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1955 Bowman # 20 Al Smith (Indians)


Book   = $ *BOOK*
Price = $ 14.95
EX/MINT

1955 Bowman # 20 Al Smith (Indians) Baseball cards value
Price = $ 14.95
         

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Baseball

1963 Bazooka ALL-TIME GREATS

In 1963, competitive pressures compelled Topps to add a bonus to it's 1963 Bazooka boxes. These cards were inserted inside boxes of Bazooka bubblegum at 5 per box. The 41-card set of Hall-of-Famers features black and white photos of the player inside a gold plaque. A short biography appears on the back, a first (and last) for Bazooka. The 41 numbered cards measure 1 9/16" by 2 1/2". Scarcer silver colored plaques also exist.

Baseball

1963 Fleer Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values

1960 & 1961 Fleer baseball card sets of old-timers like Babe Ruth bombed. Kids wanted Willie Mays & Mickey Mantle. Topps had rights to baseball cards & gum so Fleer tried something new ... COOKIES !!!
Cherry flavored cookies with 1963 baseball cards.
1963 Topps Fleer Cookie 1963 Fleer baseball card set was cut short at 66 cards & checklist by Topps lawsuit. But what 66 cards! Attractive & packed: Clemente,Koufax... & 2 very scare Short Prints.
Maury Wills 'rookie' card is a story. Majors in 1959, quickly superstar. But 1963 for rookie ??? In 1959 Topps deemed Wills NOT WORTHY.

Wills was upset. After 1962 MVP, Topps came knocking but he said "NO!". Finally, 1967, Wills first Topps & most costly card. Note: 1961 Post Cereal card, years BEFORE 'official' rookie. He also photo-bombed a 1960 Topps card.

Disclaimer: Above mostly true - but Wills has said "no feud".

Click for complete 1963 Fleer baseball cards Checklist and Prices
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Baseball

1991 Cardboard Dreams Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values


1991 Cardboard Dreams Promo #1 1991 Cardboard Dreams Promo #2 Neat oddball set with a very unusual mix of players. A promotional lead-in for "Cardboard Dreams" a soon to be sportscard magazine. Promo cards were given out at a few regional baseball card shows mostly in So. Cal.
MLB filed lawsuits against similar magazines and the magazine was cancelled before 1st issue leaving just a small run of promo cards (limited to 5,000) and some scarce proofs. 1991 Cardboard Dreams Ryan back 
      SERIES 1                   SERIES 2
  #1 Willie Mays            # 9 Mickey Mantle                
  #2 Nolan Ryan             #10 Nolan Ryan & Sandy Koufax   
  #3 Tony Gwynn             #11 Frank Thomas & David Justice
  #4 Wayne Gretzky          #12 Brett Hull                  
  #5 Jose Canseco/Madonna   #13 Ted Williams & Joe DiMaggio 
  #6 Ken Griffey Jr         #14 Barry Sanders               
  #7 Bo Jackson             #15 Dan Marino                  
  #8 Michael Jordan         #16 Magic Johnson & Larry Bird  

 Prototype #1: Nolan Ryan / Wayne Gretzky / Bo Jackson / Jose Canseco & Madonna
 Prototype #2: Mickey Mantle / Nolan Ryan & Sandy Koufax 
               Ted Williams & Joe DiMaggio / David Justice & Frank Thomas
Click for complete 1991 Cardboard Dreams Baseball card listings
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Baseball
History Of O-Pee-Chee

O-Pee-Chee (OPC) based in Ontario Canada, is mostly thought of as the Canadian version of Topps but it actually pre-dates Topps by many years.

In 1933, OPC issued their first sports card set, the V304 Hockey cards and is currently in the tens of thousands. Their first baseball set was issued in 1937. It was similar to the 1934 Goudeys and Batter-Ups and the top player was Joe Dimaggio.

O-Pee-Chee created baseball card sets similar to TOpps from 1965 into the 1990's. At first OPC sets were much smaller than Topps and included just the first few series. Fronts & backs were nearly identical but with a small "Printed in Canada" on the back and the card stock was slightly different.

Baseball being much less popular in Canada, OPC print runs of their early years were between 1% and 10% of Topps making them exceedingly scarce !!!

Starting in 1970, Canadian legislation demanded all items produced in Canada carry both French & English so OPC baseball cards became bilingual with both languages included.
Other OPC differences include:
1971, OPC even changed the back design to a much more interesting back and also offered 14 different card photos not in the Topps set.
1972 OPC included a card of Gil Hodges mentioning his death that was not a part of the Topps set.
1974 OPC did not include any "Washington Nationals" variations.
1977 the card format remained like Topps but almost 1/3 of the OPC set had different poses/images than Topps.
In late 1970's, OPC card fronts appeared similar to Topps but sometimes included traded information saying "Now with XXXX". They were able to do this as the OPC cards were printed much later into the season.

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