The Cardboard Prehistory of Ohtani Betts
One of the early highlights of 2024 Topps Series One was card #138, which featured megastars and brand new teammates Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts. As an added bonus, the card even (inadvertently) alluded to Baseball’s biggest preseason scandal: Ohtani Bets, anyone?!
Historically, the card (and others like it in the set) also continued a long tradition of multiplayer cards that goes back a lot farther than many collectors realize. In this article we’ll take a look, by decade, at some of the card’s more notable predecessors. As a quick note, I’m excluding team cards, league leader cards, and multiplayer rookie cards from consideration. Ditto for sets like 1941 “Double Play” and 1912 Hassan Triple Folders, where every card is a multiplayer card.
The 1980s: Fleer Reigns Supreme
The 1980s, particularly thanks to Fleer, were one of the best decades for multiplayer cards, also known as combination player cards (CPC) in Trading Card Database. If I had to choose the classic CPC of the decade, honors would likely go to this one, not only for its pairing of future Hall of Famers but for its downright cleverness.
Fleer also had a knack that decade for pairing Hall of Famers who ultimately never got the call. For instance here is card #638 from its 1986 set.
Or for that matter, how about card #640, featuring three players all overdue for enshrinement?
Apart from Fleer, perhaps the most notable CPC of the 1980s came from the 1985 Donruss set, in both yellow and white letter variations. (And trust me, these cards were hot AF at the time.)
I loved “Two for the Title” so much I even used it as the model for one of my nerdiest custom creations.
The 1970s: SSPC Leads the Way
I don’t want to say Topps slept through the decade; certainly they offered their share of “Big League Brothers” and “Father/Son” cards. However, their CPC selection paled in comparison to their work over the prior two decades. Thankfully, TCMA offshoot SSPC came through with some bangers.
Or how about this classic featuring Duke Snider as a coach with the Montreal Expos?
And speaking of Brooklyn legends…!
1960s: The GOAT of CPC Decades
Without a doubt, the greatest decade for combination player cards was the 1960s, just about any way you look at it: quantity, star power, or uber-cool captions like “Cincy Clouters,” “Redbird Rippers,” and “Hurlers Beware!”
My personal favorites are these four from the 1963 Topps set, but this is really a decade where you’ll strike gold almost everywhere you look.
Oh, and the 1963 set is also where you’ll find the O.G. of bat knob error cards. See if you can spot the difference between the ERR and CORR here.
Though Topps absolutely dominated the CPC game in the 1960s I’d be remiss not to at least mention this classic from the ill-fated 1960 Leaf offering.
1950s: The Greatest Multiplayer Card Ever?
In my book, the 1950s was the Hobby’s greatest decade by a mile, so it’s not surprising it includes what I consider the greatest multiplayer card of all time, card #418 from the 1958 Topps set: two top-shelf Hall of Famers in their primes, squaring off in the prior year’s World Series. (As both teams repeated as pennant winners, the card also worked well for the current year’s World Series!)
Another absolute monster from the decade came in the 1959 Fleer Ted Williams set. Good luck topping the star power of this pairing!
And if quartets or outfield signage are your thing, how about this beauty from 1957?
The decade also brought us what many collectors presume was the first Topps CPC, card #139 from its 1954 set…
…along with the debut CPC offerings from rival Bowman the year before.
Of course, these cards were hardly the first CPC cards in Hobby history, nor was the O’Brien Brothers card even the first CPC in Topps history!
1940s: Decade of Debuts
The 1940s were undoubtedly one of the Hobby’s darkest decades, with essentially no major sets between 1942 and 1947. On the other hand, the decade gave birth to three brands still in play today: Leaf, Bowman, and Topps.
While the Leaf and Bowman sets are well known to vintage collectors for giving us early cards of Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige, it is the 1948 Topps “Magic Photos” set (and its “K” series of baseball subjects specifically) that gives us what I believe to be the decade’s only multiplayer card: #18K featuring Cubs infielders Joe Tinker and Johnny Evers.
1930s: National Chicle for the Win
The 1930s is practically synonymous in the Hobby with Goudey. However, it was another Boston-based gum producer, National Chicle, who dominated the decade’s CPC offerings. My personal favorite of the bunch is this pairing of legendary Pirate shortstops from the 1936 National Chicle Pastels set.
This same set is also a great place to find Tris Speaker’s only vintage offering as a Cincinnati Red!
Of course, if oversized premiums aren’t your thing, the 1934-36 National Chicle “Batter Up” set had you covered with a trio of multiplayer cards.
Ultimately, however, the company’s best CPC of the decade was the one they didn’t release, from a series known commonly in the Hobby as the “1937 Diamond Stars Extension,” though I personally date its origin to 1936.
The 1930s is also where you can find the only vintage card of the Dean brothers, courtesy of Wheaties in 1935.
1920s: O Brother, Where Art Thou?
As far as cards were concerned, the Roaring Twenties mainly centered around caramel cards and strip cards, with the latter keeping our CPC streak alive thanks to a pair of Big League brothers in the 1923 W515-1 set.
1880s-1910s: The REALLY Old Stuff
A complete cataloging of multiplayer cards from the earliest days of the Hobby may well come down to not only what you consider “multiplayer” but also what you consider a baseball card. Still, I’ll share some highlights and let you decide for yourself what to make of these.
While I still consider the 1958 Mantle/Aaron card the GOAT of the CPC genre, here is a “card” from the 1909-13 Sporting News premiums set that most definitely belongs in the GOAT conversation. Cobb, Wagner, the 1909 World Series, and a glorious shawl-collar cardigan! Sure this bad boy measures 8" x 9 3/4" but is that a feature or a bug?
Also of the oversized variety, a favorite from my personal collection comes from the 1911 Turkey Red set and features deadball stars Tim Jordan and Buck Herzog.
With Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in full campaign swing, how about a couple classics from the 1888 W. Duke Sons & Company “Presidential Baseball” set?
Of course, if we’re veering from the requirement that the subjects depicted be actual baseball players, does a CPC get any better than this?
Some collectors wouldn’t count it while others might say it’s “Spot on!” (See what I did there?) I’d give you my opinion, but I’d rather let you be the (Old) Judge!
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