Around the Horn

Sports Collectors Digest: Custom Cards the Result of a Daughter’s Wish

Check out this article about Ars Longa Art Cards from Sports Collectors Digest.

Mike Shannon is an avid hobbyist, excellent writer and great guy. I enjoyed the time we spent talking together and I sincerely appreciate his article on the history of Ars Longa Art Cards. I also want to thank Sports Collectors Digest for publishing the article and introducing my story and work to a great network of collectors. The response to this article has been overwhelming and I am truly grateful.

Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project: King Solomon White

I was thrilled to receive an invitation from the Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project to create a commemorative baseball card for the headstone laying ceremony for baseball pioneer and Hall of Fame member King Solomon White. The ceremony was held at Frederick Douglass Memorial Park in Staten Island, New York, on May 10, 2014.

It was a great honor to participate in my own small way in the celebration of Sol White’s remarkable life and hall of fame career and to contribute, again in my own small way, to correcting the injustice of an unmarked burial that befell this great man after his passing.

I want to thank John Thorn, official historian for Major League Baseball, for suggesting my participation for the occasion.

If you are not familiar with the Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project, they are a great organization that is determined to right some wrongs and restore dignity to many of the great Negro League players, managers & owners who passed all too anonymously and unceremoniously. I strongly advocate support for their efforts.

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With only a few days to design and produce 50 cards for the ceremony, I based the commemorative card on Sol White’s entry in the Pilgrims Series of Art Cards, changed the dimensions to a traditional 2.5″ x 3.5″ and added some text, a portrait, an inscription and a facsimile autograph to the reverse to commemorate this special event.

Wrigley Roster Jenga: Wild Bill Hutchinson

Here’s a blog post about the Ars Longa Beginnings: 1880’s card for Wild Bill Hutchinson by Wrigley Roster Jenga, a blog that chronicles one man’s quest to collect the Cubs . . . all the Cubs!

Anthony Burbatt is a dedicated collector of Cubs’ baseball cards and I am thrilled that an Ars Longa card has found a home in his ambitious collection. As of 4/22/2014, Mr. Burbatt is apparently 62% of the way towards collecting at least one card of every man who has ever worn a Cubs’ uniform. That’s impressive.

Check it out here.

In case you are unfamiliar with the history of the Chicago Cubs and are wondering why Anthony would purchase a card of a player from the Chicago White Stockings, here is the timeline for name changes for the Cubbies:

Chicago White Stockings: 1876-1889
Chicago Colts: 1890-1897
Chicago Orphans: 1898-1902
Chicago Cubs: 1903-present