Today, here’s a little hobby history courtesy of the September 1977 issue of The Trader Speaks. It’s an advertisement for the 1977 Indianapolis Indians baseball card set, confirming they were a team issue.
In the ad, we can see they were issued as a “27 full color card set” that included a checklist card. They were $3.50 per set, postpaid directly to the team at Bush Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Since this set doesn’t have much star power, it hasn’t appreciated in 45 years; this one sold for $8 on eBay (shipped) back in June 2024.
The same can be said for graded cards; PSA has only slabbed 11, and this 8.5 of Mario Soto (a 3x MLB All-Star) sold for just $4 in one of PWCC’s weekly auctions in December 2008.
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to track down an uncut sheet. You can see that they were available for $7 in the ad. However, I did find a cool-looking framed example for the 1976 team set for sale on Craigslist for $40. I presume the 1977 one has the same layout.
