Best 1960s Non-Topps Set?

[BobC]

Originally Posted by lampertb

'33 Goudeys, '41 Play Balls, '50 Bowmans.

Thanks for responding Richard. Based on your choices you appear to be choosing normal, well-known and widely issued/distributed card sets, that were sold in packs, of then current players. Not specialty, regional, or oddball issues (stamps, coins, box panels, stickers, posters, stand-ups, and so on), nor as you specified, anything Topps or Topps related. Following those parameters your '60s choices are fairly limited to only the '63 Fleer set. Unless you want and/or are willing to adjust your focus to maybe consider an O-Pee-Chee or Venezuelan set as not Topps related. In your original post you also mentioned as additional concerns and issues, availability, affordability, and checklist size. Those are all able to be met by selecting the '63 Fleer set. It was nationally distributed in packs, all current players (including a Maury Wills rookie card) including many of the then big name stars (Mays, Clemente, Koufax, and such, but no Mantle), with all 66 different players in the set being very available and generally quite affordable. There's even a 67th card, which is the set checklist. Many of the other choices people have listed are wonderful as well, but, they are Topps or Topps related, they weren't distributed in packs, they aren't actually cards, they may include some extremely rare items that will ridiculously hard (and possibly quite expensive) to find, and on and on. Also, based on your other decade's set choices, they are all from the earlier parts of those decades, so a '63 set seems to rather nicely fit into that timeline/frame as well.

Good luck in whichever set you do end up deciding to go with, but given your stated parameters and earlier choices, the only '60's set option that would appear to meet all your wishes is the 1963 Fleer set, if you want to stay consistent with your collecting goals.

Related story, I first became interested in the '63 Fleer set about 25-30 years ago when I came across a guy selling a bunch of them raw at a flea market. Sold me his whole stack of 20 of them in VG-EX to NM condition (including Koufax) for $20. After that, had no choice but to complete the set, right? You'll likely never find a deal like that today, but you should still be able to acquire that entire set fairly easily, and at reasonable prices. I just did a quick Ebay search for "1963 Fleer" in the Sports Card, Memorabilia category, and it pops up with over 19,000 items listed. If you take a quick look, you'll find many '63 Fleer cards in really nice shape listed, and very often at less than $10 a card. Also, the vast majority of them are not graded (which I personally prefer). And there even appears to be a near set (58/66) for sale individually by Greg Morris Cards right now, which looks to include all the big-name players in the set. The Greg Morris listed cards all have the bright blue background behind them, so easy to spot and find, and all look to be in really nice shape as well. There's another current thread on this same Pre-1980 Post-War forum about grading by Greg Morris Cards, which speaks well of his grading and overall reputation, if you become inclined to go in that direction. When it comes to the '60's, have always felt the '63 Fleer set was one of, if not the most, underappreciated and undervalued regular card sets of that entire decade. Be sure and let us know what you finally decide, and again, good luck in whatever set you end up choosing.