Hostess Baseball Cards

[Jayworld]

I have a fondness for the Hostess baseball cards during the years 1977-79, mostly because my mother was very supportive and purchased said product (Ding Dongs, Cup Cakes, etc.) for the three panel baseball cards on the back. I would always search for boxes that contained Padres players, and in the case of Twinkies (which I never liked), I would force myself to eat them for the cards.

I've noticed a few things, mostly on eBay, about the Hostess cards:

1. They are fairly inexpensive
2. Seemingly there is a desire more for the back panel that contains three uncut cards. So, do collectors generally cut them out themselves once they've obtained an uncut panel, or leave them on the panel intact?
2. The fact that they were designed to be cut out from the bottom of the product box is a quandary to me. I don't collect graded cards, but I have noticed that PSA grades the Hostess cards as "Hand Cut" and assigns them a "regular" PSA numerical grade (6, 7, 8, etc.) and condition. In the same vein, I have seen other cards (pre-war, post-war) cut from packages or product (non-Hostess) graded as "Authentic" because they had been cut. This is kind of confusing for me.

Heck, when I was a kid, I would carefully cut out the cards just outside the dotted lines (so that the dotted lines could be slightly seen all the way around). That was my preference for my cards; yet I see some graded cards that have been cut out on the lines, just inside the lines, etc., and it does not seem to affect the grade one way or the other.

So, for Hostess collectors, what's the general consensus or "rule" regarding cutting the cards, etc.?

Thanks!

[David W]

I've been kind of working on those sets for years. If you are not condition sensitive, you can get them real cheap, they are very plentiful.

I have no desire to put the set together as 3 card panels, mine are individual cards.

I imagine a set could be put together in a few weeks via Ebay if you wanted.

[darkhorse9]

The true challenge of the Hostess sets is the 1977 "Twinkies" set. I've been working on that for decades. That's the only year in which every one of the 150 cards is available on a single (black bar) panel. Some were on the standard Twinkie size (#1-60), some were on cupcake (much narrower #60 - 135) some were on SnoBalls (had flaps on the panels)

The last 15 cards in the set have been a real test for me. I've never seen the uncut versions of those cards come up.

[4reals]

I hear ya Mark, I've been looking for a '77 Twinkies Don Sutton being sold by itself for 5+ years now.

[glynparson]

absolutely should not have received a numerical grade. if the card did it was misgraded.

[Jayworld]

Here's an example (there are others) of a card on eBay that is labeled by PSA as "Hand Cut" and also Gem Mint with a numerical grade:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1977-HOSTESS...item540f341083

So, are we saying that there should not be a number grade on any card that has been hand cut, etc., or just Hostess?

[Exhibitman]

If anyone needs 1976 Twinkies Aaron cards, I have several available. All have the product stains in varying degrees.

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by glynparson

absolutely should not have received a numerical grade. if the card did it was misgraded.

I thought they now graded cards like this but put the designation as Hand Cut? Not just Hostess panels....

Z Wheat

[esquiresports]

Originally Posted by darkhorse9

The true challenge of the Hostess sets is the 1977 "Twinkies" set. I've been working on that for decades. That's the only year in which every one of the 150 cards is available on a single (black bar) panel. Some were on the standard Twinkie size (#1-60), some were on cupcake (much narrower #60 - 135) some were on SnoBalls (had flaps on the panels)

The last 15 cards in the set have been a real test for me. I've never seen the uncut versions of those cards come up.

Here is an example of an uncut Twinkies sheet that I have (I believe I have two or three). Sure enough, the last card on the sheet is #135. Interesting...

[darkhorse9]

That looks to be the Cupcakes run. You'll notice there's very little border between the cards. Those also have much different printing on the back. The stats are printed a lot smaller than the Twinkies versions.

I'm not 100 percent sure what product the ones over #135 were issued in. 1-60 were Twinkies. The Snowballs seem to be skip numbered.

[steve B]

And for really tough ones there's these.



I traded for a small batch of them back around 1981. 74 McCovey Washinton And maybe a couple other cards for the whole bunch.

The stupidly traded half of them for another McCovey Washington.

So there's around 10 of them out there plus my 10. I've never seen any others and haven't seen them listed anywhere.

Pretty interesting, along with the different colors most are screened more coarsely, and there are a few reversed negatives. And numbers over 150 - which seem to match the list for proofs in the Standard catalog.

Steve B

[esquiresports]

Originally Posted by darkhorse9

That looks to be the Cupcakes run. You'll notice there's very little border between the cards. Those also have much different printing on the back. The stats are printed a lot smaller than the Twinkies versions.

I'm not 100 percent sure what product the ones over #135 were issued in. 1-60 were Twinkies. The Snowballs seem to be skip numbered.

Ok. That makes sense. Found a photo of the backs:



Here is a 1977 Twinkie card I have that I believe has never been catalogued - Dave Parker.

[brewing]

Uh, that's not Milt May.

[toppcat]

Here's more from the August issue that includes Sy Berger advising the photos came from Topps:

[toppcat]

deleted dupe post

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by brewing

Uh, that's not Milt May.

Looks like his 'brother,' Lee May.

[Cliff Bowman]

I don't know how to paste it here, but a 1975 Hostess panel with the corrected Burt Hooton card sold for $361.26 on eBay recently even with light creases and light scratches. The corrected 1975 Burt Hooton and Doug Rader cards are very difficult to find, there must have been a small print run of them.

[nolemmings]

[David W]

Originally Posted by Cliff Bowman

I don't know how to paste it here, but a 1975 Hostess panel with the corrected Burt Hooton card sold for $361.26 on eBay recently even with light creases and light scratches. The corrected 1975 Burt Hooton and Doug Rader cards are very difficult to find, there must have been a small print run of them.

One of the articles above said it was correct only on Ho Ho's, all other boxes spelled it wrong.

There are probably quite a few less of the correct spelling cards.

[Cliff Bowman]

Originally Posted by David W

One of the articles above said it was correct only on Ho Ho's, all other boxes spelled it wrong.

There are probably quite a few less of the correct spelling cards.

Aha, that's why every correct Hooton that I have seen has the factory crease along the bottom, they are from the smaller box.