1954 Red Heart

Stan Musial	Warren Spahn	Billy Cox

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One of a handful of sets issued along with food products, these slightly oversized cards are still highly sought after today. Issued in 1954 via a mail-in offer through the makers of Red Heart dog food, it has been said that these cards were still available to those who requested them as recently as the early 1970s. The fact that they were still available two decades after its promotion had run caused a lower demand for the cards for years, but they've come to be seen in the hobby as a classic set.

There are 33 cards; the set was available in three unnumbered series of 11 cards each. Each series has a distinctive solid background behind the player: blue, green or red. Cards with red backgrounds are considerably scarcer than those with blue or green backgrounds. Card fronts feature a hand-colored player portrait over a solid background. The player's name is inside a diamond-shaped box below his picture and his team is listed at the bottom as part of the card's white border. Card backs feature the player's full name, position and team name above detailed biographical info. The player's 1953 and lifetime statistics and a Red Heart advertisement are also prominently displayed.

While the set is full of stars, there are two key cards: Mickey Mantle and Stan Musial (neither of whom appear in the 1954 Topps set; Musial wasn't in the 1954 Bowman set either). Musial is especially tricky as one of the scarcer red background cards. While not as hard to find as other card sets of its day, the 1954 Red Heart set is still popular. It has a nice design and classic look that is appealing to many collectors.

Richie Ashburn (Back)

1954 Red Heart

(1) Richie Ashburn
(2) Frank Baumholtz
(3) Gus Bell
(4) Billy Cox
(5) Alvin Dark
(6) Carl Erskine
(7) Ferris Fain
(8) Dee Fondy
(9) Nelson Fox
(10) Jim Gilliam
(11) Jim Hegan
(12) George Kell
(13) Ted Kluszewski
(14) Ralph Kiner
(15) Harvey Kuenn
(16) Bob Lemon
(17) Sherman Lollar
(18) Mickey Mantle
(19) Billy Martin
(20) Gil McDougald
(21) Roy McMillan
(22) Minnie Minoso
(23) Stan Musial
(24) Billy Pierce
(25) Al Rosen
(26) Hank Sauer
(27) Red Schoendienst
(28) Enos Slaughter
(29) Duke Snider
(30) Warren Spahn
(31) Sammy White
(32) Eddie Yost
(33) Gus Zernial