30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Tan, Thin, and Gorgeous

Last month, I showcased my recently purchased 1970 Topps Booklets set and Henry over at Cardboard Greats left a comment regarding his fanfare for the 1970 Topps Posters.  I couldn't agree more.  They're gorgeous!



In 1970 Topps decided to raise their wax pack price from to 10¢, which is probably why they decided to add these bonuses for collectorsOne of these posters were included in each Series One pack.



Since I have a few eBay gift cards laying around, I added the set to my saved searches.  Within a few weeks, I found a set that fit my price range and condition parameters.  When the auction ended, I was the winning bidder.  Final price was $62 (free shipping), which breaks down to around $2.60 per poster.



There are twenty-four posters in the set with each team from the 1969 season being represented.  Eight of the posters depict players elected into Cooperstown:  Phil NiekroLou BrockRon SantoWillie McCoveyJohnny BenchFrank RobinsonRod Carew, and Roberto Clemente.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that I recognize almost every name on the checklist.  Joe HorlenLarry Dierker, and Don Mincher were the only guys I didn't know.  That's a huge improvement compared to my 1970 Topps Booklets set.



Each of these posters measure a whopping 8.69" x 9.63".  In order to fit them into packs, they were printed on thin newsprint paper and folded multiple times.



The thin newsprint paper is prone to tearing and discoloration, so keep these things in mind if you decide to target any of these for your collection.  The majority of my set is really clean, but three contain a small tear along folds.



The seller pointed out the flaw in the Lou Brock, but didn't mention the other two.  I didn't bother saying anything, because I was pretty excited about the overall condition of this set. And honestly... I was really blown away by this set's design.

My only complaint is the the oddball size which made finding a storage solution a pain.  I'd like to eventually find a way to display these in a binder for easy viewing.  Until then... I have them stored flat inside of a magazine bag with a backing board.  

Well that's all folks.  Feel free to leave your thoughts on this vintage set or any storage suggestions down below.  As usual... I look forward to reading and responding to them.

Have a happy Thursday and sayonara!

14 comments:

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

Great odd ball/inserts. Heck of a checklist too.

Billy Kingsley said...

Topps did a poster set in the NBA around then as well. Same newsprint. I have the only one I've ever seen, a Willis Reed. I put it in a magazine bag as well, it came to me loose.

Brett Alan said...

They really are nice. They remind me of album covers.

I'm surprised there aren't more HOFers in the set, but I guess the one-player-per-team thing makes it tough--can't have both Brock and Bob Gibson, having Niekro means no Aaron, and so on. Interesting that they have Agee instead of Seaver, but Agee was a star then. Surprised you don't know Larry Dierker, who was the Astros manager for 6 years ending in 2001.

SumoMenkoMan said...

Too bad there are so many of them....they’d definitely look good framed.

Jim from Downingtown said...

Your statement "In 1970 Topps decided to raise their wax pack price from 5¢ to 10¢" doesn't mention that the number of cards per pack increased from 5 to 10, so it was a wash.

The Lost Collector said...

I'm not familiar with these. Very neat!

gregory said...

I didn't know these existed. And I agree with Brett Alan -- they do resemble album covers! The design gets an A+, for sure.

Matt said...

I haven't ever seen those before. Look great!

bbcardz said...

I still have all of my pack-pulled 1970 posters--just need McCovey and Dierker to complete the set.

Fuji said...

johnnys trading spot - yeah... they're pretty sweet. just a pain in the bottom to store

billy kingsley - if you're referring to the 70/71 topps set... i'm a big fan too. there's a chamberlain in it that i'd love to add to my lakers pc.

brett alan - good call on the album covers. i honestly couldn't name half of the managers right now. i used to be really good at naming them back in the 80's. but that's when i'd study my baseball cards in my free time

sumomenkoman - maybe i'll find an extra campy and frame it up for my office. although over the years it'd definitely get browner and browner.

jim from downingtown - thanks for the info. i used sports collectors daily as my resource, but didn't see that mentioned. it totally make sense though.

the lost collector - they're really cool. i'd love to see topps remake this and include them in an archives product with current players

gregory - maybe they don't get a lot of exposure due to their size. i can imagine it'd be hard to display this at a card show. you'd have to either fold them up or keep them displayed flat. customers wouldn't be able to see them folded up... but displaying them would take up valuable table space.

sport card collectors - thanks. they do look pretty amazing

bbcardz - nice. i wish i could say that i built a set of these by busting packs. good luck with the mccovey and dierker. i'm sure you could cross off both of these guys for less than $10.

Henry Blanchette said...

I'd love to track down the Clemente poster one of these days. The best that I have from the set is Frank Robinson. The posters are just so colorful, and I can't get enough of them.

Nick Vossbrink said...

We had a storage suggestion post over on SABR for the bigger posters
https://sabrbaseballcards.blog/2018/05/11/man-without-portfolio/

Same approach would work with these smaller posters. Itoya makes 9x12 portfolios with 24 sleeves even.
https://www.amazon.com/Itoya-Profolio-Original-Presentation-Inches/dp/B0000AE68P

You can probably even find them at Michaels.

Fuji said...

henry blanchette - clemente was the first poster i owned. grabbed it at the flea market for a buck a few years ago. i'm sure you'll stumble across a few clementes at the national. best of luck.

nick vossbrink - thank you for the suggestion. i just ordered one off of amazon. can't wait to give it a shot.

Hackenbush said...

Sorry I'm late. I should have a bunch of those 'cause I still have my cards. I don't. Cool to see the whole set. The bonus reminds me of what we've lost when lp's went away. Back in the olden days records often came with bonuses like booklets, lyric sheets, and even posters. I still have some.