1971 Topps Winners

[doug.goodman]

Forgive me for being enough of a dork that I can't seem to find the fairly recent post about a new "find" of some unknown 1971 Winners cards.

Can somebody aim me at that post?

Also, can somebody PLEASE sell me an April Bole card?

Thanx,
Doug

[ALR-bishop]

Doug-- you will not enjoy April nearly as much now that there are apparently at least two more. Ask Bob about that.

I do not know where the other thread is, but Dave Hornish is the culprit. Just contact him...and keep April in your dreams.

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Doug-- you will not enjoy April nearly as much now that there are apparently at least two more. Ask Bob about that.

I do not know where the other thread is, but Dave Hornish is the culprit. Just contact him...and keep April in your dreams.

Vaguely disturbing Al...

Yes, four new subjects have surfaced, bringing the known total to 19. I guess it's possible all 25 potential winners were printed up based upon this "find". Four names have been added to the checklist: Philip T. Edgerly; Patricia I. Cox; Carl R. Scatena and Steven M. Wilkie.

I will have details on my blog soon on this development.

[ALR-bishop]

Dave- do you think the "winners" originally got all of the cards Topps printed of them, except maybe for some stock or example holdovers. If so , maybe some kids/ families did not give many or any away

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Dave- do you think the "winners" originally got all of the cards Topps printed of them, except maybe for some stock or example holdovers. If so , maybe some kids/ families did not give many or any away

Each "winner" got what I think were two vending boxes of their cards (either 500 or 1000 total) plus a supply of spiked 1972 regular ten cent wax packs with their cards mixed in (described as a "carton" but revealed as a retail box, see below) so they could open them and show off to their friends. I am still trying to determine how the Bole sisters each got a card in a supposedly random process and what else happened as there are pockets of these things that show up (a main group of 9 subjects seems most common, then a group of 14 (including the 9 subgroup), then the lone April T Bole. Still, I can't see Topps keeping a lot of these around once the contest was over. Perhaps they were the strangest fun pack contents ever in late 1972.

A couple of people have reached out to Winners or researched them over the years for details and some gave all their cards away, some still have most of them and others just don't remember where their stash went. The winners seem regionalized to a degree as well (Pittsburgh, Cali).

It might be worth contacting Kevin Savage as I think he has featured a few grouping in his auctions and may have an idea on sources. Also, a couple of whales have been building the set, cards have gone for outrageous process in the last year or so; I certainly sold mine too cheap

When I heard from Lisa Bole a couple of years ago, she had this to say:

"I was also a Topps 1971 winner and was surprised and amused to find that there were people out there actually interested in this. I was six years old in 1971 so I'm not sure how accurate my memories are but am happy to share what I can remember about it.

I believe it was a nationwide contest which makes it all the more surprising that both my sister and I were winners. Like my sister said - my mom was really into entering contests back then and she was extremely lucky. I'm guessing from your picture of the box proof that there were 25 winners in total. We were in California.

No baseball or software experience (or even interest) was required. All that was needed to enter was a parent willing to fill out an entry blank and mail it in along with a photo of their kid (in my case it was my kindergarden class photo). Although I did become a huge baseball fan a few years later... my mom made those up (Angels/Dodgers/Jim Fregosi/Don Sutton)...

"As winners we each received one sealed box of Topps baseball cards. Within each box were several sealed wax packages (I'm not sure the number but think it was probably the normal amount that came in a box of baseball cards). Each wax package contained 10 big league baseball cards, one of your personal baseball cards and a stick of that wonderful sugary cardboard gum. In addition to the box with our cards sealed into it we also received an additional stack of our baseball cards. The number floating in my head is that it was 1000 extra cards - but when I picture the stack in my head I think it was maybe half of that. As far as I know, our cards were never released into general circulation. We had our stack to hand out to our friends or to do what we wished with - but that was it....For a long time I had the box and a few of the wax packages taped together (my brother opened them all to get the gum) but am not sure where they are now."

Some quick math at 1000 cards per winner plus a box x 25 means about 100 full 264 sheets would have been run off, or half that if only 500 copies went to each kid.

[ALR-bishop]

Great info as usual Dave, thanks

What's a whale ?

[doug.goodman]

Thanx for the info Dave, fantastic work as always.

I sold my entire Topps baseball card collection a few days ago (around 210,000 cards in total), except for my 1971 winners cards, and my 1992 winners set that I completed by accumulating "winners" packs.

So now my only Topps fixation will be on April, Philip, Patricia, Carl & Steven. And, anybody else who pops up, of course.

Doug

[Zach Wheat]

Does anyone have a scan of any of the winners?

[ALR-bishop]

Zach-- I think there is a thread on here where Bob ( bobsbbcards) posted 14 of them. He later got April and I think posted her too.

