1923-24 Tomas Gutierrez #24 of Negro Leaguer José María Fernández. Graded a 2 by PSA. This is a pop 10 card in all grades across PSA and SGC registries.
Fernández was a Cuban professional baseball catcher, first baseman, right fielder and manager in the Negro leagues with an incredibly long career spanning from the 1910s to the 1940s. A native of Guanabacoa, Cuba, Fernández was the brother of fellow Negro leaguer Rudy Fernández. He managed the New York Cubans for 12 consecutive seasons from 1939 to 1950.
Fernández was on the preliminary ballot for the 2006 Special Committee on the Negro Leagues election. He was one of a large group of Negro League candidates considered by the committee, although he was not ultimately elected.
This is the largest and one of the scarcest Cuban baseball card sets of the
1920's. It consists of 85 cards that were distributed in packs of "Tomás Gutiérrez" brand
cigarettes made by a tobacco company named "Díaz" (this company also produced a set from
the same time period containing only Major League pitchers).
Printed on typical baseball card stock, these have the closest resemblance to American cards of
any Cuban issue of the 1920's. They have a sepia tone to them and feature portraits of players
from each of the 4 teams (Santa Clara, Almendares, Habana, Marianao). The backs are
numbered and explain that there is also an album that contains all of the cards (it actually
contained all of the images printed on pages that look similar to team premiums). It is thought
that in order to receive this album, which was hardbound and very high quality, you had to first
collect the set. Once you completed the set you could then turn those cards in and receive the
album in exchange. Most likely, the cards were then thrown away by the company. As a result, the individual cards are much scarcer than the album which is itself exceptionally rare. Only a handful of albums are known to exist.