Fleer was prevented from using current players by Topps' exclusive rights, so they issued their Baseball Greats set using retired players, managers, executives and the two league commissioners. Luckily Fleer had their own exclusive rights deal with Ted Williams, who quickly became the most in demand card in the set. Unfortunately the weak card design and retired players made it a giant dud with kids and the product was not well received.

There are very scarce variations with Joe Tinker,Eddie Collins & Lefty Grove fronts, all with #80 Pepper Martin backs. They are usually found cancelled or hand-cut from sheets. Likely Pepper Martin's card was pulled due to contract issues. The variations are not considered part of the complete set.