Set Appreciation Post: Perez-Steele Postcards

I'm not quite sure if I'm going to create a new series for the blog called "Set Appreciation" where I post about oddball sets of baseball products that I've acquired cards from over the years. What I do know is that I certainly enjoy these Perez-Steele postcards that I have acquired at previous card shows. The name Perez-Steele may seem familiar because it's also the same name you see on the back of the Donruss Diamond Kings cards from the 80's. The resemblance of these postcards to a Diamond Kings card is pretty obvious when you look at it, which was one of the things that got me interested in this set in the first place.

Like I said, these are postcards that I assume were actually used by some people when these were released. There's a place to put a stamp and leave a message to whoever you'd send it to. Each postcard is also serial numbered out of 10,000. And considering the first year of this product came out in the 80's, this has to be one of the first products to ever serial number their cards. 

The Ray Dandridge card above is from the 1987 set which is one of my favorites of the sets I've seen online.

But make no mistake, the 1989 set looks fantastic as well. I specifically remember the vendor selling these had a wide selection, and it was the end of the show so I wanted to pick a few really nice ones out. I decided on 3 Negro League players to add to the collection of Negro League cards and memorabilia that my dad and I have. The artist Dick Perez went for less of a Diamond Kings style on these postcards and decided to do a closeup of the player with a beautifully-done ballpark picture below showing action-shots that add a great touch to the postcard.

The backs are pretty similar to the other ones, but these are green instead of blue. They have the same details as the other ones and both postcards shown even have the same serial number, meaning they were most likely acquired in the same pack or however they were sold.

The final one that was acquired at the show that day was of Hack Wilson and was from the same set as the Dandridge postcard. My dad chose this one because it was the only Cub postcard available and he wanted to add to the Cubs collection by getting something unique that we hadn't seen before. The postcard was very well-done and the artist did a great job capturing Hack in a Cubs jersey. It's not my favorite design, but nevertheless, the postcards all look pretty amazing and really gave me a new appreciation for this brand and all other oddball products.