How hard was it to find new Topps series in 1950s, '60s and early '70s?

[spec]

You certainly had to work at keeping up with Topps' new series in the 50s and 60s. I began collecting in 1957 in Warrington, a suburb of Pensacola, Fla., and rode my bike all around town to find the latest series. I found only one store that had the tough 4th series and could only afford a few packs, so wound up trading the chemicals in my chemistry set to fill in the gaps when we moved out into the country that winter. All series of 58s were rather easy to find in a couple of stores near my elementary school, but the next year when I was in junior high I had to wait until my mother drove into town every other week to feed my appetite for cards. She'd stop at stores along the way until I'd found the latest series, and, thanks to having nothing to spend my allowance on out in the country, I quickly learned to save up enough for a full box (24 5-cent packs, $1.20) when I found the series I wanted. You usually got most, if not all, of the cards in a series in a box, but I remember one day in 1959 when the box I purchased included only 20-30 different cards (I recall having 15 Bob Giallombardos). By 1963, I'd tired of the biweekly quests, so I bought sets by mail from Card Collectors Co., Bruce Yeko's Wholesale Cards or Gordon B. Taylor. I resumed collecting piecemeal in 1967 when I was in college in Winter Park, Fla., and had a car to scour the Orlando area for the latest series. I continued the quest until 1973 when Topps issued all the series at once in Boston, where I moved after college. In short, finding the tough series cards (including football issues) was a challenge, but one I look back on fondly.
Bob Richardson

[bigtrain]

I bought Topps packs from 1962 to 1968. There was a little candy store across from our elementary school and I had a nickel a day to spend there. When we were anticipating release of a new series, my friends and I would take turns buying a pack a day so we wouldn't all be buying the old series every day. Then when one kids opened a new series pack we would all rush back to the store to buy a pack or two. It was exciting stuff. There was always a player or two who seemed to be in every pack. I think it was '67 when my brother and I must have had 50 Phil Roof cards. So much card flipping occurred before school that our principal banned it as a safety hazard. Great memories.

[chris6net]

1970-1973 were my big years as far as buying packs. I remember 1972 the best and remember being sick for a week in probably March and missing out on buying the 1st series cards right away. That year the 1st series was only out about 2 weeks when the next series came out. After that we would go to the local pharmacy and when each series came out it felt like we were in heaven. Finally when the tough last series came out most of my friends were tired of buying cards and I wasn,t so I ended up with more than my normal share of the last series. I always had trouble finishing my 1st series because of my week late start. Great Memories

[obcbobd]

I collected from 67 (age 5) till 74 (age 12), after that I bought complete sets. I was not the brightest bulb I guess as I don't think I got the whole series stuff until about 1972. I know that in 71 I really wanted a Yaz but never could find him nor did I know anyone who did. Wasn't till a few years later that I noticed that neither me nor my friends had any 5th series 71s.

Likewise I had no 72 last series, but my friend Mark did (I didn't notice this till a few years later). I have since moved back into my old home town and ran into Mark a month ago and he mentioned that his Dad always bought him packs of cards at "Peter Pan's Superette". I always went two one of the five and dimes up the street.

[ALR-bishop]

Tomman--I still have one of their 1967 Catalogs offering the 52 Mantle for $ 25 and the high series 52 cards for $ 1 each

[darkhorse9]

When I was a kid I didn't even realize what a "series" was. I just bought whatever cards were in front of me. My financial situation made any pretense of completing sets a non-starter.

I started worrying about series when Wacky Packages came out in the early 70's. Then it became a bigger deal when a new series came out.

I lived outside of Chicago, so looking back on the cards of my youth I don't recall any trouble getting cards of later series. I had plenty of high number 69's and 70's from those days. I recall finding a weird pack of cards as a kid with some kind of canvass border on them (1968) but one pack was all I needed of those old cards before I went back to the new cards. I hated them.

[Volod]

---

"When I was a kid I didn't even realize what a "series" was. I just bought whatever cards were in front of me...."

Even more so in the 1950's: the only clue we had back then was the card number, which indicated how many cards were issued up to that point, but not beyond, absent a checklist. But, when did the notion of "series" enter the collecting consciousness - at least for kids? Maybe not until there was some available data on printing processes - the mid '60's?

[saltire]

From 1969 to 1973 (age 8 to 13), I bought the bulk of my cards from the local "Medicine Mart Party Store" on Wayne Road in Westland, MI.

As I recall, they were great at stocking each series but without a doubt in smaller quantities towards the 6th and 7th. By that time, most kids heads were turning towards the winter sports seasons and the new hockey, football and basketball sets that were hitting the shelves. Fortunately, there were 3 or 4 other kids in my class in school who were avid baseball collectors, so between us we always knew when the next series was in stock and raided the store appropriately.

