Before they were stars, Kurt Russell and these Hollywood legends had baseball cards
Kurt Russell is one of Hollywood's most accomplished actors with a list of credits spanning movies and television across seven decades. Still, long before he appeared in the Guardians franchise or was the voice of Elvis in Forrest Gump, he was a switch-hitting infielder in the California Angels organization and later a designated hitter for the Portland Mavericks of Battered Bastards of Baseball fame. While no baseball cards of Russell were issued during his playing years, he appears on cardboard as a second baseman for the El Paso Sun Kings in the quirky 1981-91 Dave Stewart Disabled American Veterans set.
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While Russell never made the big leagues, the same could not be said of legendary Western actor Chuck Connors, star of the television hit The Rifleman. In fact, Connors not only played two seasons of professional baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers and Chicago Cubs but even averaged 4.5 points per game in two NBA seasons with the Boston Celtics.
Connors appeared on several baseball cards in the late 1940s and early 1950s, even if none were the major Bowman or Topps sets of the era. The best known among his early baseball cards comes from the 1952 Mothers Cookies Pacific Coast League set where he appears as the "colorful hard-hitting first baseman" of the Los Angeles Angels. The first episode of The Rifleman would air six years later.
While Connors was suiting up for the Angels in 1952, infielder Johnny Berardino was wrapping up an 11-year big league career that included stints with the St. Louis Browns, Cleveland Indians, and Pittsburgh Pirates. Among the many trading card sets he appeared in as a ballplayer was the famous 1952 Topps set of Mickey Mantle grail card fame.
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If the face on the card looks familiar, you know your soap operas. In addition to numerous other television and movie roles, Berardino played Dr. Steve Hardy on General Hospital from 1963 to 1996, a stretch of 34 seasons. He even played a knock-off version of the role on a 1992 episode of The French Prince of Bel-Air.
The same season Berardino cameoed on Fresh Prince, another former ballplayer, Scott Patterson, was making his silver screen debut as Al (that's short for Albert or Alfred, not artificial intelligence) alongside Traci Lords in Intent to Kill before finding even greater fame as Luke Danes on Gilmore Girls.
Finishing with a deep cut, M.J. Frankovich was a successful producer and network executive who took home the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 1984 Oscars. He also appeared in 13 movies between 1935 and 1947. Though their last names differed, Frankovich's brother Joe L. Brown was the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and his father was legendary comic actor Joe E. Brown, who often played baseball and football players on film.
As for Frankovich himself, following a standout football career at UCLA, he played five seasons of minor league baseball, primarily in the Pacific Coast League. It's there that he appeared on two baseball cards, as a catcher for the Mission Reds.
If these stories have any lesson for collectors, it's hang onto your commons. That utility infielder batting .167 in the minors may never make it to Cooperstown or even crack a big league roster. Still, who's to say he won't find fame and fortune in Hollywood!
Jason A. Schwartz is a collectibles expert whose work can be found regularly at SABR Baseball Cards, Hobby News Daily, and 1939Bruins.com. His collection of Hank Aaron baseball cards and memorabilia is currently on exhibit at the Atlanta History Center, and his collectibles-themed artwork is on display at the Honus Wagner Museum and PNC Park.