In response to my review of the 1972 Fleer Baseball Quiz Cards where I had indicated there were a number of different sets of questions, Fleer Sticker Project contributor Troy sent me pictures of the 29 different cards that he has been able to find. In addition to the 29 that Troy found, I had 1 variation that Troy did not have which brings the total to at least 30 different quiz cards.
The quiz cards that have the Orioles in the bottom left corner appear to have the most variations, with 13 different sets of questions (click on the picture for a larger view):
As you can see with these cards, in some cases the first question is the same on 2 different cards, but if you check the 2nd question, you will see that they don't match up, so you need to look at more than just the first question when looking for variations.
There are at least 8 different cards with the Red Sox logo in the bottom left corner:
In some cases cards can be found with the exact same set of questions, but with different sets of team logos. This card from the group of 8 cards pictured above starting with the RedSox logo has the exact same set of questions as one of the cards starting with the Orioles logo:
Finally, there are at least 9 different cards that have the Royals in the bottom left:
For whatever reason, Fleer did not include logos of the Braves, Angels, Brewers, Mets, Phillies, or Rangers on any of these quiz cards (yet the Reds and Cubs appear on 2 of the 3 versions of logos).
Fleer initially printed some of the quiz cards without the team logos and without a yellow background for the questions:
As you can see, the questions on the all white quiz cards match up to the version with the yellow background and team insignias. The all white version is much less common.
Thanks to Troy for sharing his collection and helping give an idea of approximately how many different 1972 Fleer quiz card variations exist. I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few others that neither Troy nor I have found yet, so there may well be more than 30 (not counting the all white card variations).
If you happen to have a variation not pictured, please let me know, and I'll be glad to add it to this post.
Following up my previous post on the 1978 Fleer World Series "Update" cards from Bob (R. G.) Laughlin, Troy sent me some more ads from his files - this time for Bob's first World Series set which was a black and white card set he self published back in 1967:
This ad appeared in the June 1967 issue of Ballcard Collector, and features a rough sketch of what would end up being the 1909 World Series card as seen in the sample of the cards below:
Even though the ad mentions that the set was planned to be 63 cards, it actually ended up being 64 cards as it included the 1967 World Series, presumably because by the time Bob finished with his schedule of doing 9 cards per month the 1967 Series would have been played.
Three years after creating his B&W set, R.G. Laughlin teamed up with Fleer in 1970 to produce a similar set of World Series cards, but this time in color
and featuring team insignias. Bob's ad in the June 1970 issue of The Trader Speaks explains:
Bob did change the artwork on a number of the cards from the previous B&W set as he points out, but a number of cards did retain the same drawings.
Its interesting that Bob was selling complete sets, as I would think that would be in direct competition with Fleer as they were trying to sell packs of cards. I'm guessing part of the deal with Fleer allowed Bob to have a certain number of sets for his own that he could sell directly.
Also interesting to note is that he indicates that only 300 of the 1967 B&W set were printed. He is correct that they are collectors items today, but I question the claim that there were only 300 sets, and that they would never be reprinted. A quick check of ebay found 2 complete sets for sale, and a number of individual B&W cards listed. If there were only 300 copies of these cards printed over 40 years ago, I wouldn't expect to see quite so many available today.
Bob did another World Series set for Fleer in 1971 with all new artwork. The picture below shows the difference between the 1970 design (with the year of the Series on a baseball)
and the 1971 design which featured the year above the MLB logo. It was the 1971 set that was then updated in 1978 with additional cards for the 1971 -1977 World Series:
To finish up this look at Bob Laughlin's World Series card ads, here is an ad that he ran advertising original art from all 3 World Series sets:
and here is what one of the pieces looks like (courtesy of Troy's collection):
Thanks once again to Troy for another set of great items from his files as these ads provide great insight into these sets.
