I picked up a fun little lot of oddball sets on eBay recently. The big highlight for me was the 1987 Hygrade Series 2 set. A blister pack of Series 1, which featured the biggest stars in baseball history (Ruth, Cobb, Musial, Jackie Robinson, etc), was some of the first baseball cards I ever owned. I learned a lot about baseball history from that set, and it's always been a sentimental favorite. I had gotten it in 1987 in a pack very much like this one:
It's kind of weird, but very cool, to now own the second half, and see new players in this design that was always very familiar to me.
And I love vintage price tags!
GrandPa's was a small discount chain in the St. Louis area. The company was sold to Value City in 1999.
I even remember owning this vintage flyer from the original pack.
The lot also included a 1993 Baseball Aces set.
I hadn't been that impressed with the other Baseball Aces sets I've seen, but there are some surprisingly fun photos in here.
Finally, there were these awesome 12-card sets from 1983 with photos of various all-time greats. Lots of interesting photos, including unusual uniforms for just about everyone here (Warren Spahn as a Met, Joe DiMaggio as an A's coach, etc). My favorite is Warren Spahn pitching in front of an ad for a product that promises to "Stop B.O.". If there is interest, I can do individual posts for each set to highlight these fun cards.
I had a version of baseball aces but it came in a blue pack. Wonder if there were two versions.
ReplyDeleteGetting those other Hygrade cards is definitely on my "someday" list. They're not the most attractive cards, but a greats set with folks like Jim Kaat is almost a must-have.
ReplyDeleteI'm re-building that Hygrade set including the variations and the Orange versions. Those ASA player sets, SWEET!
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff. I've seen the Aces before... and Hygrade singles, but not that blister pack (set) or those 12 card sets. I might have to track down one of those DiMaggio sets just to get my hands on one of those A's cards.
ReplyDeleteBo-
ReplyDeleteThe ASA Sets are nice as for the Hygrades the Dizzy Dean is 1 tough one to find just ask The Collective Mind writer how long it took him to find it. Also the Variants list seemed never ending but hopefully there's no more after what is found on the database site.
I've never seen a Hygrade blister pack before. It's pretty neat, I'd probably have to leave it unopened though.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite card in my entire collection is a Hygrade: https://diamond-jesters.blogspot.com/2017/06/30-day-challenge-day-30.html
ReplyDeleteVery cool sets. I really like the Life of...series which I've never seen before. Great post.
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