Merry Christmas!

I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Safe New Year. Welcome 2010!!!

More Baseball Cards

I have many small oddball sets in my collection. Here is one I’d like to share.

This set is called the 300/400/500 Set. Here is the Title Card.

This 30 card set was issued in 1980 and has players who either had at least 300 wins, batted 400 or better or had 500 or more home runs. The cards are square and have an outline of the base paths and are numbered inside home plate. The cards are blank backed and show the player’s body in artwork done by R. G. (Bob) Laughlin with an out of proportion head photograph.

Bob Laughlin made many small card sets in the late 1960s to the early 1980s and sold them himself for around $3.00 to $5.00. Many of the sets are highly collectible today. One of his first sets, the 1967 World Series set, was mass produced by Fleer in 1970 and 1971.

Here is one of my favorite card pictures in the set, card # 23 of Frank Robinson.


The set contains my favorite player, Mickey Mantle. Here is his card, #18 in the set.

Garbage!

Matchbox has issued some garbage (or refuse) trucks over the years.

Here is the first one, first issued in 1957, the #38A Karrier Refuse Truck.



The next version came along in 1963, the #15C Dennis Refuse Truck. Shown are both variations, the one on the left has a peep hole while the one one the right does not.

Finally, from 1966 is the #7C Ford Refuse Truck. Also shown is his big brother, the K-7 in the king size range.

1979 Topps Comics

In 1979, Topps issued a set of 33 Comics which featured the current baseball stars. The set has never been very popular with collectors.

Here is a display box.

The comics were inside a wrapper with gum and sold for 5 cents. Very similar to a piece of "Bazooka" gum, which is also made by Topps. Here are a few packs.

The comics are blank backed and feature a player as well as an "Inside Baseball: tip in the lower right hand corner. Here is an uncut wrapper and comic of #20, Dave Kingman.

MOVING DAY!

Matchbox has issued a few moving trucks over the years. Here are a coup;e from my collection.

This is the #17(A) Bedford Removal Van. It has metal wheels and was first issued in 1956.

Here are two variations of the #46(B) Pickfords Removal Van, first issued in 1960. The on on the left has silver plastic wheels and the one on the right has black plastic wheels.

Here is another variation, in blue with grey plastic wheels.

1968 Topps Baseball Cards

The Topps Baseball Card set from 1968 consists of 598 cards. Here is a wrapper the cards were packed in.


The cards have a tan mesh border. Here is a group of New York Yankee cards.


One of my favorite cards in the set is this card of Roger Maris. It was odd seeing him in a St. Louis Cardinal uniform as I only remembered him as a New York Yankee. But the picture of him is a classic pose.



There were some variations of cards issued in the set. Here is the card of Ed Brinkman. If you notice, the card on the left has his team name, Senators, in yellow while the card on the right has it in white.



I was 11 years old in 1968 and couldn't wait to watch the World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox. Boston won the American League pennant on the last day of the season in a multi team race. I did not like the teams in the 1965 or 1966 World Series so this was going to be exciting. For Game #2, I was in school as a fifth grader and the Boston pitcher, Jim Longborg, was pitching a no hitter in the game. Usually someone had a radio (maybe even one of the teachers!) so we would get a recap of the game now and then.

While I wanted to rush home to watch the end of the game, I couldn't because I had Patrol Duty outside Whittier School in Dunellen, NJ. But luck was with me that day as I was right outside Harneds, a small mom and pop grocery store and whoever was running the store had a radio on listening to the game and it was loud enough for me to hear! Longborg won the game but he lost his no hitter with one out to go. Here is the card regarding that game.



I remember it like it was yesterday!

GOT MILK?

As a boy, we never had a Milkman deliver milk to the house. Luckily, there was a small store withing walking distance so every time my mom got milk, bread, etc., she also picked a a pack or tow of baseball cards!

However, my grandmother did get milk delivered. Her milk truck, when I was a child, was similar to this model made by the Danbury Mint.

