Curious about 1973 Topps distribution

[GasHouseGang]

You look like a collector of packs and boxes so you seem to be someone who would know. Were the checklists offered as sheets on one of the 1973 packs? The 1973 checklists I have were torn from a full sheet and I seem to remember reading that they were offered that way. Any info?

[GeorgeBailey2]

First, I want to thank those that have provided information, particularly the letter from Bill Haber. The scans are just plain old cardboard porn.

In King of Prussia, it was wax packs in series. I don't recall seeing cellos or racks. In August, though, we spent our usual two weeks in Ocean City. The penny candy store at the north end of the boardwalk had racks which had the one pocket of the last series. At least a third of what I bought that year was bought at the shore. In today's vernacular: "Best Summer Ev-ah!"

Never even knew they had the blue checklists until years later.

Someone mentioned that the mail away may have been an uncut sheet. Is that verified? I know that the Topps Collectors Club in 1976 sent an uncut sheet of the team checklists (the team photo cards) as part of the membership. It was folded and was printed on a brighter and thinner card stock than the issued cards.

[esquiresports]

Originally Posted by GasHouseGang

You look like a collector of packs and boxes so you seem to be someone who would know. Were the checklists offered as sheets on one of the 1973 packs? The 1973 checklists I have were torn from a full sheet and I seem to remember reading that they were offered that way. Any info?

I have seen uncut checklist sheets offered on eBay, but I believe they were of the red variety. I can pull my 1973 packs and see if a team checklist sheet is one of the offers.

[moeson]

1973 Topps distribution was mentioned in the November-December 1973 issue of Sports Fan. It looks like West Coast collectors took direct action after years of last series frustration and were looking forward to an all at once 1974 set.

[ALR-bishop]

I was thinking Howie, that these things are a great read now, looking back at the hobby from a different era, but had I got one of these back in 1973 I may have looked at all that small,scrunched up print and decided it was not worth the effort

[moeson]

Al, it sure helped to have much younger eyes back then when the hobby was so hungry for information. No wonder SCD became such a big hit in a short time.

[Rich Klein]

Al Blumkin, mentioned in that article, is a very good friend of mine, I'll ask him to share his recollections of those trips in the very near future.

RIch

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by moeson

Al, it sure helped to have much younger eyes back then when the hobby was so hungry for information. No wonder SCD became such a big hit in a short time.

I've been going through old Trader Speaks from earliest to latest in researching my next book and right around 1970-early 1971 it seems like there was an almost exponential leap in interest in baseball cards. TTS circulation soars over 2,000, other publications seem to launch monthly and there are regular stories of news coverage of hobby events.

A couple years after that we get The Great American Baseball Card Flipping Trading and Bubble Gum book. Then not long after that comes out I remember Joe Garagiola on This Week In baseball doing a story on Topps and it was off to the races after that over the next five years, culminating in the great hobby expansion of 1981. Imagine if the internet had been around then.

[Rich Klein]

I think we had a definite explosion around 1978 as in my pre-Beckett dealing days there were a couple of points where it seemed as if we got more cards

One pre-1968 to 1968

1974

1978

1981

1987 for the over explosion

Rich