Hage's Dairy of Southern California sponsored regional card sets from 1949-51, offered at concession stands for Lane Field Park, home of the PCL San Diego Padres. Most came packaged with popcorn and it's possible others entered the hobby via company or team promotions.

1949 proves the rarest of these Hage's sets and contains 105 players on thin stock with blank backs and one of four color tints, Black & White, Sepia, Blue, or Green. The combined SGC/PSA population reports for its F65-1 catalog number show fewer than 200 total graded examples for all players, making these true diamonds in the rough!

Future MLB star Luke Easter appears twice in this set, in batting and follow-through poses. His evident power in San Diego opened the door for a contract with Cleveland, where Luke (already in his mid-30s) went on to hit almost 100 homers over the next few years. He stands out as one example of the pre-integration loss by MLB in keeping out players with clear ability.

The SGC VG 3 grade reflects slight corner rounding and a surface spot at upper left on an otherwise crease-free, clean card. While Luke's bat almost disappears thanks to that high-contrast print process, its background stadium and uniform details tell us a lot about the environs for postwar PCL baseball. Combined SGC/PSA population reports for this follow-through card show just seven total, with none higher for SGC!