A few weeks ago, BMW Sports Cards shared, “An early original photograph of Hank Aaron, taken in 1955 at spring training in Bradenton, Florida. The photo would later be used on Aaron’s 1955 Johnston Cookies regional baseball card.”
Intrigued, I decided to do a little more digging into the photo’s hobby history. A quick eBay search turned up the actual photograph currently listed by Irishhosta Sportscards for $12,000. The same seller is also offering the original images of Bill Bruton ($1,000), Bucky Walters ($1,500), and Lew Burdette ($1,000).
The listing reads:
After two-thirds of a century, 26 of the 35 original photographs used from one of the most popular regional baseball cards sets of all-time, were discovered this month! Hidden away from the hobby for more than six decades, this find is incredibly important in that it features the very first piece of original art or earliest photograph known for any Hank Aaron baseball card. This strong Very Good condition black and white image is 4 inches by 5 inches and is a glossy photograph of the icon following his 1954 rookie campaign slightly smiling while kneeling along with his personal piece of lumber—in the foreground are a dozen bats on the ground.
The original image was expertly colorized for the baseball card set. It is also noteworthy that the picture show much more than the card and includes such a great amount of detail that names on the bats can be identified. The backdrop is the dugout from Braves Stadium in Bradenton, Florida, where the Milwaukee Braves played their Spring Training Baseball in 1955. The three year run of Johnston Cookies & Cracker baseball cards in 1953, 1954, and 1955 became one of the most sought after as well as expensive regional baseball card issues of all-time. Just this year, the second highest price ever paid for a 1955 Johnson Cookies #44 Hank Aaron in PSA 9 was recorded.
Here’s the photo next to the actual card.
That write-up sounds recent, but it turns out the discovery happened over four years ago, when Lelands auctioned off that group of 26 original photos used for the 1955 Johnston Cookies set in April 2021 (I believe they came directly from the original photographer). The entire lot, which included Aaron’s image in VG condition, sold for just $1,128. Lelands described the lot as follows:
Collection of original photos used to produce the images on the 1955 Johnston Cookies Milwaukee Braves cards. The collection includes 26/35 cards in the set. Each measures 4×5″ and has the player’s name written on the reverse. Players include: #1 Del Crandall VG-EX; #9 Joe Adcock VG; #31 Bucky Walters G-VG; #33 Lew Burdette – glue on reverse G-VG; #34 Bobby Thomson VG-EX; #44 Hank Aaron VG; Dr. Charles Lacks VG-EX; and Duffy Lewis VG-EX. The set is missing Spahn and Ed Mathews. Overall condition breakdown is 30% G-VG; 30% VG; 40% VG-EX.
Happy collecting!
P.S. The 1955 Johnston Cookies PSA card flips say “Hand Cut” because the cards were released in panels of six. For more on the Johnston Cookies Braves sets, check out this short piece from Sports Collectors Daily.
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