg in 1954.

While I do not use the services of FedEx for my mailing needs - I stick to the good, old fashioned USPS -  I was made aware of this new oddball reprint set by Twitter, as the following was retweeted into my timeline:

NEW Product Release available at Select FEDEX Office stores nationwide! Vintage Baseball Card sets! A series of 4 card sets of 8 vintage players each from the dead ball era. Collect ‘em all! Each 8-Card set is $4.95. Huzzah! #VintageBaseballCards #FedEx pic.twitter.com/nzcxSYxZbz

— Asgard Press (@asgardpress) July 24, 2019

Right after I saw this tweet, you darn well better believe that I took to the official Asgard Press website to try and decipher which cards were selected for their tribute to vintage baseball.  I expected the checklist to be made up of the big names from the Deadball time period - Cy Young, Ty Cobb, Chief Bender, etc.  However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that many of the cards chosen for reprint turned out to be much more obscure ballplayers.  In fact, I was ecstatic to find out that there might even be a card that I need in this collation.  More on that later in the post.

By Odin's beard, was I ever excited about this Asgardian discovery!

Without haste, I was soon Googling where the closest FedEx was stationed.  Turns out the nearest location was only a stone's throw away from my home, in the neighboring suburb of Oak Lawn:

As it happened, I had some time after work on Thursday to swing by and see if my store was one of the lucky locations to have these baseball cards bestowed upon their customers.  I wandered in that afternoon - the only customer without an armful of packages to ship or documents to copy - in hopes of buying baseball cards rather than mailing them.  Thankfully, I was elated to discover that my quest for "vintage" cardboard turned out to be quite successful:

There they were - all four available sheets - right near the front of the retail space, on a rotating rack with several other Asgard Press paper products.  I was so excited that I think I might have peed a little...  I hadn't actually expected Oak Lawn, IL to be one of the chosen few!

Admittedly, I was initially distracted by the lovely, retro comic book cover notecards, vintage travel poster prints, and college football stationary put out by Asgard.  Now, this isn't the same Asgard that brought us Thor, Loki, and Valkyrie.  That is, not unless Thor traded in his hammer, Mjölnir, for an enchanted printing press.  From what I can gather, based on their official website, Twitter account, and the products I saw in store, Asgard Press specializes in capturing nostalgia on paper goods.  The company started out with fancy calendars in 1999 and have since expanded with healthy selections of note cards, posters, journals, postcards, and other ephemera.  Their tagline is "vintage paper goods" and their slogan is "old school is now in session;" so, I guess it wasn't much of a mystery as to what they're all about.

In all honesty, introducing some baseball cards into their product portfolio is positively perfect for their desired aesthetic.

Only briefly abstracted, I was able to quickly refocus and locate the specific sheet for which I came looking:

Like I mentioned earlier, there was a specific card in this set that had caught my fancy and it came as part of "plate no. 2."  After quickly browsing through the rest of Asgard's displays - they must do a lot of business with FedEx - I plopped down my $4.95 and went about my merry way.

Any guesses as to which one of these singles I was chasing?  I'll give you a hint - it has something to do with my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection.

Once I got home and freed my sheet from it's plastic, cardboard-backed prison, I discovered that these cards are printed on little more than ink-jet printer compatible cardstock.  Thin, flexible, and fragile, they feel about as thick as your average index card.

Speaking of cards, the cards themselves are high-resolution and slightly enlarged scans of tobacco cards from the aforementioned Library of Congress donation.  Maintaining the original aspect ratio, the cards have been blown up to standard height (3.5 inches) but still remain short of standard width.   Also, seeing as they are simply scans of already existing, century old antiques, all of the flaws and damage from the originals carried over to the reprints, as best exemplified by the two instances below.

Personally, I like this "flawed" characteristic, as I feel as though it adds some charm to the Asgards and makes them feel a touch more "authentic" than your normal C.C.C. re-do.  How do you feel about the paper loss and stain carryover?  Would you find it distracting, perhaps?

Also, as you can tell from the above scans, all of the cards feature full backs, filled with copy and advertising, just as the originals did.  Furthermore, we have a varied selection of cards from the early 20th century.  Although Asgards erroneously lists the cards as all being from the famous T206 set, which was released through 16 different brands owned by the American Tobacco Company from 1909-11 and is the source of the iconic Honus Wagner card, none of the cards on sheet number two actually are from that seemingly infinite checklist.  In fact, all of the cards included are part of the 1911 T205 release.

