| MANUFACTURER: George Burke DATE: 1935-37 George Burke Photo Stamps SUBJECTS: George Blaeholder, 1935-37 George Burke Photo Stamps, George Burke COMMENTS / CONDITION: 1935-37 George Burke Photo Stamp - George Blaeholder. See scans for further details including condition. BIO: George Franklin Blaeholder was born in Orange, CA and died in 1947 in Garden Grove, CA. He played major league baseball from 1925 to 1936 as pitcher for the St. Louis Browns, Philadelphia Athletics and the Cleveland Indians. Blaeholder is most noted for popularizing the slider pitch. Pitchers previously had used the pitch, but not nearly as extensively as Blaeholder threw it, as the pitch was considered by pitchers at the time to ruin the arm. 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: X00273c
Item: X00273c
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