Baseball Cards

Identifying Venezuela Topps Baseball Cards: A Basic Guide

by

Topps began releasing unique baseball card sets in Venezuela in 1959, targeting the country’s strong baseball fan base. These sets, released in 1959, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1967, and 1968, closely resemble their American counterparts but can be challenging to differentiate. So, I thought I’d share the basics to help collectors identify them.

First, the consistent attribute across all years of Topps Venezuela baseball cards is that the card stock is darker, rougher, and less glossy than the American cards. Additionally, each set has a few unique characteristics, like copyright/trademark information, language, color, and size differences that I’ll cover below.

1959 Venezuelan Topps

1959 Venezuela (Left) and American (Right) #50 Topps Willie Mays – Fronts
1959 Venezuela (Left) and American (Right) #50 Topps Willie Mays – Backs

The unique thing about the 1959 set is that some cards have a Venezuela trademark; however, some don’t. That trademark that some cards have says, “Impreso En Venezuela Por Benco C.A.”

1959 Venezuelan Topps Trademark

1960 Venezuelan Topps

1960 Venezuela (Top) and American (Bottom) #10 Topps Ernie Banks – Backs

The 1960 Venezuelan Topps cards are the hardest to identify, so having the card in your hands is the best thing. But there is some information that can help with online sales. For the first series of cards, the Venezuelan ones are on gray paper stock, and the Topps are on white. For the second series, both are gray, so the best thing to look for is the gloss on the American cards and the matte finish of the Venezuelans. Also, I’ve read that the whole first series has a trademark, other than the three-team cards (but those Topps cards don’t have a trademark either). In the second series, 46 cards don’t have the trademark, and 42 cards do.

1962 Venezuelan Topps

1962 Venezuela (Top) and American (Bottom) #50 Topps Stan Musial – Backs

1962 Venezuelan Topps cards are pretty easy to identify, so long as you have a scan of the back because they are printed in Spanish.

1964 Venezuelan Topps

1964 Venezuela (Left) and American (Right) #216 Topps Mike de la Hoz – Backs

The 1964 Venezuelan Topps cards are easily distinguishable from the American versions because their backs are black, and the cards are usually cut a little smaller.

1966 Venezuelan Topps

1966 Venezuela (Left) and American (Right) #50 Topps Mickey Mantle – Backs

It can be tricky to identify without an American example nearby, but the biggest thing to notice about the 1966 Venezuelan Topps cards is that the back’s color is orange while the American cards are more pinkish. The Venezuelan cards can also be found cut slightly smaller.

1967 Venezuelan Topps

The 1967 Venezuelan Topps cards are also super easy to identify. There are three distinct groupings of cards in the 338-card run. 

Cards 1-138 are Winter Leaguers.

1967 Venezuela Topps #92 Francisco Moscoso

Cards 139-188 are Retirado cards. 

1967 Venezuela Topps #146 Ty Cobb

And cards 189-338 were active players (but the backs were totally different).

1967 Venezuela Topps #270 Pete Rose

1968 Venezuelan Topps

1968 Venezuela (Left) and American (Right) #144 Topps Joe Morgan – Backs

The 1968 Venezuelan Topps cars have a trademark on the back that reads, “Hecho en Venezuela – C.A. Litoven.” Since the printing was of a lower quality, sometimes the ink bled, so it can be hard to see the white lettering, and occasionally it’s not really there at all. The back is a different color too.

In conclusion, it’s important for those interested in collecting Venezuelan Topps cards to educate themselves on the card’s nuances to avoid misidentification. There are a lot of resources available, including a few experts who tend to hang out in a dedicated (private) Facebook group to help with this. While graded cards can be helpful, third-party graders have made some mistakes. Keep this in mind if you decide to tackle this tough hobby niche. Happy collecting!

The Innovative ’80s From 3-D Cards To The Metal Gallery of Immortals

by

Topps wasn’t going to acknowledge what led to them trying out some new things in their own magazine, but I think we all know the end of the Topps monopoly and competition from Donruss and Fleer drove the innovation.

