The Post War Cards Newsletter #24
👋 Welcome to the latest issue of The Post War Cards Newsletter, the newsletter that celebrates #TheHobby.
🗓️ Every week, I share unique content about vintage sports cards, hobby & sports history, and industry activity with collectors.
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🥤 1959 Yoo-Hoo
The 1959 Yoo-Hoo cards are a pretty cool set of five New York Yankees cards that the company used to promote their chocolate-flavored soft drink, "The Drink of Champions!"
The cards feature posed black and white spring training photos; they’re unnumbered and have blank backs. The fronts also have a facsimile autograph and the slogan “Me for Yoo-Hoo.”
Each 2-7/16’’ x 5-1/8’’ card was issued with a tab along the bottom that could be cut off and redeemed for prizes, so surviving copies with tabs are significantly more expensive.
I’ve also seen collectors share a few copies with much longer “full-length” tabs.
In the Spring of 2018, Robert Edward Auctions sold a complete set with tabs, the highest on the PSA Set Registry at the time, for $4200. And in the fall of 2019, they sold the #1 set without tabs (pictured above) for $1020. But lower-grade individual cards are more affordable and because of the black-and-white design, present incredibly well.
They’re also pretty available, PSA has graded 207 cards in total, including:
Yogi Berra: 9 with tabs and 14 without (often described as the set’s scarcest and key card)
Whitey Ford: 9 with tabs and 30 without
Tony Kubek: 9 with tabs and 51 without
Gil McDougald: 8 with tabs and 59 without
Bill Skowron: 9 with tabs and 9 without
SGC has graded quite a few as well (who knows how many have crossed between the companies)
Yogi Berra: 2 with tabs and 16 without (1 with no description)
Whitey Ford: 2 with tabs and 15 without (5 with no description)
Tony Kubek: 2 with tabs and 29 without (5 with no description)
Gil McDougald: 2 with tabs and 174 without
Bill Skowron: 2 with tabs and 12 without (1 with no description)
On a related note, there is a 1959 Yoo-Hoo Mickey Mantle card (SGC has graded three of them, PSA five), but it’s considered an advertising piece and not a part of this set; its dimensions are a little smaller too. A set of Yoo-Hoo Bottle Caps from 1959 are also pretty popular today, featuring Berra, Ford, Kubek, Mantle, McDougald, and Skowron, which came in both a pry-off and screw-top style.
If you like this sort of set summary, check out the Oddball Archive for many more like it.
🗞️ In The News
Sandusky Register: Sheriff: Man stole $185K in sports cards
Sports Collectors Daily: eBay Looks to Hire GM for Trading Cards
WJHG: Pair of smash and grab burglaries result in six-figure loss
CBS Sports: Michael Jordan signed, game-worn shoes from 1993 NBA playoffs sell for $192,000 at auction
The Verge: Was trading NBA Top Shots actually like trading stocks? A lawsuit will decide
TechCrunch: CollX raises $5.5M to scan and evaluate value of trading cards
Bucs Wire: Tom Brady is getting his own baseball cards
Beckett: 1916 M101-4 Sporting News Babe Ruth Tops $1.7Million
Sports Collectors Digest: Successful 2023 Cubs Convention screams ‘Baseball is Back’ for fans, collectors
Kotaku: Pokémon Collectors Keep Driving Up Prices On Trading Cards With Women And Girls
Kiplinger: Estate Planning for Memorabilia Collectors: Don’t Leave Your Family in the Lurch
Phoenix Business Journal: Rip Valley sports collectible shop aims to combine sports cards and culture
🏒 Classic Auctions
It’s a bit embarrassing, and maybe it’s because I’ve never been a big hockey collector, but I only learned about Classic Auctions about a year ago, but they have a really strong history, dating back to 1994, in historical hockey memorabilia and vintage trading cards. They just wrapped up their Historical Hockey And Sports Memorabilia Auction (Winter 2023) on February 28th, so I thought I’d share five lots that I found particularly interesting.
Lot 81: Detroit Red Wings April 16th 1964 Detroit Red Wings Team-Signed Stanley Cup Finals Program
Final Price $525
Unique library-like pieces appeal to me and my obsession with building a great hobby library. I can’t imagine there is any other piece like this from the 1964 Stanley Cup that includes 16 autographs (Including Howe).
Final Price $17912
Classis Auctions described this lot as a “scrapbook jackpot.” And it was indeed. The C56 set is considered the first known set of hockey cards, and the C55s are another historically significant (and unattributed, but likely Imperial Tobacco) hockey set that are both essential buys for hockey fans looking to build important collections.
Lot 479: 1951-52 Parkhurst Hockey Complete 105-Card Set
Final Price: $17912
The 1951-52 Parkhurst set is a landmark as it was Parkhurt’s first and has Gordie Howe’s rookie card, one of the most coveted hockey cards in the hobby. Clean, complete sets don’t come up for sale that often.
Lot 704: 1971-72 Toronto Sun Hockey Photos (284) with Albums
Final Price $273
This is the lot I was most sad to have missed out on. It’s featured in Bobby Burrell’s Vintage Hockey Collector Book. He wrote that there are three different back variations of these photos, Toronto Sun Logo, No Toronto Sun Logo, and No Toronto Sun Logo with “The Columbian” over the circle NHL Action Players logo.
Lot 705: 1951-52 Parkhurst Hockey Card Wrapper Box Collection of 2
Final Price $1710
Another cool item from the 1951-52 Parkhurst set wraps up my list. This time, it’s a pair of wrapper boxes that feature Teeder Kennedy. Here’s my entry for the set on the Unopened Archive.
⌨️ On The PostWarCards Blog
February 20th, 2023: 1990 SkyBox Salutes The NBA: The First Logoman Card
February 21st, 2023: Launching A New Project: Original Pictures Used For The 1952 Topps Baseball Set
February 27th, 2023: The Marketing Showdown of 1981: How Donruss, Fleer, and Topps Tried to Differentiate Their Baseball Card Products
February 28th, 2023: Discover Your Love For Vintage Sports Card Checklists: Checklist Central Is Here
March 1st, 2023: This Month on PostWarCards – March 2023
💯 The First Over 100
During the 1968-1969 season, Phil Esposito scored 126 points (49 goals - 77 assists) in 74 games; the first player to score >100 points in a season. Here’s his 1969 O-Pee-Chee card which is a pop 16 card in Mint 9 condition (none higher).
I haven’t seen one sold in that grade for a few years, but there is a copy up on eBay for $1000 right now.