Thursday, September 26, 2013

Vintage Card Of The Month: 1938 Churchman's Boxing Personalities Max Baer


 This month’s card is from the 1938 Churchman's Boxing Personalities set, a tobacco era product that was included in packages of Churchman Tobacco products in England. The cards are standard for the time period, 1 ½ x 2 ¾ in size with the typical white border. The set consisted of 50 boxers including a number of champions and Hall of Famers like Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis and Gene Tunney.
 
Baer began his boxing career in 1929 and by 1930 he was fighting for the title of Pacific Coast Champion, a fight he won. Sadly his opponent, Frankie Campbell, died the next day from injuries he sustained during the fight, an event that greatly affected Baer for the rest of his life.
 
In 1934 he defeated Primo Carnera for the Heavyweight Championship, which he held for one year. In 1941 he won the White Heavyweight Championship, a title that was created after Joe Louis’ promoter refused to give Baer a rematch for the Heavyweight Championship. He eventually retired in early 1941 with a career record of 71-13-0 with 53 KOs. He has been inducted in to various Boxing Hall of Fames as well as the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. In 1998 he was ranked among the “50 Greatest Heavyweights of All Time” by Ring Magazine.
 
His son Max Baer Jr. went on to have a successful acting career and is probably best known for playing Jethro Bodine on the TV show The Beverly Hillbillies.

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