1964-1990 TOPPS COINS

1964 Topps Team Set

1971 Topps Team Set

 

1987 Topps Team Set

1988 Topps Team Set

1989 Topps Team Set

1990 Topps Team Set

1989 US Postal Service Legends ~ Jackie Robinson

In 1989 the U.S. Postal Service released U.S. postage stamps honoring Jackie Robinson, and a card matching the stamps.

1981-1993 Louisville Sluggers

Hillerich & Bradsby, makers of Louisville Slugger bats and gloves, produced these cards to be attached to the company’s baseball gloves. A small round hole is punched in the upper-left corner of each card to enable them to be attached to the gloves. Undamaged cards are hard to find. Cards were printed with a glossy finish through 1987, when a flat finish was adopted as production moved from Taiwan to the Philippines.

I received these from golfnut500 on ebay. I was so surprised when I saw them in such great condition, without the hole ripped, and with one of them even having the hole still intact and not punched.

Here is part of his listing description, which explains their nice condition:

"Around 1992 I received a phone call from the Attorney for the owner of Louisville Slugger.  He knew me as I (Minnesota Connection) was on page 13 of the popular weekly issue of SCD.  He saw the assortment of items I sold and wanted to know if I was interested in left over inventory of the Cards they produced to be attached to their Baseball Gloves sold all around the country."

Notice the location variation of where it was printed.

1978 MSA Wiffle Ball Discs ~ Steve Garvey

Can be found with a full box, the side panel cut off, or the perforated disc punched out (most common). Is it overkill that I wanted to hunt down all three variations?

Ron Cey, Dave Lopes, and Reggie Smith are other Dodgers in this set.

1958 Bazooka "My Favorite Team" Dodgers Patch

These screen-printed felt patches were available via a mail-in offer found in Topps baseball cards. Approximately 5" in diameter, they were intended to be sewn on jackets, caps, etc.

rec'd from ebay member twiggyblew

1982 FBI Disc ~ Fernando Valenzuela

Hahahahaha!! All I can do is laugh. Really? I was able to score this and the Garvey wax cup lid in the same month after years of searching, really!?

I was shocked to see this appear on ebay. It's the only one I've ever seen. The dude was asking way more than I thought one would sell for but when you have a super rare item I suppose you can ask more and see what people will pay. I talked him way down and let's put it this way....I had to sell a Matt Kemp Bowman Chrome Blue Auto'd rookie card to buy it, but it is sooo worth it! Especially since it isn't even cut out, the entire Bantam soda box is intact! These were on a short print run and because they were on the bottom of a soda box the few that were printed were thrown in the trash. The very few that made it out alive are found with scuffs and scratches from being dragged and stocked on the supermarket shelves. This one is in outstanding condition! This soda was only sold in Canada by the way, and predominantly in the East, in the Toronto, Quebec, Ottawa areas.

rec'd from simgin (simon) on ebay

1939 Play Ball ~ Van Mungo (RC) #111

received from a firefighter I met on craigslist who was selling vintage cards on 8.9.2011

Spoke with this guy previously to purchase a couple tobacco cards off of him and when I met up with him he mentioned that he might have a couple old Bowman's. He emailed me a couple weeks later and said he had one Bowman that was all creased up and this card. I passed on the creased Bowman but snatched this up! I never did get they guy's name. He is my age and said he got these when he was 11 or 12 by submitting a quiet auction bid on a bulletin board at a card shop.

1973-1976 Hostess ~ Various Players

Put a nice little dent in my Hostess checklist. There are quite a few interesting facts regarding these cards that I'll get more into as time goes on but for now I'll just mention that I'm looking to complete the team sets for these in both the single and panel form.

 

rec'd from ebay member rymer-electric-vehicles

1976 Shakey's ~ Dazzy Vance, Wilbert Robinson, Burleigh Grimes, Zach Wheat, Branch Rickey

rec'd from ebay seller bigpuma on 8.8.2011

Bigpuma is a nice guy. Exchanged emails with him for close to a week sharing Dodgers stories. He has an 85 year old aunt who still has season tickets. They go to spring training together every year.

These HOF Shakey's cards feature some old skool Dodgers. In fact, a couple of these guys, including Zach Wheat played for the Brooklyn Superbas. That was what the Dodgers were called before they were the Dodgers. All I need now is Roy Campanella to close out my '76 Shakey's team set.

1984-1985 Topps Rub-Down Inserts ~ Pedro Guerrero, Steve Sax, Fernando Valenzuela

rec'd from Burbank Sportscards on Beckett Marketplace on 8.8.2011

Almost completed my rub-down team sets in one shot. Still looking for an '84 Bill Russell. The '84 Guerrero rub down is particularly cool because it actually has Darryl Strawberry on it in hos rookie year.

1992 Post Canadian ~ Brett Butler

rec'd from oilerboy99 on ebay on 8.05.2011

As mentioned before I am working on Post cereal cards right now and this is the first I found reasonably priced unopened in its original cello packaging. On a side note, there were Post Cereal American cards released and their Canadian counterparts with some of the text printed in French.

