If you could open a box...

[NateMack]

I am going for the 54 Topps pack!

Followed by 58 Topps and 55 Topps!

I love all those 50's Topps years though!!!!

[pawpawdiv9]

Shhoo! I was sweating that this was not about opening a box of TWINKIES 20 or 30 yrs later.

Since i am partial to the Mick.. I love the looks of the 51 Bowman..heck almost any Bowman.
Next to that is the 52 of course.
Close behind...maybe the 56.

[brian1961]

Too many to name, but one that I'd particularly enjoy would be a box of 1962 Topps Civil War News. I really got in to those cards back then. Second might be a box of 1961 Topps Baseball 7th Series high numbers. As a kid, I only got one pack of those. Maybe because I only got the one pack, I remember that occasion. It was a rainy, cool early fall night in Skokie, Illinois. I was with my Dad, whom I miss so much, and we stopped at a Wahlgreen's. --Brian Powell

[stlcardsfan]

Originally Posted by brian1961

Too many to name, but one that I would particularly enjoy would be a box of 1962 Topps Civil War News. I really enjoyed those cards back then. Second might be a box of 1961 Topps Baseball 7th Series high numbers. As a kid, I only got one pack of those. Maybe because I only got the one pack, I remember that occasion. It was a rainy, cool early fall night in Skokie, Illinois. I was with my Dad, whom I miss so much, and we stopped at a Wahlgreen's. --Brian Powell

Neat story, Brian. Do you remember the cards in that 7th series '61 pack? Mantle AS?

[brian1961]

STLCARDSFAN, Yes, the Mickey Mantle All-Star WAS one of the five cards. I was 7 years old and thrilled to pieces that I got Mickey! Jim Gentile was another, and a Chicago Cubs pitcher that did not do too much in the majors. The card had a bright yellow background. Thanks for asking. Have a great day, buddy. --Brian Powell

PS -----As you are probably well aware, numbers 587 and 588 were never issued in 1961. I have wondered, given the extreme popularity and interest at that moment in time concerning Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle gunning for Ruth's single season HR record, whether Topps chose to double-print the M&M boys' All-Star cards. This would make perfect sense. What would have made even BETTER sense---Topps doing a card of the dual as they had done periodically throughout the 1961 set. Title it simply, "M&M Boys". Preferably on a horizontally-styled card. What a dream card!!!!!!!!!!! THIS is the exact type of card Topps should do for a National Convention giveaway. I'd fight to get one of those! If, that is, they do a good job of it. OH TOPPS PERSONNEL, ARE YOU LISTENING? TAKE THIS AS A STRONG HINT and a SUGGESTION FROM SOMEONE WHO PAYS ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU OFFER AT THE NATIONAL!

Back in the early 90s a gentleman did that very thing. He took a stunning photo of the pair and fashioned a 1963 Topps-looking card. Superb work. But the hobby came down on him in a very disturbing fashion, as I recall reading in Sports Collectors Digest. He didn't charge that much for it, either. This was about the time when the powers that be started investigating unlicensed cards, and making those individuals stop doing so, while sometimes imposing uncomfortable penalties.

Eventually, I bought one on eBay. I LOVE IT!!!!!!

Did you ever strike a deal on the 1955 Rawlings Stan Musial card set on that glove box flap?

--Brian Powell

[ALR-bishop]

Nate---of the ones you dream about 58( along with 56.) would be the toughest today, much more so than 52, 53, 54, 55, 57 or 59. You could likely get a 52 pack cheaper than either 56 or 58

[NateMack]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Nate---of the ones you dream about 58( long with 56.) would be the toughest today, much more so than 52, 53, 54, 55, 57 or 59. You could likely get a 52 pack cheaper than either 56 or 58

I would "settle" for any of them!!

[stlcardsfan]

Originally Posted by brian1961

Sorry STLCARDSFAN, I have to eat and run to work. But yes, the Mickey Mantle All-Star WAS one of the five cards. Jim Gentile was another, and a Chicago Cubs pitcher that did not do too much in the majors. The card had a bright yellow background. Thanks for asking. Have a great day, buddy. --Brian Powell

Brian, that's awesome. Two of the most prized cards in the last series. Do you still have them? I am thinking the Cubs pitcher you referenced is Curtis.

[brian1961]

Dear STLCARDSFAN, Go back a few posts, I wrote you a long PS in my post to you from yesterday. I think I have four of the cards left. The original one I don't have is Mickey. In the late 1980s I traded very heavily for another. I had SGC grade it, and it came out an 88 NM-MT. I love Mick's picture in that one. I think Topps used it on their '61 Stamp issue and the '62 Baseball Buck, but no other cards. Even though it's not the one I got in '61, it's probably in much better condition than the original, had I been able to hold onto it. I took good care of my cards, but let's face facts, we had so little back then to preserve our collection. ---Brian Powell