30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Thursday, February 4, 2021

The Babe and some Snake Skinned Pants

One of the best things about the Junk Wax Era is that there are so many awesome cards floating around... collectors can always seem to find a hidden treasure to dig up.

1991 Topps Babe Ruth #7

In honor of the 30th anniversary of the vote that disqualifies Pete Rose from being considered for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, I wanted to share a small eleven card set that features a card of MLB's All-Time Hit King.


Back on October 6th, 1991... NBC aired Babe Ruth... a made-for-television movie based on Robert W. Creamer's book Babe: The Legend Comes to Life.

I'm not 100% sure if the set was produced before the movie aired to promote it or after, but it's a pretty cool oddball issue.  I'm also curious about how the set was distributedWas it sold on Shop-At-Home, handed out at card shows, or sent to card shops for promotional purposes?  If anyone knows... please leave the answer in the comment section down below.

In the meantime... here's a look at the set in its entirety:



If you enjoy reading card backs...


In addition to the Pete... Topps included another little nugget for baseball fans:

1991 Topps Babe Ruth #8

Topps has created numerous Carew cards since his retirement, but how many of them feature him in snake skinned pants?


I was also impressed at the length of effort Stephen Lang (the actor who played Mr. Ruth) went to for the movie.  I've never seen it, but now kind of want to just to see his swing.

By the way... did any of you watch this movie?  Was it any good?

2020 Topps Decades' Best Series 2 #DB58

As for Rose, last year Topps snuck him into their Decade's Best insert set... but to the best of my knowledge the movie card was one of his last official Topps cards produced... although it wasn't technically licensed by Major League Baseball.

Well that wraps up another Throwback ThursdayHappy anniversary Pete If it's any consolation... I've forgiven you and hope to see you reinstated into baseball and eventually inducted into Cooperstown.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

16 comments:

John Sharp said...

What Rose did was horrible, but I'm not sure-it was worse than the lying by steroid abusers like Bonds, Ramirez, and A-Fraud.

Pete was a great player, but I think he's only going to get in after he passed away.

Good Job. 👍

hiflew said...

He probably won't even get in after he dies. Look at Shoeless Joe Jackson. I think Pete and his family will just have to be satisfied with being in the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies HOF along with the WWE Hall of Fame.

Anyway, as far as the set goes. I have seen that Pete Rose card several times, but I had never seen the rest of the set. Nor do I remember the TV movie which is strange because I was a major TV addict in my teens. I just always assumed the Rose card was for the John Goodman Babe movie which I only vaguely remember watching.

I do have one big question though. Why would any movie that has Pete Rose as a cast member need a "baseball consultant" at all? Rose is an unlikable guy in general, but he knows baseball. As long as he didn't talk about anything else at all, I could listen to him talk baseball all day long.

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

I have never seen that set (now I want one) before, nor did I know about that movie and I want to see it too.

The Diamond King said...

Haven't seen the movie, but I love that Carew card!

Brett Alan said...

Never heard of that set or the movie before. A Babe Ruth card of Pete Rose as Ty Cobb is a little too meta for my brain right now. But I do like the idea of a card of Neil McDonough, aka Damian Darhk in the Arrowverse and Sean Cahill on Suits, playing baseball!

The Lost Collector said...

I haven't seen those either. They are very cool!

Nick said...

I've noticed these cards on COMC here and there, but I've never seen the whole set before. Weird seeing Pete Rose in a Topps set - even if he's wearing suspenders. Never seen the movie, either, but I imagine it has to be better than the John Goodman atrocity that came out a few years later.

sg488 said...

Never saw it,I did see the John Goodman version it was awful.

Matt said...

Very cool set, even if I have no recollection of the movie itself!

Bo said...

Never heard of the movie or the cards - cool oddballs. I would guess they came out before the movie as the date of the movie is on one of the cards.

gcrl said...

I think I read about this at the time- in Beckett maybe? - and I do recall watching some if it or at least seeing a scene with rose.
I don't apologize for his actions but I too would like to see him enshrined as a player.

Matt said...

Never heard of the movie or saw those cards before. Pretty cool!

Peter K Steinberg said...

It's funny that you posted this as the other day I was looking to see what kinds of cards for Pete Rose were being made now. Never seen the movie and I'm not sure I even knew it was made!

Chris said...

"Pete Rose as Ty Cobb" underneath Babe Ruth's signature is a card back that blows my mind.

Sean said...

Oh wow, that is amazing. Like many previous commenters I've never seen either the set or the movie, which is kind of odd since in 1991 I would have been extremely excited about both of them had I known.

The Rod Carew snake pants alone make this a must have set I would say!

Fuji said...

john sharp - yeah. he was no angel.

hiflew - excellent question. i wonder if he wondered the same thing. as for rose... even when he talks baseball it can get old. but he does know his stuff

johnnys trading spot - the set is cheap. you can find them on ebay for under ten dollars. as for the movie... i looked, but can't find it available online

the diamond king - i know right? i actually want another copy for my carew binder

brett alan - oh man. didn't even realize he was the actor on arrow until you mention that.

the lost collector - yeah... had to dig deep into the collection to find this set

nick - according to imdb... the john goodman version is rated slightly higher than the pete rose version.

sg488 - oh no... then i'm guessing this one wasn't good either. if it was, you'd be able to find it online.

matt - me either. but i want to check it out

bo - oh. nice detective work.

gcrl - i hope it happens in my lifetime. not sure it will... but as a fan, i can hope

matt - doesn't sound like many of us have heard of this movie.

peter k steinberg - i know leaf (i think it was leaf) released a pete rose set a few years ago. each box came with a pete rose autograph. kinda crazy since the sets were only like $10

chris - lol. that is kinda mind blowing

sean - i know... i want another copy of that card for my carew binder