Pinbacks & Buttons

While some pinbacks from the mid-20th century are extremely common to find, most aren't, and many are just about impossible to locate. Scarcity has nothing to do with talent — pins of Carl Hubbell, Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams are practically cheap, while those of Roy McMillan, Hank Thompson, Ned Garver and dozens of lesser players can sell for hundreds of dollars each. My theory is that many of the tough pins from the 1950s in particular were basically salesman's samples. The tough pins more likely come from the Midwest rather than the Northeast — the vast majority of my PM-10s depict players from New York, Boston and Philadelphia teams. The first group here are player pins of various sizes.

Here is a display of 1956 Topps pins. Unlike Topps pins in 1964 or 1971, these were not issued as inserts with packs of baseball cards, but were a separate issue that was distributed in small boxes with gum. The photos are the same ones used on Topps cards that year.

Here is a display of team pins from the Negro Leagues, the Cuban Winter League and the All American Girls Professional Baseball Association.