2. Set Profiles: Vintage South African Issues
Considering that your editor is visiting the Republic of South Africa as this eNewsletter is being distributed, we thought it appropriate to profile a couple of vintage South African baseball-related sets. Both sets were produced in the 1930s and both were multi-sport issues with only one baseball-related card found in each set.
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| 1936 United Tobacco (shown at approximate actual size)
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The first (illustrated at right) was issued in 1936 by the United Tobacco Company. The set is titled "Sports and Pastimes in South Africa." The cards feature color renditions of numerous sports of the period. As shown, the images are "generic" and not intended to represent any particular player. There is no labeling on the card fronts. The all-sports set contains 52 cards, each measuring about 2-1/4 inches wide by 3-1/4 inches in height.
The numbered backs are printed with an ornate background. Labeling beneath the set title indicate that each card is part of a 52-card series that were packed with Springbok Cigarettes, printed in both English and Afrikaans. The heading is followed by a description and brief history of the sport in South Africa depicted on the card front--again in both English and Afrikaans. The English version reads:
"Baseball became firmly entrenched in this country in 1934 when a S. A. Board was formed. In Transvaal and Natal it has been a week-end recreation, but in 1933, Province inaugurated a Saturday League and entered the inter-centre series. Since 1931, Transvaal has beaten Natal 9 times; lost 3. Transvaal has beaten Province 3 times; lost once. Natal has won 2 and lost 3 against Province. Baseball is now a summer Saturday game throughout the Union.
A tag line at the bottom reads: "Issued by the United Tobacco Cos. (South) Ltd., 32 Kloof St., Cape Town." along with a credit to the printer: "Designed and Printed by Cape Times Ltd."
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| 1939 Africa Tobacco (large size; shown about 3/4 actual size)
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The second South African set profiled here was produced in 1939 by African Tobacco Manufacturers. Unlike the United Tobacco cards, however, the card images are printed in black and white and based on actual photographs of the featured athlete.
The set features a total of 100 athletes from numerous sports and many countries around the world (a full list is provided on the Old Cardboard website). The set is appropriately titled "The World of Sport."
Not surprisingly, the sole baseball player featured in the African Tobacco Manufacturers set is the card of Babe Ruth. Other key athletes found in the set include Olympic track star Jesse Owen and American boxer Joe Louis, as well as Norwegian figure skater and later film star Sonja Henie.
There is no labeling on the wide-bordered card fronts.
There are actually two sets produced by African Tobacco Manufacturers. They are both identical in all aspects except card size. The cards are found in both large (measuring 2-1/4 by 3-1/4 inches) and small (1-3/4 by 2-1/2 inches) sizes. All cards are printed on light card stock.
The African Tobacco card backs display text inside a simple but attractive graphic frame. The "World of Sport" set title at the top is followed by the notation "A Series of 100," confirming the set size. Each card is also numbered. As with the United Tobacco card backs, the center portion is filled with brief text about the subject on the front, printed in both English and Afrikaans. The English version reads:
"Familiarly known as 'Babe Ruth,' the most famous Base Ball player in the World and the idol of the American public. His meek and non-belligerent attitude often misleads the pitcher to grove him one with fatal results."
The card sponsor, "African Tobacco Manufacturers (PTY), LTD." is displayed at the bottom of the card backs along with its location in "Cape Town" South Africa.
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| 1939 African Tobacco Album Cover
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As with several American issues of the period, an album (see illustration at right) was also issued to contain the "World of Sport" cards.
The 24-page album (including covers) measures 8-1/2 by 11-1/2 inches and is designed to accomodate the larger sized cards (as described above).
Each of the 20 pages in the album includes space for 5 cards. Each page also includes the same player profiles (printed in both English and Afrikaans) that is found on the card backs.
The introduction on the inside front cover perhaps explains best the purpose of the set:
"In presenting to their many patrons this 'World of Sport' series, the African Tobacco Manufacturers (Pty.) Ltd. feel that they are following the universal trend in public opinion regarding Sport and Athletics to-day. Whilst realising that it is quite impossible to include every sporting celebrity, they have endeavoured to make this series as representative as possible of sport in all its branches, and in various countries. They trust these pictures will prove interesting, entertaining and instructive."
Remarkably, the album shown contains all 100 cards from the set and was collected by then 10-year-old Albert Runyan (1929-2012) who lived in South Africa with his family between 1937 and late 1939.
According to Runyan's daughter Patricia, he was a lifelong collector of stamps and coins as well as the African Tobacco and other sports card sets.
As Patricia expained recently to Old Cardboard, her father seemed to have a special affection for the World of Sport cards and album. On his family's return in 1939 from South Africa to the U. S. on the steamship Charles S. Tramp, he hid the album under his bunk when the steamer was boarded by sailors from the German battleship Graf Spee. According to Patricia, "he always considered it a wartime success that the Germans didn’t get his baseball card collection!"
Later, Colonel Albert Runyan became an Air Force pilot that was shot down and captured on his 89th mission in Viet Nam. After surviving nearly seven years as a prisoner of war, he returned home to the U. S. in 1973. He continued to hold onto his baseball card collectiion, however, until his death in 2012 at the age of 83.
Set Profiles are provided on the Old Cardboard website for both the 1936 United Tobacco and the 1939 African Tobacco Manufacturers sets. In addition, a checklist for all 100 cards in the African Tobacco set has been added.
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