In 1966, Fleer sold the last of its baseball player contracts to Topps after fighting them in court for its aggressiveness in securing exclusive player contracts. Fleer actually initially won their case at the Federal Trade Commission but lost on appeal. Despite a challenging landscape, Fleer embraced innovation and diversity and ventured into non-sports cards pretty hard to help sell their bubble gum. One really intriguing outcome of this experimentation was the emergence of the 1965 Fleer Weird-Ohs and the 1966 Fleer Baseball Weird-Ohs.
1965 Fleer Weird-Ohs
Kudos to The Sport Americana Price Guide to The Non-Sports Cards for details about these two Fleer Weird-Ohs sets; there isn’t much else written about them. They point out that the wrapper design tells you what this set of cards is all about; it features a monster wearing an “SCTA” hat (Society for Cruelty to Animals) flagging down prospective victims.
The 66-card set is packed with similar bizarre characters based on characters developed by the Hawk Model Company – who have a copyright on the back of the cards.
The front of each card features a unique cartoon character, their name, and a brief description of their “proclivities.” The green card backs all feature Francis the Foul on the left-hand side and a detailed description of the character in black text underneath a clearly marked “Weird-Ohs” trademark.
1966 Fleer Baseball Weird-Ohs
Despite “baseball” being in the set’s title, the hobby has always categorized the 1966 Fleer Baseball Weird-Ohs as a non-sport set.
Fleer stuck with the weird-oh design and basic card format in a spin-off to poke fun at baseball with this 66-card set. The fronts again feature colorful artwork designed by artist William Campbell with a caption (that usually rhymes) below it within the card’s white border. The backs have the “Baseball Weird-ohs” set title, the card title (not the same words as on the front), and a descriptive back story of the character that often describes something comically violent on the right side, with “Doug Out” from card #1 on the left side which has an orange background.
In 2020, REA auctioned off a few of Campbell’s original art pieces. Each piece is approximately 4-3/4″ x 6-1/8″—the four pieces sold for $810.
The art for card #62 featuring Hey Hey Harry sold for $355 in October 2013.
Wrap Up
When it comes to the Fleer Weird-Oh sets, collectors seem to either love ’em or hate ’em without a lot of in-between. That divide has left a unique market dynamic where collectors can track down complete sets for a modest, though not “super-cheap” price range between $70 and $90. The set has maintained a certain level of popularity, evidenced by its re-issue in 2007/2008, though no new items were introduced.
