Vintage Sports Cards – Baseball – Basketball – Football – Hockey
Here’s George Woodruff’s portrait of Ted Williams that Fleer used as the photo on the box and wrapper of their 1959 set!
Mastro sold the 8” x 10” portrait in July 1998.
And yes, Topps used the same picture on the Splendid Splinter’s 1954 (#250), 1955, and 1956 Topps cards.
In terms of dating the photo, Memory Lane Inc. sold a Type 1 example for $1,501.20 in October 2017 and estimated the issue date right after Williams’ return from his final 1953 Korean War stint.
I shared a pair of 1956 Topps baseball 110-card uncut sheets a little while ago. Well, according to an article and this photo from the Spring 1982 issue of Baseball Cards, Topps also used uncut sheets as store promotional items. Has anyone seen another photo/item like this one?
The article said, “The descriptive advertising poster was pasted in the center of the uncut sheet to hype the sale of ’56 cards.” The author also argued that although the ‘poster’ proclaimed everything in 1956 was the biggest, he contended that the cards were the same size, had similar stars, and were only second in series/set size.
Hobby History From A November 2001 Mastro Auction – A 1956 Topps Baseball Uncut Sheet of 110 Cards.
This 110-card production sheet features cards numbered 1-100 plus ten double prints. Included are Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, Roberto Clemente, Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax, Al Kaline, Ernie Banks, and Warren Spahn. Hank Aaron and William Harridge are among the double-printed cards.
I’ve read that the hobby has under 30 1956 Topps production sheets, and many are overprinted errors.
Regarding pricing, REA sold the following example in their Spring 2022 catalog for $57600. Ernie Banks and Jackie Robinson are double-printed on this one!
