PSA Set Registry
Collecting the 1953 Red Man Tobacco Baseball Card Set
A Colorful Entry in an Era of Regional Excellence
by Kevin Glew
Stan was the man in the 1953 Red Man Tobacco Baseball set.
With the chewing tobacco company unable to secure rights to feature Mickey Mantle and Jackie Robinson and with Willie Mays and Ted Williams off serving in the military, Stan Musial was the biggest star highlighted in this series.
"The Musial Red Man card is far scarcer than his 1953 Bowman card," noted James Swartz, who owns the No. 6 Current Finest, 1953 Red Man Tobacco set on the PSA Set Registry. "I'm still looking for the 1948 Bowman Musial rookie, but there are dozens of them out there, whereas the 1953 Red Man Musial is hard to find in any condition."
The Musial is the last card (#26) in the National League portion of the set, so it often suffered additional wear and tear at the bottom of collector piles. Of the 105 submitted, there has been just one PSA MINT 9, one PSA NM-MT+ 8.5, and five PSA NM-MT 8s. The sole PSA 9 fetched $5,975 in a Heritage Auctions sale in November 2015.
The "Stan the Man" single is the centerpiece of this 52-card offering, which boasts 25 American League players, 25 National League players, and cards of the two, 1952 pennant-winning managers. Each league's singles are numbered #1 through #26. The 1953 Red Man Tobacco Baseball set is often overshadowed by the company's 1952 debut issue, as well as by the highly coveted 1953 Topps and Bowman issues.
In Swartz's opinion, the 1953 Topps set is one of the "finest Topps issues ever," and he further comments that some collectors would even go as far as saying that "the 1953 Bowman Color cards are the best cards ever made by any manufacturer." So, with such sets in the limelight, it's easy to see why an issue like the 1953 Red Man Tobacco set has gone unnoticed.
"A lot of kids were collecting the Bowman and Topps sets because they were so spectacular," Swartz said, "so they probably didn't really put much pressure on their dad or uncle to get these Red Man cards."
Bruce McCanna, who has assembled the Registry's No. 3 Current Finest, 1953 Red Man Tobacco set, offers a similar assessment.
"I think the Red Man cards, in general, are overshadowed," he said. "There's a much smaller population of collectors of them, although most collectors that see them will say, 'Hey, those look great!'"
The design of the 1953 Red Man singles is virtually identical to the 1952 Red Man cards. In fact, the artwork is repeated for players that were also highlighted in the 1952 set. Measuring 3-1/2" by 4", these oversized cards exhibit a detailed and colorful artistic rendering of the player. The images are either portraits or batting or pitching poses. A white box housing the player name (in red), position, team, vitals (Born, Height, Weight, Bats, Throws), and biographical information is positioned beside the image on the card front. The card number is also indicated at the top of this white box. This is one way the 1953 cards are different from the 1952 cards. The card number was only in the tab at the bottom of the fronts on the 1952 cards.
In terms of design, "the cards offer unparalleled beauty," said Swartz. "Every one of them is just spectacular."
McCanna also appreciates their design.
"I really like the solid-color backgrounds that a lot of the cards possess," he said. "This [design element] makes the cards pop, as opposed to some other sets where they put the standard background of a stadium."
For the second consecutive year, players for the series were selected by J.G. Taylor Spink, editor of The Sporting News. It's also likely that Spink was involved in writing the bios on the fronts, which generally discuss the player's on-the-field accomplishments; however, some do mention their military service or provide an assessment of their skills as well.
The Dom DiMaggio card (#22), for example, stands out because it presents an image of the Red Sox outfielder wearing his trademark glasses in a batting pose. "He can run like a rabbit, and only a foolhardy baserunner tries to get an extra base on Dom's arm," reads a sentence in the bio.
Meanwhile, the Wes Westrum single (#20) demonstrates how differently a catcher's defensive skills are now evaluated. In his bio, there's no discussion of Westrum's pitch-framing abilities, but rather it notes that "Wes is one of the surest catchers in baseball when it comes to going after pop flies."
The 1953 Red Man Tobacco cards also boast a tab on the bottom of the front that states either "1953 American League Series" or "1953 National League Series," the player's name, and the card number, along with the words "Cut along this line." A promotional offer on the card backs encouraged collectors to remove and amass 50 of these tabs and send them to a Red Man address to receive a baseball cap of their favorite major league team.
The card backs begin with the words "New for '53," which was another way to differentiate these cards from the 1952 Red Man singles. Also, the text on the backs is in red rather than the green text on the 1952 singles. You can find cards with two different expiration dates (March 31 and May 31, 1954) for the cap offer. Neither date version commands a premium. It's important to remember that because these cards came with chewing tobacco, it was generally adults that owned them first, but a line on the bottom of the back encouraged, "Red Man 'Chewers'" to "start a collection" for their "boys."
