1977 Tucson Toros Baseball Cards

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Before Cramer Sports Productions became Pacific Trading Cards, it competed with TCMA in the 1970s to produce minor league sets; I ran across this ad for a set they made for the Tucson Toros in the September 1977 issue of The Trader Speaks.

The 24-card set was available directly from the team for $3. Here’s the front and back of outfielder Keathel Chauncey’s card.

Notice the awesome orange border and the C.S.P. (Cramer Sports Productions) copyright on the back.

You can still pick up complete sets for around the same price as when they were issued, $3, but nowadays, you’ll probably have to add $5 for shipping, so $8 total.

More interestingly, and it wasn’t advertised as an available item from the team, is the following 24-card uncut sheet of the then Texas Rangers affiliated Triple-A team. I saw it listed on eBay in August 2024 for $80.99.

One more Cramer-related fun fact about this set that a collector shared on TCDB, Rick Stelmaszek’s card, features Cheryl Cramer sitting in the background (the wife of Mike Cramer).

1951 Bowman Baseball Unopened Products

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I came across a 1951 Bowman Baseball one-cent display box in Ron Oser Enterprises’ April 2001 catalog, which inspired me to revive posts on the blog highlighting complete unopened product runs from various sets. This time, instead of dedicated pages, I’ll be sharing them as blog posts with a bit of added commentary.

1951 Bowman Wax Pack

With a certification that starts with 104, I’d be apprehensive about the authenticity of this pack without getting my hands on it or without a word from an expert in the hobby, like Steve Hart, who authenticates packs for PSA. Memory Lane Inc. sold it for $6,848 in May 2017.

Mile High Card Co. resold the pack for $4,672 in May 2020.

I’ve been unable to find any photos of 1951 Bowman five-cent wax packs.

1951 Bowman Wax Wrappers

Heritage sold this one-cent wrapper for $1,260 in September 2022, which seems unusually high because Collect Auctions sold the second example for just $196 in August 2020.

Heritage has also sold a five-cent wrapper before; the following one went for $1,260 in September 2022.

And years ago, in August 2016, Huggins and Scott sold the following pair of 1951 Bowman wrappers for $768.

1951 Bowman Wax Boxes

Display boxes are exceedingly rare and highly desirable. I’m also unaware of any full boxes. Memory Lane sold the following one-cent display box for just over $1k in December 2009.

Lelands also sold one of these one-cent display boxes, also quite a few years ago, in November 2008, for $437.

Memory Lane also sold a five-cent display box in the same auction as the one-cent box for $1,214 in December 2009.

1977 Tom Daniels Burleigh Grimes Baseball Cards

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Another incredible set I learned about by flipping through an old copy of The Trader Speaks (Sept. 1977) was the 1977 Tom Daniels Burleigh Grimes release. Grimes was the last pitcher allowed to throw to throw the spitball!

Tom Daniels partnered with Grimes (who was in his 80s at the time) to print the 16-card set in 1977. You can see a complete checklist on The Trading Card Database, but here’s a photo of each card from a set I found on eBay.

What’s super cool is that each set included one card autographed by Grimes for $3.49. I’ve seen a few complete sets of signed cards sold at various auctions over the past few years, usually going for between $75 and $100, but one of the most unique ones is available on eBay right now (August 2024) for $575, but it contains a few extra signatures for a total of 22. The additional signatures include Edd Roush, Joe McCarthy, Van Lingle Mungo, Leo Durocher, Robin Roberts, and Luke Appling.

There are also 18 PSA/DNA slabbed cards on the market from the set, including these two.

The Bender and Grimes card sold for $36 at Collect Auctions in April 2023.

Tom Daniels also offered autographed uncut sheets for $6.49 in 1977; Heritage sold this one for $31 in April 2007.

I’d love to get my hands on one of these uncut sheets. Let me know if you have one for sale and happy collecting!

1970 Topps Super Baseball Assortment Of 429 Cards

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Continuing what seems to be a “hobby hoarding” series dedicated to REA’s July 2000 auction is this lot of 429 1970 Topps Super baseball cards.

That same REA auction included a find of 768 1952-55 Red Man Tobacco cards and 661 unassembled 1971 Mild Duds boxes.

REA described the Topps Super cards conditions as 95% Nr/Mt and 5% Vg to Vg-Ex/Ex.

The highlights included #3 Aparicio (1), #5 Seaver (1), #8 Bench (8), #11 Brock (7), #12 Clemente (7), #13 McCovey (7), #15 Niekro (18), #18 Mays (15), #19 Stargell (5), #24 Aaron (15), #28 R. Jackson (16), #29 Yastrzemski (17), #33 Gibson (22), #34 Rose (21), #37 F. Robinson (5), #40 B. Williams (8), #41 Staub (8) with the number in parenthesis being the quantity.

1977 Indianapolis Indians Team Issue Baseball Cards

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Today, here’s a little hobby history courtesy of the September 1977 issue of The Trader Speaks. It’s an advertisement for the 1977 Indianapolis Indians baseball card set, confirming they were a team issue.

In the ad, we can see they were issued as a “27 full color card set” that included a checklist card. They were $3.50 per set, postpaid directly to the team at Bush Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Since this set doesn’t have much star power, it hasn’t appreciated in 45 years; this one sold for $8 on eBay (shipped) back in June 2024.

The same can be said for graded cards; PSA has only slabbed 11, and this 8.5 of Mario Soto (a 3x MLB All-Star) sold for just $4 in one of PWCC’s weekly auctions in December 2008.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to track down an uncut sheet. You can see that they were available for $7 in the ad. However, I did find a cool-looking framed example for the 1976 team set for sale on Craigslist for $40. I presume the 1977 one has the same layout.

The Lone PSA 10 1948 Bowman Yogi Berra Card

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Before Memory Lane Inc. sold the lone PSA 10 1948 Bowman Yogi Berra RC for $192k in 2017, Mastro moved the gem mint example in their April 2006 Sports Catalog Auction.

Mastro wrote, “This singular card is the ultimate complement to a high-grade assembly of its series, and it dominates the field in establishing the industry standard.”

Today, of just over 2200 graded samples, it’s still the only Gem Mint example.

As I said, Memory Lane Inc. sold the card for $192k in May 2017. You can see that it had been reholdered into a case I believe it remains in today.

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