I’ve previously shared Hank Aaron’s 1961 Topps signed check and contract, well, here’s his 1954 Topps Gum Company Check that includes his rookie year signature!
Mastro offered the signed check in its August 2002 Sports & Americana Premier Catalog Auction. Unfortunately the pictures in the catalog are rather small; here’s the back:
And here’s the lots complete description from the catalog:
An official “Topps Chewing Gum Inc.” check that is dated 8/5/54 and made out to “Henry Aaron” in the amount of $10.00. The payment made is for use of Aaron’s image during the 1955 season, but the signature is pure “rookie year” in appearance. On the reverse is the “Henry Aaron” signature, as well as the printed agreement between Topps and Aaron for the rights to use his image for the 1955 cards. Although fully readable, the signature is affected by the check’s fold and by several cancellation stampings. LOA from Mike Gutierrez/MastroNet.
PS, another cool Topps check I’ve shared is Bill Russell’s 1957-58 Topps basketball card canceled paycheck.
Robert Laughlin’s creative sets have become super popular lately. In March 1976, he advertised two great 42-card sets in The Trader Speaks: the 1976 Laughlin Indianapolis Clowns and the 1976 Fleer Baseball Firsts.
Here’s a quick primer on these vintage gems!
First, naturally, let’s cover the 1976 Fleer Baseball…Firsts! The Standard Catalog says, “This 42-card set from Fleer is titled “Baseball Firsts” and features several historical moments in baseball, as captured through the artwork of sports artist R.G. Laughlin. The cards are numbered on the back, which is gray card stock with black printing. The set is not licensed by Major League Baseball.”
Obviously, based on the ad, Laughlin was allowed to sell these sets directly for $3.75 each, but TCDB also says that “These cards were inserted into packs of Fleer MLB Real Cloth Baseball Patches as stabilizers and are not mentioned on the pack itself.” However, the display boxes mention a color trading card in each pack, along with the four patches.
The set’s key cards are #5, Four Straigh Homers (Lou Gehrig), and #12, Baseball Cards.
Regarding the 1976 Laughlin Indianapolis Clows, The Standard Catalog shares that “in a departure from the style of most Laughlin issues, this 42-card set does not use his artwork but rather black and white photos framed by a light blue border. The cards are oversized at 2-5/8” x 4-1/4”, with red printing on front and back. The cards are numbered on the front.” It’skey cars belong to Hank Aaron and Satchel Paige.
Did you notice the special to subscribe to Bob Cards’ Inside Pitch? I’d love to get a run of these; let me know if you have any for sale.
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!
I started my collector issue series a few weeks back with my article about Mike Aronstein and TCMA. Today, I’ll shift to another hobby pioneer from the 70s known as having had one of the largest personal collections of anyone in the hobby, Larry Fritsch.
Hobby Pioneer Larry Fritsch
Fritsch became a full-time dealer in 1970 when he launched Larry Fritsch Cards, Inc. on May 1st. But Fritsch traced his involvement in the hobby back to 1948 and was a collector first – he built one of the most legendary collections in hobby history. He was known to have bought, traded, and sold cards religiously since childhood.
Larry graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and worked multiple part-time jobs, including one as a train baggage handler, a tax researcher, and in a paper mill, before following his passion in the hobby.
Fritsch operated primarily as a mail-order business with giant catalogs. He advertised his company in many different publications, like The Sporting News. Around 1989, he was selling more than 200k mail-order cards per week.
Larry was the face of the business side of the hobby for over 30 years.
Key Fritsch Sets and Cards
Today, many people know the Fritsch brand for having some incredible unopened material that Larry had bought directly from manufacturers’ end-of-year stock, but he created some significant collector issues.
Fritsch One-Year Winners
1977 Fritsch One-Year Winner Eddie Gaedel
Fritsch’s first offering was an 18-card set, One-Year Winners, printed in 1977 and sold through his catalog. It featured players “with brief, but often well-known, major league baseball careers.” The first card in the set was Eddie Gaedel, who, along with Pete Gray, had the key cards in the 1977 release. The set was continued with 36 more cards in 1979 and another 64 in 1983 (many of which used unused Topps pictures and were designed similarly to 1966 Topps baseball cards), all continuously numbered. As I said, he was a collector first, so it makes sense that his first set was something the hobby had never seen before.
1986 Fritsch Negro League Baseball All-Stars
1986 Fritsch Negro League Baseball All-Stars #25 Jackie Robinson
The Standard Catalog describes this set as “one of the most comprehensive collectors’ issues to features stars of the Negro League…most of the photos are contemporary with the players’ careers from the 1920s into the 1950s, with a few of the segregated leagues’ earlier pioneers also included.” The set’s key cards are Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, Moses Fleetwood Walker, Josh Gibson, Willie Wells, and Smoky Joe Williams. If you’re into baseball history, pick up this 119-card set.
