Late Tribute to the Late Carl Aldana

While Wrigley Roster Jenga was on extended holiday, I was grieved to discover that Mr. Carl Aldana had passed away.  Apparently, he had ventured on into the next realm early in 2019; however, I did not hear about his death until a year and a half later, in the middle of my blogging hiatus.  Thus, quite unfortunately, I have never had the chance to post a proper tribute to the artist, being that I am both slow on the uptake and prone to long disappearances.  Now, almost two years later, please allow me to rectify this grave injustice.

For those who are not familiar with the name Carl Aldana, he was born in Guatemala in 1938 and, as a child, immigrated to the United States his family shortly thereafter.  Carl eventually picked up a watercolor brush as a freelance designer in the mid-60's and went on to become renowned throughout his adoptive home state of California for his portrait, landscape and cityscape painting.  Furthermore, his artistic endeavors were not limited to still frames, as he also worked in the art department for over thirty big-budget Hollywood films, including serving as the art director for Air Force One.  Some other movies that you might have seen his work in include Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and Pleasantville, among several others choice moving pictures.  All in all, I'd say that's not a bad resume for a working artist.

Image of Aldana's artwork courtesy of SABR's Baseball Cards Research Committee

But what does any of this have to do with Wrigley Roster Jenga's topic of interest, baseball cards?  Well, you see, when Carl wasn't cleaning his brushes or going Hollywood, the avid creator was also designing his own baseball cards.  

In fact, it's rather likely that you have read about his vintage, broder-adjacent sets in your Standard Catalog of Vintage Baseball Cards or seen them at a vender booth at a card show.  In 1970, he made his pasteboard debut by producing a 12-card checklist paying tribute to the Baltimore Orioles and he followed that up with a 16-card offering featuring a smattering of players from across baseball.  Both of these products are listed in the aforementioned Standard Catalog; that said, those guys neglect to mention his 1972 love-letter to the Pacific Coast League's San Francisco Seals of the early 50's, an 18-card set that cast the spotlight on a league and team that he saw plenty of as a Cali kid of the time.  

Some examples of Carl's vintage output, culled from Ebay listings as I possess none of these oddballs.

I'm not quite sure how this baseball artiste distributed his handiwork.  Perhaps he made use of mail order in early trade publications, a la Renato Galasso?  Maybe he sold them at some of the hobby's first card shows?  Heck, it could be possible that these were just a passion project that ended up on the second hand market.  Does anyone out there know anything information that could help fill in this gap?

Questions about distribution aside, no matter what, we know that Mr. Aldana was a fan of the game and of the PCL, as both showed up in his work on canvas and cardboard.  However, after the three outsider art card offerings that we detailed above, Mr. Aldana disappeared from the trading card scene for the next 40+ years, no doubt focused on his much more lucrative film and artwork projects throughout the ensuing decades.

Apparently, the itch never completely went away though, as a few years ago, Mr. Aldana burst back onto the hobby scene.  He went back to the well again and came back with a series of sets paying tribute to his beloved Pacific Coast League.  These art cards mimicked the style of the old Mother's Cookies sets of the mid-20th century, but featured a wider swath of players and made use of new colorizations performed by the artist in question.  It's hard to get a full, documented scope of these releases, as they are quite prodigious in number and were released rather haphazardly (via single listings on the Ebay, I'm pretty sure) throughout the years - just search "Aldana PCL" on the 'Bay and you'll find a couple hundred different listings.  Obviously, Carl was back with a vengeance and making up for a lot of lost time!

Back in 2017, I first came across these Aldana revival cards while perusing my saved Ebay searches.  With such a diverse checklist of obscure and fringe minor league baseball players, this discovery got my blood pumping.  As I had expected, digging into these oddities uncovered a new, fertile source for War Era randos that I still needed for my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection - the most cherished collation of my baseball card collection.  So, of course, I added a selection of these beauties to my cart and crossed a few names off of my "needs" list that I was beginning to think would never be acquired.

In posting about the Jim Adair (briefly with the Cubs in 1931) single you see above, I received quite the unexpected thrill when Carl Aldana himself commented on my humble little blog, reaching out to talk turkey about baseball cards.  Granted, he was no Cy Berger, but this accomplished artist, film maker, and baseball card creator was putting his digital signature on my web space and wanted to talk to me about his work?   As if that wasn't enough of a thrill, after our conversation, he also sent me the Steve Bilko beauty that you see above as a "thanks for your great blog on my cards."

