In 1970... Topps raised the price of their baseball card packs from 5¢ to 10¢. I'm sure kids back weren't amused when they saw that the price doubled in one year. To help justify the increase in price, Topps inserted three different inserts into their packs: posters, scratch-offs, and booklets.
Based on an article I read on Sports Collectors Daily, the inserts were distributed in three different series. Today's post features my recently purchased 1970 Topps Booklets set. These were inserted into the third and final series of packs at a rate of one per pack.
There are twenty-four booklets in the set...
As expected, there are a lot of big names in the set. Although none of these guys are hall of famers, I was able to recognize five out of the first six guys in the set.
However I was surprised to see six guys I'd never heard of: Walt Williams, Wally Bunker, Mike Epstein, Denis Menke, Deron Johnson, and Al Ferrara. I'm sure these guys were solid players back in the day, but this set was released two years before I was born.
As for hall of famers, there are currently only five in this set: Reggie Jackson, Orlando Cepeda, Ernie Banks, Bob Gibson, and Willie Mays. I'm hoping to see Tony Oliva and Pete Rose one day join this list.
I want to give you an inside peek into one of the booklets, but I don't want to mess with any of the singles from this set. Outside of being a little off-centered, this set is clean. I'm not even sure if they've ever been opened.
That's why I grabbed the Ernie Banks from my 70's binder and scanned it instead...
Front and Back Covers
On the back of each booklet you'll find the complete twenty-four booklet checklist. Inside there's a six page comic highlighting the player's career:
If you grew up reading comic books and collecting cards, then you might want to check out this set. The best part is the price. I was able to pick up this forty-nine year old insert set for $31 (free shipping), but I've seen them sell for less than this.
Well that's it for now. Here is today's question of the day...
How many names on this checklist did you not recognize?
Happy Throwback Thursday and sayonara!
18 comments:
Menke and Bunker were the only two I didn't recognize. But then I was 13 in 1970. Putting together some stuff for you in addition to whatever you choose from the Padrograph contest.
Those are very clean, I'm not surprised you didn't want to open one.
You make a good point about the checklist, it seems Topps could have packed more star power into it but maybe they wanted to represent every team and not every team had a household name back in '70. It was ten years before I was born so I hope I don't sound dumb for not recognizing Johnstone, Williams, Menke, Moose or Ferara. Epstein and Bunker sound vaguely familiar, but i couldnt tell you anything about them without sneaking a peek at baseball-reference.
I recognize all of the names, due to having seen these and other cards before.
Love the cartoon with Banks packing heat ,lol.
That is a pretty awesome set, I can't believe it sells for only 31$ Great pick up!
Yeah, I would have thought it would have been a lot more expensive than $31. Pretty cool!
I was in college in 1970 and these guys were all familiar to me. I've done a few Wally Bunker posts. He was a young Orioles star in 1964. I bought a Rawlings Wally Bunker model glove in 1965 which I still own and use from time to time. Bunker lever lived up to his early promise. But I've never forgotten him. He is a children's author in retirement.
I love this little set. The cartoons are terrific for the most part. These booklets were the first things I bought when I discovered COMC.
Know 'em all, bud, and most played before I knew what baseball was.
This is one of several baseball-card related items that feature comics. I did a post on it awhile ago. It's the best combination.
I would say about a dozen I didn't know. Very cool set
The only name that isn’t familiar is Al Ferrara. Surprised you don’t no Walt Williams just for his famous lack of a neck.
I didn't remember Bob Moose at all. Outside of that, I think I knew them all. Even though I definitely wasn't alive then, my dad was just starting to collect in 1970 and so he has a lot of cards from back then, and I look at them sometimes.
Wow, I've never looked inside one of these booklets. The artwork is terrific. The first right-hand frame is my favorite, because the perspective makes Banks look huge, while the pitcher is tiny and overwhelmed.
I have a few of these booklets in my collection. I like them and the scratch offs quite a bit, but nothing can top the posters, in my opinion.
I know everybody in the checklist, but I'm a bit older than you are. I believe there's one comic for each team (including four sophomore expansion teams) so that in itself would limit the star power.
As Brett Alan mentioned, you might know Walt Williams better by his "No Neck" nickname. I don't know if the comic mentions this, but Al Ferrara tried to make a go of acting and had minor roles in episodes of Gilligan's Island, Batman and (you probably won't know this show) Baretta. "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time (don't do it!)"
I'm also older and recognize all the names. I still have a bunch of booklets I pulled from packs back in 1970. I'm pretty sure I also have a complete set plus of the hockey versions.
Wow. Ten people answered my question of the day, and a staggering 50% knew every name on the checklist. That's impressive! Two other people were able to recognize 23 out of 24 players. Guess I better get out there and start studying my baseball.
rod - thanks for the contest. you really don't need to send me anything, since i owe you multiple care packages worth of cards.
chris & the shlabotnik report - you guys are totally right. didn't even consider the whole one comic per team. gonna go search up ferrara and gilligan's island.
johnnys trading spot - nice. a+
sg488 - i'm sure topps would receive complaints if they did today ;)
sean & sumomenkoman - i've seen them sell in the $20 to $30 range... but they're not as nice as these. the one downside to my set is the centering.
commishbob - i kinda wish i bought a worse conditioned set, so i could actually read these comics. thanks for the info on bunker. i'll have to look up his books.
night owl - had to search up the post, but i remembered it as soon as i saw it. my two favorites are these booklets and the 1979 topps comics. they sure don't make them like they used to
collecting cutch - yeah. maybe one day topps will use them in heritage and make one of cutch
brett alan - had to look up his famous no-neck. lol. still not sure if i've seen it or not.
gtt - sadly i think the only thing i knew about moose was that he passed away at such a young age.
gregory - that's my favorite frame too. i mean... 5 grand slams in a single season. that's darn impressive.
henry blanchette - agree 100% love those posters!
hackenbush - they made hockey versions? might need to add that set to my collection as well. thanks.
Pretty cool. I've never seen those before. Fun post.
Thanks. It's just a shame that I can't read them. Well... I could, but they seem to be fresh from packs and I don't want to damage them.
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