1962 Topps Poor/Low Grade Set
 

Well, I have begun putting together a complete set that I had thought unapproachable: 1962 Topps baseball.

I am doing this very much on a budget, poor/low grade raw cards. This is by design. I like only raw cards, and poor cards just like I had as a kid, traded, flipped, creased, you name it.

This morning, I'm up to 350 out of, what, 597? I started down this path last year, so I think I am coming right along, and my wife actually supports me in this.

This actually feels like a hobby. It's great fun acquiring all the players out of the era I remember and love. I remember one Saturday morning when I was 9 years old an older neighborhood pal, who was going off to some sort of prep school, came over to our house with a big box of stuff he thought I would want. Hardy Boys books, comic books, Boy Scout stuff, and, a huge lot of 1962 Topps cards. At the time, I was just getting into baseball cards and I was busy collecting 1967 Topps, eventually putting together an entire set from packs. But I liked those older 1962 Topps cards. I liked the "wood paneling".

Well, eventually I moved on, the cards went under the bed, and after I moved out and then into the Navy, my mom finally got rid of all the stuff I no longer wanted, including baseball cards.

Now I have a full 1953 Bowman color and b/w set, only lack 5 cards from the full 1969 deckle edge set, a whole bunch of other pre and post war cards, tobacco cards, and now, a whole bunch of 1962 Topps. All the Mantles, Koufax, Musial, Maris, Mays, Aaron, all the "heavies". Low grade, but I have them. Well over halfway. I might as well go for the whole thing. Might be challenging, what with green tints and high numbers, but why not give it a go?

Some of the cards I now have.

Good on ya, mate!
 

Sure seems like a collector/hobbyist should be able to pick up low grade individual pieces in this set for a low price that doesn't require taking out a 2nd mortgage. Even for a lot of the HOFers/stars it shouldn't be tooooo expensive.

Enjoy the climb!

Raw and Low-Grade
 

Awesome undertaking! This is exactly how I collect sets, and for the same reason(s). I am currently going for an EXTREMELY low-grade set of '61-'62 Fleer basketball, which are widely available, but not for rock-bottom prices.

I'm putting all the 1970 Topps set together, and only need a few from 1973 and 20 or so Hi Numbers from 1970.

It's been a lot of fun, it might have been easier and maybe even cheaper just to buy them already done, but over the last 2 years, I went from 20-50% complete from 1970 to 75 to basically done.

It's just hard to stay focused, and aggravating to spend $5 on high number commons of long forgotten players.

low sets
 

Love low grade sets. Less stress, easier, and..duh..cheaper

Low grade set building is my kind of fun.

I'm doing all the vintage Topps and Bowman. 1962 I am down to 11 cards (Mantle, Aaron, Yaz and the highs of Gibson, McCovey, Art Mahaffey, Tracy Stallard, Bill Stafford + Rookie Parades 591, 594, 596). The only real pain card is the Bob Uecker, who is about $100 for a 1. I have a very hard time justifying that much for a not tough card of a crappy catcher.

I need only 1 card to finish the green tint variation set, #138 The Famous Slugger. If you are collecting the green tint run, while most of them are visually obvious, the more subtle ones are shown here (I don't know this guy, but it was really helpful to me on a couple of the cards): https://www.flickr.com/photos/obctom...7602774575697/

Thanks Greg. Yes, I can see that some of these in the high numbers are going to cost as much as the Mantles, Musials, Mays, as you say, for less than stellar players.

Cheapest buy-it-now 594 Rookie Parade (Uecker) on eBay is $330, and that's graded, all the raws are even higher. One auction is at $5.50 with lots of time for it to go into the stratosphere. Yes, that one and a few others are going to be challenging even as beaters.

It's a lot easier to justify $150 for a Mantle than for a .200 catcher who flunked out after a few years, to me. I'm happy to pay up for rare short printed cards, but the Rookie Parades are no less common than the other high numbers that didn't have extra appearances on the sheet. To my eyes, the 62 and 63 Topps rookie combo cards are..., well, less than beautiful. But I'll forgive it for those gorgeous wood borders. I've had a ton of fun with this set, and the green tints were a really fun add-on build to, as there are no huge stars to make any of them expensive. I don't think I paid more than $10 (Kaline), for any of the green tints.

James, Jim Hoskins here. I have slowly been building vintage sets for centuries now. I rarely sell any cards from 69 and older. Subsequently, I have kept a lot of duplicates. I probably have a couple hundred 62 duplicates. I'm not interested in selling them, but I'm open to trading for a few cards I still need in my 50s sets, or 61 high numbers. Heck, I still need 192, 62s to complete my set - so if you have 62 dups maybe we could just exchange. If your open to trading any of your duplicates, PM me and let me know. I'll have to sort my duplicate 62s, as I currently don't even know what I have.

Hi Jim! Many, many thanks...but...I just yesterday gave my duplicates to a friend at work. Bad timing for me, as always.

If either of you need

66, 77, 117, 120 (green tint), 162, 171, 174, 191, 193, 273, 367, 476, 537

PM me your address and I will mail the ones you need for free.

