1966 East Hills Pittsburgh Pirates set history?

[Brent G.]

Was thrilled to pick up this card from member JollyElm in a trade a while back.

Does anyone know the history of this set? Was it given away at the various East Hills stores? Was it sold as a set or individuals?

Also, were these considered pretty rare until this find in 2018, which seemingly doubled the Clemente pop (which I assume this card came from)? LINK: https://lelands.com/bids/roberto-cle...rds--180-cards

[ALR-bishop]

The SCD Standard Catalog from 2011 says they were distributed at stores in East Hills Shopping Center mall. Twenty five card set but numbers corresponded to player uniform number

[akleinb611]

The cards were actually considered very common in the collecting community ion the 1970's. My recollection is that Bruce Yeko (Wholesale Cards) was offering sets for about $3, and when you would find sets at card shows, they were bringing the same price or thereabouts. Even as late as the 1980's, before dealers figured about that set breaks brought in more money, sets could be found for well under $10.

[mikemb]

Originally Posted by akleinb611

The cards were actually considered very common in the collecting community ion the 1970's. My recollection is that Bruce Yeko (Wholesale Cards) was offering sets for about $3, and when you would find sets at card shows, they were bringing the same price or thereabouts. Even as late as the 1980's, before dealers figured about that set breaks brought in more money, sets could be found for well under $10.

Just checked the 1972 Wholesale Cards Catalog. They were selling fo $1.95. (See #10) You have a great memory!!

img20250524_14494328.jpg

[Brent G.]

Great info — what a deal!’

[REG1976]

Here is the complete set

[akleinb611]

I remembered the price because I spent a long time kicking myself for not buying them at that price. Oh well. At least I bought the 1954 Red Heart set from Yeko’s catalogue. He only wanted $5 for that set.

[Brent G.]

Wow, now that is a good buy! Still sitting on those?

[JollyElm]

It's wild how the most 'important' (and most collected) card of them all, Roberto Clemente, is virtually always off-centered top to bottom. I haven't seen such a regular occurrence with any other card in that set.

(Obviously not scientific, but) here is a screenshot of consecutive graded listings on eBay right now, all with the same 'inherent lowness'...

1966easthillsclementescreenshot.jpg

If you ever find a truly centered one, (to bastardize 38 Special) hold on tightly!!!!

[Brent G.]

That is very interesting. The card is dead center in the sheet -- it'd seem every other in that row would have the same issue.

I have noticed the (OC) designation on those seems to've been made by a moody grader -- there are many with the same cut that don't carry the (OC) -- like the above.

[JollyElm]

Holy moley!!!

I believe I have solved this riddle.

Look closely at where Roberto Clemente's name appears on the sheet. First, how much lower it sits than the card directly above his and the Steve Blass card (and quite a few others on the sheet).
Also look at the amount of white space between each player's name and the large capital 'E' below them. It is entirely inconsistent, and Clemente is clearly one of the anomalies — his name comes quite closer to it than a lot of the others (look at the vast white space there on the card directly above his, as well as others).

1965easthillsclementeprintsheetcloseup.jpg


Conclusion: if the sheets were all cut the same way, then it would be an absolute rarity to have cards where Clemente's name (and others, of course) were NOT close to the bottom borders.

I imagine tracking down players who have similar name placements to Clemente would show their cards to also be off-centered the vast majority of time.

[Brent G.]

Wow, I missed that entirely — you’re absolutely right! They couldn’t cut it any lower.

One thing I find sad about this set is that even 11 years in, he couldn’t get called by his real first name in his own city on a card!

[JollyElm]

To further illustrate the point, I grabbed this pic from eBay and it makes the differences in name placement absolutely clear (ignore the fact the Clemente card is a tad bit shorter top-to-bottom—which from experience is very often the case)...

s-l1600-7.jpg

Now think of the insanity of all of this:
Since Roberto Clemente's name was placed so erroneously low in the layout, it means that all properly sheet-cut cards were naturally OFF-CENTERED (to a grader's eye),
which also means that the very few which are found 'centered' were literally cut OFF-CENTERED to appear that way!!!

Hence, all PSA 9 OC cards should be PSA 9, and all PSA 9 cards should be PSA 9 OC.

Can't make this stuff up.

SMH.

[Brent G.]

HAHAHA! I appreciate the card, man!

[kimo75]

I have noticed that the Vernon Law card is available in far less quantity than the rest of the set. I bought a large lot of these that was about 25 of each. There were only 10 Law cards in the lot.

[Brent G.]

Originally Posted by kimo75

I have noticed that the Vernon Law card is available in far less quantity than the rest of the set. I bought a large lot of these that was about 25 of each. There were only 10 Law cards in the lot.

That is interesting -- looks like there's just one signed one on eBay right now.

When I saw that lot of 180 Clementes from 2018, I wondered if they ran a few sheets of just him.

[Brent G.]

The apparent GOAT of the set -- sold for $2,640 in 2020 ... seems like a bargain now.