The baseball diamond was turned into a picture frame for the American League portion of the T205 release and it truly is one of the most clever and beautiful layouts in baseball card history.

The National League portion of the T205 checklist is a tad more bare bones, featuring a bust shot portrait on a plain, colored background, and maintaining the unifying gold/brown borders which define the set.  Again, this Ed Barger Dodger card is a fine example of the damage and staining which were transferred from the original artifacts to the reprints.

While the American League cards are far more detailed, the National League examples are a fine study in the KISS principle.  This has nothing to do with costumed rock stars, platform boots, or fake blood though - KISS stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid.  The more you cram into a design, oftentimes, the more crowded and confusing a piece will get.  Although, the creators of these cards once again flipped back to the polar opposite for the sampling of minor leaguers included with the premiums:

There are 12 minor league cards in the original set which made use of an ornate, plaque-like frame.  Two of these bush leaguers were reproduced by Asgard - a Charles Hanford with "paper loss" was displayed previously and George Merritt you can see directly above.

While all three templates used in the T205 set, I find that they are all quite pleasing to the eyes.  Overall though, I think my favorite is the relatively bare bones design of the NL cards.  Of course, that might just be because my college graphic design professor personally chiseled the KISS principle into my skull; however, the bright, bold colors and wonderful drawn portraits get to speak for themselves during the Senior Circuit section, whereas they are more a secondary feature to the crowded designs of the other two.  That said, that is merely the opinion of one insignificant card blogger - what do you think about the three layouts, which is your preferred design?

Now, if you've been counting along at home, you might have noticed that I've showcased seven of the eight total cards included on the Asgardian panel.  With the overview of the company, cards, and quality out of the way, it's time to spotlight my "chase" card, the pasteboard which caused me to drop everything I was doing to run out and purchase this product.  Without any further ado, lease allow me to drop the curtain on the card of the hour:

That's right, I could care less about inner circle Hall of Famer Ty Cobb's inclusion; I'm here for that sweet, sweet Wilbur Goode (or Good, depending on the source) of the Boston Rustlers.  More like, Wilbur Great, am I right?

Okay, so here's the deal, I haven't abandoned my Cubs fandom to become a super collector of the Atlanta Braves and their previous franchise iterations.  The reason that this random, Deadball Era ballplayer who has long faded into obscurity has captured my attention is the fact that Wilbur was traded from Boston - just a year after this card originally hit the market - to the Cubbies, where he would spend the next five years patrolling the outfield of the West Side Grounds and, later, Wrigley Field.  Thus, I needed a card of Wilbur for my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection as part of my quest to collect at least one card of every man to EVER suit up for my favorite franchise, no matter how brief or how long ago.

For his career, the journeyman fly-chaser post a career .258/.322/.342 batting line, mostly as a reserve piece for the Yankees, Naps, Rustlers, Cubs, Phillies, and White Sox for eleven total seasons in the Majors.  Far from being a star, the ballplayer appears on very few cards (two that I can identify) and all of them date from his ancient playing days - therefore, they are tough to track down and tougher on this cheapskate's wallet.  Therefore, I have no problem whatsoever with using a reprint card to fill an otherwise nigh-unfillable gap in my favorite binder.  To say it was a pleasant surprise that could cross another one of these tricky names off of my "needs" list with a trip to FedEx (of all paces) and an Abraham Lincoln flash card would be an immense understatement. 

Before I go, I have to ask, what do you think about these Asgard cards?  Do they seem like something you might be inclined to spend some money on, maybe as an impulse buy as you wait in line to ship a box of cards to a fellow blogger?  Do you see them as cheap and irrelevant in a see of endless sea of reprints and forgeries?  Perhaps you don't even see products such as these as "true" baseball cards at all and I am cheating by using such items to fill needs in my collection?  Please feel free to weigh-in in the comment section below.  Personally, I am of the opinion that any card that fills a need within my CATRC is good enough for me!

In the end, I am still reeling from filling such an obscure need in my niche collection with a trip to FedEx... and I didn't even ship or receive any mail.  That's one of the best parts about collecting this way - you just never know where the cards are going to come from.

Thank you very much, Asgard.  Sorry you got destroyed by Hela and Surtur at the end of Thor Ragnarok - tough luck there.  Your paper products are quite fascinating though!