Take and Give

When we last visited the 1960 Topps Venezuelan Baseball Tattoo set a couple of months ago, the subject count was progressing as it usually does with this set: slowly.  I had even pulled what I thought was an erroneous "U.S. Cepeda" from the checklist, to land at a potential set count of 35, which was the total of 16 confirmed U.S. subjects, 10 confirmed "Venezuelan" subjects designed just for this set, and 9 possible "Venezuelan" subjects taken from the original art auction by Guernsey's in 1989. As of this morning, we now have jumped dramatically to 51 possible tattoos, thanks to a recent influx from Caracas.

That 51 count includes 30 U.S. subjects and 15 Venezuelan-only (with an asterisk for one), all confirmed, and 6 Venezuelan-only images still unaccounted for from the Guernsey artwork.  The latter included Luis Aparicio, who I am fairly certain will be unearthed some day. This latest trove had some interesting players revealed, including a confirmation that Zoilo Versalles, previously surmised due to a miscut showing just an errant "Z", was issued in Venezuela.  Of even more import was was confirmation the Cepeda image was redrawn for the Venezuelan set.

Here's the Guernsey's image; the name was not included on the original art, but added for auction cataloguing purposes:

I've mirrored the recently found tattoo for ease of reference (this is why there's a figurative asterisk):

Compare this to the version was released in the United States, which is clearly different:

I am thinking, with some minimal but accurate knowledge, that the print group with the U.S version of Cepeda wasn't used for the Venezuelan set, although it could have been damaged I guess. The 1964 Baseball Photo Tattoo set as it turns out (and which I'd blanked on, repeatedly when writing about this set) was printed in three groups of 32, resulting in 96 subjects (just like in 1960). So we might be looking at a final count of 64 as none of the weird add-ons like autographed balls and team logos have surfaced in the Venezuelan release.

Here is the Versalles; like Cepeda, the player's name in ink was added and can be seen on a good chunk of the newly found and/or identified subjects.

And here's a Spahn, issued in both sets and with a marvelous image of the great lefty:

Here is where things stand on the checklist, a few of which were previously in the Guernsey possibles:

Hank Aaron

Bob Allison
Ruben Amaro (Venezuelan only)
Luis Arroyo (Venezuelan only)

Richie Ashburn

Lew Burdette

Orlando Cepeda, redrawn (Venezuelan only)
Bob Clemente (Venezuelan only)
Rocky Colavito
Don Drysdale

Ryne Duren

Roy Face

Chico Fernandez (Venezuelan only)

Mike Fornieles (Venezuelan only)

Gene Freese
Nellie Fox
Tony Gonzales (Venezuelan only)
Dick Groat

Glen Hobbie

Al Kaline
Harmon Killebrew
Frank Lary

Vernon Law

Mickey Mantle
Juan Marichal  (Venezuelan only)

Roger Maris
Ed Mathews

Willie Mays

Minnie Minoso (Venezuelan only)

Wally Moon

Don Mossi
Stan Musial

Charlie Neal

Jose Pagan (Venezuelan only)

Milt Pappas
Juan Pizzaro (Venezuelan only)
Vic Power (Venezuelan only)
Pedro Ramos (Venezuelan only)

Warren Spahn

Tony Taylor (Venezuelan only)

Johnny Temple
Zoilo Versalles (Venezuelan only)

Bill White
Gene Woodling
Early Wynn

That's 45 confirmed, with these 6 Guernsey subjects potentially lurking:

Felipe Alou

Matty Alou

Luis Aparicio

Chico Cardenas

"Clio"(Elio) Chacon

Felix Mantilla 

Thanks to Friend o'the Archive Josh Alpert for the new images! We've come a long way from the single known subject some years back to this expanding checklist.