Fifty years ago, Topps produced its largest product in scale: the 9-3/4” X 18-1/8” baseball posters. It was very unusual for non-base card products to find their way to my small hometown in Washington State. The various “test issues,” stickers, tattoos etc. were all distributed in larger markets. So, I pounced on the opportunity to collect the posters.
Since most of you are familiar this product, I will just refresh your memory on a few points. The set is comprised of 24 posters with each team represented. Boston, St. Louis, Houston and Minnesota have two players each. The posters were sold in individual wax packs — folded four times — with a stick of gum-for a nickel.
Due to the large, irregular size of the posters, displaying and storing them is problematic. Binder sleeves don’t exist in this large of a size and standard photo albums are too small as well. At card shows, I’ve seen the posters “shrink wrapped” to cardboard, but this is not a great solution for storage.
Until last week, my posters remained folded and stored in a box. Then, my wife purchased an art portfolio for some photographs. The label listed the various dimensions offered by the company. So, I purchased a 13’ X 19,” 24-page portfolio, which is perfect for the posters.
As you can see, the sleeves come with a black paper in each. Since the posters have blank backs, a total of 48 items can be displayed.
Many of you may have experienced the posters tearing along the fold lines. This is very difficult to prevent, particularly if the poster has remained folded for 50 years.
As a kid, I took the slogan on the wrapper to heart and hung some of them on the wall. The Mantle and Frank Robinson are not in the best shape.
The Jim Lonborg poster may be my favorite. The reigning Cy Young award winner is shown at Fenway Park. Perhaps the photo was taken during the same session held before the game in which Tony Conigliaro was beaned by Jack Hamilton.
The poster series is a who’s who of baseball of the era. Twelve Hall-of-Famers and Pete Rose are present as well as outstanding players such as Richie (Dick) Allen and Rusty Staub. Only Ron Swoboda and Max Alvis don’t make the star grade.
Topps reprised the standalone poster in ’72, with a slightly smaller version. I have 12 of the 24 posters, which I achieved in the portfolio as well. Of course, now I’m inspired to complete the set- Yastrzemski and Rick Wise are on the way.
I’ll end with a rumination. Half of a century has passed since I first collected the posters. It’s very pleasing to me that I finally figured out how to display and store them properly. But, damn! I’m getting old.
I believe that the 1969 Topps posters are actually larger than the 1968 Topps posters. No offense to the 1968 (or 1972, for that matter) Topps posters.
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I didn’t realize the team posters were slightly larger, Didn’t think to check. Sloppy! I’ve always wondered why Topps decided to issue the 68-70 posters in such odd sizes. 67 inserts are 5″ x 7″.
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I finally — just this year, in fact — began storing my 1968/69/72 posters (none of the sets are complete, alas) in version of your book that is about half this size. I fold them once vertically and you can only see the top half of the photo. This show the player very well, but your method (assuming you have space) is better.
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I don’t have any of these and have never seen that many in one place. Great post!
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I have 4, very nicely framed. Bulky, but looks nice on the wall.
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That turned out really well
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Wow! Very cool collection of posters. I don’t recall seeing them for sale back in the late 60s. Clearly, my connection was not on the ball!
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