1971 O-Pee-Chee Baseball Question
 

Anybody know whether there are SP's in the high number series of this set and if so, are they the same cards as the regular set? I assume that since there are the same number of cards, there would have to be SP's... but I's like to know which guys. Any help would be appreciated.

There aren't any SPs that I know of.

IMO, with OPC's 5% print run compared to Topps, all of the 71 OPC hi and semi-high #s are SPs. I have about 30 hi and semi hi #s, and they were all tough to find. Completely an assumption on my part, OPC likely used the same sheets as Topps since most all of the 752 cards were the same from the Topps set to OPC set. If OPC did indeed use the same sheets, then the same 54 or so SPs from 71 Topps would be SPs in the 1971 OPC set.

+1

For the first couple of series OPC did use topps layouts in 66 card blocks with a few exceptions, mostly related to moving expo players into earlier series and removing duplication of the checklist cards. Here is a 1971 OPC high series sheet I saved years ago. Row 10 and 11 look to be DP's

For reference sake here is the series 5 OPC sheet. Row with Tony Perez is DP

JOhn

John,
Thanks for posting pics of the semi-high and high # sheets. Very helpful detail.

1971 semi highs and highs
 

From what I have seen, images of the OPC & Topps sheets have slightly different layouts for both series 5 & series 6.

Series 5 had 121 cards, so 11 unique rows among the 24 rows printed on a sheet. There were nine rows printed 2x each with two remaining rows printed 3x ea. The cards in rows for the OPC sheet were the same as those in the Topps sheet, but the layout was different. For example, the OPC slit has the Perez row in row 1 and row 10 whereas the Topps slit has the Perez row in row 7 & row 10.

Series 6 had 110 cards, so 10 unique rows. among the 24 rows printed on a sheet. There should be six rows printed 2x each and four rows printed 3x each. From what I have seen, the rows led by Terry Harmon, Bob Garibaldi, Milt Ramirez, and Ken Szotkiewicz were the rows printed 3x each. The OPC slits appear to have the same cards in a row as the Topps sheet, but again, the layouts are different. The OPC slit I have seen as the Astros team card row in row 3 of a slit whereas on the Topps slit, this row is in row 1 and row 4.

Based on GM's 71 OPC set break last evening, which featured most of the 5th and 6th series, it was tough to tell 6th series SPs from non-SPs based on prices. Some of the non-SP 6th series cards performed better than the SP 6th series cards as nearly 20 SPs sold for $15 or less. The SP results were kind of a surprise on my end. Overall, the tougher to find centered SPs did command some strong pricing though.

The 5th series Yaz and Clemente both sold for over $1k. Overall, the set break ended with over $17k in sales from a near mid-grade set.