Bob and Max were two young baseball card collectors growing up in the suburbs of Chicago in the late 1980s. Both boys were obsessed with collecting and trading baseball cards, spending most of their free time scouring local stores for packs to add to their collections or browsing through boxes of cards at shows looking to make trades. While they had amassed sizable collections over the years containing stars from past and present, there were always players they wished they could find cards of but never did. As the boys got older, they began imagining designs for baseball cards that never existed of players throughout history in what they called their “phantom card” ideas.

One of the first phantom cards Bob conceived was of Shoeless Joe Jackson, the legendary “Black Sox” outfielder from the early 20th century who was banned from baseball for life for his role in the 1919 World Series gambling scandal. While Topps and other card companies had produced cards of Jackson from before the scandal, Bob thought it would be interesting to design a card showing what Jackson might have looked like in the late 1920s or 1930s had he not been banned and continued playing. In Bob’s imagined design, a smiling Jackson is depicted in the uniform of a hypothetical team he might have played for after the Black Sox affair like the Philadelphia A’s or St. Louis Browns. The back of the card provides career stats up to that point as well as speculation about where he may have finished in the record books had he not been expelled from the game.

Max was also intrigued by the idea of cards for players whose careers were cut short, coming up with a design for Dizzy Dean, the fiery St. Louis Cardinals pitcher of the 1930s. Dean’s career came to an abrupt end after suffering an injury during the 1937 All-Star Game. For Max’s imaginary card, Dean is pictured in a Cardinals uniform from the late 1930s, with a caption wondering what may have been if he had been able to continue pitching. The back details Dean’s outstanding career to that point which saw him win 30 games in 1934 and help lead St. Louis to a World Series title. It also hypothesizes about potential milestones he could have reached like 300 career wins or how many more World Series he may have pitched in had injury not derailed him at his peak.

Another of Bob’s ideas was for a card showing Babe Ruth not as a slugging outfielder for the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees but rather as a pitcher, his original position when he first broke into the major leagues in 1914. The front of this phantom card depicts a young Ruth on the mound in the distinctive Red Sox socks-high uniform. The back provides details of his impressive pitching career with Boston from 1914-1919 when he won 89 games and struck out over 1000 batters before fully transitioning to the outfield. It ponders what may have happened if he had continued focusing on pitching throughout his career and how dominant he could have become on the mound rather than at the plate.

Max came up with a concept for a card honoring one of the Negro Leagues’ greatest stars, Josh Gibson. Considered one of the most powerful hitters in baseball history, Gibson spent nearly his entire career in the Negro Leagues before his untimely death in 1947, just a few months before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Max designed a Gibson card showing him in the uniform of the Homestead Grays, one of the top Negro League franchises he starred for. The back highlights Gibson’s incredible career stats in the Negro Leagues as well as recognition he received as one of the best players in the game. It speculates that had Gibson been able to play in the major leagues during his prime, he may have seriously challenged many home run records that stood for decades.

Another of Bob’s ideas was for a card picturing Dizzy Dean’s younger brother Paul “Daffy” Dean. Like Dizzy, Paul was a standout pitcher for the 1930s Cardinals, winning 30 games in 1938. Due to injuries his career was much shorter, playing his last season in 1941 at the young age of 27. Bob imagined what Paul may have accomplished if able to stay healthy for a full career in his design. The front shows Dean in a Cardinals uniform pitching in mid-windup. The back details his impressive stats from 1935-1941, with speculation he could have reached 200 career wins and several World Series appearances had his career not been derailed by arm problems.

Max took a different approach by envisioning cards for players who never even made it to the major leagues. One concept was for Dick Littlefield, considered one of the top prospects in baseball during the 1950s but whose career was ruined by military service during the Korean War. In Max’s card, Littlefield is depicted in the uniform of the Detroit Tigers farm system he was rising through before being drafted in 1952 at the age of 21. The back highlights scouting reports from the time calling him a potential superstar as well as career minor league stats showing power and average numbers that foretold future stardom. It laments how military service cost Littlefield his shot at the majors and wonders if he could have become a perennial All-Star if not for bad timing with the war.

Another of Max’s ideas involved imagining what a baseball card for legendary Negro Leagues star James “Cool Papa” Bell may have looked like had he played in the major leagues during his prime in the 1920s and 1930s. Considered one of the fastest men to ever play the game, Bell was in his 40s by the time Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. Max’s card depicts Bell in the uniform of a hypothetical team he may have suited up for like the St. Louis Cardinals with his trademark smile and distinctive stance. The back details the incredible speed and skills that made Bell a star in the Negro Leagues as well as recognition he received late in life for his talents. It ponders how many stolen bases records Bell may have shattered had he gotten the chance to display his blazing speed on the game’s biggest stage decades earlier.

While Bob and Max never actually produced any of these “phantom cards,” designing them helped fuel their active imaginations as young collectors. As they got older, the hobby of card collecting began to take a backseat to other interests for both boys. They never forgot about the players and ideas they had envisioned all those years ago. Even decades later in adulthood, Bob and Max would still reminisce fondly about sitting together as kids concocting designs for baseball cards that sadly were never made but represented players whose careers and talents deserved to be celebrated. Their phantom cards showed how a simple hobby could spark creative thoughts about the game’s history and what might have been.