Mike DeNero's Neighborhood was created by superstar cartoonist Jim Hunt (http://www.jimhunt.us/). To view a synopsis of the comic strip and/or sketches of the four characters with whom you will become familiar, please click here.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Mike DeNero's Neighborhood: April 2009
Mike DeNero's Neighborhood was created by superstar cartoonist Jim Hunt (http://www.jimhunt.us/). To view a synopsis of the comic strip and/or sketches of the four characters with whom you will become familiar, please click here.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
1957-58 Topps Basketball Set
Chuck Taylors, Musty Gyms, the Hardwood, and the Emergence of a Legend:
The 1957-58 Topps Basketball Set
(by Mike DeNero)
On the night of April 12, 1958, one year after leading his Boston Celtics to the championship in his rookie season, the greatest player in NBA history limped through the sixth and final game of the NBA Finals with a heavy cast on his right ankle. Rather than nurse the torn ligaments and chip fracture he suffered in Game 3, he flew from Boston to St. Louis and arrived at his team’s hotel after midnight the evening before the game. Upon seeing his injured center suddenly appear in the lobby, his coach, Red Auerbach, asked, “what are you doing here, and how does it (the ankle) feel?” “I didn’t come out here to watch the game,” he replied. “I came to play.”[i]
As he hobbled through Game 6, he could only exert an impossible but gallant effort to stop the opposing team’s star, future hall of famer Bob Pettit, from pouring in 50 points to secure the 1957-58 NBA Championship for the St. Louis Hawks, as the Hawks beat the Celtics 110-109.
That night, the gre
We use the term “winner” too often in sports, as one victory, or even one championship, does not a winner make. Rather, “winners” win things ... and win them often. Bill Russell was a winner; perhaps the quintessential winner. His team reclaimed the NBA title the next season (1958-59) and held it in their grasp for the next eight years and ten of the next eleven. Yes, winners win things.
Bill Russell bubble gum cards are tough to find; only a few different ones were made. His rookie card from the 1957-58 Topps Basketball set is, along with the 1948 Bowman George Mikan, one of the top two basketball cards ever produced. The card’s obverse features a brilliant image; a determined Russell defending an overmatched opponent. The identity of the opposing player is irrelevant. Further, it is doubtful that he attempted a shot over the towering and intimidating Russell. Even if he had, the most dominating defensive player ever would have probably swatted the ball as it arced hopelessly toward the hoop.
The 1957-58 Topps Basketball Set and NBA Season
While baseball enjoyed its heyday in the 1950’s, partially due to the dominance of the New York teams (the Yankees, Giants, and Brooklyn Dodgers), pro football only began to appear on fans’ radar after the legendary 1958 NFL Championship between the New York Giants and Baltimore Colts. Basketball, ho
After all, the NBA, which was the result of a merger between two fleeting professional leagues, was formed only eight years prior in the summer of 1949. While the league boasted seventeen franchises that season, it quickly contracted to eleven in 1950 and eight in 1954, the same season that welcomed the 24-second shot clock, a rule change that might have saved the league, as battles such as the 19-18 slugfest between the Pistons and Lakers in 1950 always lurked as a possibility.[v]
As it had since 1954-55, the 1957-58 season opened with eight teams divided into two divisions, each team playing a 72-game schedule. The Eastern Division included the New York Knickerbockers, Syracuse Nationals, Philadelphia Warriors, and the defending NBA champion and division winning Boston Celtics, while the Western Division featured the Cincinnati Royals, Minneapolis Lakers,
As NBA rules limited the number of players on each roster to ten,[vi] it appears that Topps included within its 1957-58 Basketball set nearly each player who began the season on an NBA roster, as each team is represented by ten cards. Thus, while the 80-card set, at first glance, appears to be sparsely populated, it is actually remarkably complete. However, the exclusion of a rookie card of Celtics legendary guard Sam Jones (nicknamed “The Shooter,” and “Mr. Clutch”) is the exception that proves the rule. Jones, who became one of the NBA’s first African-American stars, was drafted by the Celtics before the 1957-58 season, proceeded to win ten championships in twelve seasons, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (the “Basketball Hall of Fame”) in 1984, and was named to the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team. Unfortunately for the vintage collector, Topps was unable to predict Jones’ forthcoming accomplishments at the time, and decided not to include him in the set.
While Topps made sure that the set is a near complete representation of the NBA’s 1957-58 player personnel, it appears to have paid less attention to its quality control of the printing process. Many of the 2 1/2” X 3 1/2” sized cards (now the standard) that survived the past fifty years are off-center and exhibit white “snow” on the obverse, two characteristics that make it very difficult to acquire high grade examples. The reverse of each card (many of which appear to be upside-down, another curious printing result) includes a card number, the subject player’s biographical information, including certain of his career and previous year’s statistics, and a drawing of a generic basketball player standing in front of a growth chart whose height matches that of the subject player, a novel feature that drew the novice fan’s attention to a characteristic shared by many basketball players (a trait quite obvious to today’s fans). While there are thirty single printed cards in the set, forty-nine double printed, and one quadruple printed (#24, hall of famer Bob Pettit), all of the cards are extremely rare, compared to their baseball and football counterparts released the same year.
Many believe that the small percentage of African-American players in the NBA at the time can be explained by the unofficial “quota” system that existed throughout the 1950’s (and even into the 1960’s), due to the alleged stranglehold that Harlem Globetrotters owner, Abe Saperstein (who solely recruited African-American players), had on the NBA owners. As most NBA bosses also owned the arenas in which their teams played, they apparently made mo
In addition to all of these characteristics, the 1957-58 Topps Basketball set’s most notable inclusions are twenty-one hall of famers (e.g., Bob Cousy, Tommy Heinsohn, Bob Pettit, Bill Russell), twenty of which are also “rookie” cards (although many appearing on “rookie” cards were veterans at the time), cards that represent a player’s sole appearance on a bu
The sheer number of hall of famers is particularly notable. Today, it seems quite odd that twenty-one players in a league of eighty could later be enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Regardless of the Hall’s possible overpopulation, the result is a set that features one of the game’s “legends” on every four cards, an incredible bang for the vintage collecting buck!
