Here’s a really cool item that I ran across in Mastro’s March 2000 catalog: a 66-card uncut sheet of 1959 Topps Baseball cards, including Hank Aaron, Orlando Cepeda, Frank and Brooks Robinson, White Ford, and Don Drysdale!
Here’s the complete auction description:
An uncut sheet of 66 cards including Hank Aaron, Orlando Cepeda, Frank and Brooks Robinson, Whitey Ford, Don Drysdale and three multiple player cards. Of course, uncut sheets of early Topps cards are rarely seen, and are highly valued in conditions amenable to framing. The bright colors on this sheet here make it particularly eye-catching and tend to make the moderate stains inconspicuous that affect the top row of cards (including Aaron). As one might expect, the sheet has several creases, most visble across cards of Orlando Cepeda and Clem Labine, and across Moe Drabowski and Bill Mazeroski. The four corners have creases and wear, and a tear cuts into the Smoky Burgess card. Overall, the sharp photography and spyglass design serve to make this Very Good condition uncut sheet a very attractive candidate for framing and proud display Minimum Bid $400
I don’t think any of the following is the exact same 66-card partial sheet that Mastro sold, but Huggins and Scott sold one with the same format in May 2017 for $450 and another in November 2017 for $750.
And REA sold this one in the Spring of 2021 for $630.
REA also sold this 5th Series 1959 Topps production sheet in the Spring of 2014 for $10,073. Notice the 66-card series was repeated twice; it’s believed the other half of a full 264-card sheet would be identical to this 1st slit.
For more, there’s a great thread on the Net54 Forums on 1959 Topps Uncut Sheets. And don’t forget to check out The Uncut Sheet Archive, too!
In August 2003, Mastro sold a treasure trove from the Exhibit Supply Co. archives: 60 mostly 8″ x 10″ photos used to produce the iconic football Exhibits. Featuring legends like Otto Graham, Marion Motley, and Y.A. Tittle, plus production notes and proof sheets, it’s a remarkable piece of football and hobby history.
Here’s the lots complete description:
A box from the archives of the Exhibit Supply Co. containing 60 photographs that were the original “art” for the production of football Exhibits in the 1950’s. Most measure 8″ x 10″ and average EX in condition with the usual editorial enhancement and tissue overlay. Leading players include Sammy Baugh, Charley Conerly, George Connor, Tom Fears, Otto Graham, Elroy Hirsch, Bobby Layne, Sid Luckman, Johnny Lujack, Ollie Matson, Marion Motley, Y. A. Tittle, Charlie Trippi, Emlin Tunnell, Bulldog Turner, Bob Waterfield and Tank Younger. Also included are production notes and a folded proof sheet for some of the cards.
I wish Mastro had included a photo of that folded proof sheet! Also, I believe the Exhibit football cards (W468) are dated between 1948 and 1952, but those details aside, I think the set features some of the most incredible photography of any set ever made, so owning the originals would be really cool!
Here are a couple of examples of the final production cards pictured above.
The 1963 Milwaukee Sausage Co. Seattle Rainiers set includes 11 unnumbered, 4 1/4” square cards cut from retail packaging. Blue tinted with a bit of red and yellow, the set features players like Billy Macleod and several future MLB players. Most cards show stains, evidence of their original purpose.
I actually first learned about this set after running across that Billy Macleod example while flipping through Mastro’s December 2005 catalog. While it shows some mild creases and the back was described as having some creases, it was “responsibly” cut from its retail packaging, so it’s one of the nicer examples of any cards you can find from this set.
For example, REA sold these Pete Jernigan and Bill Macleod cards for $180 in September 2023, clearly in poor condition at best.
You can read a bit more about the set on SABR’s blog, but the additional info is that:
The set’s player photos are the same as that year’s popcorn cards.
The team was affiliated with the Red Sox, and a few players saw time on the team, the most famous being Mel Parnell and Pete Smith.
Both of whose cards are available on eBay right now (December 2024) for $1,899 each!