Sorry to see you exit as a Topps and variant collector Doug, but congrats on the sale. Now tell me about the 92 Winners set

edited---is that the Topps 1992 Gold Winners set. I have one of those

[jakeinge]

Originally Posted by toppcat

Each "winner" got what I think were two vending boxes of their cards (either 500 or 1000 total) plus a supply of spiked 1972 regular ten cent wax packs with their cards mixed in (described as a "carton" but revealed as a retail box, see below) so they could open them and show off to their friends. I am still trying to determine how the Bole sisters each got a card in a supposedly random process and what else happened as there are pockets of these things that show up (a main group of 9 subjects seems most common, then a group of 14 (including the 9 subgroup), then the lone April T Bole. Still, I can't see Topps keeping a lot of these around once the contest was over. Perhaps they were the strangest fun pack contents ever in late 1972.

A couple of people have reached out to Winners or researched them over the years for details and some gave all their cards away, some still have most of them and others just don't remember where their stash went. The winners seem regionalized to a degree as well (Pittsburgh, Cali).

It might be worth contacting Kevin Savage as I think he has featured a few grouping in his auctions and may have an idea on sources. Also, a couple of whales have been building the set, cards have gone for outrageous process in the last year or so; I certainly sold mine too cheap

When I heard from Lisa Bole a couple of years ago, she had this to say:

"I was also a Topps 1971 winner and was surprised and amused to find that there were people out there actually interested in this. I was six years old in 1971 so I'm not sure how accurate my memories are but am happy to share what I can remember about it.

I believe it was a nationwide contest which makes it all the more surprising that both my sister and I were winners. Like my sister said - my mom was really into entering contests back then and she was extremely lucky. I'm guessing from your picture of the box proof that there were 25 winners in total. We were in California.

No baseball or software experience (or even interest) was required. All that was needed to enter was a parent willing to fill out an entry blank and mail it in along with a photo of their kid (in my case it was my kindergarden class photo). Although I did become a huge baseball fan a few years later... my mom made those up (Angels/Dodgers/Jim Fregosi/Don Sutton)...

"As winners we each received one sealed box of Topps baseball cards. Within each box were several sealed wax packages (I'm not sure the number but think it was probably the normal amount that came in a box of baseball cards). Each wax package contained 10 big league baseball cards, one of your personal baseball cards and a stick of that wonderful sugary cardboard gum. In addition to the box with our cards sealed into it we also received an additional stack of our baseball cards. The number floating in my head is that it was 1000 extra cards - but when I picture the stack in my head I think it was maybe half of that. As far as I know, our cards were never released into general circulation. We had our stack to hand out to our friends or to do what we wished with - but that was it....For a long time I had the box and a few of the wax packages taped together (my brother opened them all to get the gum) but am not sure where they are now."

Some quick math at 1000 cards per winner plus a box x 25 means about 100 full 264 sheets would have been run off, or half that if only 500 copies went to each kid.

Dave - I think you sold them for just the right price. I applaud anyone with the gumption to try and complete this set! If only Dave could figure out who the last 6 subjects are!

[ALR-bishop]

We should all fee sorry for Bob. He thought he had completed the set at 15 when he found April. Then Dave went and torpedoed him

[jakeinge]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

We should all fee sorry for Bob. He thought he had completed the set at 15 when he found April. Then Dave went and torpedoed him

Torpedoed? Try Nuked....

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Now tell me about the 92 Winners set

edited---is that the Topps 1992 Gold Winners set. I have one of those

I have to pull mine out and scan it.

According to my notes, there are three 1992 sets :

1 - the regular set with 792 cards

2 - a "gold" set with 793 cards, I don't remember what the extra card was, and I believe these cards were inserted in regular packs. But, it may have been possible to buy a gold set, I forget.

3 - a "gold winner" set with 792 cards. In the regular packs there was a scratch off lotto style card. If you scratched the correct spots you would win a free pack of "gold winner" cards. You mailed in the scratch off card and they sent you back a pack of cards, I don't remember how many cards were in that pack, but it was wrapped in clear plastic, with no markings that I remember. If you got a bright enough light, you could see the correct spots to scratch off, particularly if you sat in a dark place, like a closet. I won hundreds of those packs, and put together a complete set.

[ALR-bishop]

This likely explains much about you Doug.

In 1992, besides the Topps regular set and Traded set, you could get the Gold Promo sheet of 9, the Gold set of 793, 793 being the Brien Taylor auto from factory sets ( very valuable today :-{ ), the Gold Winners set of 792. The Traded Gold set, the Kids set of 132, a Micro set ( regular issue in miniature), the Triple Header Photo Balls, the 1991 Major League Debut set, and a Pre Production set of 9 that came in some factory sets...and The Golden Spikes card of Phil Nevin.

I know this only because up to 1994 I collected everything listed for Topps in SCD. This actually sounds worse that sitting in a dark closet looking at cards :-(

[doug.goodman]

Yep, I still spend large amounts of my time in a closet...

[ALR-bishop]

[jakeinge]

Baseball Cards for Kids? Very appropriate Al!