I also have memories of Kresge's at Westland Mall stocking 1969T 7th series cards early in the 1970 season. I still had a few un-ticked boxes on my 7th series checklist and snapped up a buck's worth (10 packs) to finish off my '69 set.

March was ALWAYS an exciting time waiting to see what the new season's cards would look like and which Tigers would be included in the 1st series. Remember, there was no internet or ads or previews of any kind, so you had no idea what you were getting until you ripped open that very first pack of the season.

Good times!

[Rickyy]

1972 the last series...I didn't know it existed until I visited my friend who moved to the other side of the county out here in N. Calif Bay Area....needless to say I was mad and envious of him... .... it took me another 13 years or so to complete it...

1973 I had no problem finding the last series... a bunch came out mixed with other series in rack packs I found at a toy store...the weird thing...all the kids in my hood must have conspired to hoard the 4th series...I couldn't find any.... so I ended up ordering from Larry Fritsch cards...I remember when the box came in after school...ran in and ripped open the vendor fresh cards...I still have them...and they have that fresh quality to them...ahhh..nice memories...

Ricky Y

[Troy Kirk]

I was actively buying packs from 1967 through 1973 when the cards were issued in series. I never knew high number cards were tougher until 1972 when I started getting card collector magazines. In 1972 I knew high number cards were tougher and actively sought out the high numbers but never found any at my local stores for either of the last 2 series. None of my friends had any either, so they were not easily found where I lived.

In 1973 I didn't find any high number cards until late in the year when I was in a neighborhood not near where I lived and I went into a store and there was a huge display of 1973 high number boxes at the front of the store at half off, 5 cents for a pack of 10 cards, as many as you wanted. They also had some wacky packs for sale that I hadn't seen. I only had a few bucks with me but spent all my money on those high number 1973s and some wackys and convinced a non-collecting friend that was with me that he should spend all his money on those 1973 high numbers because they were sure to go up in value. I remember wishing at the time that I had more money with me so I could buy more of those cards, but I never went back, though I did buy enough to get the complete series with plenty of doubles. I asked my friend many years later if he still had those 1973 high numbers and he was sure he did have them somewhere but had no idea where they were.

From the time I bought packs from 1967 to 1973, I did get high numbers in packs for all years except 1970 and 1972. When I started trying to complete those sets later, I had to buy those in the mail in complete series from an early card seller, I think it was Merv Williams.

I was kind of bummed in 1974 when Topps started issuing cards all at once since I was a bit older then and felt I could have found the high numbers that year and stored a bunch away for later.

Looking back at it, I think if I was older during the years when cards were issued in packs, I could have probably found the high numbers. The problem was that I was too young to drive, so was limited to biking around to a few local stores to search for them. If they didn't have them, I was out of luck.

[Jay Boston]

Great thread. 1974 was my first year, so I missed out on the series, so I never understood how the series thing worked.

[obxhouses4rent]

My brother and I collected and flipped cards from 65 to 1970. He is 4 years older. I was 5 when he got hold of a mid high series 65 Johnny Callison. OMG, the kid across the street traded him 100 cards for it but the moms heard about it and nixed the deal. NOBODY had that card! However in 66, we went on our biannual trip to Minnesota and remember stopping in pittsburgh and we picked up 66 topps high series we had NEVER seen. When we brought them back everyone was amazed. Since I was only 6, I dont remember if the high series made it to Levittown or not. I imagine they did but we were the first to have them. I remember flipping the Phila football cards alot more than baseball but flipping and trading and cards in the bike spokes then was soooo common. I distinctly remember the 66 Mays in my bike spokes.

Don't remember that the high series was much of an issue except the 67 set.
Usually we bought at the local 7-11 or Two Guys Dept store (rack packs). Or when we visited our grandparents in Hazelton PA, we would hit Grandpa up for some nickles (softy) to go to the local store and buy wax packs and those wax filled bottles of colored sugar and sit on the step and open the packs. Lotta fun. Then we would sort through the cards and say out loud... got em, got em, dont got em etc... (mom hated that)

Stopped in 1970 and picked up in 75. By 1980 had every set from 41 up except 49 bowmans but got lots of them autographed. Great Great memories. Thx for letting me share.

[jimm]

My story began as I compiled the first 5 series of 1972 bb in Sonoma county (except Ed Kranepool that is, another story)... thinking I was done, went along with neigbor family on a trip up to Red Bluff where the neighbor kid and I bought some packs in the local store... low and behold Julian Javier! I know I dont have him! Many years later to complete that set

[ALR-bishop]

There are a couple of great prior threads in here on whether it was 1973 or 1974 when Topps first started selling all the cards at one time

[1952boyntoncollector]

my grandfather had a drug store in tarrytown NY and he orderd 1952 topps series even when he couldnt sell the prior series, so kids could of gotten all the cards they wanted there.. My mom still has some 1952 topps boxes and she refuses to give them to me and they are probably not stored very well in an outside storage place. Besides that shes a great mom. I cant even bring up the subject of my frustration anymore but i can type it here...