However, the Parnell looks different from the following example that MHCC sold for $159 in May 2012.
Given the scarcity of these cards, sales figures can vary wildly; Love of the Game Auctions sold this Macleod for $1,440 in the summer of 2023.
And just for completeness, TCDB has an example of a card that’s uncut from its packaging. If you know more about this particular example, please let me know in the comments.
A set born from sausages and stained by purpose; the 1963 Milwaukee Sausage Co. cards are a flavorful slice of hobby history that’s hard to resist.
You can grab a 1990 Score baseball factory set for under $10, but the 25-card McDonald’s version? With only 4,000 reportedly made (vs. who knows how many millions of base cards), it commands 40x the price!
I have to acknowledge that I only recently discovered the existence of this set after looking back through the May 1992 issue of Sports Collector Digest’s Sports Card Price Guide Monthly and skimming Jeff Kurowski’s hobby commentary.
However, while Kurowski wrote that the cards were only available in Boise, Idaho, The Standard Catalog wrote that they were also available in eastern Oregon:
This 25-card set was released exclusively at 11 McDonald’s restaurants in Idaho and eastern Oregon. Four cards were given with a large fries-soda purchase. Production was reported at 4,000 each. The cards have front borders of graduated purple shades around a game-action photo. Backs are similar in format to regular 1990 Score cards and include a portrait photo. The McDonald’s logo appears on front and back. Fifteen World Series trivia cards were part of the promotion.
BaseballCardPedia adds that the cards were only available for about three weeks in the spring of 1990. Others have presumed these cards were part of a trial pulled by McDonald’s before being implemented nationwide.
Here’s an example of a 1990 Score McDonald’s card, Ricker Henderson’s, #5, graded Gem Mt 10 from PSA that sold for $313 back in October 2016 by PWCC (now Fanatics Collect).
As I said, the sets are pricey; this ungraded example was sold on eBay for $489 on December 9, 2024.
This example, with all of the trivia cards, sold on eBay for $525 on September 28, 2024.
I haven’t been able to track down any sales of complete graded sets, but there are a handful out there, including four active ones in the PSA Set Registry; PSA has graded 680 cards across the set (as of mid-December 2024), so more are possible.
I suspect we may see a few more PSA or SGC-graded examples pop up; back in November 2024, a collector offered dozens of them on a Facebook group before mentioning he would move them to eBay later (some were already graded).
And here’s an example of the 4-card wrapper.
In late 2021/early 2022, a collector picked up a handful of packs on eBay, so there are a handful of unopened packs floating around, though I haven’t seen a graded one, which would potentially be a four-figure collectible!
Doug Kale published this piece in the January 1997 issue of Sports Card Trader, highlighting three significant sports collectibles events: The 1996 East Coast National, the Superior Sportscards Auction, where Marshall Fogel bought his 1952 Topps PSA 10 Mantle for $121k, and the September 21st sale of the Greztky/McNall T206 Wagner for $640,500.
There’s been talk around the hobby that the 1952 Topps PSA 10 Mantle cards could be worth $50M now; before Fogel displayed the card during the 2021 All-Star Game, he said he had rejected a $25M offer for it.
Here are a few photos from the Colorado Rockies Facebook page from that event.
Mario Alejandro introduced me to this card in his tweet from March 2024, and then I ran across the following picture of it in Issue 15 (Summer 1993) of Topps Magazine.
First, here’s a screen capture of what Mario wrote about the card
And here are the images he attached to the tweet.
Unfortunately, in their Topps Magazine blurb, Topps doesn’t add much more to the story. Mario alluded to the back of the card, which invited folks to show up at the Nikon House on Tuesday, April 13th, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. after RSVPing to Rebecca Kirisits. But that means the card had to have been distributed before then.
Perhaps it was handed out by Topps’s “paparazzi,” whose photos were displayed at Nikon House.
By the way, PSA has a single example, a gem mint 10, in its Pop Report.
Let me know if you have any more info about this card.
