The Will Allison Collection
Email: will@willallison.com
AN INTRODUCTION TO J. D. MCCARTHY BASEBALL POSTCARDS (revised 02-08-25)
J. D. McCarthy was a prolific photographer based in the northern suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, first in Royal Oak and then in Oak Park. In addition to photographing baseball players for Topps, McCarthy produced photos and postcards of athletes in multiple sports including baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and horse racing.
McCarthy is best known for his baseball postcards, which he produced from roughly 1950 to 1981, and which were usually commissioned by the ballplayers themselves to be used in filling autograph and fan-mail requests. (Yes, players personally footed the bill for these postcards, which they then gave away for free, often autographed.) McCarthy also sold some postcards directly to collectors. The unnumbered, undated cards sometimes included facsimile autographs or ad copy promoting a player’s business interests, such as Nellie Fox Bowl, Don Drysdale’s Dugout restaurant, Gaylord Perry’s Balestra Pontiac dealership, etc.
In addition to photographing most stars of the day, McCarthy photographed many players who never made the big leagues. According to Bob Lemke, former editor of Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards, “...McCarthy had hundreds of photos of players in major league uniforms that never actually played in the bigs. Many of his photos were shot at spring training when prospects were up with the big club before being returned to the minors or hanging up their spikes.” As a result, his postcards include many obscure players.
McCarthy reportedly liked to approach prospective customers (i.e., players) during their first appearance in spring training, so his postcards also include a number of rookie cards, including Sparky Anderson, Luis Aparicio, Jim Bunning, Orlando Cepeda, Roberto Clemente, Don Drysdale, Rollie Fingers, Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Jim Kaat, Al Kaline, Roger Maris, Minnie Minoso, Thurman Munson, Ron Santo, Willie Stargell, Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, Billy Williams, and many others.
McCarthy also had many repeat customers, producing multiple poses of some players throughout their careers. For instance, he issued no fewer than eight poses of Don Drysdale, seven poses of Mickey Mantle (including two group shots, one with Roger Maris and one with Maris and Stan Musial), six poses of Ron Santo, five poses of Willie Mays, four poses of Billy Williams, three poses of Ted Williams, and so on. Many poses can be found with multiple reverse styles, indicating separate orders placed over the years.
DATING MCCARTHY POSTCARDS
Dating McCarthy postcards can be tricky, unless there’s a legible postmark, but even a postmark doesn’t necessarily establish the year of issue, as some players answered fan mail with postcards they ordered in prior years. In most cases, though, a date (or date range) can usually be determined by cross-referencing variables such as the postmark (if there is one), the player’s tenure with a given team, and the uniform style. (“Dressed to the Nines,” a baseball uniform database, is available on the Baseball Hall of Fame’s website. See link below.)
After collecting McCarthy postcards for a few years, I began to wonder if the cards could also be dated by using the reverse style. After studying hundreds of McCarthy postcards, I was able to assemble a taxonomy of thirteen different reverse styles (see gallery) used by McCarthy over the years. By comparing numerous postmarked examples, I determined a date range for each style.
The earliest McCarthy postcards (Types 1-4) measure 3 11/16" x 5 10/16"; later cards (Types 5-13) are smaller, measuring 3 1/4" x 5 1/2". Types 4 and 5 feature the same reverse style but are different sizes.
Postcards featuring the Type 12 reverse are the most difficult to date for a couple of reasons. First, McCarthy used this style longer than any other, from approximately 1966 to 1981, sixteen years.* (As best I can tell, no other reverse style was used for more than six years.) Second, by the early 1970s, more players were mailing their postcards inside envelopes, so the cards themselves bear no postmarks. The latest Type 12 postmarked examples I’ve seen are from 1972 and 1975 (not counting a Willie Stargell card included in the gallery, postmarked in Cooperstown on his HOF induction day in 1988).
*Type 12 was the first and only reverse type to include a zip code. Initially, I assumed Type 12 cards dated from 1963, when zip codes were first introduced in the U.S. However, the earliest postmarked examples I’ve seen are from 1966. It’s possible that McCarthy and/or his printer were exhausting their supply of Type 8, 9, and 10 postcard stock (all used after 1963, per postmarked examples) before switching to Type 12.
As best I can tell, the last Type 12 cards were produced in 1981, including cards picturing Richie Zisk and Len Randle with the Mariners, each of whom played his first season in Seattle in 1981.
Many McCarthy postcards feature his JDM logo on the front, in a bottom corner. The earliest postcards I've seen with a McCarthy logo are from 1961, with a Type 8 or Type 9 reverse.
