Celeb Rookie: Gumby

“I’m Gumby dammit!” Who could forget Eddie Murphy’s iconic take on this classic character while on Saturday Night Live? The answer is nobody.

Created in the early 1950’s by Art Clokey, Gumby is one of the most well-known stop-motion characters ever to hit television and movie screens. Along with his main sidekick Pokey, Gumby travels through various environments and times in history. From racing cars to going to space, Gumby has done it all. On these adventures trouble makers such as the G and J Blockheads are encountered along the way. Over the years more friends and characters have been added.

Does Gumby have a rookie card? Yes.

The Gumby line of merchandise seems to be endless. Growing up I didn’t know someone who was without at least one bendable Gumby toy. A Gumby-like figure did make an appearance in 1991 Topps Wacky Packages under the name “Scumby”. But does a parody count as a true rookie card? I think that might be a discussion for another day. Now we’re crossing over into Wander Franco 2021 Bowman’s Best territory. For the sake of this post lets stick with the true Gumby set from 2001.

Toon’s Station released a preview set of Gumby cards in 2001. The set consists of a title card, plus six other cards. One of which pictures Gumby’s creator Art Clokey. Honestly, I would treat the title card as Gumby’s true rookie card. 2,500 preview sets were produced. The same image of Art Clokey was also used on a promotional card separate from the preview set.

As you can probably guess the preview set and promotional card were just suppose to be the beginning. Plans for a 100-card set were in the works, but didn’t materialize. All we know is that Art Clokey autographs would have been used in it.