Golden Age Baseball Pop-Ups Rock!

Panini will be releasing Golden Age Baseball in a little over a week. I am not a big fan of the base set design, the colors just do not appeal to me at all. There are some redeeming qualities though. There is an interesting selection of athletes and popular culture personalities included in the on-card autograph checklist, reprints of some very rare vintage card sets from the early-20^th Century as well as unique relics.

 

One insert that has drawn my eye is the Pop-Ups; a sepia-tone card that when the subject is popped out from the card and the card is bent over the person “pops up” like a tent card. There is such a variety too, baseball players, football players, actors and actresses, golfers, horses, boxers and the list goes on. They are inserted at a 1:12 packs so you will get 2 per box.

 

I was excited to see both Curly Howard (Three Stooges) and Buck Weaver (1919 Black Sox) were included on the checklist, I will actively be hunting for both cards. I have seen the 26 that Tracy Hackler posted on Panini’s blog but I do not know if this is the complete checklist or who all is included.

Oh, A Wise Guy, Eh?

When Panini releases Golden Age Baseball in late November there will be an additional “Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk”. In an announcement the other day Tracy Hackler discussed the partnership with C3 Entertainment, the Three Stooges license owner. The Three Stooges will make a 4 card appearance in the set, the first time they have been immortalized on cardboard since Breygent’s Three Stooges release in 2005.

 

So far only one card has been posted, containing Moe, Curly and Larry, so I do not know if all 6 of the Stooges will be included in some manor or another. I am a bit disappointed about Panini using a colorized image, I asked Tracy if all cards are colorized but I have not received an answer.

A quick run-down of the Three Stooges who appeared in television of films over the years:

1930-1932: Larry Fine, Moe Howard and Shemp Howard

1932-1946: Larry Fine, Moe Howard and Curly Howard

1946-1955: Larry Fine, Moe Howard and Shemp Howard

1956-1958: Larry Fine, Moe Howard and Joe Besser

1958-1971: Larry Fine, Moe Howard and Curly Joe DeRita

 

There were two other men connected to the Three Stooges who were never “officially” considered a Stooge though. When Shemp died in 1955 Joe Palma stepped in to fill his roles in unfinished movies. He was usually filmed from a distance or from behind so he was a stand-in only. Then in 1971 when Larry had a stroke Emil Sitka was going to take over his role in a television show they were working, the show was eventually shelved, but then in 1975 the team began work on the movie Blazing Stewardesses with Sitka but Moe died during production so the film was completed with the Ritz Brothers taking over the roles originally set for the Three Stooges.

 

The Three Stooges legend spanned 54 years and withstood alcoholism, abuse, legal involvement, threats of violence and deaths. These men entertained multiple generations and even now, over 90 years after Moe began his career as a Stooge, they are still making people laugh. .