Team Issue

1977 Tucson Toros Baseball Cards

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Before Cramer Sports Productions became Pacific Trading Cards, it competed with TCMA in the 1970s to produce minor league sets; I ran across this ad for a set they made for the Tucson Toros in the September 1977 issue of The Trader Speaks.

The 24-card set was available directly from the team for $3. Here’s the front and back of outfielder Keathel Chauncey’s card.

Notice the awesome orange border and the C.S.P. (Cramer Sports Productions) copyright on the back.

You can still pick up complete sets for around the same price as when they were issued, $3, but nowadays, you’ll probably have to add $5 for shipping, so $8 total.

More interestingly, and it wasn’t advertised as an available item from the team, is the following 24-card uncut sheet of the then Texas Rangers affiliated Triple-A team. I saw it listed on eBay in August 2024 for $80.99.

One more Cramer-related fun fact about this set that a collector shared on TCDB, Rick Stelmaszek’s card, features Cheryl Cramer sitting in the background (the wife of Mike Cramer).

1977 Indianapolis Indians Team Issue Baseball Cards

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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.

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