Baseball Card Collectors’ Super Hero: Renata Galasso and “The Adventures of Baseball Card Man”
Renata Galasso, noted Brooklyn baseball card entrepreneur who achieved notoriety as the “World’s Largest Hobby Card Dealer,” launched her career while a college student at Fordham University in the 1970s. According to Gerald F. Lieberman in his New York Times article, “Bubble-Gum Cards Help To Play Tuition” (July 27, 1975), Galasso balanced her study demands with card sorting sessions. Her goal was the payment of Fordham’s tuition. Having purchased a voluminous amount of cards, she sorted them into complete sets which Galasso sold for $8.99 a piece. As her enterprise grew following her collegiate years, Renata ultimately launched her own line of cards produced by Renata Galasso, Inc. and created her own hobby magazine, The Baseball-Hobby Card Report. This publication included interviews with baseball stars, pricing of cards and advice about collecting, historical material on card sets, and an insert in each issue of reprinted cards from the 1909–11, T-206 set, which contains the most valuable of all cards, the T-206 Honus Wagner. Such a card deserves special protection and, in Renata Galasso’s hobby magazine, a potential protector emerges in a comic series about a baseball card collector’s super hero, “The Adventures of Baseball Card Man.” Cartoon creators, Carl Wirshba, Stan Goldberg, Rick Palmer among others, contributed to the various episodes of “America’s Protector and Champion.”
Baseball Card Man, alias Chip Harris, also started his career in the baseball card collecting world while in college. Like Galasso, Harris stays close to home in CARDVILLE while attending CARDVILLE COLLEGE. He also works at Renata Galasso’s card shop. One night, while on a walk, he is visited by alien creatures sent by the GREAT CARD KEEPER. The divinely-inspired message from above is clear — “He has chosen you, Chip Harris, to save the earth from the impending invasion of the CARDPHIBIANS.” Who are they? These CARD CRAZY CREATURES have an obsession to possess every hobby card in the universe, including the earth. How will Chip Harris curtail their efforts? He will receive powers and undergo a transformation when necessary into the super hero, BASEBALL CARD MAN.
What special powers does BASEBALL CARD MAN receive from above? One key power comes from the ALL POWERFUL CARD or A.P.C. which attaches to his CARD COSTUME. The costume enables him to fly and the card allows the super hero to see into the future while also glowing, serving as a warning, whenever danger is near. Another aid, the ATOMIC PLASTIC SHEET GUN, a weapon against thievery and other forms of assault by card attackers, encapsulates cards in protective, plastic pages. All of these powers reflect “the forces of MINT CONDITIONING” which keeps BASEBALL CARD MAN ready for action.
Who are some of those card attackers BASEBALL CARD MAN must confront besides the CARDPHIBIANS? CARD SHARK is an evil genius in constant search of “precious and rare collector’s items,” including memorabilia and vintage cards, who threatens the card collecting world with “a burst of frenzy, creating mass confusion and chaos” in his path. He travels in his mini-sub, JAWS, as he seeks underground access to card shows in the city. GIGANTICARD possesses an ultimate weapon, his BOOMERANG CARD, which threatens to sideline the super hero in one swoop.
What clue indicates that BASEBALL CARD MAN has responded to a card collecting threat? His CARD COSTUMES emerges, His ALL POWERFUL CARD lights up, his flying ability commences and his trademark exclamation, HOLY CARDIOLOGY, sometimes indicates a successful mission. Observers of BASEBALL CARD MAN’s exploits acknowledge that sometimes the “cards are stacked against” him, but he always acts like a super hero saving the day.
In one episode, for instance, CARDSHARK attacks a policeman at a card shoe who is protecting a showpiece card. The attacker snatches the glass container displaying the card and attempts his escape. Suddenly, he finds himself chased by BASEBALL CARD MAN who yells out, “Drop that…you
CARNIVOROUS CARDMONGER!” The chase progressed until BASEBALL CARD MAN catches up to the villain and drops him to the floor with one blow. However, the CARD SHARK escapes with a bystander, Hobbie, alias Renata, whom he plans to hold as a hostage until another episode.
The play-on-words in this series is fun and creative, making the BASEBALL CARD MAN an entertaining feature of Renata Galasso’s baseball card collecting magazine. However, the issue of protecting the card collector from fraud and theft became serious in the 1970s and 1980s as card collecting became more organized and monetized as an investment. In 1972, Rich Egan, a vintage card collector and researcher, reports in The Ball Card Collector #80 that an antique dealer was offering obscure and valuable sets, including the popular Old Judge cards, to prominent collectors. Many cards turned out to be counterfeit. A similar incident occurred in 1981 when a collector at a Philadelphia card show was selling dozens of Pete Rose 1963 Topps cards. Other dealers questioned their authenticity.
Today, there are numerous efforts to confront such problems in the card collecting industry. There are card grading services which appraise card values, but also authenticate them. Some card sets utilize holograph stickers or serial numbers to suppress duplication. Even black lights help to detect forgeries. The demand for protecting baseball card collectors has expanded and intensified with the rise of baseball card investors. Maybe the BASEBALL CARD MAN seems comical in his pursuits to protect card collectors, but his mission hasn’t diminished since his appearance in Renata Galasso’ publication.
