Quirky Baseball Card Set Combines Country Music, Pickup Trucks, and Black History
If you didn't think Satchel Paige, Hank Aaron, and Luke Combs had much in common beyond having played countless stadiums, you may have missed one of the quirkier on-demand Topps baseball card sets of the last five years. That said, you're not alone as the set's low print run ensured just about everyone else did too.
Luke Combs
In 2021, Topps teamed up with Music City Baseball, an organization trying to bring a major league team to Nashville, to produce a 19-card set with one of the more unusual checklists you'll ever see. As just one example, card two on the checklist belongs to country music sensation Luke Combs.
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In truth, the Combs card is unsurprising given that he is one of Music City Baseball's advisors and biggest backers. Despite hits such as "Beer Never Broke My Heart" and "Beautiful Crazy," baseball has always been a passion of the music star. "I love my job but it sure would be cool to trade places with a professional baseball player for a day,” Combs said when explaining his connection to the baseball card set.
Satchel Paige
That explains Combs, but how did Satchel Paige end up in the set? Simple. Paige, along with several other Negro League legends made the cut because Music City Baseball isn't just looking for any major league expansion team. They want their "Nashville Stars" to pay tribute in name and spirit to the great Negro League players and teams that came through Nashville in baseball's pre-integration era.
In designing the set, Music City Baseball worked closely with Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. In fact, some of the cards in the set were a direct result of what Combs and others learned about the Negro Leagues from Kendrick. Willie Jones, another country musician on the set's checklist, specifically recommended Paige for the set.
"The legend of Satchel is more than being one of the greatest pitchers of all time. He knew how to bring another level of energy to the game. Fans exited the stadium knowing he left everything on the field and entertained the hell out of them from start to finish. That's what I aspire to do"Willie Jones, country music artist
Legends and Hall of Famers
Rounding out the set's checklist of Negro League legends are Jackie Robinson, Ernie Banks, Josh Gibson, Larry Doby, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron. In each case, the players were depicted with their Negro League teams, adding both novelty and history to the cards. In addition, all cards in the set featured the imaginatively trippy artwork of Daniel Sulzberg rather than pulling from the small handful of photographs Topps typically used for these same players.
Black History
Though the "hits" on the checklist no doubt involved the players and musicians, many of the set's "commons" offer Black history lessons often omitted from more superficial recognition of the Negro Leagues, whether by Major League Baseball or by Topps. One example is the card entitled "Thriving Black Economy," which focuses on the devastating economic impact major league integration had on Black communities.
"During the Negro Leagues heyday, it was seen that whenever a successful black ballclub was, you had a thriving black economy. Black-owned businesses would welcome ballplayers into their establishments with open arms, allowing them to get a hot meal, stay the night and party in the clubs. The downside of integrating baseball was that the success of the Negro Leagues began to fall. As a result, so did these local black-owned businesses and these areas never were able to recover."Back of "Thriving Black Economy" card
Other cards in the set educate collectors that the Negro Leagues had night baseball five years ahead of MLB and that the All-Black Philadelphia Royal Giants brought baseball to Japan seven years ahead of their white counterparts.
All in all, the 2021 Topps x Nashville Stars set is one that may be worth a second look four years after its release. When the cards came out, the Hobby was feeling significant art card fatigue from the constant barrage of Project 70 drops. Today, however, these cards can be appreciated for what they are: a peculiar mix of music, history, art, and baseball that feels just right if not overdue.
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.