How hard was it to find new Topps series in 1950s, '60s and early '70s?

[MarcosCards]

Originally Posted by MCoxon

This is the most amazing thing about this thread. So many great posts, from so many members whom I haven't seen post from in the 3 years since I've been on the board. And each one has a fascinating set of memories

Oh yeah, this type of thread stirs slight butterflies of excitement in my stomach! Memories of the lazy, carefree summer days of my childhood come flooding back. Sweet!

I knew card series existed in those days, but they were never my focus. My quest was always about getting cards of my beloved Detroit Tigers!

I received a pretty humble weekly allowance so I bought maybe 3 or 4 packs a week. However, an older kid in the neighborhood, Larry Kruger, had a paper route, and seemed to have unlimited discretionary income for buying cards. Now the good news is that Larry was definitely into checking off series checklists and completing sets. Also, for some reason, he loved the Red Sox. And, if I had cards he wanted, he was very generous with the trade ratio. He would take me down to his basement where he had several card tables set up that were covered with stacks of cards. One table was for his doubles - or should I say doubles, triples, quadruples, etc. Larry always had lots of these - and he didn’t seem to value these excess cards. The transaction was quite simple. In exchange for a card of mine that he wanted, he would slide over to me a couple 100-card stacks. Again, great memories!

I don’t think our local dimestore had shortages of the later series. At least not in 1960. I’ve got multiples of many final series All Star cards - including seven Charlie Neals (#556) and five Ernie Banks (#560).

I sometimes wonder whatever happened to Larry Kruger and all his cards.
Marcos