BY TROY KIRK
While it is a popular notion that Fleer stopped making baseball cards between 1963-81, nothing could be further from the truth. They did not make cards of current players because of legal restrictions, but they did make some beautiful small sets that were distributed nationwide in gum packs – thereby qualifying as legitimate issues. Sets that Fleer put out during this time include 1969 Stadiums, 1970 and 1971 World Series, 1973 Famous Feats, 1974 Wildest Days and Plays, 1975 Pioneers of Baseball and 1976 Baseball Firsts. This article will cover the 1969 Stadiums issue and the 1970 and 1971 World Series sets.
The 1969 Stadium set is a little-known set of 18 cards featuring major league stadiums. The cards are large, measuring 2 1/ 2 by 4 inches and Fleer would use this same size in most of their other pre-1981 sets. The cards are in a vertical format and feature a black and white photo of a stadium in the upper half with the city and stadium name directly below. Beneath this, the seating capacity and the playing field dimensions are listed. All of this writing is in black ink.
The cards were printed on white cardboard and had no mention of the Fleer name. They are blank-backed. At the bottom of the card in blue ink is a “Baseball Fact.” The facts consist of one to three different years and big baseball news from those times. Most of these facts have to do with rules and monumental happenings – not feats on the diamond. For instance, one card has “1913 – Federal League organized.” Another has “1926 – Pitcher permitted to use resin bag.”
Not all of the parks were chosen to be pictured. Indeed, only 12 out of 24 in use at that time have cards. Six were pictured twice with different views. The set does include the most historical stadiums such as Fenway Park and Wrigley Filed. Four of the cards do not mention the particular stadium shown, but instead contain a caption beneath the photo such as “The Favorite Pastime of America – An Afternoon at the Ball Park!”
Twins fans will be happy to note there are two cards featuring the now-defunct Metropolitan Stadium.
1969 FLEER STADIUMS CHECKLIST:
• Atlanta Stadium
• Boston Fenway Park
• California Anaheim Stadium
• Chicago Comiskey Park
• Chicago Wrigley Field
• Cleveland Municipal Stadium
• Detroit Tiger Stadium
• Houston Astrodome (Aerial view)
• Los Angeles Dodger Stadium
• Minnesota Metropolitan Stadium
• New York Yankee Stadium (Aerial view)
• The Famous Astrodome (Interior view)
• Yankee Stadium (Interior view)• Washington, DC Stadium
Unidentified stadiums:
• Baseball is still the number one … (Los Angeles)
• Excitement and color are always high … (Chicago Wrigley)
• The favorite pastime of America … (Minnesota)
• Nearly 50 million paid to watch … (Detroit)
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In 1970, Fleer issued a set of World Series cards. They are standard Topps-size cards (2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches) that consist of a cartoon about a particular World Series on the front, with a write-up about the series on the back. There are 66 cards in this set that was made by R.G. Laughlin for Fleer. He is mentioned by name in the credits on the back of the cards along with the Fleer name. On the front of the cards, the World Series’ year is in a baseball at the top of the card. The front and back of the cards are both printed horizontally and the back contains blue printing. The cartoons on the front of the card picture some big event or player in the series, with a short caption.
There was a card for every World Series covered from the first in 1903 to the 1969 World Series. The only year missing was 1904 when there was no World Series. In reading the backs of the cards, it is apparent that Fleer had no rights to current players. While the write-ups on the earlier World Series always mentioned the name of the stars, the later cards only referred to the players in an indirect manner. For instance, the 1968 World Series cards refers to Bob Gibson as “the Cardinal ace” and Mickey Lolich as “the Tigers lefty hero.” The checklist of the 1970 set has card #1 being the 1903 Series, #2 being the 1905 Series, and the rest of the numbers in order of the World Series depicted up until #66 for the 1969 World Series.
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In 1971, Fleer issued their second consecutive World Series baseball card set. It is very similar to their first. It is also 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches with cartoons about the particular Series on the front and a write-up on the back – both in horizontal formats once again. Like 1970, the set is printed on white cardboard. One difference between the sets is that the year is in a square box on the front with the baseball centennial emblem on the 1971 set. Other differences are that the printing on the back is in black ink and there are scores of all the individual games below the write-up for the 1971 cards.
Again, the set was designed by Laughlin and produced by Fleer, with both mentioned by name on the back. The 1971 set contains 68 cards instead of 66 in 1970, as it also includes a card for the 1970 World Series and a card from the non-series year of 1904.
In the 1971 set, Laughlin did a good job of keeping things fresh by designing his cartoons around different events from the 1970 set. For instance, the 1908 card from the 1970 set pictures Tinker, Evers, and Chance hitting, while the 1908 card from the 1971 set shows Ty Cobb having his only good series. As in the 1970 set, people still being pictured on Topps cards were only mentioned indirectly. On the 1967 World Series card, Carl Yastrzemski becomes “the triple-crown and MVP Red Sox outfielder” and on the 1970 card, Brooks Robinson becomes “the Oriole third baseman.”
Both the 1970 and 1971 sets are very colorful and fun to look at. The write-ups are informative and the sets are good for brushing up on World Series knowledge. The checklist for the 1971 Fleer World Series set consists of #1 being the 1903 series, #2 the 1904 non-series, etc. up to #68, the 1970 series.
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See related articles on BaseballCardFun.com entitled:
“TWIN TIMES – Fleer Oddball Sets, Parts 2” Click Link Here
“TWIN TIMES – Fleer Oddball Sets, Parts 3” Click Link Here
• Originally Published in May 1985 “Twin Times” •
THIS ARTICLE FROM THE “TWIN TIMES” NEWSLETTER – OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE TWIN CITIES SPORTS COLLECTORS CLUB – IS REPRINTED WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. IT HAS BEEN RETYPED, BUT NO CONTENT HAS BEEN CHANGED (EXCEPT FOR VERY MINOR ADJUSTMENTS, CORRECTIONS TO ANY TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS AND THE ADDITION OF GRAPHICS). COMMENTS OR INFORMATION IN THE ARTICLE MAY BE OUT-OF-DATE.
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