Topps packs weren’t enough for the most dedicated baseball card collectors in the early 1960s. Kids who really loved collecting, were crazy for cards—and had a few more nickels than the average youngster—had to have a box or three. The 1963 Bazooka baseball card series marked the fifth year for what had become an annual rite of summer. They remain popular, somewhat elusive and probably quite underrated.
The big boxes went above and beyond those little penny pieces of gum with Bazooka Joe comics inside. A whole box could keep you chewing for a couple of weeks. There were three cards on the back, separated by a dotted line. Yes, these were designed for cutting.
Unlike regular packs, you could actually see the players you were getting. Mickey Mantle disappeared from New York area grocery stores. Yaz went fast in New England. In the Upper Midwest, you could grab a Hank Aaron box and get Harmon Killebrew too.
In ’62, Bazooka had created 15 different panels. When boxes hit store shelves in the spring of ’63, there were only 12 different panels, but no shortage of superstars. Virtually every box had at least one future Hall of Famer, which is one reason why they’re a bit pricey today, at least in panel and complete box form. Some panels had multiple Hall of Famers including #1-3 (Mantle/Banks); #4-6 (Spahn/Mazeroski); #7-9 (Killebrew/Aaron); #16-18 (Yastrzemski/Drysdale) and #22-24 (Cepeda/Musial). The Bazooka Musial arrived as Stan the Man was finishing his remarkable career with the Cardinals and is among the last cards issued during his playing days.
Among the notable players missing from the checklist was Sandy Koufax, who had appeared in ’62 and would return in ’64.
The size of the cards was reduced slightly in ’63, to 1 9/16” by 2 ½” (panels are 2 ½” by about 4 11/16”. The backs, as usual, were blank.
Mantle was card #1 and single cards in decent shape typically sell for well over $500 with high-grade panels pushing $2,000 in the current market. A PSA 9 Roberto Clemente recently sold for $1,550 at auction.
Complete panel sets and complete boxes are not found very often since so few exist today. A panel set in good shape would likely fetch $2,000 or more.
According to the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards, the complete set was counterfeited in the early 2000s, with some winding up in obscure grading company holders.
Topps did double duty with Bazooka baseball cards in 1963, pushing out another set featuring stars from the past, created with black and white images and a gold “frame” surrounding them. The All-Time Greats cards are significantly easier to find today than the regular ’63 Bazooka cards.
The checklist for 1963 Bazooka baseball cards is below.
Check out 1963 Bazooka cards on eBay here.
1963 Bazooka Baseball Checklist (3 sequentially numbered cards made up each box back panel)
1 Mickey Mantle
2 Bob Rodgers
3 Ernie Banks
4 Norm Siebern
5 Warren Spahn
6 Bill Mazeroski
7 Harmon Killebrew
8 Dick Farrell
9 Hank Aaron
10 Dick Donovan
11 Jim Gentile
12 Willie Mays
13 Camilo Pascual
14 Roberto Clemente
15 Johnny Callison
16 Carl Yastrzemski
17 Don Drysdale
18 Johnny Romano
19 Al Jackson
20 Ralph Terry
21 Bill Monbouquette
22 Orlando Cepeda
23 Stan Musial
24 Floyd Robinson
25 Chuck Hinton
26 Bob Purkey
27 Ken Hubbs
28 Bill White
29 Ray Herbert
30 Brooks Robinson
31 Frank Robinson
32 Lee Thomas
33 Rocky Colavito
34 Al Kaline
35 Art Mahaffey
36 Tommy Davis
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