Rule of thumb: McCarthy postcards featuring reverse types 1 through 11 were produced during the player's career. Cards featuring reverse types 12 or 13 may or may not have been produced during the player's career.
The Master Checklist
Collector Rich Suen and collector/journalist Dan Even attempted to create a comprehensive McCarthy checklist. (My copy is dated October 26, 2010.) Their checklist, however, doesn't attempt to date the cards, and it doesn't take into consideration the reverse types or the numerous variations resulting from an image being produced with multiple reverse types.
The checklist comprises 2,496 cards, with the following breakdown by team:
Angels (California) - 21
Angels (L.A.) - 38
Astros - 4
Athletics (K.C.) - 83
Athletics (Oakland) - 37
Blue Jays - 112
Braves (Milwaukee) - 68
Brewers - 32
Cardinals - 40
Colt 45s - 28
Cubs - 174
Dodgers (Brooklyn) - 49
Dodgers (L.A.) - 154
Expos - 4
Giants (N.Y.) - 13
Giants (S.F.) - 123
Indians - 89
Indians (Spokane) - 1
Mariners - 3
Mets - 59
Mudhens (Toledo) - 45
Orioles - 31
Phillies - 86
Pilots - 4
Pirates - 84
Rangers - 10
Red Sox - 180
Reds - 31
Royals - 13
Senators - 71
Tigers - 363
Twins - 12
White Sox - 223
Yankees - 179
Miscellaneous - 32
SCARCITY
Though there are usually hundreds of McCarthy postcards for sale on eBay at any given time, the majority are quite rare, especially compared to their Topps and Bowman counterparts. There are some poses that I’ve seen only once or twice, and others, not at all. The number of McCarthy cards on eBay speaks more to the number of different cards he produced than to the scarcity of individual cards.
So why are McCarthy postcards not better known in the hobby? I think there are two main reasons. First, the Suen/Even checklist is not readily available. Second, collectors increasingly prefer cards that can be submitted to a third-party grader, but as of this writing, PSA does not grade McCarthy postcards (though PSA has graded a few in the past). SGC, on the other hand, does grade McCarthy postcards, but SGC doesn't attempt to date the cards.
A WORD ON COUNTERFEITS
It has long been rumored that after McCarthy’s death in the 1980s, his negatives were used to produce counterfeits, but a survey of cards available on the marketplace strongly suggests that the vast majority of McCarthy postcards were never counterfeited. The cards are almost never offered in bulk, and many of the most desirable players and poses — the ones that would actually be worth counterfeiting — are far too scarce to have been mass counterfeited. Also, it just wouldn’t have made sense to go to the trouble of counterfeiting cards that traditionally did not fetch much of a premium.
In fifteen years of collecting McCarthy postcards, I have encountered counterfeits only once. The fakes were printed on a thin stock that McCarthy never used, with a matte-like finish that's easily distinguishable from the glossy finish used by McCarthy. The reprints also feature different ink, more like laser-printer ink than the offset-printing ink used for McCarthy cards. In short, they were easy to spot as fakes — so easy that the seller, not a McCarthy collector, billed them as probable counterfeits when he offered them on eBay. (I bought the seller’s whole inventory of fakes in order to take them off the market.)**
There are also rumors that McCarthy himself "reprinted" some of his own cards to sell to collectors. It would be more accurate to say McCarthy produced some cards for direct sale to collectors, sometimes using images from earlier postcards. Other times, he used an older image for the first time, as with the Milwaukee Braves Hank Aaron card pictured in my gallery, which features a Type 12 reverse (1966-1981), though the image is from no later than 1955, when the Braves left Milwaukee.
**The small hoard of fakes comprised between five and ninety copies each of one basketball player (Rick Barry) and ten baseball players: Luis Aparicio (two poses), Whitey Ford, Ralph Kiner, Harvey Kuenn, Fred Lasher, Willie McCovey, Minnie Minoso, Duke Snider, Hoyt Wilhelm, and Early Wynn. All of the reprints featured the Type 10 reverse, which was used by McCarthy from 1963-1965, but as far as I know, he never produced any of these particular poses with a Type 10 reverse except for Duke Snider, whose reprint can be distinguished from the original by its matte finish and transposed reverse. However, all of these poses are also featured on legitimate McCarthy cards, with the possible exception of the Willie McCovey reprint (which can be found with a Type 10 or Type 13 reverse). I've never seen an original McCarthy card with this image.
For purposes of comparison, I have included the reprints (except for Rick Barry and Fred Lasher) in my gallery.
MY COLLECTION
I began collecting McCarthy baseball postcards around 2010, focusing mainly on Hall of Famers, stars, and semi-stars.
1 - 3 of 3 Total. |
|
