October 1988 Baseball Cards Magazine Repli-Cards: Mantle, Robinson, Winfield

I've posted on a few of my old issues of Baseball Cards magazine, which frequently came with cards you could cut out if you wanted to.  Early on, I did cut the cards out, but eventually I started to leave the issues intact.  In the October 1988 issue, the magazine included some of what they called "Repli-Cards," which in this case were "cards that never were," cards in the style of other sets, which never existed, but which would have been nice to have.

1974 Topps-style Dave Winfield Washington "Nat'l Lea." card.

Card back.

The 1974 Topps set famously jumped the gun on a possible move of the Padres to Washington, printing a number of players with the Washington "Nat'l League" designation instead of San Diego Padres.  Not all the Padres were affected, and rookie future Hall-of-Famer Dave Winfield only showed up as a Padre.  Enter Baseball Cards magazine, to provide this variant of a card collectors probably do wish existed.  The card back is the same as his actual 1974 Topps card back.

1956 Bowman-style Mickey Mantle.

Card back.

This Mickey Mantle looks like a 1958 Hires Root Beer card, which you probably know was about the same as a design that had been a prototype for a 1956 Bowman set.  In the "cards that never were" theme, this Mickey Mantle is supposed to be from that 1956 Bowman set.  The stats are his 1955 stats; for the "Singles are important, too" piece, did the magazine just make that up?

1952 Bowman-style Jackie Robinson.

Card back.

There are Bowman cards of Jackie Robinson, from 1949 and 1950.  Baseball Cards magazine wished for a 1952 Bowman of Robinson, and placed him at #1 in the set, a place which was actually occupied by Yogi Berra.  I'm not sure why they focused in 1952 in particular, but I can't blame them for wishing for more Jackie Robinson cards.

Mike Greenwell on the cover of the October 1988 issue of Baseball Cards magazine.

Mike Greenwell, who had a lot of potential at the time, was on the cover of the magazine.  The included cards are noted on the cover, as well.

The story that goes with the Repli-Cards, on sets that never were, and cards that never were.

There's a big article inside, explaining about sets and cards that the author wishes existed, like the repli-cards.

Thanks for reading!