Topps tried to keep kids engaged with their brand as often as possible and in the spring and summer of 1959, it came by way of an enticing offer on the side panel of the company's baseball wrappers. Just about every youngster whose parents weren't all that strict when it came to decor had a hard time resisting the pitch. Grab a few pieces of the … [Read more...]
1963 Bazooka All-Time Greats An Affordable Vintage Set
Bazooka began issuing cards on its boxes of gum beginning with its 1959 set. But in 1963, the Bazooka All-Time Greats baseball set moved away from a panel discussion. Topps had been putting cards on the back panels of Bazooka boxes, but the All-Time Greats set was the only one to be inserted inside the boxes of gum. Issued at the same time as its regular … [Read more...]
1971 Bazooka Football Set Sparked 1-Year Revival
Most of the kids who were collecting 1971 Bazooka football cards weren’t alive the last time those big boxes of penny bubble gum had a card on the back. While Topps spent the 1960s delivering an annual baseball set of some sort, it had no such arrangement with the NFL players. It didn’t last long. The ’71 set marks the end of the line for vintage Bazooka cards. If you … [Read more...]
Major Stars, Larger Set Make 1962 Bazooka An Attractive Issue
The 1962 Bazooka set was the fourth set of baseball cards produced by the chewing gum company. It not only included the largest number of players at the time, but it featured the biggest names in baseball. 1962 Bazooka Baseball Basics As was the case in previous Bazooka issues, the individual blank-backed cards measured approximately 1 3/4" x 2 3/4" and were part of … [Read more...]
Five Must Have Frank Robinson Oddball Cards
With a career that spanned 21 seasons in Major League Baseball, there are any number of collectible Frank Robinson cards. But it's not just Robinson's vintage top cards collectors should pursue. The Hall of Famer has many great oddball cards that are worth a look - here are five of his earliest editions. 5. 1960 Bazooka Robinson was part of Bazooka's first all-baseball set, … [Read more...]
7 Fun Rod Carew Cards to Collect
Rod Carew was a master of place-hitting, slapping balls to the opposite field, pulling when the opportunity arose. He led the American League in hits three times and had 200 or more hits in a season four times. He won seven American League batting titles, including four in a row from 1972 to 1975. In 1972, he won the batting title without hitting a home run. Only … [Read more...]
1971 Bazooka Baseball Set Marked End of Era
Bazooka Gum's 13-year run of card sets ended in 1971, but not without an air of mystery. The 1971 Bazooka baseball set is actually a two-headed monster. Again created for placement on the back of Bazooka boxes which were filled with penny pieces of bubble gum, the set consists of 36 unnumbered cards, produced on 12 panels of three players each. However, there is also a … [Read more...]
1959 Bazooka Baseball Set Offers Ultimate ‘Bubble Gum Card’ Challenge
If you are a set collector looking for a real challenge – not just a test, but an upper level course at set-builder graduate school – then you might be ready to start chasing down the ultra-rare 1959 Bazooka Baseball set. The baseball card collecting world of 1959 knew two things – pictures of ball players will never have any value and packs of them cost either a penny or a … [Read more...]
2013 Topps Heritage Minors Delivers
During one of the Topps Company visits to Beckett headquarters during the mid-1990’s, I remember a meeting in which one of the executives mentioned just how important brand identity and loyalty was to their customers. Nearly 20 years later, that concept still holds true but one product that I thought carved out a great identity for the company was Stadium Club. A lot of … [Read more...]