The Bill Russell Rookie Card: the Set’s Crown Jewel
While the 1957-58 Topps Basketball set features many gems, the Bill Russell rookie card is its crown jewel. While the set also includes several rookie cards, Russell’s is one of only a few featuring a young player at the beginning of his career – he entered the NBA the previous season (at the age of twenty-two) after leading his collegiate squad, the University of San Francisco Dons, to back-to-back NCAA Championships and captaining the United States team to the gold medal in 1956 at the Games of the XVI Olympiad, held in Melbourne, Australia. Russell went on to win his first Most Valuable Player Award during the 1957-58 season, averaging 22.7 points and 16.55 rebounds per game.
We have heard, countless times, that a picture is worth a thousand words. That cliché could not better describe the image featured on the obverse of the Bill Russell rookie card. As the vintage collector peers at the look of sheer determination on Russell’s face, as he is pictured defending an overmatched opponent, he or she can almost guess the magnitude of Russell’s forthcoming career accomplishments.
In his thirteen NBA seasons, he won five MVP Awards. While never a prolific scorer or focal point of the Boston Celtics’ offense (averaging 15.1 career points per game), he was undoubtedly the game’s greatest ever defensive player, averaging 22.5 career rebounds per game and several blocked shots (however, blocked shots were not recorded as a statistic until the 1973-74 season[xi]).
But most importantly, Bill Russell was a winner. And as a true winner, he won often. In his thirteen seasons, he led the Boston Celtics to eleven NBA titles, including a string of eight straight from 1958-59 through 1965-66, and back-to-back titles to close out his career as both player and coach. While it is admittedly impossible to reduce the accomplishments of such a legend to mere box scores or statistics, his performance in series-deciding post-season games is perhaps the closest we can come to quantifying his mark on the game. He played in eleven of them and averaged 18 points and 29.4 rebounds per game. Most importantly, his Celtics triumphed in each of those eleven series-deciding games.
There are sets and individual cards that teach us not only about our beloved hobby, but the history of sport as well. Some cards also help us understand the mere mortals whom countless of us have idolized. The 1957-58 Topps Basketball set accomplishes both. It provides the vintage collector a window to the golden days of a new league that would become an international phenomenon in the years to come. And, perhaps most importantly, by featuring one of the greatest basketball cards ever issued, the Bill Russell rookie, it helps us appreciate the greatest player to ever lace up a pair of black canvas Converse Chuck Taylor high tops.[xii]
Copyright © 2009 Mike DeNero's Vintage Sportscards, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
Endnotes
[i] “Event & Discoveries,” Sports Illustrated, April 21, 1958, 24, available at http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/cover/toc/7560/index.htm. [ii] The Association for Professional Basketball Research, “NBA/ABA Home Attendance Totals,” available at http://www.apbr.org/attendance.html. [iii] Id. [iv] Jeremiah Tax, “Roundball Bounces Back,” Sports Illustrated, October 27, 1958, 31, available at http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1003012/index.htm. [v] Rob Fleder et al., Sports Illustrated: The Basketball Book (Time Inc. Home Entertainment, 2007), 67. Immediately, teams averaged 93.1 points per game for the 1954-55 season, up from 79.5 in 1953-54. Id. [vi] Tax, “Roundball Bounces Back,” Sports Illustrated, October 27, 1958, 31, available at http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1003012/index.htm. [vii] Terry Pluto, Tall Tales: The Glory Years of the NBA, in the Words of the Men Who Played, Coached, and Built, (Simon & Schuster, 1992), 75. [viii] Id. [ix] See John Taylor, The Rivalry: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and the Golden Age of Basketball (Ballantine Books: New York, 2005), 27. [x] Roy Terrell, “The American Game,” Sports Illustrated, October 27, 1958, pg. 29, available at http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1132873/index.htm. [xi] Steve Aschburner, “Historical Black Hole Leaves League Defensive Records to Speculation,” January 6, 2009, SportsIllustrated.com, at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/steve_aschburner/01/06/all.time/. [xii] Angus Lind, “Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars Still Popular After Decades of Wear,” The Times-Picayune, March 11, 2008, http://blog.nola.com/anguslind/2008/03/converse_chuck_taylor_all_star.html.Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Start Spreadin' the Fantastic News
Start Spreadin’ the Fantastic News!
by Mike C. DeNero
horseshoes and screams at the top of his lungs, “Baseball is coming! Baseball is coming!”
“Beware,” the headlines intone in macabre print. As the Dow Jones plummets and unemployment soars, more steroid scandal this way comes, just in time for baseball season, and this time it directly implicates some of the best baggers in the history of our national pastime. The blue sky has given way to heavy, dark clouds. Smells like acid rain. Imminent perjury charges loom over the allegedly Rocket-fueled Clemens. Positive steroid tests were unsealed in a legal matter involving Bobby Bonds’ kid -- you know, the irascible one who broke that record. Miguel Tejada lay prostrate and sobbing through an interpreter after pleading guilty to perjury. Alex [insert favorite pejorative nickname] Rodriguez took time away from “yoga” with Madonna to admit he juiced up and lied. And then there’s the remaining 103 names on the “confidential” list of 104 and, of course, the
Mitchell Report and its lingering cast of deadbeats. All this, remember, on top of a recent history replete with congressional hearings, Slammin’ Sammy’s corked bat, and Charlie Hustle’s gambling habit.
So, please, don’t bother me with talk of scandal and corruption. I have my fill of that living on Capitol Hill. Anyone who thinks that baseball is purer than that rotten lot we call human beings is shooting up with something more dangerous than HGH. The American and National Leagues have long been populated with drunkards (e.g., Mantle), alleged gamblers (e.g., J. McGraw), and borderline psychopaths (e.g., Cobb), and engaged in scandal -- including cheating (e.g., Shoeless Joe Jackson). But in its defense, baseball always works to right its wrongs.
Let’s look at racism, for instance, that most insidious poison. Baseball had a dream long before Martin Luther King’s time-honored speech from the Lincoln Memorial and, in fact, was desegregated well before America. Jackie Robinson entered the National League in 1947, seven years before the U.S. Supreme Court’s desegregation decision in Brown v. Board of Education. And while even staunch conservatives couldn’t conceal their pride during the monumental inauguration of our country’s first African-American President l
ast month, Major League Baseball voted Robinson into Cooperstown in 1962, almost fifty years earlier.