[parkerj33]

Great thread. I started in 77 so i had no clue that series ever existed. But as a youth i was a hoarder and tried to pickup no-longer-wanted collections from friends. Invariably, if i ran into an older collection (70-73) they only had what i know now to be 1st or 2nd series cards. It never made sense at the time.

One analogous situation was true for me in northern Indiana. During the entire 80s timeframe you could only find topps cards in stores. The only way i was able to find donruss or fleer cards was by buying wax at local shows early in the year feb-march. you just couldn't find donruss or fleer anywhere after that or in stores. One year i recall my mom buying me about 20 or so rack packs of 84 donruss for my birthday. She must have cleaned out the store.

[carney22]

Nearly four years since the last post, but this is a pretty timeless topic . . .

Collecting by series, for me, was what collecting was all about. It's what made it fun, and what made it a challenge. Remember, there was only one card company in the game, one major set each year, and the experience of collecting that set over the course of the season was both exhilarating and frustrating.

My first year as a collector was 1967 (so, not surprisingly, it ended up being my favorite set of all time). I was 10 that summer, and I had a mentor, another kid at school who'd been collecting for a couple of years and helped explain the concept of series . . . so unlike a lot of the posters here, I knew what that was all about.

Living in several different locations in the far south suburbs of Chicago over the course of my youth, I was always able to find a drug store or 5&10 that carried baseball cards; fortunately, the places I used as primary sources never seemed to have a problem with putting out the new series when they arrived, no matter how much of the previous series remained. But you never knew just when it was going to happen. It seemed like it was every three or four weeks, and in my area it always seemed to happen at the end of the week, a Thursday or a Friday. Inevitably, my thirst for the next series would mean I'd optimistically go looking for the new cards a week before they were released. You bought a pack and hoped it would be something you hadn't seen, but usually I'd go home disappointed, knowing I had another week or two to wait.

And remember, most kids in the '60s or '70s had a nickel or a dime or maybe a quarter in their pockets. A full box of cards could be bought for less than $2, but no one had $2. So it wasn't instant gratification. You'd open your packs, play the "got-'em-got-'em-need-'em-got-'em" game and then walk or bicycle home, until you could scrape up a few more coins. Each series took awhile to put together. But one of the cards in each series was the checklist for the next series, a tantalizing look at what was to come in a few weeks. Who would be on the rookie cards? What did the combo card titles mean? It was all a part of a six-month journey from one series to the next until . . . completion.

I did, at some point, understand that later series were less available than the first few, but what I never understood until years later was the concept of the double-printed card. It all made sense later, of course, but at the time, no one could understand why you got so many cards of one guy and no one could find a card of someone else.

In the summer of '67, I can remember buying pack after pack of fifth series cards before finally getting a Dave McNally. I remember doing the same with the sixth series, seeking a Juan Marichal, until after walking out of a local pharmacy following another fruitless purchase I ran into another kid who'd just gotten a Marichal in a pack he'd bought. I offered him everything in my hands for that card, and since he wasn't really a collector, he agreed. He probably would have just given it to me.

After suffering a 10-year-old's angst over completing those two late series, I mad a key decision: responding to an ad in Baseball Digest, I saved up a few dollars and ordered a complete set of the seventh series cards, from Bruce Yeko, one of the early mail-order dealers. Now, the 1967 seventh series is one of the legendary "hard-to-find" sets of the baby boomer era. I don't think I ever saw any seventh-series wax packs in my local stores (although I probably wasn't looking too hard). I completed my 1967 set, and still collect the annual Topps set to this day.

Would I have continued to be a collector if I'd suffered week after week of disappointment in trying to find seventh series cards at the drug store? That's a question I can't answer. From then on I did frequently lean on ordering sets from Yeko and, later, Renata Galasso . . . and yet I continued to buy wax packs. As a later-year boomer, those simple experiences always invoke the most blissful of summer memories.

[stlcardsfan]

Great story! What a good call ordering that 7th series. What condition were / are those cards in?

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Growing up in Arkansas the stores carrying cards were few and far between although I must also say that in the late 50's and early 60's I didn't venture too far from my neighborhood.

About three blocks away I had the perfect store for a young boy, Mohr's Variety store. When you entered there were two isles, to the right was tropical fish and hamsters, to the left was candy and model airplanes and cars.

I never bought enough packs from 1959-61 to think about a set but in 1962 I was all in on baseball because of Mantle and Maris. I looked at my hoard when I got back into collecting in 1975 and found that I had not only no last series but no series two from 1962.

