Recent Acquisition: Shakey's Jackie Robinson

Yesterday I got in the mail a single card I bought recently on eBay, this 1976 Shakey's Jackie Robinson.

1976 Shakey's Jackie Robinson.

Card back.

This furthers a goal of having more cards of Robinson, and of major league baseball's early black players in general, which of course can get very expensive if cards from his playing days are the focus.  This Shakey's card is affordable and also helps to represent this wonderfully oddball set promoting the old pizza chain (Shakey's still exists, but no longer in the northeast, where I live).  The card has a nice regional flavor as well, since it was promoting the Seattle-area Shakey's in particular.

I think the front is a good portrait of Robinson.  The back has some unfortunate language, "the first negro to perform at the major league level in modern times."  I don't think the term "negro" was in much common use in the mid-to-late 70s, and you can see why phrasing like "broke major league baseball's color line" is more common.  Also, "perform at the major league level" makes it sound like players were in the Negro Leagues because their play wasn't at the major league standard, which is the furthest thing from the truth.  Unfortunate language aside, it's the front that will show in my binder, and I'm glad to have another Robinson card and another Shakey's card.

1954 Topps Jackie Robinson.

When I started collecting again this past summer, it started with a realization that now, as an adult, and (long) after the baseball card market crashed, I could buy some cards I may have always wanted as a teenager, but couldn't afford then.  I bought two good cards at first -- a Mike Schmidt rookie card, and this 1954 Topps Jackie Robinson, graded PSA 4.  The kid in me still can't believe that I own a real Jackie Robinson card from the 50s.  My wantlist does include at least one more like this; I'm thinking maybe the 1956, since the design is so great.

1976 Shakey's Judy Johnson.

Card back.

I also posted a while ago about picking up this Judy Johnson card on COMC.  This was how I discovered the Shakey's set -- I wanted to get a card of Johnson since he was Delaware's first Hall-of-Famer, and I only had his Baseball Immortals card.  There aren't many choices, and I decided that this Shakey's was my favorite of what's available (for many of the reasons above -- the regional flavor and the pizza parlor aspect); it has the added plus of using an actual photo unlike his Baseball Immortals.  I don't think I'll keep pursuing the Shakey's set, which I think covers the Hall of Fame up to that point.  But I'm really glad to have two nice examples of the set in my binder, further representing both Delaware and breaking the color barrier.

I'll have some more posts on some of these themes soon.  I recently purchased a small Negro League set that I'll post when it arrives, and I have more posts coming on major league Delawareans, including two more Hall-of-Famers.  Thanks for reading!