1977 MSA Wax Cup Lid ~ Steve Garvey

Received on 7.25.11 from trademarksportscards via ebay.

WOW!! Are you kidding me!!! This is the jewel of my MSA collection! That is, until it gets unseated by the only thing that can, 1981 or 1982 FBI discs. :) I've been searching for this for years as "wax cup lid" on ebay. It wasn't until recently that I removed the word wax from my search and just looked for cup lid that I discovered trademarksportscards selling the entire set on ebay for $1,250. I emailed him and asked if by chance he had an extra one and he did! He said he had one left! When I received it in the mail I was even more ecstatic to find that it was unpunched, the straw hole had never been broken through! This is truly a rare find and is my find of the year so far!

1992-1995 Post Cereal cards & Canadian Post cereal cards

Received on 7.22.11 from Southpaw Cards via Beckett Marketplace

Just started working towards these. Will be on the lookout for opened versions and unopened versions still sealed in original packaging, as if it were just pulled from the box!

1987 Drake's ~ Fernando Valenzuela

Received on 7.23.11 from Card Gallery via Beckett Marketplace

Drake's cards were printed on packaging for pastry items similar to Hostess. Each card was part of a panel of three or four cards depending on the package. They can be found in hand cut single form such as this one or a hand cut panel or on the original packaging uncut. I am still looking for the Fernando in panel form.

1990 Topps Glossy Rookies ~ Ramon Martinez

Received 7.23.11 from Card Gallery via Beckett Marketplace

The only Dodger in this Topps Sub-set. There is also a little known test set for this subset in which a gold strip of foil was printed on the face of the cards to test out the printing practice for the following year's gold set. Still looking for the foil version.

1975 Shakey's ~ Arky Vaughan

Received on 7.22.11 from Card Gallery via Beckett Marketplace

The final card completing my 1975 Shakey's Dodgers Team set which also includes Duke Snider and Casey Stengel. These were only released in Seattle area Shakey's restaurant's.

1976 Shakey's ~ Sandy Koufax, Jackie Robinson

Received on 7.26.11 from dkoryk99 via ebay

Along with the '75 Shakey's set, the '76 Shakey's set was released only in Seattle area Shakey's restaurants. I still need a handful of the '76 players to complete my team set. These were purchased as part of a much larger lot. I should have no trouble reselling the left overs and making back what I spent, making these FREE! :)

1983 ASA ~ Duke Snider AUTO

Received on 7.23.11 from loreneldred via ebay

ASA stands for Authentic Sports Autographs. In 1983 they came out with green bordered storied sets of different players. I have an originally packaged set for Duke Snider (the only Dodger in the release) and now have the limited edition autograph card that goes along with it (red border). These auto'd cards were limited to 2,000.

1959 Topps Johnny Podres #495

Received on 7.23.11 from mrdirt21 via ebay.

1985 Topps Rub-Offs ~ Steve Sax

Received 7.22.11 from Southpaw Cards via Beckett Marketplace

Originally the rub-off inserts of '85 and '84 didn't make my checklist because they were featured with other players on the same card, however, I recently decided to add them when I thought about other sets that did the same such as the '58 Topps Rival Fence Busters and '63 Topps Friendly Foes.

1992 Mr. Turkey ~ Darryl Strawberry #24

Rec'd 7.21.11 from Southpaw Cards via Beckett Marketplace

1989 Holsum Schafer Disc ~ Kirk Gibson #20 & 1991 Holsum Disc Darryl Strawberry #1

Received 7.22.11 from Southpaw Cards on Beckett Marketplace

Strawberry is found in a Mets uniform but the description below his name says Dodgers.

1991 Mootown Snackers ~ Kal Daniels #7 & 1992 Mootown Snackers ~ Darryl Strawberry #11

Received 7.22.11 from Southpaw Cards on Beckett Marketplace

These can also be fanned with an card attached which I'm still looking for.

1965 Topps Transfers ~ Don Drysdale #47

Rec'd 7.21.2011 ~ Purchased from Ken aka lefty30 on ebay.

This transfer is extremely hard to find this centered. I've owned one before that was heavily miscut but decided to resell it when I saw another one a couple years ago that was centered. I hadn't seen another centered one until a couple weeks ago when Ken was selling one as part of a larger lot of transfers. Unfortunately, if it is something I don't ever see, I'm forced to buy the whole lot to get what I want and then resell what I don't want. Well, some other guy way overbid and beat me out on the auction and I thought I'd have to wait another couple years to see another one but the winner of that auction ended up not paying. Ken knew I was interested from my emails and offered to sell me just the Drysdale. I jumped on it and didn't have to pay for all the other transfers!