Fleer Sticker Project contributor Troy sent me copies of reviews that were done in Sports Collectors Digest (SCD) back in the late 1970s for each of the 3 Fleer Hi-Gloss Grand Slam Sticker sets that were released in 1977, 1978, and 1979:
Lets take a look at each year's SCD review (click on the article to see a larger view):
1977 was the first year Fleer issued glossy baseball stickers after their 8 year run of cloth patches. As the article explains, there were border color variations for each team's logo sticker, with some teams having 3 border color variations of white, blue and yellow:
and other teams having a variation of white and pink:
Each team also had a cap monogram / team name sticker (except for the expansion Blue Jays and Mariners):
The article indicates there are 95 different stickers counting the border variations, which is the same conclusion I came to when I previously reviewed this set a few years ago, so I'm glad to see that we both agree on that figure.
The one bit of new information contained in this article is that packs contained 5 glossy stickers AND "1 of the cloth-type baseball patches originally issued with the 1975 Fleer Pioneers of Baseball set". I've never opened a pack of 1977 stickers, so I was not aware that cloth patches were apparently being included with the glossy stickers as well. There is no mention of cloth patches on the wrapper or the box, so this is the first I've heard of this.
The 1978 review indicates that the cap monogram / team name stickers had been added for the Mariners and Blue Jays
which therefore increased the total set size including all border variations to 97, which again matches what I had calculated when I previously reviewed the 1978 set.
The article also mentions the fact that there is a World Series puzzle on the back of the stickers this year which has been indicated on the fronts of many of the stickers as well (the 1978 sticker with the mention of the puzzle is on the top compared to the 1977 sticker below it):
Here is look at the completed puzzle:
As the article points out, its not easy putting together the puzzle as it requires 66 different backs.
The article lists all the changes that were made to the stickers from 1977 to 1978, and also mentions that there were 2 wrapper variations - one with AL teams and another with NL teams:
The thing I find interesting about the article is the last sentence on the first page where the writer is willing to offer up a set of nearly all the variations for 2 1977 Burger King Lou Piniella cards:
This was a very hot card back in the late 70's as it was originally not included in the 1977 Burger King Yankees set. Legend has it George Steinbrenner was not happy Lou was left out of the set, so cards were made towards the end of the promotion so he could be included, but they ended up being in much shorter supply than the rest of the team.
For the full story, check out Dave's excellent article about the card at The Topps Archives.
The 1979 stickers are nearly identical to their 1978 counterparts, with a few exceptions:
The writer for the 1979 review really takes puzzle back variations seriously! You have to remember that back in 1979 there was only the regular Topps set to collect, so collectors had lots of time on their hands to ponder things like how many different puzzle back variations there were for each sticker since they weren't trying to keep up with new releases every week or two.
As the writer points out, with the 1978 puzzle being 66 cards, the uncut 1978 sheet would consist of 2 puzzles on the back which would take care of the entire 132 card sheet, meaning each sticker could only have 2 back variations.
Since the 1979 puzzle was reduced to 30 cards, a 132 card sheet could hold 4 puzzles plus 12 additional cards. Here is a look at a section of a full sheet where the full puzzle has been cut out as a partial sheet
along with the corresponding stickers on the front:
Since the puzzle was repeated 4 times on the back of the sheet, most puzzle pieces can be found with 4 different stickers on the front, with a few having 6 different stickers (for those 12 additional puzzle pieces).
I really enjoy collecting Fleer variations, but I've had to draw the line at puzzle back variations. I find them interesting in terms of trying to better understand how the uncut sheets were arranged, but I've avoided trying to complete full master sets with all possible puzzle back variations as it was enough of a challenge just to try to get all the colored border variations. As the writer of this article says, he's ready for a padded cell after trying to figure out all the various sticker / puzzle back variations.
To wrap up 1979, here is the pack and the box for the stickers:
Many thanks to Troy for another great set of articles that give a sense of what collectors were thinking about these sets when they were initially released.