"I can remember my uncle occasionally giving me one of these cards because he chewed [tobacco]," said Swartz. "As a boy, I was not going to be able to buy tobacco, so adults would have to give their kids the cards."
One 1953 Red Man Tobacco card was wrapped in cellophane outside of each chewing tobacco pouch. McCanna has owned a couple of the unopened pouches.
"The tobacco is in more of a box than a pouch," he said. "So the card does kind of maintain its shape and stay square."
The distribution of these cards was likely significantly less than that of the 1953 Topps and Bowman issues. And the PSA Population Report seems to support this. Over 18 times as many 1953 Bowman Color cards have been submitted as the Red Man Tobacco cards and over 38 times as many 1953 Topps cards have been evaluated by PSA.
Some have noted that without cards of Mantle, Robinson, Mays, or Williams that the 1953 Red Man Tobacco series lacks star power. This is true to some extent, but this set does shine the spotlight on 19 Hall of Famers, including Musial and the first Red Man cards of Roy Campanella (#5), Phil Rizzuto (#10), Bob Lemon (#17), Johnny Mize (#18), and Hoyt Wilhelm (#21).
The Campanella card (#5) is particularly desirable. It offers an image of the legendary Dodgers catcher in a throwing pose against a yellow background. Of the 101 submitted, there are two PSA 9s and 10 PSA 8s. One PSA 9 sold for $2,075 on eBay in November 2017.
The Rizzuto card (#10) is also sought after. It presents the Yankees shortstop in pinstripes in a bunting pose with a halo-like glow around his head. There have been three PSA 9s, one PSA 8.5, and eight PSA 8s submitted. One PSA 9 garnered $967 in a Memory Lane auction in January 2017.
Among the other Cooperstowners in this issue are Yogi Berra (#3), Richie Ashburn (#3), Nelson Fox (#5), George Kell (#8), Pee Wee Reese (#10), Robin Roberts (#11), Al Schoendienst (#12), Enos Slaughter (#13), Early Wynn (#14), Duke Snider (#14), Ralph Kiner (#15), and Warren Spahn (#19).
Not surprisingly, the Berra (#3) is one of the most desirable singles. This card features a young Berra in a throwing pose in his catcher's gear against a yellow background. Of the 109 evaluated, there have been four PSA 9s, one PSA 8.5, and seven PSA 8s. One PSA 9 commanded $2,510 in a Memory Lane auction in January 2017.
The Snider card (#14) is also highly sought after and is one of the set's most elusive cards in mint condition. This card presents the blue-eyed slugger in a portrait image against a blue sky. The 13 PSA 8s and one PSA 8.5 constitute the highest-graded examples. One PSA 8 fetched $481 in a Mile High Card Company auction in December 2017.
The Spahn single (#19) has also proven evasive in top form. This showcases a portrait of the Hall of Fame southpaw against a dark blue background that extends to the edges of the card. This makes its borders especially vulnerable to chipping. There are just seven PSA 8s (with no examples grading higher).
Swartz says the manager cards â€" Casey Stengel and Charlie Dressen â€" are also hard to uncover in top form.
In general, they are hard to find, he says. And he believes the reason for this simply boils down to the subject's lack of popularity. Kids just didn't want or care to keep the cards of managers, so they were likely discarded.
Both managers were featured on the No. 1 cards for their respective leagues, so they were regularly damaged on top of collector piles. They both also showcase dark green backgrounds that run to the edge of the cards, making the borders susceptible to chipping. The five PSA 8 Stengel cards are the highest-graded examples.
In reality, however, all of the 1953 Red Man Tobacco cards are challenging to track down in high grade. Next to the 1952 offering, it's the toughest Red Man series to put together in top shape (see accompanying chart).
The size of these cards (3-1/2" by 4") made them hard to preserve and their fragile colored edges were easily chipped. Tabs were also cut off many of the cards, and while PSA will grade cards without tabs, cards with tabs intact are in far greater demand.
"A lot of the cards exhibit problems with the text being printed within the tabs," noted McCanna. "Sometimes you see some black and blue specs and traces across the tab where it [the ink] kind of bled."
All of these condition obstacles can make competition for high-grade examples fierce. But Swartz still feels these cards are underpriced compared to 1953 Topps and 1953 Bowman cards. He adds that not only were there likely far fewer Red Man cards produced than either 1953 Topps or Bowman cards, but a larger percentage of the original cards were also damaged.
"I think the [1953] Red Man cards are ridiculously undervalued," said Swartz. "It amazes me that investors aren't driving these prices skyward."
For more information on the 1953 Red Man Tobacco baseball card set, please visit https://www.psacard.com/cardfacts/baseball-cards/1953-red-man-tobacco/3678.