1972 O-Pee-Chee/OPC #169 Vida Blue

1951 was Bowman's largest set to date, both in the card size and number of cards. Thanks to the several major rookies, led by Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays, the 1951 Bowman set is by far Bowman's most valuable.

Bowman again used hand-painted color reproductions of actual photographs. The 1951 Bowman card fronts were very similar to the 1950 set, with several players 1951 Bowman cards look like larger versions of their 1950 card.

Cards #243-#324 are scarce high numbers. The rookie cards of Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays are in this series making them very difficult to obtain.

TOP ROOKIES: Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Whitey Ford, Monte Irvin, Nellie Fox, Joe Garagiola, Jackie Jensen, Jim Piersall ...
TOP STARS: Ted Williams, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Pee Wee Reese, Bob Feller, Warren Spahn, Duke Snider, Richie Ashburn & MORE !!!

1955 Topps was the first of 2 years of horizontal card designs. As with 1952, 1953 & 1954, cards were again a tad larger than today's standard. A nice feature, facsimile autographs, again appeared on the cards. The set came in 2 series, #1-160 and scarcer "High Numbers" #161-210.

Due to the contract battles between Topps & Bowman, Cards #175,186,203 & 209 were never issued. Topps eventually won the war, buying Bowman making 1955 the last year for Bowman cards. But the damage was done as Topps had to leave out many stars including Mickey Mantle & Stan Musial.

There were a total of (15) Hall of Famers in the 1955 set !!!
Top ROOKIEs: Roberto Clemente, Sandy Koufax & Harmon Killebrew
Top Stars: Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, Al Kaline, Ernie Banks, Warren Spahn, Jackie Robinson, Eddie Mathews, Willie Mays, Yogi Berra & Duke Snider.

"The Golden Greek" Harry Agganis, a popular 1955 Topps card, is a tragic story, Agganis, a rising young star, died after his first card was issued. A football star at Boston U., he turned down an offer from the Cleveland Browns and became the starting first baseman. Shortly after he came down with pneumonia and died of a Pulmonary Embolism.

1977 Topps Cloth Stickers
Checklist & Values

As 1977 baseball season was winding down, Topps wanted to sell more cards and released the "1977 Topps Cloth Stickers" test issue. The 1977 Topps Cloth Stickers set came in at (73) total cards: (55) cloth stickers and (18) checklist/puzzle cards that formed large photos of the 1976 AL & NL All-Star teams.

2 Stickers and 1 checklist/puzzle card were in each .15 cent pack with 36/packs in a box.

Nearly all fronts are same as the regular issue - with a few different like Nolan Ryan.
LEFT: Regular issue;
CENTER: Cloth Sticker;
RIGHT: O-Pee-Chee (from Canada).

The 2-1/2" x 3" stickers had highlights & instructions on back. The backing was easily removed and kids could stick them everywhere ! TEACHERS LOVED THEM !!!

Packed with Hall-of-Famers (19 of 55) plus Pete Rose and Mark Fidrych. In addition, stickers & puzzle pieces came with one '*' or two '**' asterisks on back.