Bob Cousy helped revolutionize the point guard position while playing for the Boston Celtics between 1950 & 1963, contributing to six NBA Championships. During this time, Cousy was a 13-time NBA All-Star and received the MVP award in 1957. Beloved as a player, his retirement ceremony became known as the “Boston Tear Party.” His legacy is extraordinary, encompassing the organization of the National Basketball Players Association, the popularization of modern guard play, the elevation of the NBA’s profile, the reception of a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the naming of numerous basketball awards in his honor. Additionally, Cousy was well-known for his public stance against racism. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have many basketball card options, with only ten items needed to complete his PSA Master Set Registry. While many collectors target his 1957 Topps or 1951 Berk Ross cards for their collections, my favorite is the 1963 HP Hood Dairy oddball.
Bob Cousy retired in 1963 and went to work doing promotions and clinics for the H.P. Hood Dairy Company. These 2 3/8″ x 3 7/8″ cards were distributed during this time period. Bob Cousy confirmed to a collector friend of mine that he used these cards during the period from 1963-1966. One of the Massachusetts-based company’s slogans during this period was “Schoolboy or Celtic, they both get energy to burn from Hood Milk!” The cards come in two variations. The most common variation has a blue ink facsimile signature and says “yours for better fitness, Bob Cousy”. At the bottom of the card it has the Hood logo and below that, it has the “Boston Traveler” logo. The Boston Traveler was a newspaper that is now defunct. The other variation is in black ink and only has the Hood Dairy emblem. Currently, the reason for the difference in cards is unknown. The Boston Traveler newspaper did go out of business in 1967, so maybe Hood had plans to use these cards longer?? We may never know. The black ink Hood card appears to be the rarer of the two. Twenty years ago, it was believed that these cards were exceedingly rare. However, as time has gone on, we have seen a few small finds of these, which have brought the price down slightly. I’ve also included an image of an 11 x 17 advertisement for John Alden fine foods that uses the Cousy graphic from this card.
1963 HP Hood Dairy Bob Cousy Card Variations From VintageBasketball.com
Bob Cousy John Alden Contest Featuring The Same Cousy Image
I’m unsure when that overview was written, but regarding the black ink variation, Heritage Auctions sold a lot of nine of them in June 2022 for $1320.
1963 HP Hood Dairy Bob Cousy Cards – Fronts
1963 HP Hood Dairy Bob Cousy Cards – Backs
PSA doesn’t appear to differentiate between variations in its Pop Report, which contains 22 cards and six autographed copies; SGC has graded six.
Despite the cards’ relative scarcity, they’re not that expensive. In 2021, Probstein sold a trio of them on eBay: a PSA 5 sold for $202 in March, a PSA 6 went for $472 in April, and a PSA 4 for $143 in July. He also sold a PSA 2 for $406 in June 2014.
1963 HP Hood Dairy Bob Cousy Cards
That said, a PSA 7 (the highest graded) sold for $2,247 on eBay in November 2024.
1963 HP Hood Dairy Bob Cousy PSA 7
Lelands sold the original photograph used for the card in November 2023 for $3,540.
Bob Cousy Original Photograph – Front
Bob Cousy Original Photograph – Reverse
Interestingly, I found an advertisement for Hood Milk for sale on eBay a while ago. It was described as coming from the Saturday Evening Post and is dated March 10, 1962, in the upper-left corner. The image looks like it could have been taken on the same day as the PSA Type 1 photo that Lelands sold, and the timeline fits the description of the Cousy card being used from 1963 to 1966.
Hood Milk Ad
The same image used on the 1963 HP Hood Diary Cousy card was also used for the souvenir program for “Bob Cousy Day” at Boston Garden on March 17, 1963, aka The Boston Tear Party. In April 2021, SCP Auctions sold the following team-signed copy for $3,769.
Bob Cousy Day Souvenir Program
The scarcity of basketball card options for iconic figures is an unfortunate reality of the hobby. However, Bob Cousy played a big part in the growth of basketball in America, which led to the abundance of basketball card options that emerged in the late ’80s.
