Bob Cousy

The Extremely Rare How To Play Better Basketball Booklets

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In the introduction to my article The Finer Points of Baseball For Everyone Instructional Booklets I mentioned that I only discovered them from my hunt for their basketball-related cousins. Between that and a $10,500 sale for a complete set of 12 booklets in the fall of 2023, it seemed appropriate to dive deep into these incredible basketball collectibles.

How To Play Better Basketball 101

A few auction catalogs and VintageBasketball.com show that a complete set of How To Play Better Basketball booklets has twelve items. Here’s the checklist:

  • Ball Handling
  • Basic Rules and Court Layout
  • Conditioning
  • How To Dribble
  • How to Pass
  • How to Pivot and Fake
  • How to Shoot
  • Drills for Defense
  • Drills for Offense
  • Man-To-Man Defense
  • Plays for Offense
  • Zone Defense

Like the baseball booklets, they’re full-color printings in a newspaper-like material saddle-stitched like a magazine. However, I keep reading that the basketball ones are 4-7/8’’ x 3-1/4’’ while the baseball ones are ~ 4-5/8″ x 3-3/8’’. However, I suspect they were printed and manufactured by the same people and are likely the same size, with a bit of variation from cutting back in the day. While the baseball booklets each have 16 pages, the basketball books have been described as having eight pages, but I haven’t found a complete set of scans from any of them, nor have I been able to speak with anyone who owns one; please reach out if you have one!

Now, not only are the basketball variations way rarer than the baseball ones but there are also two variations!

Hood Diary How To Play Better Basketball Booklets

While the baseball booklets have dozens of advertising backs through the years, the basketball ones only appear to have one produced around 1963 for Hood Dairy when the Bob Cousy Hood Dairy basketball card was produced.

VintageBasketball says they have a Copyright for Lane and Young Incorporated inside with an address of 128 Mallory Ave. New Jersey City, NJ.

Robert Edwards Auctions sold a collection of six of these booklets with a Hood Diary advertisement, a Bob Cousy quote, and his facsimile autograph on the back that they dated to 1963 in the description. They did mention that they vary a bit from natural diamond cuts when it comes to sizing. They sold for just $360 in the summer of 2021.

REA’s 1963 Hood Dairy How To Play Better Basketball Booklets – Image 1
REA’s 1963 Hood Dairy How To Play Better Basketball Booklets – Image 2
REA’s 1963 Hood Dairy How To Play Better Basketball Booklets – Image 3
REA’s 1963 Hood Dairy How To Play Better Basketball Booklets – Image 4

Interestingly, underneath the right side logo that says “Another Hood Food For Fitness,” there is an indistinguishable copyright emblem. That same logo appears on the baseball booklets; it’s just another point showing how they’re related.

1962 Finer Points Of Baseball DX Dealer Booklet
Indistinguishable Copyright Emblem

1968 Topps Test How To Play Better Basketball Booklet Pack Inserts

The How To Play Better Basketball Booklets’ second variation was blank-backed and used as an insert in 1968 Topps basketball test packs. The Topps Archive’s blog wrote a post called Better And Better that shared some history behind the test packs and booklets. In the summer of 2017, he got to see the pack, cards, and How To Shoot baseball booklet and noted that it was folded in half to fit in the pack, that the interior was set up like a small comic book, and that the back of it (the booklet) was blank. Here’s the photo he shared.

The Topps Archives Photo of MHCC’s 1968 Topps Test Pack

In September 2017, Mile High Card Co. sold an opened 1968 Topps Test basketball pack, booklet, and cards for $4521.60. They described the booklet as having eight pages of colorized diagrams but having no mention of Topps; here’s their auction photo.

MHCC 1968 Topps Test Pack, Booklet, And Cards

In the summer of 2021, REA sold a collection of seven different blank-backed folded How To Play Better Basketball booklets for $6600. Again, Topps folded down the middle because the booklets were too large for the pack otherwise. 

REA’s Topps Test How To Play Better Basketball Booklets – Image 1
REA’s Topps Test How To Play Better Basketball Booklets – Image 2
REA’s Topps Test How To Play Better Basketball Booklets – Image 3
REA’s Topps Test How To Play Better Basketball Booklets – Image 4

Finally REA sold the following complete set of 12 booklets plus an original 1968 Topps Test envelope for $10,500 in the fall of 2023. 

