1958 Topps Race to the Finish

[Bob Lemke]

Thanks, Erik,

I consider the Spring, 1981, issue (#1) of Baseball Cards magazine to be the highlight of my 32+ years with Krause Publications. I was able to convince the owner and the publisher of a multi-million dollar hobby publishing company that baseball cards were the next hot collectible (well, at that time they were).

BBC was the first baseball card magazine to include full-size, full-color images of cards, and was the ever to be sold on national newsstands. The 125,000 print run of that first issue was the largest circulation of any card periodical ever and blew away the combined circulation of every other card publication at that time.

Putting even that rudimentary price guide into the public's hands really cheesed off the motel buyers who were rampant at that time, stealing shoe box collections for pennies on the dollar.

[Samsdaddy]

Originally Posted by Bob Lemke

Thanks, Erik,

I consider the Spring, 1981, issue (#1) of Baseball Cards magazine to be the highlight of my 32+ years with Krause Publications. I was able to convince the owner and the publisher of a multi-million dollar hobby publishing company that baseball cards were the next hot collectible (well, at that time they were).

BBC was the first baseball card magazine to include full-size, full-color images of cards, and was the ever to be sold on national newsstands. The 125,000 print run of that first issue was the largest circulation of any card periodical ever and blew away the combined circulation of every other card publication at that time.

Putting even that rudimentary price guide into the public's hands really cheesed off the motel buyers who were rampant at that time, stealing shoe box collections for pennies on the dollar.

If I am not mistaken, you even mention that in your editorial in the first issue of BBC regarding the fact some dealers/sellers are going to upset with you for publishing the magazine and including the price guide.

Two memories of that first issue stick out. The article on plastic sheets ruining collections and the two page full color spread of some of the most collectible baseball cards of all time provided by the late Larry Fritsch.

[Tomman1961]

Samsdaddy/Bob Lemke. I also remember the fear of PVC sheets with plastisizer added for softness. What is the thought today? I worked for a company in 2002 that had samples of PVC products made in 1970, stored for customers.By 2002 the samples were a gooey mess. If I bought sheets made in 1979, will they turn my complete 1955 Topps set into a gooey mess?

[ALR-bishop]

I have a copy of the #1 issue as well and also took note of that article. It caused me to move my older sets ( 48 and 51 to 80) to non PVC sheets. That was a lot of work. And after 82 my sets are also in non PVC sheets.

But just to see what would happen I left my 81 and 82 sets in the old sheets and check them from time to time. So far the cards seem fine but the sheets do stick together some, and you can feel some residue on those sheets. But the cards still can be removed ok and do not seem to have lost color or have the feel of the sheets.

[Volod]

My first strong aversion to album storage came as a result of buying some cards through the mail in 1983 and noticing the revolting odor of vinyl that filled the air when they fell out of the mailer. They had obviously been stored in cheap plastic for two or three decades, since that was primarily all that was available for albums before the '80's. I felt like refunding them, but just chalked it up to experience and only bought cards over the counter for several years after that.

[Samsdaddy]

Originally Posted by Tomman1961

Samsdaddy/Bob Lemke. I also remember the fear of PVC sheets with plastisizer added for softness. What is the thought today? I worked for a company in 2002 that had samples of PVC products made in 1970, stored for customers.By 2002 the samples were a gooey mess. If I bought sheets made in 1979, will they turn my complete 1955 Topps set into a gooey mess?

I am no expert in this area but my thinking is why not just buy new sheets. You know today's sheets are top quality, won't damage your cards and are fairly inexpensive. Sure it will be a pain to transfer all your sets over but you will have peace of mind.

I do not have a huge collection as I have returned to the hobby after being away for a while. All my cards are in penny sleeves and then inserted into Top Loaders or Card Saver 1's. I used to have some sets in sheets but some of the cards would creep up in the sheets exposing the top and it drove this OCD guy insane.

[Tomman1961]

Samsdaddy:
Point well taken.Time to get them into new pages, and stop asking the question.I think it is time I break down and buy new pages for my sets instead of crossing my fingers. Maybe we are saying to collectors that have this fear-spend the pennies to save your cards.
In my post I was saying I worked for a company in 2002 that had customer samples stored away. The samples were the size of an index card, and used as color matches for their vinyl products. 30 years later after the customers were long gone, I decided to clean out the samples room.The samples were 3 x 5 by about 1/8" thick. And slimy.
Tomorrow I buy 8 pocket pages for by 1953-1956 Topps.
Thank-Tom

[Samsdaddy]

Originally Posted by Tomman1961

Samsdaddy:
Point well taken.Time to get them into new pages, and stop asking the question.I think it is time I break down and buy new pages for my sets instead of crossing my fingers. Maybe we are saying to collectors that have this fear-spend the pennies to save your cards.
In my post I was saying I worked for a company in 2002 that had customer samples stored away. The samples were the size of an index card, and used as color matches for their vinyl products. 30 years later after the customers were long gone, I decided to clean out the samples room.The samples were 3 x 5 by about 1/8" thick. And slimy.
Tomorrow I buy 8 pocket pages for by 1953-1956 Topps.
Thank-Tom

Good idea Tom. It will be a wise purchase.

As I have said before, the 1958 Topps All-Star Sub set is one of my all time favorite group of cards. Musial, Mays and Mantle are the best IMO.

[Bob Lemke]

We took a lot of heat for running that PVC-sheets article . . . mostly from those who sold the sheets. But I knew we were right at the time, and the passage of time has proved it.