Well-Loved Wednesday: June 24, 2026

Well-loved. Cards with character. Cards with stories. Wallet cards.

No matter what you call them, there’s no denying that for hardcore card collectors true love is unconditional. Each Wednesday we’ll share one card that, while it may not appeal to grading companies, holds a special place in the collections of our readers.

To learn how to submit your own mishandled masterpiece for a future Well-Loved Wednesday post, just send us a message.

Today’s card comes from SABR member/artist/collector/all-around-great guy Jason Schwartz. Jason is a Co-Chair of the SABR Baseball Cards Committee and is a true Renaissance man among the hobby. You can follow him on Instagram and Bluesky.

This card (or portion of a card) comes from the 1909-11 Obak (T212) set and shows Los Angeles Angels managerial legend Frank "Pop" Dillon, winner of four pennants in six years. When the card first hit my radar my knee-jerk instinct was to pass on it. Though I was building a low-grade set of Angels cards, I nonetheless had at least some standards for what condition I could tolerate. Fortunately, the card was still around when I came to my senses.

At first I imagined this Dillon would be my "filler card," part of my collection until I found a reasonable upgrade. Once I had it in hand, however, the Dillon quickly became my favorite card in the set. As someone who regularly took scissors to baseball cards (in the name of art, of course!), I had to admire the cutting skills if nothing else. Plus, there was the added bonus of being able to create instant variations of the card by putting it over different backgrounds: gold glitter paper, Van Gogh's "Starry Night," or a Los Angeles cityscape.

Finally, it's fun to think about what prompted the card's original owner to downsize it in this manner. Might there be an entire army of Pacific Coast Leaguers snipped similarly, or was the honor Dillon's alone?

Stare at the card long enough and you can almost imagine Dillon himself weighing in: “Not that I have the background, but I can still be Frank...”