Gallery - Cards
Page 13, Charitable/Fundraising Cards
As part of his ongoing charity work, Frank has authorized the creation of several baseball cards for the specific purpose of raising funds for the Leukemia Society and other children & reading foundations. He first tested those waters with Leaf in 1993, when Leaf was still part of the Leaf Group Of Companies. And later in 1996 and 1997 with Pinnacle Brands, which by that time had purchased the Leaf Baseball brand names.
1993

Very similar in design to the ten-card 1993 Leaf Thomas Collection subset, this is the single 1993 Leaf Thomas Charity Card. There were 50,000 individually numbered cards available through a donation to the Big Hurt Foundation. However, to the best of my knowledge, it is not known how many were actually purchased via donation and how many were left over and disseminated though other channels. I've never seen a bulk distribution of these cards into the secondary market like those of the 1996 and 1997 versions, so it's a small mystery regarding how many are actually in the hands of Frank collectors.

The most interesting feature, in my opinion, is the use of the Big Hurt 'shield' logo on the back of the card.
I've never seen it used after this single appearance. All other subsequent Frank related material utlizes the more commonly seen Big Hurt 'square' logo.

UPDATE (1/5/04): I just obtained a Comiskey Park SGA T-shirt, co-sponsored by Rain-Blo Bubble Gum, that was given away during a 1993 WS game. It also features the unusual Big Hurt "shield" logo design seen above. Any solid information regarding this rare giveaway would be much appreciated.

1996

This the 1996 Leaf Charity Card Set, aka 'The Big Heart' Cards. There were 3,500 individually numbered sets issued which cost $80 for a matching number set of four. The weird part: You could order the cards as singles at $20 a pop. Though why you would do that is the real question. I guess Leaf figured that anybody really interested wouldn't just settle for just one card out of four. To this very day if you bust open a box of product like 1996 Leaf Preferred you'll find the card offer inserted into the packs.
Here's an example of the direct-mail version offer sent to collectors and dealers.

BTW, I actually paid the entire $80 back in '96. I don't feel bad that they now only go for a few bucks on eBay - because my money really did go to a good cause. Plus it felt great to help Big Frank. :-) Besides, one of the nice things was that I got the 'thank you' sheet which isn't offered with the sets you see today.

UPDATE (3/29/05): I recently obtained a genuine autographed set. (tougher than it sounds, believe me) The problem has always been dealing with the questionable Score Board after-market autos that have been floating around the market for the past few years.
Click here to see the authentic version, and the reasons why I qualify this as authentic.

1997

And finally, this is the 1997 Leaf Charity Set. Again using the 'The Big Heart' symbol and theme, there were 2,500 four-card matched numbered sets produced. Unfortunately, unlike the previous year, I wasn't able to purchase the set directly from the foundation as I was in a deep money crunch about that time, so I don't know what the 'Thank You' sheet looks like. If you purchased the set - I'd be willing to purchase a xerox copy of the 'Thank You' for my collection. <g>

Collector's Note: Specifically regarding cards that fall into the "charitable" category - there are two other issues of note: The
1992 MTV Rock-N-Jock #2 and The 1996 Pacific Carlos Baerga Celebrities Softball Issue #4. Both created specifically for raising charitable donations and approved by Big Frank.

« Back to Gallery Cards Page 12 | Go to Gallery Cards, Section II »

« 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 »