1985 Kitty Clover Disc ~ Fernando Valenzuela #18

Rec'd on 7.21.2011 ~ Purchased from Triple Play Sports Cards on Beckett Marketplace

1976 MSA Andy Messersmith

Probably the most confusing Dodger in the MSA sets is Andy Messersmith. In 1976 Andy was traded from the Dodgers to the Atlanta Braves. Because of this he has two variations of discs in the 1976 MSA sets, one with him on the Dodgers and one with him on the Braves. The only question is which variations appear in which sets? In 1977 he is only listed on the Braves. Now I know for sure in 1976 that Messersmith has a Dodgers disc for the Towne Club, Orbaker's, Buckman's, Dairy Isle, Safelon, Isaly's, and Blank Back Sets. I know because I have them. I am unsure, however, if he has a Dodgers variation in the Red Barn or CRANE sets. I have never seen one for sale or even a picture of one. I contacted ebay user oddballbob whom I have purchased multiple things off of in the past. He has multiple CRANE sets for sale (four) and says that Messersmith only had a Braves variation in the CRANE set. I tend to believe him because I have never seen one and a guy who has multiple sets should know but I will have to keep it open on my checklist until I have more solid proof it doesn't exist. The Red Barn discs are some of the rarest MSA discs to obtain so it may be a while before I find out one way or the other on those.

1974 Topps Stamp Team Booklet

Yes! Today I received this stamp booklet. I've had this on my ebay saved searches for over three years and finally someone posted one. Though Topps released team stamp booklets in previous years for some reason they only ran these booklets in 1974 on a test run and very few hit the open market. This is the only one I've seen to date and it is unused with no stamps stuck inside! I'm bummed that it was miscut at the top but you can't be too picky with pieces this rare. :)

Purchased on ebay from zartanthegreat1 on 7/10/2011.

MSA Discs

I recently hit a wall on finding some of the MSA food discs I've been after. As time has gone on I've learned more and more about these discs that not many collector's know about. Certainly, if one has been collecting cards for any length of time they have come across these. Most people toss them aside as step brothers to the more well known Topps issues but what people don't realize is that there are some really rare ones out there.

MSA stands for Michael Schechter and Associates. He was an entrepeuneur that released discs in partnership with the MLB Player's Union. He had releases from 1974 until 1991 and mainly dealt with the food industry.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/sbbw0922.htm

The MSA disc sets include: (1976) Towne Club, Red Barn, Orbaker's, Buckman's, Dairy Isle, Safelon, CRANE, and Isaly's. (1977) Customized, Wiffle Ball, Zip'z, Wendy's, Chilly Willee, Detroit caesar's, Dairy Isle, Holiday  Inn, SAGA, 7-11 Wax Cup Lids, Burger Chef Fun Meal, and Pepsi Gloves. (1978) Pepsi, wiffle ball, SAGA, and Tastee-Freez. (1981) Peter Pan/Sunbeam, FBI Food. (1982) On Deck, FBI Food. (1985) Subway, Thom McAn JOX.

The discs included the companies advertisement on the back. A 1976 blank back version was also issued. There were others produced that weren't listed above but they were released for specific teams and after all, this is a Dodgers blog. :)

Highly regarded as the most rare are the 1981 FBI Food discs found on the bottom of Bantam Soda boxes in Canada. Few were printed and even fewer found themselves saved from the garbage dumpster. Because they were stocked on shelves of grocery stores and were on the bottom of boxes, even fewer can be found in good condition. The same holds true for the 1982 FBI release, also found on Bantam soda boxes, however, more were printed in the sophomore run.

A distant second to the FBI discs are the 1977 Wax Lids that were distributed at 7-11 stores. Few of these were kept over the years and even fewer were kept with the straw hole intact and "unpunched."

Also somewhat rare are the second color variations of some of the 1985 Thom McAn realease. These discs were printed to be included in certain brands of JOX shoes released by Thom McAn that year. 1976 Wendy's, 1976 Red Barn, 1978 SAGA, and 1985 Subway are also scarce.

I still need: '76 CRANE Andy Messersmith; '76 Red Barn Andy Messersmith; '76 Buckman's Ron Cey; '77 Wendy's Cey, Garvey, and Monday; '77 Customized Cey, Garvey, Monday; '77 Wax Lid Garvey; '78 SAGA Garvey; '81 FBI Garvey; '82 FBI Garvey, Valenzuela; '85 Subway Pedro Guerrero, Valenzuela; and '85 Thom McAn Valenzuela (non-yellow variation).

Here's a cool discussion thread regarding some of these rare pieces on collector's universe as well as some of the only pics I've ever seen of a couple of these.

http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=11&threadid=785836&STARTPAGE=2 







 

Introduction

I began collecting baseball cards in 1987 when I was 11 years old. After little league games we would receive a raffle ticket which we could use at the field snack bar and I began choosing to use mine on a pack of baseball cards. I stopped collecting in 1992 when the popularity of cards exploded. I moved my interests to music. I picked up collecting again as an adult in 2002. When I started back up I made the decision to create an area of focus for my collection. I am a HUGE Dodgers fan so I decided that I would collect every Dodgers Topps card from 1995 (the year I graduated H.S.) and earlier. I chose to stick with just Topps because that's what I collected when I was younger. Over time that focus has held to form with a couple exceptions. At some point I began to include odd-ball food cards (and discs) to my collection and also decided that I would collect any cards that were vintage (prior to 1965). I don't spend too much time looking for them but if they cross my path I certainly will not pass at the opportunity to snatch them up! Hope you enjoy following me on the journey to completing my collection!