Kodak Moments at Comiskey Park

May 24, 1988, White Sox v. Indians. It was a Tuesday night game at old Comiskey Park, when it was simply called Comiskey Park. A solid game, with the Indians winning 4-3 behind Greg Swindell’s near CG, upping his record to 9-1. It was over and done after 2 hours, 42 minutes.  I was there, part of a crowd, if you can call it that, of 8,956.

That night’s program heralds a baseball card connection. There’s a 1957 Jim Landis prominently displayed, a Harold Baines card that I can’t quite place, and maybe that’s Scott Fletcher? Turns out, there was a giveaway that night, and a pretty good one.

1988 was the first year of Kodak White Sox cards. They were huge – 8” X 12” – and the series was a small one. Only 5 cards make up the entire set, an interesting checklist of Guillen, Fisk, Rick Horton, Calderon and Baines. I’ve got Ozzie (actually two Ozzies. Whoever went with me that night didn’t care about the card).

It’s a beautiful piece of work. I guess you’d expect that if Kodak was willing to put their name on it.  The 1989 set is super-cool, with current players and ex-players who manned the same positions, featured in one over-sized picture.

The Kodak Sox cards would continue through 1995, growing from 5 cards to 30, shrinking from 8” X 12” to 2 5/8” X 3 1/2”. There’s even a Pirates set in 1995.

While the Sox sets don’t seem to be very pricey, based on my trusty old Standard Catalog, I’m not finding any complete sets, at least for the earlier ones. I’m a bit hooked on those, less interested in the smaller, ‘90’s sets that, of course, are the easiest to find (and cheapest). I may go after those anyway, because I can never have enough Lance Johnson cards.

If anybody has a lead on these, let me know. I’m on the hunt.

Author: Jeff Katz

Jeff Katz is the former Mayor of Cooperstown, the “Birthplace of Baseball” and home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. His latest book, Split Season:1981 - Fernandomania, the Bronx Zoo, and the Strike that Saved Baseball, (Thomas Dunne Books, 2015), received national attention, with coverage appearing in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Sporting News and NPR’s Only a Game, among others. Katz appeared on ESPN’s Olbermann and The Sporting Life with Jeremy Schaap and MLB Network’s MLB Now, with Brian Kenny. Split Season: 1981 was a finalist for the 2016 Casey Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year. View all posts by Jeff Katz