1957 Braves Spic and Span Set Has Milwaukee’s Champs

When the Braves relocated from Boston to Milwaukee in 1953, the state of Wisconsin welcomed the team with open arms and filled the seats at County Stadium, hoping for a National League pennant. That dream finally came true in 1957, as the Braves not only outdistanced the NL field for the flag, but also outlasted the New York Yankees in a seven-game World Series.

That ’57 season was magical, and card collectors in Wisconsin had several options to choose from outside of the mainstream set offered by Topps. One of the more popular — and highly collectible — compilations was the regionally based 1957 Spic and Span Braves set.

Spic and Span Basics

Spic and Span was the name of a Milwaukee dry cleaning company, not to be confused with the Procter and Gamble cleaning product that goes by the same name. The company issued regional sets from 1953 through 1960, with some of the sets covering parts of three different years.

The 1957 set contained 20 cards, measuring 4 inches by 5 inches and featuring a photograph of the player, framed by a large white border. A tiny blue Spic and Span logo appears at the bottom right of the card front. Each card sports a blue facsimile autograph, along with an encouraging phrase directed to fans, supposedly written by the player. Some of the phrases include “To a good sport” (Joe Adcock’s card), “To a swell fan” (Del Crandall), to “Keep your eye on the ball” (Johnny Logan).

Most of the cards had a vertical front, but a few are horizontal, including Hank Aaron.

Spic and Span Subjects

This set sports four Hall of Famers —Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Warren Spahn and Red Schoendienst. Four of the cards, including Schoendienst, Wes Covington, Felix Mantilla and Bob Trowbridge, are considered short prints. Other stars on the team include Adcock, Lew Burdette (“signed” as “Lou” on his card), Bill Bruton, Bob Buhl and manager Fred Haney.

High Grade Challenge

There have been 208 sent to PSA for grading from this set, and only one card grades as high as a PSA 9 — a Bruton card. Predictably, the most cards sent in for grading (39) are the Aaron card, but the highest grade is one 8.5, with three PSA 8s. Mathews is next with 21 graded cards, and the highest one is a PSA 8 (there are four). There are 18 graded Spahn cards, with only one reaching PSA 9 status.

Only 34 cards have been submitted to SGC, and six of those were Aaron cards. The highest grade for Aaron was 88. Mathews is the only other player with more than two cards graded (he has three). Of those, the highest certified grade has been an 84.

They’re not cheap, but considering the scarcity, prices for 1957 Spic and Span Braves are relatively reasonable. Putting together a complete set can be done, but you might have to settle for less than perfect cards.

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About Bob D'Angelo

Bob has been a sportswriter and copy editor for more than 35 years and a blogger for a decade. He is celebrating his 50th year of card collecting, and still counts his 1965 Topps Mickey Mantle as his favorite. You can reach him at [email protected].