And don’t trouble me with the so-called steroid-induced stats problem. The different eras in baseball never yielded any pure reading of relative statistical determinations. Just as we’ve had honest players and juiced players, we’ve had dead balls and juiced balls. We’ve had pitchers who pitched complete games and every third or fourth day replaced by five game rotations, middle relievers, and closers. Exeunt stamina and durability, “Enter Sandman.” We’ve had seemingly mile-long ballparks replaced by carnival-like short fences. Sportswriter Frank Deford said it best: “Baseball statistics are not quite as pure as the mandarins of the game would have you believe. The various eras [of baseball] are distinctively different from one another. The 1890s, without foul strikes, equate very nicely to the recent years, with steroids.”[1] Bottom line: stats and records are fun, if useful; but their unreliability and fallibility does not a catastrophe make.
And don’t bore me with sour economic news. You can have your IRAs and 401(k)s. I invest in baseball. And my investments are up. When it rains, I don’t sit in front of my iMAC and check my sinking stock portfo
lio. I teach my kids about baseball. I break out my 1909 T206 Cobb (bat off shoulder), 1934 Goudey Gehrig (with bat on shoulder), and 1954 Johnston Cookies Aaron and start telling stories. I teach them about investing in a way that resonates (e.g., T206 Honus Wagner vs. the Dow Jones). And my young children love arithmetic. How could they not when it involves Yankees legends: Babe Ruth (number 3) + Lou Gehrig (number 4) = Mickey Mantle (number 7)? (You have to try it: Yogi Berra - Babe Ruth = ________)[2].
And when the sun shines, we go to the ballpark. Major leagues and minor leagues. Box seats and bleacher seats. Last year, I took my five-year old son to Yankee Stadium before it shut down. On the Amtrak up from Washington, D.C., we watched videos on the lives of Ruth, Mantle, and DiMaggio. The following day we sat in the same stadium where those players became legends. And in the fifth inning, with the Yankees falling hopelessly behind the Mets, my son left his own mark on the Cathedral by starting the “Let’s Go Yankees!” chant. Some drunk guy turned around to me and said, “You know, Dad, you can die now.” And he’s right.
The game ended, as always, with Frank Sinatra crooning “Start Spreadin’ the News!” And so I will. It’s fantastic news, by the way. Baseball is coming . . . in all its glory. If I can afford a ticket to the ballgame, I’ll see you there. Otherwise, I’ll be watching from home. And smiling.
Copyright © 2009 Mike DeNero's Vintage Sportscards, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
_____________
Notes
[1] Deford, Frank. The Old Ball Game: How John McGraw, Christy Mathewson, and the New York Giants Created Modern Baseball. New York: Grove Press, 2005, p.41.[2] Yogi Berra (8) - Babe Ruth (3) = Joe DiMaggio (5).
Monday, March 16, 2009
The 1934-37 Garbaty Film Stars Sets
Cigarettes, Starlets, and Nazis:
The Historical Tale of the Garbaty Film Stars Sets
(by Mike DeNero & Kyleigh Spencer)
Each set of cards is history from an original source. – Jefferson Burdick
The Garbaty Cigarette Company
Moritz Garbaty and his family (wife, Ella, and eight year-old son, Thomas) escaped from Nazi Germany in December 1938. Just days before, Moritz was the majority owner and President of one of the most successful businesses in Berlin, the Garbaty Cigarette Company, started by his father, Josef, nearly fifty years earlier. 
While Josef and Moritz owned and managed the company, it was known for the multitude of popular cigarette brands it produced, its generous financial support of a local Jewish orphanage, and its worker-friendly environment, offering unemployment insurance, free meals in its cafeteria, a laundromat, a library, a choir, a newspaper, and even a sports club. Today’s vintage card collectors are familiar with the Garbaty Cigarette Company for producing (from 1934 through 1937) the three greatest sets of cigarette cards featuring film stars ever made. 
As Moritz Garbaty and his family boarded the New Amsterdam bound for America, little did he know that an actress featured prominently in the film stars sets inadvertently play
ed a pivotal role in necessitating their escape from Nazi Germany.
The Nazis’ Control of the German Film Industry 
ed a pivotal role in necessitating their escape from Nazi Germany.
While the German film industry technically remained in the hands of private investors who preferred to produce light-hearted and entertaining films -- and the Nazis believed that movies were a perfect medium to keep the masses entertained -- the Reich Film Chamber, however, ensured that the movie-going experience was censored heavily and infiltrated with propaganda, forcing cinemas to show newsreels and a propaganda film before each feature.
During this period of political and cultural transformation, American culture was “both admired and vilified.”[2] Hollywood movies, in particular, were tremendously popular with the Reich’s pre-war audiences – in fact, Adolph Hitler adored Mickey Mouse, and Swedish-born Hollywood legend Greta Garbo was hailed by the German press as “the essence of race.”[3]
The Garbaty Film Stars Sets (1934 through 1937)
In the center of Nazi Germany's pre-war years, the Garbaty Cigarette 
The Moderne Schönheitsgalerie Set: Series One and Two
The Moderne Schönheitsgalerie set, issued in two 300-card series, primarily featured German and Hollywood actresses (Series One also pictured some popular female athletes; Series Two also included a few actors, such as Clark Gable and Robert Montgomery). Each card’s surface is varnished (in addition to being embossed) and the backs feature the logo of one of the company’s most popular brands, Kurmark Cigarettes.[4] There are several dozen unique borders in each 300-card series. In our review of Series One, we counted a minimum of 50 unique borders within the first 150 cards alone.
All of the great Hollywood stars of the day made their way into the set. As German audiences especially adored Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich, each is pictured on twelve cards! Clara Bow, Rita Cansino (before her name change to Hayworth), Claudette Colbert, Joan Crawford, Kay Francis, Janet Gaynor, Jean Harlow, Helen Hayes, Katharine Hepburn, Myriam Hopkins, Carole Lombard, Myrna Loy, Jeanette MacDonald, Maureen O’Sullivan, Ginger Rogers, Norma Shearer, little Shirley Temple, Claire Trevor, Mae West, and Loretta Young are all included, to name a few.
