I grew up in Southwest Michigan and I was always aware of the House of David religious colony from Benton Harbor. I had also heard about famous barnstorming baseball teams from the 1920s through the 1940s… However, I really did not know much about the players and their stories.
A few years ago, my mom gave me a book about the House of David baseball legacy. It sat on my book shelf for a long time until I recently picked it up. I was immediately inspired for a new card project.
I was drawn to this project because the House of David teams barnstormed with and often played against Negro League teams before baseball was integrated in 1947. There is a House of David jersey hanging in the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City. There are a couple of random cards featuring House of David players, but there really isn’t a comprehensive baseball card set.
As this project developed I came to understand that in addition to the long haired colony members, there were several baseball Hall of Famers that played for House of David teams including Grover Cleveland Alexander, Mordecai Brown, Chief Bender and Satchel Paige.
The full House of David set features 24 cards, featuring both Headliners and the relatively unknown “core” players. I have broken this set into three different series:
| Series 1 – Headliners | Series 2 – HoD Core | Series 3 – HoD Core |
| Grover Clev Alexander Satchel Paige Three Finger Brown Chief Bender Babe Ruth Pete Gray Jackie Mitchell Babe Zaharias | Elmer Dean George Anderson Jesse “Doc” Talley Paul Mooney Hans “Barney” Dalager Walter “Dutch” Faust “Long John” Tucker Dave “Eggs” Harrison | Bob Dewhirst H. Tom Dewhirst Eddie Deal Herman “Flip” Fleming John “Slick” Cross Alvin “Al” Nusser Roy Hutson Francis Thorpe (Mgr) |
Please feel free to email me if there is a individual card from this set you are interest in purchasing