Three years later, this connection still ranks as one of the coolest moments of my time as a blogger. 

Unfortunately, we lost touch after that dialogue and I was grieved when I discovered that Carl had passed away not-so-long after we spoke.  At 81, he lived a creative life full of excitement, flashy colors, film sets, and glitz behind the lens and behind the canvas that I can only dream about.  At least he didn't have to see what the world has become just a couple years later.

The man was important enough to receive a tribute from the Oscars and he still took the time to talk to this amateurish writer.

At this point, we're several paragraphs deep and I have yet to explain how I came to find out about Carl's death or describe the significance of the card which leads off this post.  As you can tell from the central concept of this post, I have a recurring problem with tardiness.  Let me clarify.

I was on Ebay on day back in the throes of the early days of the pandemic, scrolling through listings in order to kill some time while isolating to "flatten the curve."  Despite my boredom, my attitude perked up when I came across a cache of Aldana PCL cards that I had not seen before - a whole set of cards patterned around the Los Angeles Angels of 1947.  This was especially exhilarating to me because the original LA Angels were the top affiliate of my beloved Chicago Cubs at that time, meaning that the checklist contained a healthy sampling of fringe guys who became well acquainted with the travel schedules between the City of Angels and the City of Wind, guys who did not have much of a cardboard footprint because of their decidedly non-star status in the pre-Topps era.

To put it succinctly, pay dirt for my CATRC binder!  This is evidenced by the set ledger found on the card backs:

Besides Marv Felderman, Bill Fleming, Cecil Garriott, Russ Bauers, Bukk Schuster, and Johnny Ostrowski would also make welcome new additions to my CATRC tome.  Like I said, this soil is fertile.

In the grand scheme of the game, Marv Felderman is not a significant figure.  Of course, that doesn't mean he wasn't notable in his own way.  "Coonie" was a catcher who suffered from chronic injuries, but still managed to work his way up the ladder, thanks to his skills behind the dish.  In 1942, he broke into the Bigs with the Cubs, but was only able to get into three games and take seven measly plate appearances.  This was mostly due to the fact that, upon breaking camp with the club, he flubbed a play in extra innings that choked away a potential win and was immediately sent down.  Back in the bushes, Felderman injured his finger and struggled, only earning his way back to Chicago late that season through the team's dismal performance and lack of other backstop options.

After the '42 season, Felderman joined a different kind of campaign and enlisted in the Navy, as there was a little skirmish going on at the time that you might have heard about.  Marv was stationed in Hawaii, at Kaneohe Bay Naval Air Station, and regularly plied his talents on the diamond for their baseball team, eventually playing in the 1945 Navy World Series in Hawaii.

Felderman with the Cubs in 1942 (left) and with the US Navy's Kaneohe Klippers in 1944.

Not so long after that World Series, Felderman was discharged from the service and was able to watch a different World Series.  The Cubs were taking on the Tigers in that year's fall classic and the club invited their former catcher to take in the festivities from their box seats.  Upon the Series' conclusion (and you know how that went for Chicago), the players even voted Felderman a partial share of their pennant purse.

Come 1946, Marv was one of hundreds of pro ball players attempting to make a comeback upon the conclusion of World War II and found himself back in the PCL.  By 1947, he was back with the Cubs organization, laboring for a second trial in the National League with the Angels, as the Aldana card illustrates.  I've seen it reported that he was called up near the end of the season once again, but he did not appear in a boxscore and I cannot find any contemporary sources to confirm.  Either way, Felderman continued to chase his dream in the minor league and semi-pro ranks through at least 1951, without ever getting a second chance.

It was in conducting this research on Marv Felderman's baseball career that I discovered Carl Aldana's passing.  Ever the prodigious artist, thebaseballhobbyist (with whom Carl used to work directly) continues to list pieces of Carl's art card portfolio for sale to this day.  I'm definitely tempted to grab myself a few more and encourage you to do the same - these colorful oddballs would look great in anyone's baseball card collection!

At any rate, it's time to wrap this up.  Carl, sorry it took me so long to pay proper tribute, but thank you for your wonderful art and film work, for creating some of the most fun outsider baseball cards ever produced, and for being so generous and communicative with this random, blathering blogger.  Your creative output is something to behold and I am ever thankful to have some pieces of it nestled safely in my binders.

R.I.P. Carl Aldana.  To close, here's a short video showcasing some of his watercolor work, specifically impressions of a visit made to the home of the Cubs, Chicago: