Bryce Harpukkah: Day Six, Diamond Stars Are a Collector's Best Friend

Day six continues my Harpukkah spendings outside eBay. This card was also picked up at my LCS:

This is the real thing, not a reprint, not a 2010 re-envisioning, but an actual Diamond Star card of Sam Leslie. I didn't even realize my LCS had a box of these next to their vintage Bowmans which I'm always so enticed by. And I was surprised to find a few of these in my price range. This one was $6, and it's in pretty great shape. The reprints I've come across of these just don't do them justice. The colors on the real thing are bold and bright. The art deco design makes this about the coolest pre-'50s set out there. The stands in the background are a perfect example of the style. And Sam's portrait, too, is interesting. He looks shiny as a glazed ham.

Here's the back:

You see the usual pen-writing of these vintage cards from my LCS, the reason they're so cheap. Another thing I love about this set is the weird text on the back. There's very little noted about the player, minimal stats. What we find is a lesson on fielding first base. I think that's just a cool idea and obviously shows these cards were marketed to kids with lessons on how to improve their game. You just wouldn't see that kind of thing on a modern piece of cardboard.

I really new nothing about Sam Leslie when I picked up the card. It looked cool, and the Dodgers were a great franchise, but the ink noting "manager" also interested me. I was wondering if Sam's career spanned past his playing days. Apparently, he never managed. Though he did hit an inside-the-park grand slam, which just sounds impossible in today's game, and he also hit for the cycle once.

So this is a pretty sweet bit of vintage, in my book. But there's an even better vintage card to come. So, how am I doing so far? Wouldn't you take an original Diamond Star card and a bunch of other cool stuff in trade for a Harper card?