The Auravision Talking Card Stock, How Rare Are They?

This is the north wall of my office.  I know this isn’t a very god picture because the glare obscures some of my artwork on the wall.  There are autographed 8X10s of Sutton, Tommy Davis, Wills and Newcombe. There's an autographed photo of Tommy Lasorda and I, a few World Series Sports Illustrated covers ('74 and  '88), paintings of old ballparks, (Crosley, Ebbets, Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds).  Then up in the upper left corner are two of my favorite collectibles:  Auravision talking baseball cards that came out in 1964 as the Dodgers were defending World Series champs.  On my wall are the Drysdale and Koufax cards. 

These cards were actually records, 33 1/3  RPM records, and they have recordings of an interview grooved into the cards.  They can be played on a phonograph.  Since I purchased my cards 35 years after they were originally sold, I never dared try playing them on a record player, first because I don’t want to damage them and second, I don’t have a record player anymore.  I always wondered what was on the record.  Now, after viewing this you tube video, I know.

Most interviews for the Auravision records were conducted by a great athlete himself, Marty Glickman.  Glickman was a Syracuse University star that was an Olympian in the 1936 Berlin games.  He was known for unjustly being bumped from his event, the 400 meter relay, along with Sam Stoller, because Avery Brundage didn’t want to offend the Nazi government and have Jewish runners win the race.  As a result, Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe took their places.

There were 16 Auravision talking baseball cards issued in the 1964 set, 10 of the players eventually became Hall of Famers.  I understand that there was a 1962 set also.  The other players in ’64 set were: Mickey Mantle, Warren Spahn, Frank Robinson, Willie Mays, Al Kaline, Bill Mazeroski, Roger Maris, Jim Gentile, Ken Boyer, Pete Ward, Rocky Colavito, Whitey Ford, Ernie Banks, and Bob Allison. 

I found an interesting article on these cards and found out that many were destroyed in a fire that wiped out a large inventory of them.  The rarest talking cards to find are the Mantle and Mays cards.  You may want to take a look at the link posted below that speaks of what has happened to large stocks of these rare cards from the 1960s.

http://www.talkingbaseballcards.com/40609Article.htm

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The word is out and Bud Selig is disallowing Frank McCourt to get a loan from the Fox Sports group.  

Link:  http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dodgers-fox-20110225,0,7361725.story

I believe that if he doesn’t secure financing soon, the Dodger ownership may be in serious trouble of not making a payroll this summer.  There has been no word of McCourt succeeding in finding other investors to help him get out of this financial hole.

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Dr. Neal ElAttrache, of the Kerlan/Jobe Clinic, and Dodger Team Surgeon

Good news on the Vicente Padilla surgery.  Reports from Dr. ElAttrache were that the entrapped nerve problem wasn't as severe as originally thought and that the surgery wasn't nearly as invasive as expected.  Padilla may be throwing within 3-4 weeks.  The best case scenario could have him pitching by late May in the bullpen.  He is expected back at Camelback Ranch on Friday.

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