[brian1961]

Howdy Savedfrommyspokes,

A hearty congratulations upon getting that beautiful '61 Post Estrada for your set.

I think you are mistaken about the number of cards that were ONLY available by sending away for a particular team sheet. I am no expert, but I do recall a couple other examples of this---the Yankees' sheet having Bob Turley, and the Senators' sheet had Chuck Stobbs.

The other scenario I well remember from hobby literature was a couple players that were very hard to find, and only on the cereal boxes. You probably know of them: Bob Shaw of the White Sox; and Mel Roach of the Braves. What you might not know is that even in 1969, renown mail order dealer Bruce Yeko singled those two cards out in his catalog entry for the set, and put a hefty premium on their purchase price. The price is of course comical today, but at 1-2 dollars for each, that made them approximately 10-20 times the cost of a common single. In fact, he priced all the cards the same, save for Shaw and Roach.

As you can imagine, 1969 was a time when very few adults, teens, and youngsters sent away for cards. Had Bruce been buried with orders for certain stars, he would have adjusted his prices. When he didn't have the card, which was half the time for the admittedly star cards I wanted from him, he'd simply issue me a credit slip on the paperwork with the cards he had sent me. In a few short years, the price of all star cards was being adjusted on a monthly to a weekly basis by the now burgeoning adult card hobby!

Sounds as if you're having a ton of fun with the '61 Post. I'll always love those--the first baseball cards I saw in 1961, the year I began collecting. Have a great one. --Brian Powell