The Post War Cards Newsletter #7

Nov 07, 2024

Let's get right to it...

🔥 Top Ten Pre-1980 Football, Basketball, & Hockey Cards 28 Years Ago

Sports Card Magazine had a great feature in the mid-'90s, listing the cards and sets across various categories that generated the most demand within the hobby over the last month. The following example is from October 1996.

If this were printed today, I'd have to think the 1961 Fleer Wilt Chamberlain would move up to #1 on the November 2024 list for pre-1980 Football, Basketball, & Hockey, with the recently graded SGC-10 that was crossed to a PSA 10. The 1969 Topps Kareem RC would also probably be a mainstay. However, Jack Kemp probably wouldn't make the cut.

✍️ Great Hobby Writing

A Penny Sleeve for Your Thoughts: The Horror of it All
Hobby News Daily: Five Fun Facts About the First Topps World Series Set
Pre-War Collector: Ten Things to Know About Trade Cards
Baseball Cards Come to Life: Wood vs. Wood #224
Japanese Baseball Cards: Dual Champions Revisited
Nine Pockets: Hockey Sticks
SABR's Baseball Cards Research Committee: Bob Laughlin's Earliest Sets
Night Owl Cards: The 1975 Topps Countdown, Worst to Best (No. 20-1)

🏒 Unopened Item Of The Week - Fake 1979 Topps Hockey Wax Trays

There are a lot of fake, vintage sports card unopened products for sale in the hobby. One example is the 1979 Topps hockey wax tray. A smattering of them have been popping up on eBay again recently (the Probstein one was removed before it could end).

And a few years ago, a GAI-encapsulated one sold for $2k.

I had an old article on the blog about them, which I'll edit and re-publish later, but the super short story is that a resealer in North Carolina made them by copying legit 1979 Topps Football trays.

A few more things:

BBCE won't authenticate the hockey racks, noting that in the past, no one had ever seen a case of them and that these racks didn't exist around the hobby in the early '80s.
The hobby also hasn't seen a dealer ad sheet for them.
There are inconsistencies between the trays and Topps' distribution methods. Plus, some of the original overstock-buying dealers, like Larry Fritsch, haven't had any.
Trays have also been opened, and the packs showed a ton of red flags.
The hockey trays all seem to have extra cellophane slack.
Older price guides never listed them.

Again, there's still more evidence that Topps didn't produce 1979 Hockey Trays, but needless to say, if you're a vintage, unopened product collector, a bit of skepticism will always serve you well.

🏛️ The Hobby at the National Museum of American History

A few weeks ago, I found myself in Washington, D.C., and stumbled across this display in the National Museum of American History!

The All-American game on the left side featured a Stan Musial used bat, a Carl Yastrzemski worn helmet, a David Segui used glove, and a few replica cards.

The Segregated game display on the right side included a Bill Ewing pattern bat, Buck Leonard worn helmet, and Jimme Crutchfield worn cleats. The Negro League Baseball Stars cards are replicas from either the 1984 Decathlon or 1986 Fritsch sets. I read on TCDB that "Larry Fritsch bought the rights to produce the 1984 Decathlon set and reprinted it in 1986. The original Decathlon set has a 1984 Decathlon copyright line and had a print run of 2,000. The Fritsch set has a 1986 Fritsch copyright line."

📝 On The Blog

October 31, 2024: 1952 Topps Baseball Type Photos and Crossovers
November 1, 2024: Five Incredibly Rare Hockey Wax Packs
November 2, 2024: SCD's Minor League Baseball Card Price Guide
November 3, 2024: Joe Jackson Autographed Check
November 4, 2024: 14 1950's and 1960's Topps Display Boxes
November 5, 2024: 1940's Pee Wee Reese Wheaties Advertising Sign
November 6, 2024: The Top 25 Most Expensive Baseball Cards in 1993

📰 In The News

NBC Los Angeles: Meet the Dodger Fan Who Caught Freddie Freeman's Grand Slam Ball
COMC Official Blog: COMC Shipping Update - November 2024
Sports Collectors Digest: Mickey Mantle's 'These Pens Suck' Autograph Sells for Six Figures at Lelands
Focus Taiwan: Taiwan Firm Reveals it Bought Ohtani 50th Home Run Ball for Over $4 Million
Fox4KC: Bobby Witt Sends Wedding Invitations Using Custom Baseball Cards
CBS Sacramento: El Dorado Hills Man Accused of Stealing Sports Cards from Target Faces Grand Theft Charges
Yahoo Finance: Ohtani HR Ball Boosts eBay Sports Collectibles Arm, but Shares Plunge
Collectibles on SI: Baseball Hall of Fame Loads Up on World Series Artifacts
Sports Collectors Daily: Record Month for Trading Card Grading (Again)
InMaricopa: Baseball Cards a Catalyst in Porter Road Ambush, Cops Say
cllct: Document that Banned Pete Rose from Baseball Sells for $409k
The National Sports Collectors Convention Inc.: 75 Table Expansion
Sports Collectors Digest: Michael Jordan Game-Worn Collection Tops $8 Million at Sotheby's
Penn Live: Burglar Stole $14k in Sports Trading Cards from Central Pa. Vendor

🦭 In The Hobby Library - 1957 Golden State Dairy San Francisco Seals PCL Stamp Album

The San Francisco Seals were a Pacific Coast League (PCL) team that made the Bay Area their home from 1903 to 1957. And while they technically played Minor League Baseball, with the Major Leagues only having 16 teams in 1957, the quality of play was really high.

You might recall that in 1958, the Giants and Dodgers moved west; the Giants even played their 1958 and 1959 home games in Seals Stadium (the Seals moved to Phoenix in '58). Anyway, the Seals were one of the best teams in the PCL, winning 14 titles, including in 1957 when the following Stamp Album was released.

The album represented a marketing partnership between Golden State Dairy Foods and the team. It was available at the stadium or at food stores, and stamps were available at home games between May 28 and September 15, 1957.