....that's new to me and makes me go digging through Google to learn more about it.
Take for example this item...
It's a 1952 Star Cal decal made by the Meyercord Company of Chicago.
(Note: the above is a scan of my decal, the rest of these images, except those of the back of it, were found on the net. I'm sure I set a personal record for using 'borrowed' images in a post but I did it in the interest of research).
Meyercord manufactured decals of all sorts and many of the designs may look familiar.
These are pretty typical:
And they were used by crafty types on all sorts of everyday items:
And as part of a kids' craft book.
:
And in their catalog....
you might find some of this....
...that (ahem) ended up on things like this:
But we are more interested in the baseball decals; Those came in two styles, single player and duos. They were issued in envelopes with a cellophane window so the subject(s) was visible.
I dug and dug and couldn't pin down anything on how these were sold. If anyone out there has any insight I'd appreciate it. I was lucky to find the Pierce/Fox for my collection. It was not in an envelope but is in pretty fine shape for a 62 year old decal sheet. There is apparently a single Pierce decal but I've only seen this one that features him and Nellie. Could be that another 'white whale' has breached the surface!
I
ran this search on March 13 and found these things on B-I-Ns ranging from $20 to almost $1300. I saw a Pierce/Fox in the envelope for $80. I paid about a quarter of that for mine without the envelope.
Here is what the Pierce/Fox looks like as it was sold in 1952:
And the back of the envelope:
If you look at the Hodges/Reese envelope you can see that decals of movie and television stars were produced as well. I found some examples readily available.
Oh wow! I'd LOVE to have a Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis decal!
Finally some odds and ends that accumulated on my desktop while googling these things:
I found a vintage picture of a 'Meyercord Decal Shop'. Could be a kiosk set up in a department store. Hard to say for sure.
Here is a
snippet of a Time magazine article about the company president/founder. And a page from a catalog and a magazine ad.
The original Meyercord Building is still standing. It is now occupied by a Masonic Lodge.
Finally if you are curious here is the the back of my Star Cal Pierce/Fox.
And this is the text that is hard to read in the scan of the complete back:
This is the checklist of the 1952 Star Cal decals. These are the 'pairs' better known as the 'small' decals. Note that some list the same player as both parts of the pair. I thought at first it was a typo but apparently it's correct. (see below)
84a Allie Reynolds / Vic Raschi New York Yankees
84b Ed Lopat / Yogi Berra New York Yankees
84c Phil Rizzuto / Gerry Coleman New York Yankees
85a Ted Williams / Ted Williams Boston Red Sox
85b Dom DiMaggio / Mel Parnell Boston Red Sox
85c Vern Stephens / Billy Goodman Boston Red Sox
86a George Kell / Hal Newhouser Detroit Tigers
86b Hoot Evers / Vic Wertz Detroit Tigers
86c Johnny Groth / Fred Hutchinson Detroit Tigers
87a Eddie Robinson / Eddie Robinson Chicago White Sox
87b Chico Carrasquel / Minnie Minoso Chicago White Sox
87c Billy Pierce / Nellie Fox Chicago White Sox
87d Al Zarilla / Jim Busby Chicago White Sox
88a Bob Lemon / Jim Hegan Cleveland Indians
88b Larry Doby / Bob Feller Cleveland Indians
88c Dale Mitchell / Al Rosen Cleveland Indians
89a Ned Garver / Ned Garver St. Louis Browns
89b Ferris Fain / Gus Zernial Philadelphia Athletics
89c Richie Ashburn / Richie Ashburn Philadelphia Phillies
89d Ralph Kiner / Ralph Kiner Pittsburgh Pirates
90a Willie Mays / Monte Irvin New York Giants
90b Larry Jansen / Sal Maglie New York Giants
90c Bobby Thomson / Alvin Dark New York Giants
91a Gil Hodges / Pee Wee Reese Brooklyn Dodgers
91b Roy Campanella / Jackie Robinson Brooklyn Dodgers
91c Duke Snider / Preacher Roe Brooklyn Dodgers
92a Paul Cavarretta / Dutch Leonard Chicago Cubs
92b Randy Jackson / Eddie Miksis Chicago Cubs
92c Bob Rush / Hank Sauer Chicago Cubs
93a Stan Musial / Stan Musial St. Louis Cardinals
93b Red Schoendienst / Enos Slaughter St. Louis Cardinals
93c Cliff Chambers / Wally Westlake St. Louis Cardinals
And the checklist for the 'large', single player decals. The duplicate names listed are, I assume, two seperate versions of the same player. Some, but not all, correspond with the pairs of the same player in the small set.
70A Allie Reynolds
70B Ed Lopat
70C Yogi Berra
70D Vic Raschi
70E Jerry Coleman
70F Phil Rizzuto
70G Mickey Mantle
71A Mel Parnell
71C Ted Williams
71C Ted Williams
71D Vern Stephens
71E Billy Goodman
71F Dom DiMaggio
71G Dick Gernert
71H Hoot Evers
71H Hoot Evers
72A George Kell
72B Hal Newhouser
72D Vic Wertz
72E Fred Hutchinson
72F Johnny Groth
73A Al Zarilla
73B Billy Pierce
73C Eddie Robinson
73D Chico Carrasquel
73E Minnie Minoso
73F Jim Busby
73G Nellie Fox
73H Sam Mele
74A Larry Doby
74B Al Rosen
74C Bob Lemon
74D Jim Hegan
74E Bob Feller
74F Dale Mitchell
75A Ned Garver
76A Gus Zernial
76B Ferris Fain
76C Bobby Shantz
77A Richie Ashburn
77B Ralph Kiner
77C Curt Simmons
78A Bobby Thomson
78B Alvin Dark
78C Sal Maglie
78D Larry Jansen
78E Willie Mays
78F Monte Irvin
78G Whitey Lockman
79A Gil Hodges
79B Pee Wee Reese
79C Roy Campanella
79D Don Newcombe
79E Duke Snider
79F Preacher Roe
79G Jackie Robinson
80A Eddie Miksis
80B Dutch Leonard
80C Randy Jackson
80D Bob Rush
80E Hank Sauer
80F Phil Cavarretta
80G Warren Hacker
81A Red Schoendienst
81B Wally Westlake
81C Cliff Chambers
81D Enos Slaughter
81E Stan Musial
81E Stan Musial
81G Jerry Staley