Brooks Robinson and the Baltimore Orioles

[MarcosCards]

About a year ago, my wife and I were visiting Maryland. Being from the Midwest, we relish opportunities to eat quality, fresh, seafood. So, when we asked our Uber driver about a good, local seafood restaurant, he suggested The Blue Dolphin outside of Baltimore. Wow - we were not disappointed with his recommendation!

On a wall (I believe near the bar) was a collection of framed artwork of Baltimore sports heroes. I was most impressed with this one of the great Brooks Robinson - so I took this photo. We always respected him in Detroit.
8D20AA8D-0BD7-4754-9915-78B8605199E5.jpg

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by MarcosCards

About a year ago, my wife and I were visiting Maryland. Being from the Midwest, we relish opportunities to eat quality, fresh, seafood. So, when we asked our Uber driver about a good, local seafood restaurant, he suggested The Blue Dolphin outside of Baltimore. Wow - we were not disappointed with his recommendation!

On a wall (I believe near the bar) was a collection of framed artwork of Baltimore sports heroes. I was most impressed with this one of the great Brooks Robinson - so I took this photo. We always respected him in Detroit.

Marcos,

Thanks for the great memory of your visit to Maryland. The Norman Rockwell "Thanks Brooks" piece is likely in most Orioles fans collections. I know I have a few different size examples.

Since you mentioned Detroit, I'm sure they'll be a couple examples of Brooks with Al Kaline in this thread the coming year.

[Mark70Z]

Day 96 (April 5, 2020 – 096)

Today we have a somewhat rare unreleased ‘Test’ issue from Topps. The 1973 Topps Comic were meant to be folded around gum (since Topps owned Bazooka) so some examples do have the folds and show evidence of being attached. Below is the 1973 Topps Comic Brooks Robinson.

1973 Topps Comic

Day 96 a 1973 Topps Comic back.jpg
Day 96 b 1973 Topps Comic.jpg

[Mark70Z]

Posted for Clint (ksfarmboy)

Clint is breaking out some good stuff and this is another example. Today is a game used jersey of the Orioles lead off hitter and speed demon Al Bumbry worn during the 1976 season.

Al a.jpg
Al b.jpg

[quitcrab]

I don’t ever remember seeing the 73 Comics as a kid. It’s very apparent that the 73 comics are harder to find then the 73 Pin Ups
That’s a real nice example of the comic Mark! The one I have has 3 marks/dots where the glue held the wrapper together, so I am guessing mine had gum in it at one time and was sold at a store.

Never quite understood why all the team emblems on the players hats are airbrushed off. I figured Topps had contracts with all the players and MLB.

I live in NY and a guy who lives across the street use to work for Topps a few years ago. I remember him saying once “ just because we have a contract with Alex Rodriguez, doesn’t mean we can make a million different baseball cards of him “
I assume even with a contract certain rules apply for Topps .

[BaltOrioles]

While my friends had given up on collecting cards by the time they hit junior high and high school, I was still actively looking for my beloved Orioles. While the earlier 70's provided a little variety with cards from Milk Duds and Kelloggs, the high school years of the middle 70's were great. I could search the grocery aisles for Hostess cards and Royal Crown Cola cans. As a working man, I had some income of my own to invest. One set I loved was the SSPC cards from 1975-1976. Maybe it was their simplicity or the fact that the set contained a few Orioles that Topps hadn't printed cards of yet. Either way, I was impressed with the cards. I think they are still fairly popular and not too hard to find.

Here's the history of the set per BaseballCardPedia.........

SSPC: With the exception of some regional and oddball sets, baseball card collectors in the 1970s had the choice of collecting cards from one company and one company alone, Topps. Topps has a stranglehold on nationally distributed baseball card issues from 1956 throughout the 1970s until Fleer took up the challenge in 1980. But even before 1980, in 1975 to be exact, Mike Aronstein set the groundwork by challenging Topps in the market it had enjoyed to itself for two decades.

Aronstein was an ardent card collector who had put out card sets for several years in the 1970s, mostly minor league sets, but also some special team sets and reprints of some classic sets. His company was called TCMA, which stood for The Card Memorabilia Associates. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, the initials also stood for Tom Collier and Mike Aronstein, co-founders of TCMA. From TCMA came the Sports Stars Publishing Co. or "SSPC." SSPC published an early baseball card magazine/advertising vehicle, called Collectors Quarterly. Aronstein decided to become a maverick by testing the baseball card waters by printing an unlicensed 630-card collector's set using the 1953 Bowman set as a model. The '53 Bowman's have always been a favorite of card collectors because of their photography and simple, uncluttered design. Collectors Quarterly, or CQ as it became known, was used to introduce and promote the SSPC set. Incidentally, CQ was edited by a young hobbyist named Keith Olbermann. Yes, that Keith Olbermann. Olbermann was charged with the monumental task of writing material for the backs for the 630-card SSPC set.

The winter 1975 issue of CQ contained a two-page cardboard insert previewing the 1975-76 SSPC set. The 18 cards could be cut apart into singles and represented something of a traded set, as each player or manager changed teams between the end the 1975 season and beginning of 1976.

Here are the SSPC Orioles cards

1975 CQ Preview (Muser listed as an Oriole on back), 1975 Superstars Set of 42 (4 Orioles), 1975 Puzzle Back

1975 SSPC (Sample).jpg 1975 SSPC (Set of 42).jpg 1975 SSPC (Puzzle Back).jpg

1976 Orioles team set

1976 SSPC #1.jpg 1976 SSPC #2.jpg 1976 SSPC #3.jpg 1976 SSPC #4.JPG

[roarfrom34]

Originally Posted by Mark70Z

Day 96 (April 5, 2020 – 096)

Today we have a somewhat rare unreleased ‘Test’ issue from Topps. The 1973 Topps Comic were meant to be folded around gum (since Topps owned Bazooka) so some examples do have the folds and show evidence of being attached. Below is the 1973 Topps Comic Brooks Robinson.

1973 Topps Comic

Attachment 392517
Attachment 392518

Mark:

That is a fantastic piece......I never went after the Brooks' Topps test issues but wish I had.

Bill

[ksfarmboy]

Great stuff guys! Mark that comic is real nice!