Nevertheless, Pearlman’s article in Edition 9, The Winter 1992 release of Topps Magazine, provides a nice overview of some unique ’80s releases. In the comments, let me know which one’s your favorite.

The Rare Connie Mack Book Cards

by

PSA has only graded 71 Connie Mack Book Cards, so complete sets are ultra-scarce; this raw one was auctioned off in May 2000.

About the set, PSA writes, “The 1951 Connie Mack Book baseball card set, as the name implies, was issued in conjunction with the Hall of Fame manager’s book, “My 66 Years in the Big Leagues.” Consisting of only four cards – Connie Mack, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth, and Rube Waddell – each piece measures 2-1/4″ by 3-1/2″ and was issued in a folder entitled “Four Mighty Heroes.” Each black-and-white card features a player photo against a white background and his name identified in print. The reverse has that athlete’s career statistics and an advertisement for Mack’s book. Not surprisingly, the value of Ruth’s card in Near Mint condition is almost twice that of the other three cards combined.”

Sports Collectors Daily reported that “the cards were packaged together in a folder likely sent to reviewers and others in hopes of garnering publicity.”

In May 2021, REA sold one of those folders and an SGC 1-graded Connie Mack card for $114; here are the front and back of the booklet.

Don’t let that sales price fool you; in the fall of 2022, REA also sold a PSA 9-graded Babe Ruth for $4800; hello icon prices!

Original 1949 Bowman Baseball Window Ad Sheet

by

It’s incredible that this 1949 Bowman window ad sheet, meant to be stuck inside a window with pre-applied glue, survived intact.

In their May 2000 catalog, Mastro auctions described this 20” x 5-3/4” piece as in near-mint condition with a fold in the center, as manufactured. It features 16 of the set’s 240 “upcoming” cards.

One contributor on the net54 boards said these were displayed in candy store windows in the Philadelphia area in June 1949.

Topps 40 Years Of Baseball Four Decades Of Greatness Feature

by

In 1991, Topps Magazine ran a feature called Four Decades of Greatness, featuring four players in each issue, one from each of the previous four decades, who were great players and a large part of Topps baseball cards.

Here’s a list of who they included for each decade:

  • 50s: Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Yogi Berra
  • 60s: Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente
  • 70s: Reggie Jackson, Carl Yastrzemski, Mike Schmidt, Pete Rose
  • 80s: Nolan Ryan, Ryne Sandberg, Jose Canseco, Rickey Henderson

When I first shared these on X, one collector wrote, “Well the thing that jumps out most immediately is including Musial in the 50s, when Topps made like two cards of him in that decade. And The Man appeared on Bowman, Red Man, Red Heart, Berk Ross, and others in that time, so it’s not like he was exclusive.”

What do you think? Biggest snub? Oddest inclusion?

Whitey Ford, A 1982 Card Show, And His 1951 Bowman Baseball Card

by

Have you been to any great card shows lately? I’ll bet the Sports Memorabilia Show #4 in Whippany, New Jersey, was a good one!

This ad comes from the July 1982 issue of Trader Speaks and highlights Whitey Ford’s attendance during Sunday’s show, where he had agreed to sign 1000 autographs on a first-come, first-served basis.

Given that the ad features Ford’s 1951 Bowman baseball card, I thought it would be fun to take a look at a few sales of them:

REA has sold a handful, including the following PSA VG 3 Auto 10 copy with an HOF ’74 inscription for $780 in 2018, a PSA authentic copy for $510 in 2021, and a fairly beat-up card with an authentic signature for $450 in 2022.

Interestingly, REA re-sold the PSA VG 3 Auto 10 copy in 2023 for $3600, quite an increase! That’s probably because Ford died in 2020.

Now, some cards change hands quite often, so guess what? Probstein sold the same PSA VG 3 Auto 10 Ford on eBay on May 29, 2024, for $2200.

What’s more, the beat-up version above with cert 17605781 is also on eBay, with an asking price of $1699. There’s another PSA authentic copy on eBay as well, with an asking price of $1299.99 (cert 43601626). Given these prices, someone possibly got quite a steal when they picked up this blue-label version in April 2024 for $500.