Distribution of Vintage Baseball Cards in Canada

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Posted By: peter chao

This thread is mostly for Canadian baseball fans, but others feel free to chime in. I'm really curious about the distribution of vintage cards in various parts of Canada. Did you guys pretty much get cards from the U.S. on a regular basis or was distribution spotty.

How about distribution of candy cards and chocolate cards, was that spotty? How about the tobacco cards? What kind of stores did you go to in order to get your baseball card fix?

Peter C.

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Posted By: dennis

you have to be pretty old to respond to this one?

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Posted By: peter chao

Not neccessarily, it's unimportant whether you have first hand knowledge. It's possible that your father told you or another hobbyist told you.

Peter C.

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Posted By: Max Weder

The logistics of the distribution of baseball cards is difficult in Canada, especially in Vancouver, B.C. in July, as this picture will show (Vancouver may not be exactly as illustrated)



Max

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Posted By: Anonymous

I have been collecting the T206 set for the last few months, and have yet to buy anything from Canada. I saw a Tris Speaker from a guy in Edmonton and that's it.

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Posted By: paulstratton

I bought a lot of t206's at Legends(at the corner of King and John) years ago. This was when the Canadian dollar was worth about 62 cents, some of them came back 7's...sadly, they don't have the supply they used to.

edited to say this was in Toronto.

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Posted By: DMcD

Max, isn't that the igloo by the Blaine border crossing?

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Posted By: Max Weder

Peter

I should add that in 1968, I bought opeechee cards instead of Topps, as that was what was available in Canada. The grey-brown backs are what bring back waves of nostaglia, rather than the yellow US backs. Others can no doubt add why there was separate Canadian production of the cards over the years (Goudeys had WWG produce the cards in Canada), but NAFTA has done away with much of the separate production runs.

The cards were available at the local confectionary and drug stores, but like everywhere else, certain cards were elusive.


Max

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Posted By: peter chao

Max,

1968 Opeechee is pretty popular in the states also. Did you pick up a Nolan Ryan rookie by any chance?

Peter C.

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Posted By: Wesley

The lack of baseball cards up north drove a young Max to collect books as an alternative. Fortunately for others there was an abundance of baseball cards after the enactment of NAFTA.

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Posted By: joe brennan

I know of a collector in Canada that recently bought a raw T206 Plank that now resides in a PSA 4 holder. If memory serves me right, there were some other cards in that find in Canada.

In Rememberance of James W. Brennan Sr. 1924-1982. Dad, thanks for everything you did for me.