1956-7 Seattle Rainiers PCL Popcorn/Gil's Drive-in Lefty O'Doul PSA 7 NM

Lefty O'Doul

(b. March 4, 1897 - d. December 7, 1969)

Biography

The Man In The Green Suit

1956-7 Seattle Rainiers PCL Popcorn/Gil's Drive-in Lefty O'Doul PSA 7 NM


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Comments: I had wanted to pick up a card of the PCL legend for the collection but wasn’t having much finding a period piece. The 1976 Playboy ttribute card showed up in an eBay search in January, 2015.

I purchased it for $30 and thought it was a good placeholder until I found something issued during O'Doul's career as a manager.

UPDATE: I prefer contemporary cards over tribute cards when possible. The Playboy card was a nice portrait, but I struck gold when I found a raw example of a 1956 Gil's Drive-In card on eBay in June, 2019 for $52. It was the perfect portrait card issued during ODouls career as a PCL manager - nearly 20 years earlier than the tribute card from 1976. A few months later I submitted the card to PSA and it came back graded a "3" - but it looks so much better than that.

UPDATE: In December, 2019 another '56 Gil's Drive-In card showed up on eBay and it looked VG/EX or better. So, I'm hoping it might turn into an upgrade. We'll see what PSA thinks...

UPDATE: I submitted the '57 Seattle Popcorn O'Doul card in March 2021 and PSA finally returned the slabbed cards in August 2022....long wait was worth it. I nabbed a PSA 7!!!


Card Details Below:
Year(s):	1956-7
ACC Set Designation:	-
Set Name:	Gil's Drive-in / Seattle Rainiers PCL Popcorn
Country:	United States
Description:	One of the longest-running minor league baseball card promotions was the 1954-1968 Seattle popcorn cards. The principal sponsor was Centennial Mills, which had issued cards in the 1940s. Similar in format throughout their period of issue, the cards are 2" x 3" in size, black-and-white, usuallly featuring portrait photos on the front with the player's name or name and position below. In some years the cards were printed on semi-glossy stock. Some years' card backs are blank, in other years, backs feature ads for various local businesses; in a few years cards could be found with both blank and printed backs. Many photo and spelling variations are known throughout the series. The cards were given away with the purchase of a box of popcorn sold at Seattle Sicks stadium. During the card-issuing era, Seattle was an independent team in the Pacific Coast League in 1954-5. From 1956-1960 they were a top farm team in the Reds system.