How hard was it to find new Topps series in 1950s, '60s and early '70s?

[saltire]

From 1969 to 1973 (age 8 to 13), I bought the bulk of my cards from the local "Medicine Mart Party Store" on Wayne Road in Westland, MI.

As I recall, they were great at stocking each series but without a doubt in smaller quantities towards the 6th and 7th. By that time, most kids heads were turning towards the winter sports seasons and the new hockey, football and basketball sets that were hitting the shelves. Fortunately, there were 3 or 4 other kids in my class in school who were avid baseball collectors, so between us we always knew when the next series was in stock and raided the store appropriately.

I also have memories of Kresge's at Westland Mall stocking 1969T 7th series cards early in the 1970 season. I still had a few un-ticked boxes on my 7th series checklist and snapped up a buck's worth (10 packs) to finish off my '69 set.

March was ALWAYS an exciting time waiting to see what the new season's cards would look like and which Tigers would be included in the 1st series. Remember, there was no internet or ads or previews of any kind, so you had no idea what you were getting until you ripped open that very first pack of the season.

Good times!

[Samsdaddy]

This has to be one of my favorite threads to have read on here since I discovered Net54 Baseball.

I started collecting in 1975 so I missed out collecting by series.

[GasHouseGang]

I'm pretty much the same age as you Glenn, but I had no idea about series. I just bought whatever cards they had, with the little money I could get from turning in glass soda bottles (2 cents each!). It wasn't until much later that I learned about the high number series being tougher to get. I often wondered why my friends and I never saw certain players, but I just figured it was bad luck.

[saltire]

David, don't get me wrong. We had no clue about scarcity, or later series being tougher to get, although we kind of instinctively knew that late in the season there were more football/hockey/basketball for sale than baseball. I would guess that it might have been down to the individual retailers as to what they stocked come September. Maybe we were just lucky that our local store stuck with baseball all the way through the season.

Not that it did me any good in the end as most of my collection was left Stateside when I moved to Scotland in '73!!!

[Exhibitman]

I bought a lot of packs in 1971-72-73 and I had nothing from any of the high # series and virtually nothing from the semi-highs. I think that by the time they came out each year the kids in my social group had moved on to other sports. The NYC teams in other sports were all contenders at the time [but the Yankees sucked] and we tended to collect with the new sports seasons and abandoned baseball when it became apparent that our team had no chance of going to the playoffs. That same pattern holds true for the other sports; I had virtually nothing from the 1971 Topps FB or BK 2nd series, or the 1972 Topps FB high #s. The later series cards also hung around for a while. I remember a drug store near my home that had a big barrel full of old packs--this is around 1976--that you could fish around and pull whatever you liked. I also found and purchased about half a box of 1971 Topps high # FB cellos [in their original cardboard covering boxes] in early 1977. I wish I'd had the foresight to really make an effort to go through that barrel and to keep those cellos intact, but I was a kid and really wasn't thinking in those terms.

[GasHouseGang]

Wow Glenn, I hadn't even noticed you were in Scotland. If it wasn't for the internet it would be pretty tough to collect baseball cards there. When I was in England and Scotland for the first time (late 80's), I asked around for baseball cards but there were none to be found. Finally someone said to ask for cigarette cards and I was able to find some nonsport cards, but still no baseball. Too bad all your cards got left in the states when you moved. I looked at your wantlist, but don't have anything to help you.

[Tomman1961]

Al:
So how many '52 mantles did you pick up? Or mabye you spent your paper route money on the commons?

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by Samsdaddy

This has to be one of my favorite threads...

+1

I read each story and try to picture it in my mind. I sure wish I could have experienced that.

[nolemmings]

I collected packs from '66 onward, and really saw no series as particularly harder than others. High numbers were plenty available, as I distinctly remember having the option of picking last series baseball at the same time first series football was out.

My problem was that the Ben Franklin store where I bought my cards would only periodically order even if sold out, and we had someone who would save and buy whatever was on the shelf when he got there. So if you didn't get your packs first, or only bought a few, there was a good chance that he'd scoop up the rest and you'd have to wait for the next order, at least a week to ten days out (an eternity for a kid). I was also on the other end of that a time or too, where I had the complete series so far, but would have to wait while others purchased the rest of the supply and maybe another order of that same series before I could avoid doubles. The store would not order the next series so long as there were packs on the shelf, so there were a couple of times when I would buy out the last few packs just to get them to order more, even knowing there were only doubles inside.

BTW, I finally found out who the big spender was-- a kid a year younger than me who went to a different school. Just happened to connect during high school through a mutual friend's sister. This guy was a hoarder, and didn't seem to "play with" his cards--just look once or twice and away they went to the drawer. Called him a few names and would have said more except he was a nice guy who loved to trade, and his now several-years old cards were in fantastic shape, especially compared to mine.

[betafolio2]

My dear fellow collectors, you have surpassed my expectations with all of your thoughtful comments! I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed reading your entries -- and it's obvious I'm not the only one. Thanks to all of you for making this thread such a joy! I hope the comments keep coming!

While I'm too young to have enjoyed looking for the new baseball card series (that's not exactly true; I was born in '66, but I didn't start buying baseball cards until 1977), I do remember the excitement of looking for and finding new series of Wacky Packages stickers, which my mother purchased regularly for my sister and me at a Woolworth's store in Decatur, GA. I think they were 5 cents a pack, while the "pricey" baseball cards and other nearby packs were 10 cents. That was, I'm pretty sure, back in '73, or maybe '74. Looking back, I sure wish I had asked my mother to buy some baseball cards too!

[toppcat]

I had no problem buying cards from 1970-74, my big collecting years as a kid in Hicksville, NY on Long Island. We had a variety of candy and stationery stores, luncheonettes and delis that sold wax packs, a great place called Coronet that was a toy store, model rocket shop, kid's furniture center etc. that sold raks and also had a nickel vending machine in the vestibule. And the Colonial Maid ice cream truck sold wax packs, I remember getting high numbers in 70, 71 and 72 from the truck in September each year.

[Volod]

"BTW, I finally found out who the big spender was-- a kid a year younger than me who went to a different school. Just happened to connect during high school through a mutual friend's sister. This guy was a hoarder, and didn't seem to "play with" his cards--just look once or twice and away they went to the drawer. Called him a few names and would have said more except he was a nice guy who loved to trade, and his now several-years old cards were in fantastic shape, especially compared to mine...."

Todd: I think that guy may have turned out to be every card dealer I ever met, but it probably is a little more sane to remain somewhat emotionally detached from the pasteboards. The kids who used to bug me were the ones who seemed to have unlimited personal allowances at the age of 8 or 9. I imagined young plutocrats spending a small fortune, like twenty bucks a week, on packs and lugging the haul in a backpack to school to lord it over the rest of us. In reality, those guys were probably just working harder to get what they wanted, or something.