2. Set Profiles: 1953-55 Stahl Meyer
Three of the most sought after regional baseball sets were produced in 1953, 1954 and 1955 by Stahl Meyer, a New York area meat producer. Using mostly the same photo poses each year, the sets featured only players from the three New York teams of the period: Yankees, Giants and Dodgers.
The cards in all three sets measure 3-1/4 by 4-1/2 inches with rounded die-cut borders. They are unnumbered. The backs include a promotional ad along with brief stats of the featured player. Because they were packed inside packages of Stahl-Meyer frankfurters, they are often found in poor condition with both creases and meat stain residue despite the fact that they were produced with a thin wax coating.
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1953 Stahl Meyer (shown about 3/4 actual size)
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The 1953 card fronts are unique in that they are printed on an off-white card stock resulting in a white-bordered front. This is the key distinguishing difference between 1953 issue and the yellow-bordered cards produced in subsequent years. In addition, the 1953 set contains only nine cards: three players from each of the three New York teams.
While most of the photos use portrait poses, several are waist-up or full body poses (as in the Lockman example at right).
As shown in the example at right, the player's full name and a facsimile autograph are printed in a panel at the bottom of the cards.
The 1953 backs are printed with a red border and laid out in a horizontal format. A brief player bio along with both batting and fielding stats are printed on the left half of the card. Both lifetime and previous year (1952) stats are provided.
The right side of the card back contains a promotional offer of free tickets for a specific date for one of the three NY teams. The offer is directed at kids (with a ticket also offered for an "escort") and requires the applicant to send in one picture card and "a letter of 25 words or less telling why you like Stahl-Meyer Frankfurts." The 200 "most original" letters would receive the tickets.
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1954 Stahl Meyer (shown about 3/4 actual size)
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The 1954 Stahl Meyer set was expanded from nine to twelve cards. A review of the checklists shows that five players were added to the 1954 set (Erskine, Mays, McDougald, Mueller and Newcombe) were added to the 1954 set while two players (Campanella and Thompson) were removed. The team balance remained, however, with four players from each of the three New York teams.
All seven of the players common to both sets (1953 and 1954) are based on the same original photos.
As seen in the example card at left, the front design is the same as 1953 except for the yellow border printed on the 1954 cards.
The 1954 card backs, however, are somewhat different. Most noticeably, they are vertically oriented. As expected, the player stats are updated to reflect the then previous year (1953). However, the text containing the brief player bio is omitted.
In addition, the promotional ad for 1954 describes a Baseball Kit featuring "a big poster with pennants flying." To our knowledge, non on these posters have survived among today's collectors.
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1955 Stahl Meyer (shown about 3/4 actual size)
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The third and final Stahl Meyer set was produced in 1955, also containing 12 cards equally balanced among the three New York teams. As with the issue from 1954, the fronts feature yellow borders.
The card for just one player from the 1954 set (Willie Mays) is replaced by a card for Mays' teammate Dusty Rhodes. While Mays was on military duty and sat out the 1953 baseball season, it remains a mystery why the Hall of Famer has a card for the 1954 set but not in 1955.
While retaining the vertical format, the promotion on the backs also changed for 1955. Here, kids were offered the choice of a Big League Baseball Cap (in return for 50 cents and two Stahl Meyer frank wrappers) or a 12-by-30-inch Major League Baseball Pennant (for 25 cents and two wrappers).
Stahl Meyer cards today remain among the most popular of all regional issues. Their value starts around $100 for a low grade common and goes into the thousands of dollars for the card of Mickey Mantle, the key card in all three sets.
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Note: With origins that date back to 1836, Stahl Meyer continues to operate today as a family owned and operated meat processing company located in the Bronx, New York. More details about the history of the company and its meat products can be found on the Stahl Meyer Company website.
Set Profiles and Checklists have been added to the Old Cardboard website for all three Stahl Meyers sets. In addition, complete set galleries for the 1953 and 1954 cards have been posted (see links in Section 3 below).