Barrier Breakers: Sam Jethroe - Boston Braves

The 1950 NL Rookie of the Year was the 33 year old centerfielder, Sam Jethroe.  I made this card despite the fact that Jethroe was relatively well represented on cardboard during his short MLB career.  He had Bowman cards in 1950-1953 and Topps cards in 1951 and 1952. Although his MLB career was just 3 years as a Brave from 1950-52 and a short stint on the Pirates in 1954, his professional baseball career spanned 18 seasons.  He played minor league ball in Toledo, Montreal and Toronto. He also played Negro League ball in Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Cleveland.

As I said, Jethroe already had a card in the 1950 Bowman set.  So the card itself is a creation of my own based on the 1950 Drake TV Baseball Series. The Drake Cookie cards were a black and white tv card similar to the 1955 Bowman cards and measured 2.5" by 2.5". The 1950 Bowman measured 2 1/16" by 2 1/2".

 I wanted a more standard 2 1/2" by 3 1/2", color card. So I modeled it on the huge console TVs of that era. The screens were actually more rounded and small compared to the piece of furniture that housed them.

1953 Topps Sam Jethroe

Boston Braves CTNW Favorites #5

Here is a continuation on a theme of putting together 5 "Cards That Never Were"  favorites from each team.  I broke the Braves down into 3 separate eras. Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta. Here are the favorites from the Boston era.

Sam Jethroe was the first black player in Boston. He was selected Rookie of the Year in 1950 at the age of 33 although he was believed to be only 28 at the time. He led the National League in stolen bases in 1950 and 1951. In 1952 he came in second to Pee Wee Reese and in 1953 he spent the season playing for the Braves minor league team in Toledo. He batted .309 with 28 homers and 27 stolen bases. At the end of the season he was traded to Pittsburgh where he saw limited action in 1954. He would continue to play minor league ball in Toronto until 1958.