1950 Drake's #21 Del Ennis

As I'm wont to do from time to time, I celebrated a recent career milestone with a major baseball card purchase.  Major is a relative term here since any single card purchase over $20 is considered major by my definition.  My weekly and monthly baseball card spending budget is limited to an occasional blaster box from Target (courtesy of my wife) and the purchase of the latest Phillies team set from eBay.

I had been looking for a few oddball Del Ennis and Dick Sisler cards over the past few months, and this particular card had caught my attention.  I added it to my eBay watch list and didn't think of it again until I received an e-mail indicated that the card was now on sale.  Without hesitation, I bought it.  Ennis and Sisler were my Dad's favorite players growing up, and it's been a fun little side project of mine to try to track down their cards.

The 1950 Drake's set was a one and done issue from Drake Bakeries with cards found within boxes of either Drake's Oatmeal or Jumble Cookies.  The complete set consists of 36 cards and Drake's dubbed the set "TV Baseball Star Pictures" as shown by the advertisement on the lower portion of the backs of the cards.  Cards are square, measuring 2 1/2" by 2 1/2" and their black borders make them tough to find in mint condition.  A complete set sold in late July on eBay for $1,600.

There's a New York/Boston team bias to the set, with the majority of the cards featuring players from those teams:  Boston Braves (6), Boston Red Sox (6), Brooklyn Dodgers (6), New York Giants (6) and New York Yankees (6).  The remaining six cards are spread among the Chicago White Sox (1), Philadelphia Athletics (1), Philadelphia Phillies (3) and St. Louis Cardinals (1).  All the other teams got shut out.  Along with the Ennis card, the Phillies team set also consists of Sisler and Eddie Waitkus.

Now to track down that Sisler card . . .

Memory Lane/Checklist
1946-1949 Sports Exchange (W603) #3-3 - NEED
1947-1952 Baseball Player Charms
1947-1966 Exhibits
1947 Homogenized Bond Bread - Need original, have reprint
1949 Eureka Stamps #134 - NEED
1948 Leaf #49
1949 M.P. & Co. (R302-2) #109
1949 Philadelphia Bulletin - NEED
1949 Phillies Lummis Peanut Butter - NEED
1950 Bowman #31
1950 Drake's #21
1950 Philadelphia Inquirer Fightin' Phillies
1950 R423 - NEED
1951 Berk Ross #1-10
1951 Bowman #4
1951 Topps Blue Backs #4
1952 Berk Ross #17 - NEED
1952 Bowman #76
1952 Naitonal Tea Labels #8 - NEED
1952 Topps #233
1953 Bowman Color #103
1953 Red Man Tobacco #17
1954 Bowman #127
1954 Wilson's Franks #2 - NEED
1955 Bowman #17
1956 Topps #220