The Post War Cards Newsletter #10
Happy Thanksgiving! Let's talk about football cards...
🏈 Answering NFL's Bell - How 1956 Topps Football Came To Be
Dwight Chapin published a great story in the Winter 1992 issue (#13) of Topps Magazine, featuring an interview with Sy Berger about Topps' first significant football set in 1956; they had previously experimented with college football players.
When Topps bought Bowman in '55, it was uncertain whether they could just take over Bowman's contract with the NFL. So Berger called Bert Bell (the NFL's commissioner), who just wanted publicity for the then "marginally popular league." Berger said the negotiations were easy; the more cards Topps sold, the more royalties they paid to the NFL. However, the players didn't get a fee from Topps then, and the NFL didn't "need the money," so Berger recommended giving it to the players, which ended up happening via the Bert Bell Benefit Fund, the players' pension fund.
That '56 set has 120 cards, and it's pricey as a whole; however, none of the individual cards are stratospherically expensive. The key card may be the unnumbered checklist! Memory Lane sold the following PSA 8 for $1,930 in September 2023.
✍️ Great Hobby Writing
SABR's Baseball Cards Research Committee: The "1948" Leaf HOF Rookie Cards That Aren't Anymore
Sports Collectors Daily: 1970 Venezuelan Baseball Card Set Connects With Off-Season Topps Players & How the 1994-95 NHL Lockout Spelled More Trouble for the Hobby
Night Owl Cards: Every Clemente Tells a Story
Number 5 Type Collection: Top 5 Deep Cut Cards for Immaculate Grid
Japanese Baseball Cards: 1934 All American Tour 90th Anniversary - Yokohama
The Shlabotnik Report: Let's Pretend I Went to a Sportscard Show This Past Weekend
Baseball Card Breakdown: Vintage Frankenset Page 5
Nine Pockets: A Smorgasbord! Kraft Dinners (Hockey)
Collectibles on SI: New Rookie Cards for Jackie Robinson?
Hobby News Daily: Clash of the Short-Print Titans: Who is Hockey's Honus Wagner? Bert Corbeau vs. Sprague Cleghorn
Not Another Baseball Card Blog: Rico Carty
Don Cardwell Loves this Blog: The New Yorker Book of Baseball Cartoons
Sports Collectors Digest: Rare, Unique 1977 Topps Mexican Football Cards Gain Value Despite Poor Quality, Quirks
📦 Unopened Item Of The Week - 1959 Topps Football 2nd Series Vending Box
Today, CollectAuctions offers unopened items from the Larry Fritsch Warehouse, a partnership previously held by Mastro. In his April 2006 catalog, Mastro discussed the budding relationship with Larry and his son, Jeff, that brought a ton of incredible unopened material to the market, including this 1959 Topps Football 2nd Series Unopened Vending Box.
You may also remember reading about the 1959 Topps Football 1st Series Vending Box that Heritage sold for $117k back in January 2023. But more on the nuances of that box in a future blog post (it's a long story).
📝 On The Blog
November 21, 2024: 1928 Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig H&B Louisville Slugger Bats Advertising Display
November 21, 2024: 18 Awesome Early 1990s Baseball Cards to Collect
November 22, 2024: A Circa 1961 Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris Bakelite Like Plastic Radio
November 23, 2024: Lou Gehrig's Official "Plaball" Baseball Game
November 24, 2024: A Complete 1943-1947 Centennial Flour Seattle Rainiers Collection
November 24, 2024: A Great New Gift Idea! The Topps 1964 Baseball Gift Box
November 25, 2024: Top 10 World Series Cards
November 25, 2024: The Unopened Archive
November 26, 2024: An Incredibly Rare 1930s Walter Johnson Candy Dick Tracy Wrapper
November 26, 2024: The Uncut Sheet Archive
November 27, 2024: 1965 Topps John Huarte Original Football card Artwork
🗺️ Card Show History - 5th Delaware Valley Sports Collectors Show
After talking about Guenrsey's Topps Auction in last week's newsletter, I thought it made sense to highlight the 5th Delaware Valley Sports Collectors Show this week. Why? Well, because of the 1952 Bowman Steve Van Buren card pictured to advertise his appearance at the show.
You see, Guernsey's offered the original art for the card as item B72 in the auction. The original art piece sold for $1,500 plus a 10% buyer's premium.
🥣 In The Hobby Library - 1964 Wheaties Football Player Stamp Album
The 1964 Wheaties Football Player Stamp Album is a pretty nifty hobby library collectible.
It opens with a few pages about the history of NFL football and NFL Pro Bowl History before including 68 player writeups and space to glue their stamp.
Unfortunately, the 1964 Wheaties Stamps set has 70 players and 4 team emblems; Joe Schmidt and Y.A. Tittle were excluded from the album. Nearmint's Vintage Football Card Blog has an excellent write-up on the set that highlights these inconsistencies. Also, TCDB has an example of a Wheaties box advertising a 68 (not 70 or 74 with emblems) stamp set.
The final pages of the album included Pro Bowl Football Game Facts and Records between 1951 and 1964.
You can pick up albums with all the stamps glued in for between $100 and $150.
Happy collecting and Happy Thanksgiving!