REA’s Topps Test How To Play Better Basketball Booklets Set of 12 – Image 1
REA’s Topps Test How To Play Better Basketball Booklets Set of 12 – Image 2

During bidding, I reached out to REA for a bit more information. They confirmed that each booklet was blank-backed, but the only one that displayed any condition issues was the How To Shoot Booklet; none of the others were folded, so perhaps they were extras that didn’t make it into packs. Also, I asked for some information about the internal copyright; they sent me back this photo showing a stamped 1966 copyright and the same Lane & Young, Inc. data that VintageBasketball said was in the Hood Dairy versions of the basketball booklets.

REA’s Topps Test How To Play Better Basketball Booklet Copyright Example

The baseball booklets all have a specific year copyright and either a Vital Publications, Inc. or WM. C. Popper & Co. copyright.

Final Thoughts

Like the Finer Points of Baseball For Everyone booklets, the How To Play Better Basketball items are another great example of a significant historical collectible; the basketball ones are more card-adjacent. However, despite a clear relationship between the sets of booklets (appearance, type, design, that little copyright symbol on the backs of both), I haven’t figured out a relationship between Vital Publications/WM. C. Popper & Co. and Lane & Young Inc., whose copyrights were printed inside the booklets. So, if you have more information about these companies or booklets, please leave a comment or email me. 

Happy collecting!

Championships And Collectibles: The 1963 HP Hood Dairy Bob Cousy Basketball Card

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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.

Here’s what VintageBasketball.com wrote about it: 

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.

Happy collecting!

1960 Post Cereal Complete Set Of 9 Full Boxes

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The 1960 Post Cereal cards were issued on the backs of Grape Nuts Flakes cereal boxes and measure 7″ x 8-3/4″. The full-color cut cards are already pretty rare, but complete boxes that include side panels with player bios are like unicorns. After some research, I think just a single complete set exists in full-box form. I first came across it in Mastro’s April 2003 Catalog.

They described the cards, within the boxes, as being in Near Mint to Mint condition and offered the lot with a minimum bid of $2500. At the end of the lot’s description, though, they mentioned it as an “Ex-Copeland collection” piece.

So I pulled out Sothetby’s March 1991 catalog that presented The Copeland Collection of Important Baseball Cards and Sports Memorabilia, and there it was as lot 573, but it only included a photo of the Mantle box.

Then, in the fall of 2018, REA re-sold the set for $11,400. 

They included a more detailed condition description: Mickey Mantle (card area is Nr/Mt-Mt, light moisture stains very near edge of frame), Ed Mathews (card area is Ex due solely to tiny wrinkle extending from bottom edge), Harmon Killebrew (light mark on left side of frame, otherwise card area is Nr/Mt-Mt), Al Kaline (card area is Vg-Ex+ due to tiny wrinkles confined to the very perimeter of frame), Don Drysdale (card area is Vg+ due to creasing), Johnny Unitas (card area is Vg/Vg-Ex due to light wrinkles confined to the perimeter), Frank Gifford (card area is Ex due to tiny wrinkle extending from right edge and a bit of staining on the reverse), Bob Cousy (card area appears Nr/Mt-Mt from the front, with a bit of staining on the reverse), and Bob Pettit (card area is Nr/Mt). The grades listed above focus just on the card area and not the surrounding portions of the boxes. All the top flaps of the boxes are missing; all the bottom flaps were glued at one time then later opened causing paper loss and remnants of paper on those areas. 

1958-59 Boston Celtics Team Autographed Poster

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This incredible 1958-59 Boston Celtics Team Autographed Poster was offered in Sotheby’s Important Baseball Cards and Sports Memorabilia auction in June 2005. It included all 11 players from the NBA Champion team, plus coach Red Auerbach and trainer Buddy LeRoux.

The 1958-59 Celtics swept the Minneapolis Lakers in the 1959 NBA Finals, then known as the NBA World Championship Series, and kicked off the Celtics streak of eight straight titles between 1959 and 1966.

The Near mint to mint-conditioned image was described as 20” x 24” in size and with flawless signatures by Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Sam Jones, and Bill Sharman. It came with an LOA from PSA/DNA.

I found the following example of the same picture, but without the text beneath the image showing, on eBay (June 2004) for just under $3k, accompanied by an LOA from Beckett. The autographs are in slightly different locations for each player, so it’s a unique piece.

Bob Cousy Basketball Shoe Advertisement

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This would be an awesome collectible for Boston Celtics fans, a B.F. Goodrich Bob Cousy “P.F.” Basketball Shoe Advertisement. 

The “P.F.” All-American was B.F. Goodrich Company’s shoe made to compete with Converse’s “Chuck Taylor.” I’m sure having Cousy endorse the product helped; he was one of the most popular players in the 1950s. 

The item was available in MastroWest Auction’s March 2000 catalog and was described as a 22″ x 20″ cardboard piece in Ex-Mt to Nr-Mt condition.