Some of the more interesting subjects, however, are the German actresses. For example, Emmy Sonnemann appears on card #190. In April 1935, Emmy became the second Mrs. Hermann Göring (following World War II, Göring was convicted at the Nuremberg Trials of various war crimes -- the night before he was to be hanged, he committed suicide by ingesting cyanide). Emmy served a one-year post-war prison term after a German court convicted her of being a Nazi.
The Galerie Schöner-Frauen Des Film Set
As the nation prepared to host the Games of the XI Olympiad in 1936,[5] the Garbaty Cigarette Company re
We estimate there are nearly 200 unique borders within the 224-card set. Twenty-four even feature borders with a cut-out design, a curiosity because the other 200 cards are identical to the 200 card F
ilmsterne (Film Stars) set released that same year by Aurelia Cigarette Company. Perhaps the Garbaty Cigarette Company added the additional twenty-four ornate cards to make the Galerie Schöner-Frauen Des Films set more desirable than their competitor’s Filmsterne set.
ilmsterne (Film Stars) set released that same year by Aurelia Cigarette Company. Perhaps the Garbaty Cigarette Company added the additional twenty-four ornate cards to make the Galerie Schöner-Frauen Des Films set more desirable than their competitor’s Filmsterne set. Once again, several dozen German and Hollywood actresses are pictured in the set. While the set includes several cards of the most popular actresses – e.g., four of Greta Garbo, two each of Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, Claude
d on seven cards.[12] It is rumored that in retaliation for her refusal to appear in Nazi propaganda films (along with the fact that she allegedly had a Jewish lover), the Gestapo threw her out of a hotel window in 1937 (thus, perhaps her premature death was not due to “epilepsy,” as the German press reported).
The Garbaty Film-Lieblinge (Film Favorites) set, released in packages of Passion Cigarettes in 1937,[13] includes 200 cards, 160 identical in size to those in the previous two Garbaty sets and 40 that are much larger, measuring 2 7/16 X 3 1/4. The larger cards picture Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Rita Cansino (Hayworth), Jean Harlow, Shirley Temple, Carole Lombard, and Clark Gable, to name a few. In addition to the presence of the Passion brand logo, the backs offered the collector an excha
nge program for the first time – one large card could be exchanged for another of its size or two smaller cards. While the surfaces are embossed and exhibit a matte finish, the borders are far less ornate than those “framing” the previous two sets.
The Garbaty Cards and the Nazi Ideal
nge program for the first time – one large card could be exchanged for another of its size or two smaller cards. While the surfaces are embossed and exhibit a matte finish, the borders are far less ornate than those “framing” the previous two sets.
One of the first things that jumps out about these sets is the sheer number of cards, a total of 600 in the Moderne Schönheitsgalerie set alone. Compared to similar sets available in other countries at that time, t
he Garbaty sets were unusually large. The way the Hollywood stars – still immensely popular despite the Reich's best efforts to control the number of Hollywood films imported for viewing – are scattered among the numerous German ensemble actresses emphasizes that they are no better than other characters in the "cast." Ironically, many of these ensemble actors appeared in so many films that they became famous in their own right.[16] Paradoxically, then, the sets are an ensemble of stars -- the stars become Das Volk!
A second indicator of Nazi influence is how eerily similar all of the images appear. Despite the infinite variety of borders, subjects, and poses, a homogeneous quality emerges. Each image began as a publicit
he Garbaty sets were unusually large. The way the Hollywood stars – still immensely popular despite the Reich's best efforts to control the number of Hollywood films imported for viewing – are scattered among the numerous German ensemble actresses emphasizes that they are no better than other characters in the "cast." Ironically, many of these ensemble actors appeared in so many films that they became famous in their own right.[16] Paradoxically, then, the sets are an ensemble of stars -- the stars become Das Volk!
y photograph or film still, then was doctored to a startling degree. In some, the artist redrew all but the most basic shape of the subject’s face, with the finished product sometimes bearing only a passing resemblance to the original photograph. Card after card depicts a translucent skinned woman with impossibly rosy cheeks, resulting in Germanic looking subjects regardless of their country of origin – an ensemble cast conforming to the Aryan ideal. Those actresses whose features are too far outside the ideal to be “Aryanized” are clearly depicted as exotic, such as Anna May Wong in traditional Chinese attire and Conchita Montenegro with her bangle bracelets and chunky earrings.
t unique in the world of tobacco cards. They do not resemble the typical frames of that period, but are a rather fanciful, free-wheeling take on Art Deco forms of the day.
by their first names and last initials (e.g., Myriam H.).[18] Might the eight actresses have been Jewish and their missing last names be the result of forced censorship by the Nazis (most likely, the Reich Film Chamber) or self-censorship by the Garbaty Cigarette Company? While this assertion may seem far-fetched, we note the tale of a book published in 1934, Das Deutsche Fuhrerlexicon (German Leadership Directory), featuring brief biographies of the prominent men in the Nazi Party. Because the directory was still being printed during the “Night of the Long
Knives” (a purge of the Nazi Party ordered by Hitler during the summer of 1934, resulting in over 100 political executions), once released, the directory would have featured murdered members. The solution? White out the pictures and biographical information of the dead party members and release the book as-is, with hundreds of blank spots.
The ensemble nature of the sets, the homogenization of the female images to conform to the Aryan ideal, the abrupt change in border styles, and the missing last names of certain actresses all point to Nazi influence in the production of the Garbaty film stars sets. But the cards – or at least those that featured one actress, Lida Baarova, in particular – may have an even more fascinating and chilling connection to the Garbaty Cigarette Company's fate under the Third Reich.
