Question about series
 

I started collecting baseball cards at the age of eight in 1972. in 1972 and 1973 I had no idea about how cards were released in series. I know the final series in 1972 reached our neighborhood when it was still warm out (I remember the kid across the street showing me the Jose Cardenal Traded) and in 1973 my memory is that the series releases were different than they had apparently been in the past. I never became sophisticated about how series releases were handled. I remember the boxes in 1972 saying things like 4th Series, but this didn't mean anything to me.

Does anyone here remember the approximate release dates for each series? Were they radically different when there were seven series issued? Were the 1950s and 1960s similar or very different?

There are a couple of threads in here on the 73 and 74 releases. In 74 the cards were all released at one time. In 73 there were series but in some areas all cards were released at the same time in the same packs, I assume on a test basis for 74.

Not sure on release dates. From 63 to 67 I bought Topps sets from the Card Collector's Company in NY and the cards were delivered in individual series over the course of the summer, but I do not recall the intervals on the individual series or dates I got the final series

In my area (Cleveland, OH) I remember the 1973 Topps set being advertised as all being released at the same time. I was surprised to read later that 1974 was considered to be the first year that Topps released all their cards at the same time (even though it wasn't really the case because Topps also issued a Traded set in 1974).

The 1974 Traded set was issued with the regular set cards.

But not until about June or July.

The first Traded set was 1972. Although I have collected each traded set since 1972 ( no Traded set for 1973) and include them with my base sets, I do not consider them part of the base set but rather a separate issue. Others may think differently

We considered them part of the base set when we were pulling them out of packs in 1974 and 1976.

We
 

Not me :), except for 1972...maybe. But to each their own.

Not true. I remember being frustrated by the abundance of traded cards included in rack packs when I was making sets by hand that by year. I am going to post a scan of an interesting review of the 1974 set from the April issue of Ballcard Collector which supports my recollection.

Good info here. I remember getting the team checklist cards in packs, but had forgotten that they had been issued in 1974. I remember sending away to Topps for those checklists around 1975 and 1976.