Offered is the initial use of the fabled Conlon Collection glass negatives to create an epic baseball card set that would be the prototype and forerunner to dozens of such efforts over the next half century. Just like in the movies, the first one is typically the best one, and that bromide holds true in this case. Issued in 1981, the first usage by The Sporting News of the iconic glass negatives features virtually all of the Hall of Famers and great stars photographed by the legendary Charles Martin Conlon during his heyday from 1915 to 1935. More than ½ of the set features players who eventually ended up in Cooperstown, including the likes of Alexander, Chance, Cobb, Eddie Collins, Dean, Foxx, Gehrig, Gehringer, Greenberg, Grove, Heilmann, Hornsby, Huggins, Walter Johnson, Klein, Mack, Mathewson, McGraw, Ott, Ruth, Simmons, Sisler, Speaker, Stengel, Traynor, Wagner, the Waners and Wilson, among others, plus an absolutely spectacular card of Jim Thorpe as a member of McGraw’s New York Giants. Printed on a high-quality card stock with a remarkable glossy finish, the 4-by-5-inch cards feature stunning brown sepia-toned portraits of incredible depth and clarity, providing what are the most intimate portrayals of these MLB icons from the glorious days between two World Wars. The cards bear the Sporting News typography across the top, with the player’s name and position at the bottom, both elements showcasing the uncluttered portraits in between. The Sporting News offered the sets through the mail from advertising in the pages of “The Bible of Baseball,” presenting the 100-card set in elegant fashion in a distinctive brown slipcase with gold imprinting. The offered example is in outstanding Near-Mint to Near-Mint to Mint condition, essentially as issued. Just like the incredible Perez-Steele Hall of Fame Postcard Series that launched around the same time, the two issues – one photographs and the other fine art – are arguably the two most elegant and important baseball card sets issued as the 20th century came to a close.