1954 Red Heart #1 Richie Ashburn

The off day yesterday gives me the chance to show off this fantastic vintage baseball card of His Whiteness, Richie Ashburn.  I recently added this card to my collection via an eBay auction.  Ashburn had cards in the Bowman and Topps sets from 1954 along with oddball offerings in the Red Man Tobacco, Dixie Lids and this Red Heart set.

Red Heart Dog Food Co. released 33 cards in 1954 through a mail-in offer with coupons available on packages of their dog food.  Of course before I read about this distribution method in the Standard Catalog, I smelled the card noting that it was strange it didn't smell like dog food.  But I digress.

The set featured three groups of 11 cards with either a blue, green or red background with the red background cards (such as the Ashburn) considered to be harder to find.  Ashburn is the only Phillies player in the set, so my quest for a full 1954 Red Heart Phillies team set is now complete!