I continued to buy through 1965 on baseball but by 1962 most of us had turned out interest to football. After all we were in the south and had no pro teams close to us so we were huge college football fans. Buying football cards at least was football and the first thing we did was check the backs to see where they played college football. My last football purchases were in 1967 and that was just a few packs.

Besides Mohr's I had to small stores a block away in different directions, at one I bought a lot of 1960 Nu-Card football and later some Topps football and the other I bought 1962 and 1963 baseball. I can still remember walking up the street opening packs when I pulled my first Mantle, it was a 1962 All-Star.

By the way I put together a 1963 Fleer baseball set by feeding nickels into a vending machine at a laundromat close to my grade school. I think I stopped in to see what candy they had in the machine and found the Fleer packs.

I was a very lucky boy whose Mom never threw away a card or a toy.

[MCoxon]

Originally Posted by carney22

Nearly four years since the last post, but this is a pretty timeless topic . . .

This is the most amazing thing about this thread. So many great posts, from so many members whom I haven't seen post from in the 3 years since I've been on the board. And each one has a fascinating set of memories

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Mike I think it is those memories and the shared memories here that still make many of us collectors. I think there are plenty more out there that are like me, I appreciate the value of the cards but it the love of the game and the memories of youth that keep me involved.

Two years ago I spent five days in Cooperstown with my grown and then soon to be married daughter at the annual film festival. We went to the Hall every day.

Yesterday at lunch she and my new son-in-law gave me a play-by-play of a minor league game they attended last week. I turned to my wife and she just smiled, she knew it has been passed on.

[MarcosCards]

Originally Posted by MCoxon

This is the most amazing thing about this thread. So many great posts, from so many members whom I haven't seen post from in the 3 years since I've been on the board. And each one has a fascinating set of memories

Oh yeah, this type of thread stirs slight butterflies of excitement in my stomach! Memories of the lazy, carefree summer days of my childhood come flooding back. Sweet!

I knew card series existed in those days, but they were never my focus. My quest was always about getting cards of my beloved Detroit Tigers!

I received a pretty humble weekly allowance so I bought maybe 3 or 4 packs a week. However, an older kid in the neighborhood, Larry Kruger, had a paper route, and seemed to have unlimited discretionary income for buying cards. Now the good news is that Larry was definitely into checking off series checklists and completing sets. Also, for some reason, he loved the Red Sox. And, if I had cards he wanted, he was very generous with the trade ratio. He would take me down to his basement where he had several card tables set up that were covered with stacks of cards. One table was for his doubles - or should I say doubles, triples, quadruples, etc. Larry always had lots of these - and he didn’t seem to value these excess cards. The transaction was quite simple. In exchange for a card of mine that he wanted, he would slide over to me a couple 100-card stacks. Again, great memories!

I don’t think our local dimestore had shortages of the later series. At least not in 1960. I’ve got multiples of many final series All Star cards - including seven Charlie Neals (#556) and five Ernie Banks (#560).

I sometimes wonder whatever happened to Larry Kruger and all his cards.
Marcos

[sox1903wschamp]

Originally Posted by spec

I continued the quest until 1973 when Topps issued all the series at once in Boston, where I moved after college.

I grew up in Boston and purchased packs from 65-74 and I do remember not having to worry about the series format in 73. I thought that was the way for the whole country until I later found out it was a test.

[gman]

I started buying with the 1971 cards. I had a paper route which insured that I had money for the cards. I would frequent the local 7-11 here in southeast Houston. I always looked forward to football season, because there was less competition for the baseball cards, others had started buying the football cards. So never any challenge for the last series. In fact, I didn't know that they were more challenging and thus would be worth more $$ until years later.

I enjoyed the challenge of completing the 7-11 Slurpee (sp?) cups that also had baseball player faces on them.

A few years later, when collecting baseball cards was no longer "cool" and you didn't want the girls to think you were "uncool", I would just purchase the complete sets throught the mail, but I would still got my fix eating a lot of twinkies and Kellogg's Raison Bran, and drinking RC cola. Not for the baseball players, of course, but because I liked the taste.

[blackandgold]

Well, growing up in a very small town in central PA. we had one mom and pop store to buy from. They usually kept a good supply of wax through the spring and summer (it seemed every kid in town collected), but the last couple series' were very hit and miss. Once in a while we would get to Clearfield and look for cello packs at the G.C. Murphy's, and then the search was on for any Pirate on the top or the bottom.
Also, on Sundays my uncle would go to a little store called the Whispering Pines a couple miles away to buy a Pittsburgh newspaper. If I was allowed to go, I always walked out with some wax packs.
One thing that strikes me as funny, is that I have a bunch of the 1967 Topps Pirates stickers. It's hard to believe that our little town was part of the "Test Issue" release area.
Great memories !