1961 Golden Press Dimaggio

[brian1961]

SANDMOUNTAINSLIM---

Howdy podnah! I think I can shed some light on this card for you. I began collecting in 1961, and among the card sets offered that spring was the Golden Press Hall of Fame. My buddy in first grade, Robert Sutton, had some of the cards at school. I asked him what they were, and he gave me the dope on them.

The 33-card set was issued in a large cardboard booklet. The pages were all of the same cardboard as the cards, with each card die-cut, and a kid simply had to carefully punch or tear them out of the pages. The Golden Press company had a circular swivel display rack at the Jewel Supermarket on Touhy Avenue in Skokie, Illinois where I grew up. Golden Press created these booklet card sets of various subjects, calling them "GOLDEN FUNTIME TRADING CARDS", so baseball was far from the only one. That's where Robert told me they were. When I found them there, I begged my Mom to buy the approximately 39-49 cent booklet. She did so, and I still have some of them, including Joe DiMaggio.

As a come-on or freebie, a major mail order dealer of the 60s, Bruce Yeko of Wholesale Cards Co. of the East Coast, offered the Golden Press booklet set for free with the purchase of an entire set of Topps baseball. I vaguely recall Bruce ran that promotion during the years 1966 - 1968.

OK, the Golden Press are plentiful. However, they are distinctly beautiful. Simple design and the colorization is better than average, by the standards of the time. The cardboard used was good. As you probably know, there were not a lot of Joe DiMaggio baseball cards made during his career. As you said, when you encounter them, they are expensive. The Golden Press DiMag is a wonderful alternative. Great action shot. Besides, with the large Fleer All-Time Great sets from 1960-61, unaccountably, DiMaggio is not included. Money-hungry Joe probably wanted a lot of money for the right to make a card of him---maybe? Whatever, with Joe being in the Golden Press, there he is!

A number of smug collectors turn their nose up at the Golden Press, because they're cards issued well after the players retired, or they're too easy. I am far from one of them. These cards won't impressively appreciate in value, but you'll appreciate their beauty, and rest peacefully in the fact it's now a 54-year-old card and it didn't cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars.

I would urge you to prowl eBay. By all means, strive to get a PSA-graded specimen. Make yourself pay the piper for a MINT 9, or if you can find one, even a GEM MINT 10. You will pay a handsome premium for the double-digit grade, but it will be among the best. What many collectors don't realize is that even a card carefully removed today from a well-preserved, unsold stock folder will by no means automatically receive a Gem Mint 10 by PSA. "It don't come easy", as Ringo Starr wisely said, and beautifully sang.

I wish you the very best in your pursuit of a prime '61 Golden Press DiMag!

Cheers. ---Brian Powell