| MANUFACTURER: George Burke DATE: 1935-37 George Burke Photo Stamps SUBJECTS: Chick Hafey, 1935-37 George Burke Photo Stamps, George Burke COMMENTS / CONDITION: 1935-37 George Burke Photo Stamp - Chick Hafey. See scans for further details including condition. BIO: Charles James Hafey was born in 1903 in Berkeley, CA and died in 1973 in Calistoga, CA. He played major league baseball from 1924 to 1937 as outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds, appeared in the 1926, 1928, 1930 and 1931 World Series, was selected in 1933 as an All-Star, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971. He was the cousin of Bud Hafey and Tom Hafey. On April 11, 1932 Hafey was traded to the Cincinnati Reds, where his career faltered due to a sinus condition that led to his becoming one of the first players to wear glasses on the field (Specs Toporcer was the first). In 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. They cited what they called "the Smoky Joe Wood Syndrome," where a player of truly exceptional talent but a career curtailed by injury should still, in spite of not having had career statistics that would quantitatively rank him with the all-time greats, be included on their list of the 100 greatest players. This is an original vintage stamp-sized photograph produced by the famous Chicago photographer George Burke between 1935 and 1937. The Burke Stamps are high-quality small real-photo cards that were originally issued exclusively to individual players in uncut perforated sheets for use in answering fan mail. George Burke ''Postage Stamp Photos'' are a fascinating vintage set which are extremely rare, in part because of the photos' small size and in part because this rare set was issued exclusively to players. It is even more rare to find these in such excellent condition, as many were affixed to correspondence, scrapbooks, etc. (as was their intended purpose). If you are looking to complete a set of this rare issue, I strongly encourage you to take a look at my other listings, as you no doubt already know how hard these are to come by. George C. Burke was born in 1874 in Pennington Gap, VA and died in 1951 in Chicago, IL. A case of mistaken identity made by the Chicago Cubs resulted in George Burke becoming the official photographer for the Chicago Cubs. In 1929, Cubs manager Joe McCarthy and Gabby Hartnett sought out the ballclub's previous photographer. They could only remember his last name, Burke, so they looked him up in the phone book. A listing leapt out at them: studio photographer George C. Burke, whose office was near Wrigley Field. Thus began the baseball photography career of George Burke, who had no prior sports experience whatsoever, and thus ended the career of photographer Francis Burke - the Cubs' time-honored official cameraman and an unwitting victim of mistaken identity. To undertake his new "big league" endeavor, Burke hired the young (age 15) baseball-knowledgeable George Brace as his assistant, and the two soon became a Chicago institution. Ever-present at Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park, Burke and Brace shot not only for the Cubs, but also for the White Sox and football's Chicago Bears. They also endeavored to amass a complete portfolio of player portraits - a daunting task made possible by the fact that Chicago was the only city with both an American League and a National League franchise from 1929 all the way until Brace's retirement in 1993. As the official photographer for the Chicago Cubs, Burke quickly became renowned for his candid pre-game photos and thought-provoking portrait depictions, and his posed portraits and action photos were published in The Sporting News, Who's Who in the Major Leagues, and Baseball Digest as well as other publications, and provided the necessary photos for numerous 1930's and later baseball card and premium issues. SKU: X00147b
Item: X00147b
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