The Czech Actress, the "Night of the Broken Glass," and the Aryanization of the Garbaty Cigarette Company
Czech actress, Lida Baarova, who is featured prominently in all three sets, was just 21 years-old when she met Jo
seph Goebbels at the Berlin Olympics in 1936, describing him as “a master of the hunt, whom nobody and nothing could escape”[19] – incidentally, Goebbels was notorious for his extramarital affairs, many involving actresses. Their relationship turned romantic during the winter of 1936-37; by October 1938, Goebbels’ sought to divorce his wife, Magda. The soap opera continued when Magda, known as the First Lady of the Third Reich due to her undying affection for the Fuhrer (and perhaps the fact all six of her children sported first names starting with the letter “H”), told Hitler of the affair. The Fuhrer sprang into action, forbade a divorce and ordered Goebbels to break up with Baarova. Goebbels “acquiesced” but reportedly attempted suicide shortly thereafter.[20] Soon, the Gestapo began to harass Baarova, resulting in her decision to flee Germany. 
While Baarova returned to her native Prague for the remainder of her life, her countrymen never forgave her indiscretions with Goebbels. She died penniless at the age of 86.
Days after ending his affair with Baarova, Goebbels seized an opportunity to win back Hitler’s favor.[21] That moment arrived after a Jewish youth named Herschel Grynszpan murdered a German diplomat in Paris, an act of revenge for the deportation of his family to Poland. Goebbels orchestrated the “German” retaliation against the Jews, Kristallnacht (“Night of the Broken Glass”), a night of terror during which the Nazis murdered more than 200 Jews (and caused several hundred more to commit suicide), burned, vandalized, and destroyed several thousand synagogues and Jewish-owned business, and transported nearly 30,000 Jewish men to concentration camps.
On Kristallnacht, after hearing rumors that the Gestapo were ordered to arrest Jewish men (especially those of considerable wealth), Moritz Garbaty hid in a garden house owned by his secretary, a Catholic woman, on the outskirts of Berlin. Moritz’ son, Thomas, who was eight years-old at the time, recalls the Gestapo coming to the family’s home to arrest his father, but leaving shortly thereafter. That night, the Gestapo did manage to arrest Thomas’s uncle, Eugene, but released him after the Garbaty family bribed the Head of the Berlin Police Department, Wolf-Heinrich Graf von Helldorf (incidentally, von Helldorf would be hanged in 1944 due to his rumored involvement in a plot to assassinate Hitler).
Within days of Kristallnacht, and as a vital step toward the completion of Germany’s Aryanization (the transfer of assets and businesses from Jews to “Germans”), the Garbaty family was forced to sell its cigarette company, undoubtedly at a bargain price. Thereafter, the family resolved to flee the Reich but von Helldorf controlled the issuance of passports to Jews, and Moritz’ father, Josef, was too ill to escape.
Thomas Garbaty, now 78 years-old, told us of his father’s final “donation” to the “von Helldorf Fund” (the colloquial name for a bribe), a payment that secured Josef’s safety (until his death of natural causes less than a year later[22]) and passports for Thomas and his parents. When we asked him to approximate the dollar amount of the bribe, Thomas stated, “huge sums of money, huge sums of money; probably beyond one-million dollars.”[23]
___________________________
Epilogue
An essay chronicling the Garbaty Cigarette Company featured in a collection titled Juden in Berlin: 1938-1945 includes several captivating images scattered throughout; none more so than two featured on the essay’s final page. The first is a photo of Thomas and his parents, Moritz and Ella, on the New Amsterdam bound for Hoboken, New Jersey in July 1939. In the photo, each person is sporting sunglasses while resting on a lounge chair on the ship’s deck; young Thomas is in knickers. The second photo was taken on September 13, 1942, three years after the family’s arrival in America. In this picture, Moritz has his arm around twelve year-old Thomas; both are standing on the observation deck of the Empire State Building with the Manhattan skyline displayed gloriously in the background. The image is priceless; Moritz and Thomas are dressed like any other American father and son of the day. They appear as if they might be heading to the ballpark to root for their home team, or, perhaps, to their local cinema house to see a film featuring their favorite Hollywood stars.
Copyright © 2009 Mike DeNero's Vintage Sportscards, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
Endnotes
[1] Sabine Hake, Popular Cinema of the Third Reich (University of Texas Press, 2001), 28. [2] Sabine Hake, Popular Cinema of the Third Reich (University of Texas Press, 2001), 130.
[3] Sabine Hake, Popular Cinema of the Third Reich (University of Texas Press, 2001), 132 (internal citation omitted).
[4] The cards were inserted in Kurmark boxes.
[5] For a brief period during the Berlin Olympics, the Nazis toned down their anti-Semitic attacks, due to Hitler’s fear that the “international criticism of his government [could] result in the transfer of the [Berlin Olympics] to another country.” (See United States Holocaust Museum, “The Nuremberg Race Laws,” available at http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/nlaw.htm). The Reich put its best foot forward for a time, and “even removed some of the signs [reading] ‘Jews Unwelcome’ from public places.” (See id.).
The Berlin Games are largely remembered for the performance of American sprinter Jesse Owens, who captured four gold medals in track & field, and the dominance of the German squad, which captured 89 medals, 33 more than the United States, which placed second in the overall medal count. That result caused the Fuhrer to beam; as Albert Speer noted in his memoirs, Inside The Third Reich:
"Each of the German victories, and there were a surprising number of these, made him happy, but he was highly annoyed by the series of triumphs by the marvelous colored American runner, Jesse Owens. People whose antecedents came from the jungle were primitive, Hitler said with a shrug; their physiques were stronger than those of civilized whites and hence should be excluded from future games. Hitler was also jolted by the jubilation of the Berliners when the French team filed solemnly into the Olympic Stadium ... If I am correctly interpreting Hitler's expression at the time, he was more disturbed than pleased by the Berliners' cheers." (Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich: Memoirs (Simon & Schuster, 1997), 73).
[6] In a recent eBay search for cards from the Galerie Schöner-Frauen Des Films set, we found one international seller with approximately one dozen individual cards for sale. The cards were graded by a grading company that we do not recognize. Each card is actually a card from the Sultan Filmsterne set but mislabeled as a card from the Galerie Schöner-Frauen Des Films set.
[7] Lil Dagover also appears on multiple cards in the Moderne Schönheitsgalerie and Film-Lieblinge set.
