2. Set Profile: 1962 and 1963 "Stats on Back" Exhibits
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1962 Exhibit (Ernie Banks) |
Now aged 50 years, the 1962 and 1963 Exhibit sets were produced near the end of a long run of sets issued by the Exhibit Supply Company that began in 1921. Unique among Exhibits, the 1962 and 1963 sets are particularly interesting to collectors because the player's personal and career statistics were printed on the backs of the cards.
The "Stats-on-Back" Exhibits are similar in design to other sets of the period produced by the Chicago-based company. More specifically, they are almost identical in design to blank-backed Exhibit sets issued over a twenty-year span from 1947 through 1966.
As shown in the example 1962 card at right for the Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame short stop Ernie Banks, the card fronts are printed without borders and with a simulated player's autograph printed on the image.
The card fronts also include the familiar "Printed in U.S.A." tag line along the bottom edge.
1962 Exhibit Back (Banks; click to enlarge) |
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Most of the 1962 card backs are printed in black ink as shown in the Banks example at left. Although less common, the 1962 card backs are also found printed in red.
As seen from the example, both personal data (date and place of birth, height, weight, etc.) as well as career statistics by year are provided.
Yearly career statistics include team and league, position played, number of games, at bats, runs, hits, doubles, triples, home runs, runs batted in, stolen bases, and batting average. Statistics are shown through the 1961 season.
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1963 Exhibit (Mantle w/auto) |
For 1963, the company expanded to a 64-card followup set with the same back design used for the 32-card "Statistics on Back" set of the previous year.
Because Exhibit cards were printed in a larger format than most baseball cards, they were popular for use in obtaining autographs of the card's subject player. In the example card shown at right for Mickey Mantle, the Yankee's scoring champion autographed the card with a typical 1980's "blue sharpie" signature. By comparison with this "real" signature, it is clear that the simulated version printed on the card is not Mantle's.
The back of Mantle's card is shown below. As seen from the example, both personal data (date and place of birth, height, weight, etc.) as well as career statistics by year through 1962 are provided.
Unlike the "stat back" Exhibits of the previous year, all of the backs in the 1963 series are printed in red (as shown in the Mantle example below).
1963 Exhibit Back (Mantle; click to enlarge) |
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The personal and yearly career statistics are provided in the same categories as the previous year, but are extended to include each player's statistics through 1962.
Although the stat back cards were more popular with collectors than the blank-back Exhibits, this was the last year that player statistics were printed on the backs of Exhibit cards.
Set Profiles and Checklists for both the 1962 and 1963 Exhibit sets are provided on the Old Cardboard website along with a full Gallery of the 1962 cards. In addition, an Exhibit "Gallery of Sets" that can be used as an identification guide for all of the popular Exhibit sets is also provided.