1962 Fleer Baseball Decal Stickers

I am calling this next set the 1962 set based on the information about these decals from the ebay auction where they were listed, but I'm not entirely sure if it was issued in late 1961 or early 1962. The second Fleer Greats series (after the 1960 series) is sometimes called the 1961-1962 Fleer Greats series as it was issued in 2 series. The first series came out in 1961. The second series either came out later in 1961, or possibly early 1962. The 2nd series of Baseball Greats (cards #89 - #154) continued the card design from the 1st series (cards #1 - #88).

I tend to believe that the 2nd series came out later in 1961 and perhaps was still available for sale in 1962 based on the following assumption: There are apparently no Mets or Colt .45 decals for the 2nd series decals. Since the 1st series added the expansion Angles and Senators and the relocated Twins, if the second series had been issued in 1962, it would seem reasonable that Fleer would have added the 2 new expansion teams as they did the previous year.

It only took a little over a year, but Fleer issued its first significant variations with the decals that were included in the 2nd series. As you will see as I continue my review of Fleer's many inserts over the years, it is possible to find variations in almost every set they issued. This is mainly due to the fact that Fleer tended to repeat an insert design for a few years at a time, and would make changes such as logo adjustments (as we saw with the Senators in 1961) if a logo changed, or would sometimes just make minor adjustments like a different backing. Its these minor differences which help identify which set a particular item belongs to, but it also creates confusion as collectors do not always understand the differences.

I only became aware of this set this week as I was doing research for this blog. In searching for some pictures, I came across an auction offering the rare 1962 "Red Back" decals. The decals were offered by ebay seller bjisak who is a well respected Fleer collector and who often has Fleer items available for auction. He has been a very valuable resource for information on a number of Fleer questions I've had over the last few years, so I'd like to say "Thanks B!" for all of your help. Many of the items I will be covering in future posts will be the result of information I've learned from bjisak, so I'd like to make sure I give him credit for bringing to my attention many of the items I will be covering.

He has confirmed that there are no red back Mets or Colt .45 decals in the set, which is why I think this is actually a set from late 1961 instead of 1962.

The stickers appear to have the same logos as 1960 and 1961 - at least the 9 that were up for auction are the same. They also have the same white border as the 1961 set, which means the only difference is the back which is white with red lettering for an offer to receive 2 free decals with the purchase of 10 pieces of Dubble Bubble.

Here is a picture of the front of 9 of the decals:


Here is the picture of the backs:


And here's a close up of the back:



I am not sure if the wrapper for Series 2 was different from the wrapper I posted for Series 1, and I also don't know if the World Series pennant stickers were included in the 2nd series like they were in the 1st Series either. If anyone can shed any light on this, such as with a scan of the Series 2 wrapper, I'd appreciate it.

The Red Back decals are much more difficult to find than the 1960 and 1961 versions. As is the case with most high number series, the high numbers tend to be more scarce. Since the 2nd Series commons list in Beckett for more than double the 1st Series commons, its safe to assume that these are indeed a much more scarce issue.

To summarize the differences between the 3 sets of decals from the early 1960's:

1960:

1961:


1962:


Now that we've finished up the 1960 - 1962 Baseball decals, our next set to review will be the 1960 Football decals.