By popular demand, here are a few more nuggets we dug up over the weekend from coverage of the hobby decades ago. In 1959, Topps wax putting 250 million baseball cards and 70 million football on the market, mostly through penny and nickel wax packs. Cello packs were decent sellers, which proved to company officials that in many cases, it wasn't the gum that was the … [Read more...]
Vintage Pack Facts: 1960 Topps Baseball
After three standard size, vertical designs, Topps shook things up again in 1960. Their baseball card set went horizontal for the first time since 1956, with a split screen type look that featured a head shot for most of the main photos and a posed action image on the side. There were plenty of ways to buy cards as the decade began, too. There have been finds of … [Read more...]
Remembering ‘Newk’: 5 Cards of Don Newcombe
Don Newcombe, who died Tuesday at the age of 92, was an imposing, hard-throwing pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He won 20 or more games three times during his 10-year major-league career and 19 games in 1950. He might have topped the 20-win plateau a few more times, but he lost the 1952 and 1953 seasons to military service. “Newk” stood 6-foot-4 and weighed 220 pounds. … [Read more...]
Recalling Yaz Cards 50 Years After Triple Crown Season
It started, oddly enough, with an 0-for-4. Rico Petrocelli--not Carl Yastrzemski-- was the star of the Boston Red Sox season opener on April 12, 1967. By the end of the year, though, Yaz would etch his name into baseball's record book. For those who remember, it might seem hard to believe this is the 50th anniversary season of his Triple Crown year. Yaz … [Read more...]
SCP Auctions Bids Farewell to Long-Time Fixture Clay Hill
The sports memorabilia business still a relatively young field and that’s why you’ll have a hard time finding anyone who has spent more than 30 years working for one company but Clay Hill was one of those people. Hill recently stepped down as SCP Auctions’ trading card expert to spend more time with his family. Long-time collectors will remember him as president of the … [Read more...]
Vintage Set Break of the Week: 1960 Topps
If you’re anything like me, the 1960 Topps design is a personal favorite. Maybe it's because it was the first vintage set I built. Maybe it’s the horizontal design. Maybe it’s the rookie card mini-sets, or the fun-loving all-star high numbers. Mickey Mantle’s card is, of course, iconic. Following closely on his heels in terms of hobby popularity are rookie cards of … [Read more...]
’60 Topps Set Bought, Sold for $40,000 in Short Order
One of the better 1960 Topps Baseball card sets in the hobby was broken up and sold recently with several cards either setting or approaching hobby records. New Jersey-based Just Collect offered the set, which had been virtually a lifetime project for a collector who opted to sell after a move to the west coast. All 572 cards had been graded by PSA, with none rating lower … [Read more...]
1960 Topps Baseball Set Saw Return of Horizontal Design
Distributed in penny or nickel wax packs, cello packs and rack packs (36 cards for 29 cents!), the 1960 Topps Baseball set took kids aback. Used to seeing a vertical image on their cards from 1957 through 1959, Topps shook things up by using the horizontal format they’d offered in 1955 and ’56. The idea lasted only one year. Topps promoted the set to stores that … [Read more...]
Photo of the Day: Image Used for 1960 Topps Rival All-Stars Card
It was still a novel enough concept in the 1950s that Topps felt to call it the ‘Interleague’ All-Star Game when the American and National Leaguers got together in mid-summer. Formality aside, the gatherings were a rare opportunity for fans to see players from both leagues on the same field at the same time without world championship implications. Our Photo of the Day from … [Read more...]