While looking into the checklist of known Moe Berg cards, I came across the 2005 Helmar set. Honestly, the only reason I ended up really looking into it was because when I did a search for Moe Berg on the Beckett site, his card from this set had an asterix next to it (Which I never figured out why it was there).

According to Beckett’s Set Notes:

This set, which measures the traditional tobacco card size of 1 1/2″ by 2 5/8″ was issued as a regional issue by Helmar in bags of potato chips. The cards have browish-bordered fronts with just the player’s name and team on the bottom. The backs have a contest in which collectors could win various prizes. This set includes both boxers and baseball players but we are only including the baseball players in this listing. Since these cards are unnumbered, we have sequenced them in alphabetical order. The baseball players are a mix of Major Leaguers, Negro Leaguers and players from the House of David barnstorming teams. Monte Sheldon, famed sports artist, was responsible for the drawings in this set.

And take a look at this checklist:

Jimmy Adamick, boxer
George Anderson, House of David
Frank “Home Run” Baker
Walter Ball
Benton Harbor, Barnstorming Team
Cool Papa Bell, Negro Leaguer
Moe Berg
Kaoru Betto, Japanese League Player
Dennis Biddle
Sherwood Brewer
Mordecai Brown
Ray Caldwell
Primo Carnera, boxer
Ray Chapman
James Cobbin
Jimmie Crutchfield
Kiki Cuyler
Lloyd Dalager
Leon Daniels
Eddie Deal
Jack Dempsey, boxer
Tom Dewhurst
Martin Dihigo
Bill Donovan
Johnny “The Crab” Evers
Happy Felsch
Elmer Flick
Rube Foster, Negro Leaguer
Sadayoshi Fujimoto, Japanese League Player
Chick Gandil
Goto, Japanese League Player
Vean Gragg
Harry Greb, boxer
Art Hamilton, Negro Leaguer
Dave Harrison, House of David
Joe Hauser
Pete Hill, Negro Leaguer
Miller Huggins
Joe Jackson, Chicago
Joe Jackson, Cleveland
Joe Jeannette, boxer
Demetrius Jenkins, boxer
Hugh Jennings
Jack Johnson, boxer
Dave Jones
Cecil Kaiser, Negro Leaguer
Tetsuharu Kawakami, Japanese League Player
Stanley Ketchel, boxer
Darnell Knox, boxer
Tokuji Lida, Japanese League Player
Dave Malarcher, Negro Leaguer
Hugh McAleer
John McGraw
Sam McVea, boxer
“Battling” Nelson, boxer
Jiro Noguchi, Japanese League Player
Herb Pennock
Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe, Negro Leaguer
Eppa Rixey
Sugar Ray Robinson, boxer
Billy Rogell
Bob Sage, boxer
Max Schmelling, boxer
Jack Sharkey, boxer
Turkey Stearns, Negro Leaguer
Jesse Lee Tally, House of David
Kawakami/ Chiba/ Aota/ Noguchi, Japanese League Players
John Tucker, House of David
Rube Waddell
Moses Walker, Negro Leaguer
Percy Walker, House of David
Johnny Washington, Negro Leaguer
Buck Weaver
Ross Youngs

Thats a pretty impressive mix of major leaguers, boxers, Japanese players, Negro Leaguers, barnstormers and Branch Davidians.

Tags: 2005 Helmar, boxers, House of David, Japanese Players, Moe Berg, Negro Leagues, retro sets
Filed Under: Cards I Would Like to Own by slangon
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