Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	N258 Cigarrera Diaz (Diaz Cigarettes) Big League Pitchers
Year	1924
Size	1 3/4″ x 2 3/4″
Images	Black and White
Type	Tobacco
Number in Set	136

1924 N258 Cigarrera Diaz (Diaz Cigarettes) Big League Pitchers Overview

Classified as N258 in the American Card Catalog, this unique set was produced in Cuba but consisted of American baseball players. The most intriguing part, perhaps, is that it includes only pitchers. For that reason, Jefferson Burdick dubbed it as the Cigarrera Diaz BB (Baseball) Big League Pitchers set in his American Card Catalog. Today, most collectors call it the Diaz Cigarettes set but Burdick’s name is the full one that was provided.

The N-Card classification may confuse collectors. The card was classified as N258 by Burdick because that was how he classified Central American sets. However, today, we mostly use the N-Card designation to represent sets from the 19th Century. So while this set has kept its original N258 classification, it is not a 19th Century card.

Cards featured a black and white player image on the front along the player’s name, team, and position in the border areas. The back included a card number as well as the player’s name and a brief statement about the cards in Spanish and an offer for a collectable premium album.

Numerous big names are found in the set and Dazzy Vance’s card is actually his major league rookie issue.

Premium Album Offer

Translated, the backs of the cards read:

“The person that sends the complete set of 136 pitchers cards will be given a luxurious album that contains pictures of all of the National and American League cards.”

The Diaz Cigarettes address is then presented.

It is unclear if any redeemed cards were returned to the sender. Some of the cards have been found with little cuts in them, which could mean those are redeemed issues. But there are not many albums out there today and it is unclear if redeeming an entire set was the only way to obtain one or if they could be purchased. The album offered to collectors is this one, often called the Tomas Gutierrez album.

1924 N258 Cigarrera Diaz (Diaz Cigarettes) Big League Pitchers Checklist

Here is a checklist of the entire set.

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