[8] See Guido Knopp, Hitler’s Women (Routledge, 2003), 242; see also Fabrice d’Almeida, High Society in the Third Reich (Polity, 2009), 52.
[9] Also spelled “Chekhova.” Tschechowa also appears on multiple cards in the Moderne Schönheitsgalerie and Film-Lieblinge set.
[10] Fabrice d’Almeida, High Society in the Third Reich (Polity, 2009), 52.
[11] See generally, Anthony Beever, The Mystery of Olga Chekhova (Viking, 2004).
[12] Renate Müller also appears on several cards in the Galerie Schöner-Frauen Des Films set but was not included in the Film-Lieblinge set.
[13] Like the Galerie Schöner-Frauen Des Films set, we have found cards from this set to be incredibly difficult to locate.
[14] See generally, Erica Carter, Dietrich's Ghosts: The Sublime and the Beautiful in Third Reich Film (London: BFI Publishing, 2004), 56-83.
[15] A popular slogan in Germany at the time was “Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer” (One people, one nation, one leader).
[16] But this view of stardom was not unique to the Reich. As Erica Carter opined in Dietrich’s Ghosts, during the Weimar Republic in the late 1920s, many campaigned against star fees and sought government regulation to help the financially struggling German film industry.
[17] See generally, Barron, Stephanie, "Degenerate Art" The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany (New York: Harry N. Abrams Publishing and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1991). Pieces created by some of the greatest artists of the day were “exhibited”: Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, Max Beckmann, Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, Wassily Kandinsky, to name a few.
[18] The eight actresses are identified as Nina von P. (#240), Gert S. (#242), AnneMarie S. (#244), Katja M. (#246), Gertrud O. (#248), Marion P. (#249), Myriam H. (#270), and Francis B. (#282).
[19] Peter Conradi, “Goebbels Mistress Tells Tales from the Grave,” review of The Sweet Bitterness of My Life, by Lida Baarova, The Sunday Times, January 21, 2001, available at http://www.fpp.co.uk/online/01/01/STimesBaarova.html.
[20] New World Encyclopedia, “Joseph Goebbels,” available at http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Joseph_Goebbels.
[21] Ian Kershaw, Hitler, 1936-1945: Nemesis (W. W. Norton & Company, 2001), 145.
[22] A woman named Sophie Boroschek (born 1910) managed and maintained Josef’s home, the Villa Garbaty. Sophie would later be transported, along with 1,000 other Jewish men, women, and children, from Berlin to Auschwitz on May 17, 1943. Immediately upon their arrival at Auschwitz, 805 were murdered in the gas chamber. Two months later, on August 2, 1943, Sophie and 85 other men and women were transported from Auschwitz to another concentration camp, Natzweiler-Strutthof, located in Alsace, France. All 86 were murdered in the gas chamber sometime between August 11-13. Immediately, the victims’ still warm bodies were transported to the nearby Institute for Anatomy at the Reichsuniversity Strassburg (the “Anatomy Institute”) for “research purposes” -- the order to murder the 86 selected individuals came from Ahnenerbe (ancestral inheritance), a “scientific organization,” that planned to display their skeletons in an exhibition at the Anatomy Institute as evidence for Nazi “Rassenideologe“ (human race ideology). However, before the “exhibit” began, Allied troops discovered the bodies, which were chemically preserved and hidden in a basement. See generally, Hans-Joachim Lang, “Die Namen der Nummern,” available at http://www.die-namen-der-nummern.de/index.html; Roseanne Leeson & Peter Lande, “Natzweiler Medical Experiments, Natzweiler-Strutthof Camp: A Small List with a Big Lesson,” available at http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Holocaust/0154_Natzweiler_medical.html.
[23] Thomas Garbaty Interview, February 27, 2009. Using the Consumer Price Index, one million dollars in 1938 would be worth $15,280,553 today. See "Six Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.S. Dollar Amount, 1774 to the Present," available at http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Mike DeNero's Neighborhood (the comic strip) ... Coming Soon!
In our April Newsletter, look for our new monthly comic strip, Mike DeNero's Neighborhood, created by superstar cartoonist Jim Hunt (http://www.jimhunt.us/). The following is our brief synopsis of the comic strip and a brief sketch of each of the four characters with whom you will soon become familiar: 
Bernie: Bernie is a little wiseguy, but a very sweet 5-year old boy. Tony is his fraternal twin brother. Bernie has an amazing sense of humor, lives for attention and is everybody's best pal. He loves baseball, football, and hockey (and plays all three sports in little league), but baseball and hockey are his favorites. Like his brother, Tony, he collects cards. He's a diehard New York fan, through and through!
Tony: Tony is more quiet than his 5 year-old twin brother Bernie. In some ways, Tony's the little brother. Although he's more of a scientist type, he loves to dance and plays football, baseball, and hockey in little league -- football, though, is his favorite. He has a more face-brightening smile, while his brother Bernie's is a little more sly. Tony collects cards, on which he spends all of his weekly allowance. In the comic strip, Tony is always seen sporting an old green football jersey (#12).
Mike DeNero: Mike DeNero owns the sportscards store down the block from Tony and Bernie's house. Mike is also their little league coach in all three sports. Although Bernie and Tony spend a lot of time in his shop, they don't spend that much money because they only get a small allowance. Their dad, however, is Mike's best customer, so he needs to put up with the kids' presence and occasional good-hearted shenanigans. He wouldn't have it any other way. His shop is tiny, but in a great location (on one of Old Town Alexandria's historic streets). The shop has very large picture windows, and the company logo is featured prominently thereon.
Leela: Leela is a 5-year-old girl adopted from China. She has pigtails and an adorable smile. Leela is very smart and gets a kick out of Bernie and Tony. She plays little league baseball and hockey (same teams as Bernie and Tony) and is in their kindergarten class as well. She also collects cards and seems to have an unlimited budget (especially, for a 5 year-old), about which Mike DeNero is puzzled but never questions. In the comic strip, she is always seen sporting a red hockey jersey, which she calls a "sweater."
