Vintage Athletes - Part 43

Baseball Cards

After my indignation about fake images altered in Photoshop, I have a confession.  I've been known to alter images in Photoshop myself, just for the fun of it.

The difference is, when I make a fake image with Photoshop, I tell you it's a fake image.

When I was a kid, collecting baseball cards was a popular hobby, although I personally didn't have a collection.  Recently, looking at some of my naked photos of vintage baseball players, I wondered what it would look like if some of those nude images had been used on baseball cards.  So, I decided to find out.  I made some fake baseball cards.  The photos of the players are real, just not the kind that you'd normally see on a baseball card.  And I have another confession: I colorized the images on some of these vintage photos.  Is there no end to my depravity?

Here's a real baseball card of Joe DiMaggio, one of the most famous baseball players of all time.  DiMaggio played for the New York Yankees from 1936 to 1951.  He was also famous for marrying Marilyn Monroe.

My fake Joe DiMaggio card shows a view of him that Marilyn would have seen, as well as his Yankee teammates in the shower.

Bob Feller was a pitcher for the Cleveland Indians from 1936 to 1956.  Stan Musial said he was "probably the greatest pitcher of our era."

Here's my Bob Feller card.  Look at that smile!

Daffy Dean, brother of the better known Dizzy Dean, was a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1934 to 1939.

My Daffy Dean card features a 1937 photo of him taken by LIFE photographer Peter Stackpole.

Hank Greenberg played first baseman for the Detroit Tigers in the 1930s and 1940s.

My Hank Greenberg card shows him in the locker room celebrating winning the World Series in 1945.  Photo by LIFE photographer Frank Scherschel.

Del Crandall started playing in 1949 for the Boston Braves, which became the Milwaukee Braves in 1953.

Here's Crandall with some teammates after taking a shower.  Nice low-hangers.

Pee Wee Reese was a shortstop for the Brooklyn Dodgers, which became the Los Angeles Dodgers, from 1940 to 1958.

LIFE photographer Francis Miller caught him in the background of a 1955 locker room photo.

Milt Pappas was a pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles from 1957 to 1965.

Pappas was photographed in the locker room by LIFE photographer Hank Walker.

Mickey Mantle was the most famous baseball star of his day, playing for the New York Yankees from 1951 to 1968.

This uncredited photo shows Mickey at ease talking to reporters in the locker room.

Roger Maris was Mickey Mantle's teammate on the Yankees and sometime rival from 1960 to 1966.

In 1961, Mantle and Maris, dubbed the "M&M boys" by the press, competed to break Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in a season.  Roger Maris won the competition with 61 home runs, a record that stood until it was broken by Mark McGwire in 1998; however McGwire's achievement is qualified by the fact that he took performance-enhancing drugs.

The photo was taken by LIFE photographer Stan Wayman in 1960.

If baseball cards had looked like these ones, even I might have collected them.