The SAMPLE backs are a little more desirable.
1986 Fritsch Negro League Baseball All-Stars Sample Back #11 Jackie Robinson
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Cards
1995 Fritsch All-American Girls Professional Baseball League #1 Dorothy Wiltse
From a collector issue perspective, Larry Fritsch Cards key set came out in 1995 when they released a set of 234 cards highlighting the women’s league that the movie “A League of Their Own” made famous. They added a second series in 1996 to bring the set’s total to 340 cards. Later, in 2000, they added a third series with another 72 cards and an updated series of nine cards in 2002.
Other Key Cards
As a collector first, Fritsch didn’t make reprint sets for a long time because it was against his philosophy. But he said that when a set reached $5k, a lot of folks couldn’t afford them anymore, and he wanted more people to be able to see the cards. An example is the 1982 Fritsch 1957 Spic and Span Reprints.
1982 Fritsch 1957 Spic and Span Hank Aaron Reprint
In the 80s, Larry Fritsch Cards created a few dozen Midwest League minor league sets along with a great minor league card of Kirby Puckett on the Visalia Oaks.
1983 Fritsch Visalia Oaks #6 Kirby Puckett
In 1983, Fristch commemorated the 30th anniversary of the Boston Braves’ move to Milwaukee with a 33-card set that included Eddie Mathews and Warren Spahn.
1983 Fritsch 1953 Boston/Milwaukee Braves #41 Eddie Mathews
Wrap-Up and Further Reading
Not only did Fritsch contribute some incredible collector issue sets to the hobby, but he also did a lot to educate it. He contributed to many hobby guides and books like the Sports Collectors Bible series and authored the Baseball Card Alphabetical Handbooks.
Baseball Card Alphabetical Handbook Volume 1 by Larry Fritsch and Bill Haber – 1975
The Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards also used his knowledge and collection to detail a lot of obscure and rare cards.
Unfortunately, Larry Fritsch passed away in 2007. Kit Young wrote a wonderful article about his friend in the Sports Collectors Digest.
Kudos to Sports Card Magazine and its readers in late 1993 for the “All Most Valuable Rookie Card Team,” along with the Best Name, Not as Famous, and All Ears Teams.
Before I share the article, I have to question why the author acknowledges that the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle isn’t his official rookie card but still includes it!! Okay, it’s a great card, whatever, but then at least give me the Worst Haircuts of All-Time Team!
The All-Most Valuable Rookie Card Team
The All-Best Name Team
The All-Not As Famous As The Other Guy With My Name Team
The I’m All Ears Team
Who among you has all the cards on one of these teams?
T.S. O’Connell wrote an excellent article for Sports Cards Magazines’ April 1995 issue about World Series Cards; these were his Top 10. What do you think about the list?
I was pretty excited when I saw this hand-cut 1958 Topps Roger Maris Salesman Sample card graded authentic by SGC pop up on eBay back in July 2024; it’s a really cool piece of hobby history.
Back in Newsletter #28, I wrote:
As the name implies, salesman-sample sports card panels were used by salesmen as samples to vendors (e.g. grocers and candy-store owners) to illustrate an upcoming release of cards to promote sales. These panels were produced in limited numbers, making surviving samples quite rare.
The front of the panels looked like regular-issue cards, while the back had a small advertising pitch for the new product. In some years, the backs also had redemption information or a sample card back.
Here’s an example from Heritage Auctions of a complete 1958 Topps Salesman Sample.
On the front, you can see that the three cards are just a random strip of three from an uncut sheet, while the back has advertising copy and an example card’s back. So, depending on a card’s location on an uncut sheet, it could be on any position on the front and, therefore, have any piece of the back (unless Topps placed it on a sheet’s edge). So a salesman sample with a 1958 Roger Maris front could go Frank Bolling/Wally Burnette/Roger Maris, or Wally Burnette/Roger Maris/Del Rice, or Roger Maris/Del Rice/Bill Fischer.
The cut Maris pictured above has the top of the back printed on its back, but it could have any; however, this SGC authenticated one is the only one in either PSA’s or SGC’s Pop Report.
The SGC-graded 1958 Topps Roger Maris “#47” cut Salesman Sample card sold on eBay for $785 on July 8th, 2024. Unfortunately, the buyer didn’t pay, and the owner had to relist the card. It was sold again on July 23rd for $538. The $538 price is reasonable when you compare it to other examples. REA sold a Don Drysdale cut sample for $156 in February 2023, and a Hank Aaron sold for $1,499.99 on eBay in April 2024.
The Maris sample card appears to have been purchased by another dealer who re-listed it on eBay with a Buy-it-Now price of $949.99.