Synopsis: Mike DeNero's Neighborhood
Mike DeNero's Neighborhood focuses primarily on two main characters, Tony and Bernie, 5-year-old fraternal twins who play little league sports and collect baseball cards, which they buy at the small shop down the block from their house, Mike DeNero's Vintage Sportscards. The owner of the shop, Mike DeNero is the third character. The fourth character, Leela, is Tony and Bernie's friend from kindergarten and little league. She is a 5 year-old Chinese girl.The Cast of Characters
Bernie: Bernie is a little wiseguy, but a very sweet 5-year old boy. Tony is his fraternal twin brother. Bernie has an amazing sense of humor, lives for attention and is everybody's best pal. He loves baseball, football, and hockey (and plays all three sports in little league), but baseball and hockey are his favorites. Like his brother, Tony, he collects cards. He's a diehard New York fan, through and through!
Tony: Tony is more quiet than his 5 year-old twin brother Bernie. In some ways, Tony's the little brother. Although he's more of a scientist type, he loves to dance and plays football, baseball, and hockey in little league -- football, though, is his favorite. He has a more face-brightening smile, while his brother Bernie's is a little more sly. Tony collects cards, on which he spends all of his weekly allowance. In the comic strip, Tony is always seen sporting an old green football jersey (#12).
Mike DeNero: Mike DeNero owns the sportscards store down the block from Tony and Bernie's house. Mike is also their little league coach in all three sports. Although Bernie and Tony spend a lot of time in his shop, they don't spend that much money because they only get a small allowance. Their dad, however, is Mike's best customer, so he needs to put up with the kids' presence and occasional good-hearted shenanigans. He wouldn't have it any other way. His shop is tiny, but in a great location (on one of Old Town Alexandria's historic streets). The shop has very large picture windows, and the company logo is featured prominently thereon.
Leela: Leela is a 5-year-old girl adopted from China. She has pigtails and an adorable smile. Leela is very smart and gets a kick out of Bernie and Tony. She plays little league baseball and hockey (same teams as Bernie and Tony) and is in their kindergarten class as well. She also collects cards and seems to have an unlimited budget (especially, for a 5 year-old), about which Mike DeNero is puzzled but never questions. In the comic strip, she is always seen sporting a red hockey jersey, which she calls a "sweater."
Copyright © 2009 Mike DeNero's Vintage Sportscards, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The 1958 NFL Championship Game 50 Years Later: Why the 1952 Bowman Large Football Set is Superior to the 1952 Topps Baseball Set
by Mike DeNero
Fifty years ago, the New York Giants hosted the 1958 NFL Championship Game (and the visiting Baltimore Colts) at Yankee Stadium, a game widely chronicled as the birth of the modern NFL and the greatest game ever played. Fifty years later, football has replaced baseball as our nation's favored sport. However, while football reigns in the hearts of today's fans, the vintage sportscards market certainly continues to recognize baseball as king. This counterintuitive reality perhaps can be explained, at least in part, by the great effort that Major League Baseball ("MLB") exerts to bring its history to the forefront while the NFL largely, and mistakenly, neglects to promote its own glorious past effectively.
** Originally published in our January Newsletter and scheduled for publication in the Spring '09 issue of SGC Collector Magazine **
Fifty years ago, the New York Giants hosted the 1958 NFL Championship Game (and the visiting Baltimore Colts) at Yankee Stadium, a game widely chronicled as the birth of the modern NFL and the greatest game ever played. Fifty years later, football has replaced baseball as our nation's favored sport. However, while football reigns in the hearts of today's fans, the vintage sportscards market certainly continues to recognize baseball as king. This counterintuitive reality perhaps can be explained, at least in part, by the great effort that Major League Baseball ("MLB") exerts to bring its history to the forefront while the NFL largely, and mistakenly, neglects to promote its own glorious past effectively. To illustrate, more likely than not, each person reading this editorial has seen more photographs and film footage of any one of Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson or Willie Mays than they have of the twelve NFL Hall of Famers who played in the 1958 NFL Championship Game combined. This is true even though that game featured some of the greatest and most popular players in the history of pro football: Johnny Unitas, Frank Gifford, Raymond Berry, Sam Huff, Lenny Moore, Art Donovan, Gino Marchetti, and Emlen Tunnell (the first African-American player enshrined in Canton). While we are aware that ESPN recently aired a colorized broadcast of the 1958 NFL Championship Game in recognition of the game's fiftieth anniversary, we also note that the broadcasts of the NFL games that occurred this past December 28th (the season's final week) paid little, if any, attention to the fact that the 1958 NFL Championship Game was played on that date, fifty years prior.
In another recent example, during FOX's broadcast of the Eagles/Giants playoff game on Sunday, January 11th, the only visual reference to that storied rivalry was a five second vignette of photographs from past games, which was shown after a commercial (the only featured photograph that was snapped prior to 1980 was the famous shot of Chuck "Concrete Charlie" Bednarik celebrating after forcing a fumble from Giants' back Frank Gifford). 
In contrast, FOX spent at least two minutes, in the aggregate, showing the ubiquitous, not to mention ridiculous, Fox Football Robot dancing The Swim and The Electric Slide.
Although the NFL's insufficient promotion of its glorious history is one factor keeping vintage football cards from equaling the prices of their otherwise comparable baseball counterparts, there is a second factor: tradition.
To illustrate how tradition has affected valuation, we sought to compare each sport's greatest set produced in the 1950's: the 1952 Topps Baseball Set (490 cards) (the "Topps Baseball Set") and the 1952 Bowman Large Football Set (144 cards) (the "Bowman Football Set") (although the 1957 Topps Football Set recently was chosen the "most important football set of all-time" in a recent reader poll conducted by PSA Insider, we believe that being deemed the "most important," whatever that actually means, does not necessarily equate to being the greatest).
Unquestioningly, the cards in the Topps Baseball Set are valued much more highly among collectors than those in the Bowman Football Set. But why? Is it because the Baby Boomers, who have reached and even surpassed the years of their greatest earning potential, initially drove prices to their highs? That certainly seems to be a likely cause. However, those of us who were born after 1952 have helped to maintain prices at their current levels because we have mistakenly bought into what our fathers and uncles have sold us - the unquestioned desirability and necessity of owning cards Marchetifrom the Topps Baseball Set. Perhaps there is wisdom in what Woody Allen's character, Alvy Singer, said in the film Annie Hall, "Everything that our parents told us was good for us is bad for us: sun, milk, red meat, college."
