Winter Auction 2021 Ending March 6-7
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/6/2021
John Bateman. A reliable backstop for the expansion Houston Colt .45's, and subsequently for other clubs, over a productive ten-year, big-league career. Cards of Bateman, in general, are not scarce. (Just ask an 11-year-old collector in 1964 who kept buying packs of 2nd Series Topps cards, looking for #150 Willie Mays. By the time he finally accomplished the mission, he'd become the proud owner of an even dozen #142 John Batemans.) The Bateman card presented here, however, has been deemed "among the rarest baseball cards of the 1960s" by major price guides and reference books. The piece apparently never circulated through its issue's intended channel of distribution, and it's generally believed that fewer than a dozen specimens have been confirmed to exist.
In 1963, Pepsi-Cola sponsored a set of 16 cards. The panels holding these card designs were inserted into the six-pack cartons of Pepsi bottles. Distribution was limited to Texas, and the series showcased only members of the Houston Colt .45's. The unnumbered, 2-3/8" x 3-3/4" cards were designed to be separated from their ad-panels by the consumer. The full set included fifteen, mostly veteran, Colt .45's players ... and an almost never-seen depiction of a fresh-faced catcher, John Bateman.
Graded VG-EX 4 by PSA. Rookie Card, and an impossibly scarce "Short Print" entry. This is the lone example at its tier (with just one graded higher) among a sparse total of only six copies recorded in PSA's census reporting. The card is extremely clean, with highly favorable eye appeal, and its photographic component exhibits solid focus. Slight irregularities in the piece's edge dimensions are consistent with an item that was "Hand Cut" from a panel, but each black frameline retains at least a sliver of white border. This is one of the nicest examples of this intriguing, specialized collectible that could possibly exist, and it's an item that is typically not available for purchase anywhere, at any price. Unique and captivating Very Good to Excellent condition.