Matchbox has also issued various milk delivery vehicles. Here is the #7A Horse Drawn Milk Float, first issued in 1954.

Here is the #29A Bedford Milk Delivery Van, issued in 1956.

Here are two variations of the #21C Commer Milk Float, issued in 1961. The one on the left has silver wheels, cream load, bottle decal and clear windows. The one on the right has black wheels, white load, cow decal and green windows. You can also see the sign on top is different too.

My favorite thing to go with milk? That's easy!

Baseball Card Packs

Topps has packaged their baseball cards in many different ways over the years.

There is the traditional pack of cards. The pack on the left is a Wax Pack from 1979 and on the right a more recent pack, from 2005, made of heavier paper or foil to prevent tampering.


Topps actually experimented with a tamper proof pack over 25 years ago. Here is a “Michigan” Test Pack from 1983. These packs were tested in the state of Michigan.


Topps also packaged 3 packs in a card trays, know as Tray Packs. Here is one from 1980.


They also used Rack Packs, a group of three packs of cards without wrappers, covered with cellophane with a cardboard or cellophane header than was hung from a pegboard display. Here is one from 1983.


Cards were also sold in cellophane wrapped around the cards. These Cello Packs were great as you could see the top and bottom cards. Here is a Cello Pack from 1984.


Again, Topps had experimented with cello packs years before. From 1970 to 1972 they released cards packed in cellophane in their own little box. Here are the packs from 1970, 1971 and 1972.
　

Matchbox Catalogs

As faithful readers will recall. Matchbox produced a catalog each year of their line of cars and accessories. As a child, my mom would pick up a catalog at the store and tell me to pick out some cars that maybe “Santa” would bring me on Christmas morning.

The firs t Matchbox catalog was issued in 1957, a fold out catalog. Here is the 1959 catalog.


Here is the 1960 catalog.

There was not too much imagination on the covers of the 1961, 1962 and 1963 catalogs.


At least the insides were a little different. The top picture is from the 1961 catalog, the bottom one from 1963.

The 1964 and 1965 catalogs at least had different covers.

But their insides were similar!

The catalogs were issued not only in England and the USA, but in many different foreign countries. Here are the 1973 catalogs from the USA and the United Kingdom.

1963 Fleer Baseball Cards

When I was a kid growing up and collecting baseball cards, the only company making cards was Topps. Now , so many different companies make cards you can’t keep up with them.

However, prior to their current run of cards from 1981, Fleer made some baseball card sets, primarily during the 1960’s.

In 1959, they produced an 80 card set on Ted Williams. In 1960 and 1961, they produced sets of cards featuring retired players. Here is card #21 of Howard Ehmke from the 1961 set.




In 1963, Fleer issued a set of 67 cards of current baseball players. The cards were issued with a cherry cookie! This resulted in damages to many cards. Here is the wrapper the cards came in.


Here is the card of Willie Mays, #5 in the set.



The big coup for Fleer was they had the first card issued of Maury Wills. Wills was not considered a top prospect by Topps in the late 1950s so they did nit sign him to a contract. When Wills made it to the majors, he snubbed them but did sign with Fleer. It didn't hurt that he was the National League's Most Valuable Player in 1962. Here is his card, #43 in the set.





As the set was released, Fleer wanted to include a checklist card. The cards were printed in sheets of 66, so, in the final print run, card #46, Joe Adcock was replaced by a checklist card. I love this short printed checklist card. Here is the one from my collection.
　

1964 Topps Giants

In 1964, Topps issued additional baseball card sets apart from their regular baseball card set. One such set was the "Giants" baseball card set. These cards were larger than the regular sized card. They were postcard size.

This 60 card set is beautifully photographed. The backs of each card is a highlight of the player's career shown as a newspaper article. A few cards were short printed and are more difficult to find.

Here is the card of #4, Sandy Koufax.

Here is the back of his card.

I love this card of #15, Jim Gentile. A great picture!

Here is the back of his card.

Here is the front and back of Mickey Mantle, #25 in the set.

The complete set of 60 currently sell for $150-$200.