What would happen, however, if the post Baby Boomer collectors suddenly begin to rethink the valuation of the Topps Baseball Set, especially in relation to its undervalued cousin, the Bowman Football Set?
In short, we believe that if vintage card collectors question and study established card valuations, that process, coupled with an effort by the NFL to promote its glorious history more appropriately, should produce prices realized for cards from the Bowman Football Set that will equal or surpass those from the Topps Baseball Set. In support of our conclusion, we ask you to consider the following:
The Bowman Football Set features a much higher percentage of Hall of Famers as well as rookie cards of Hall of Famers.
There are 26 cards of Hall of Famers comprising roughly 5% of the Topps Baseball Set. The Bowman Football Set, however, includes 33 Hall of Famers, roughly 23% of the set. In fact, five of the twelve Hall of Famers who played in the 1958 NFL Championship are pictured (Marchetti, Donovan, Gifford, Tunnell, and Robustelli). Incidentally, Tom Landry, who roamed the sidelines as the Giants' defensive coach during the 1958 NFL Championship Game, is pictured as a Giants player.
If you are in pursuit of Hall of Famer rookie cards, you will find the Topps Baseball Set to be a barren wasteland - the set features only one such card (Eddie Mathews). To those of you who count the Mickey Mantle card as a rookie card, we point you to his only rookie card, the 1951 Bowman. In contrast to the Topps Baseball Set, the Bowman Football Set features a dozen rookie cards of Hall of Famers, close to 10% of the set.
The cards in the Bowman Football Set are generally more difficult to find.
Even considering the number of short prints in each set, the cards from the Bowman Football Set are generally more difficult to find. For example, on January 4, 2008, we conducted eBay searches for auctions and fixed price listings (we excluded Store Inventory items) for six cards (solely examples graded by PSA, SGC or BVG), three from each set. Here is what we found.
A search for each set's #1 card, Andy Pafko (Baseball) and Norm Van Brocklin (Football) yielded eight auction results for the Pafko but only one for the Van Brocklin. Yet, in the grade of a five, Pafko, who was a slightly better than average player, typically sells for more than $1,000 while Van Brocklin, a legendary Hall of Fame quarterback, typically sells for under $200.
We also compared searches for the Mickey Mantle and Frank Gifford cards, each of which features a star “rookie” card of a tremendously popular player from a New York team. Sixteen Mantles were listed compared with two Giffords. In the grade of a five, Mantle typically sells for $12,000, or more, while “The Giff” can be had for a mere $200.
Finally, we compared search results for the only Hall of Famer rookie card from the Topps Baseball Set (Eddie Mathews) with one of the many Hall of Famer rookie cards from the Bowman Football Set, that of Ollie Matson. The Eddie Mathews search yielded seven offerings while the Matson yielded two. The prices of each graded a five? Mathews typically fetches $3,000-$5,000 while Ollie Matson can be purchased for a mere $200.
In short, while each of the Bowman Football cards were much less plentiful, they can be purchased for between 5%-15% of their baseball counterparts.
The two key cards in the Topps Baseball Set are grossly overvalued.
We believe that the Bowman Football Set features one overvalued card - #144 of Jim Lansford, the set’s final card. In comparison, the Topps Mickey Mantle and Eddie Mathews are currently at pricing levels, which could very well drop severely, due to possible overvaluation. Furthermore, while Mickey Mantle is undoubtedly a sports icon, we believe that his 1952 Topps card is nowhere near as visually appealing as his 1951 Bowman (rookie) or even his 1952 Bowman. If you disagree, we challenge you to show all three cards to someone who is unaware of the prices they fetch and ask that person to rank them in order of visual appeal. The results may surprise you.
As for the Eddie Mathews, while we understand that his 1952 Topps rookie card is relatively tough to find in decent condition, we question the wisdom of spending $5,000 for any Eddie Mathews card graded a five. After all, more likely than not, very few people make the pilgrimage to Cooperstown and have high on their list of things to see, the plaque or various memorabilia of Eddie Mathews. No offense to Mr. Mathews, who was indeed a great player, but $5,000 for one of his cards in the grade of a five is a price that could be considerably lower in the future.
Football players were much more interesting people in 1952 than were their baseball counterparts.
While this subsection is a bit cheeky, we believe that, as a whole, football players who played in 1952 were more interesting guys than their baseball counterparts. Take a look at the biographies featured on the back of the 1950-1952 Bowman football cards.
The players typically were military veterans who played on both sides of the ball (sometimes, they kicked and punted, too) and held regular jobs during the off-season. For example, the following partial snippet appears on the back of the 1951 Bowman Football Tom Landry (rookie):
“Outstanding defensive back. Also an excellent runner and passer. Averaged 44.1 [yards] on 51 punts in 1949. Played all backfield positions at the University of Texas … Extremely versatile. With an electric plating company during the off-season.”
A client once told me that when he showed the back of the Landry rookie to Bill Parcells during his tenure in Dallas, Parcells remarked, “they just don’t make players like that anymore.”
The Bowman Football Set is a more visually appealing set than the Topps Baseball Set.
Finally, we believe that the Bowman Football Set is a more visually appealing set than the Topps Baseball Set. While the contest is far from a landslide, the Topps Baseball Set features too many portrait cards with dull and drab backgrounds (e.g., Dick Groat, Ralph Houk) and many of the cards have a generally dark and dreary appearance (e.g., Yogi Berra, Willie Mays). In contrast, the Bowman Football Set features brilliant designs, colors, and players poses (e.g., Gifford, McElhenney, Halas, Marchetti, Van Brocklin, Bednarik, and Weinmeister).
In conclusion, while the Topps Baseball Set is clearly a sportscards masterpiece, we believe that the Bowman Football Set is its superior for all of the foregoing reasons. As such, if vintage card collectors begin to question established card valuations, and if the NFL begins to promote its glorious history more appropriately, the prices realized for cards from the Bowman Football Set will equal or surpass those from the Topps Baseball Set.
Copyright © 2009 Mike DeNero's Vintage Sportscards, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
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