At first, I didn't love the 62 set which I started in 86 when I traded my brother his Mantle #200 for Chales Barkey's Fleer RC. I still have it and got it graded about 30 yrs ago (PSA 3). Shortly after my sons were born--say 2010/11 we got into collecting. They liked the current players of course but I decided to finish the 62 set which is all over the place but mostly mid-grade, like most of my collection.

My Uecker RC got graded 7 but I also have beaters since I wanted finish the set and didn't want to pay $$$ for commons. Glad I finished it in 2015 or so....But press on, you can always upgrade later (or not), or move on to another year and set. And keep us updated.

Yes, I can see the Rookie Parade cards infielders and most especially catchers, some of the Ruth subset cards, those are going to be a stumbling block. Never thought it would be that what you would think would be a common or easy card would command more money than Mantle. But that's the case. Card 594, Uecker, is several hundred dollars no matter how you slice it. I have the Mantle, and he didn't send me into the poorhouse. I'm going to have to figure out what to do when it comes to Mr. Uecker's card.

I completed my 62 set about 10 years ago so the prices were not as high as now. Also got all the green tints and other variations.

Only thing I do not like that much is the abundance of hatless head shots due to expansion.

A few months ago I realized I had about 25 extra green tint cards so I decided to complete a second set of them by getting them from dealers/sellers who did not list them or realize they were green tints (or did not charge a premium). Down to 5 needed.

Mike

James, best of luck as you complete this very worthy project. When you're done, you'll have a complete set of '62. Not every collector can say that (me included).

I might have a partial solution to the high numbers "Rookie Parade" dilemma. One of my trading partners has the Catchers (Uecker) and Infielders (Pepitone, Linz) and regular cards of Berra and McCovey, his only duplicates left from a set he built some years ago. Doesn't want to sell them, but might be open to another trade. We'll see what happens, if anything. Can't think of anything I really want to trade.

Update...

Made a local trade with a previous trading partner...the last of my 1960-61 Topps duplicates, and a few not so duplicate, for his 1962 duplicates. Also made a few eBay purchases, yes, even Dean's Cards! Picked up Rookie Parade Catchers and Infielders, Berra, McCovey, Kaline, Banks, Perry and Brock rookies, and a bunch of other commons. He also threw in a 5 cent wax pack wrapper in decent condition. Now up to 422 out of 598. The Kaline is the green tint variation. Believe it is the only green tint in all my cards to this point. I am not out to acquire variations, it just worked out that way with Kaline. Had a spare binder and a bag of 9 pocket pages, so I put the American League and National League teams together, best I can with what I have so far, separated in the middle by League Leaders, Babe Ruth, and World Series, and put all 7 checklists in the back. I put the teams in each league in the order they finished the 1962 season. Surprised to see how well the Twins and Angels did in 1962. I think I have now surpassed what my neighborhood pal Dolph Belton gave me all those years ago, and that I left at home for my mom to get rid of before these cards became so valuable. Let me just say, I am a big fan of the wood-paneled 1962 Topps baseball cards.

I put together a low grade set but ended up selling it last year after it sat under my bed collecting dust for a couple years. Was actually surprised how much I got for it.

Glad to see you picked up the Ueck rookie. That card has gone crazy the last couple of years. I started buying them about 5-6 years ago and you could pick them up for $50-100 that were vg-ex to ex. I am still working on a run of PSA 1 to PSA 9... maybe. I still need a 1, 8.5 and a 9. I missed a PSA 1 a month or so back. Broke my heart. I've bought a few that I thought had a shot only to come back PSA 1.5 or 2.
At one point I had about 30 of them but as prices started going up I decided to move some out. I think I may only have one dupe... a 6, I believe.

Sorry, got off tangent there. Enjoy the journey putting it together. While I don't think it's a great looking set in low grade, it's for sure a fun set to put together and as you said, it won't break the bank!

Good luck!

Thanks Tim.

Picked up a few more...Norm Cash, Ruth & Mgr Huggins, Marichal, AL & NL Homer Kings. Local guy selling off dupes from a set build. $5 each in decent shape. Seems more than reasonable.

Okay, got 2 more, Mantle A/S (my other one is pretty faded on the front, and out of focus), and Maris (my other one is trimmed, I guess to eliminate corner wear). Neither one would set the world on fire condition wise, but perfect for me.

62 Topps Set
 

PM sent

8 more came today, now 436/598. This is the best baseball card forum on the internet!

Congrats on getting this far!

Also enjoying your new footer. Not that I'm all that excitable when it comes to the great graded/raw wars, but at least on paper it seems like you've dialed it back just a little.

I love the 1962 Topps wood grain. I put my set together a few years back (2019). I was going for ex…..but…..my card OCD wouldnt let me lol. So I went mostly with close to exmint to nrmt as possible (…..good thing you can’t really tell on these :))…….I have some left overs from the build, send me a PM with what you need and I’ll check for you

Picked up a tough one; Red Schoendienst 575 from the 7th series. Better condition than a lot my cards to this point. Everything left is now relatively easy. Still need some of the Ruth specials, but those are easy too. Can see the light at the end now.

I have 3 purchases from eBay and Amazon in the mail, and I just received 1 shipment of 11 cards (3 Ruth specials, Duke Snider, Billy Williams and several others). I have purchased all the remaining cards I need to finish this set, if my calculations are correct, so this time next week I should have 598 of 598, with 10 or 11 duplicates left over. More to follow...