Greatest Single 45 Picture Sleeve of All Time

I came across this Spanish 45 picture sleeve for the Rolling Stones, and loved how they have pictured the band as actual stones, complete with their names, and Mick asking the rest of the band "have you seen your mother, baby, standing in the shadow?":

Perhaps the Spanish record label was not fond of the Stones in drag, so they decided on a safer cover than this:

After all, the Spanish record company thought this was a better cover for Sticky Fingers

 than the iconic Andy Warhol cover:

More Rarely Seen 1968 - 1969 Baltimore Orioles Vests

I've recently come across some more pictures of the Orioles in their rarely seen vests which they wore occasionally during the 1968 and 1969 seasons.

The first set of pictures are from May 21, 1969 when the Orioles played the Twins at Memorial Stadium:

We can see from the scoreboard that the Orioles won 4-3 as Davey Johnson, Boog Powell, Pete Richert, and Andy Etchebarren are walking off the field.

Here is a shot of Davey Johnson running to first as Harmon Killebrew is waiting for the throw:

 And here is Paul Blair trying to lay down a bunt:

The second set of pictures was taken a few days later when the Orioles played the A's on May 24, 1969, in which both teams were wearing vests:

We have a nice shot of the back of Brooks Robinson's jersey as Dick Green is about to be tagged out at 3rd.

We get to see Earl Weaver wearing the vest while discussing a call with the ump:

While I've posted this picture of Mike Cuellar before, it is from the same game which the Orioles went on to win 2 to 1 as seen on the scoreboard as he is wrapping up his complete game (which only took 1 hour and 49 minutes!):

All of these pictures were taken by the great photographer Neil Leifer and can be found on Getty Images.

Finally, here are 2 other pictures for which I don't have a date, but which show Davey Johnson:

If you are interested in seeing other pictures of the Orioles wearing the vests, please see my previous post.

How I would love to see the Orioles bring back this look for one of their alternate jerseys next season.

1971 Topps Greatest Moments Confusion

I just came across an auction that ended on ebay for what was listed as a 1971 Topps Greatest Moments card I had never seen before:  a Baseball Coin Rub Game card:

I have never read anything about the Greatest Moments cards coming with a Coin Rub Game card, but this sure looks like it would have come with this set.  Here is the picture from the auction, which included the Sal Bando card as well:

The cards are the same size with black borders.  The winning bid for this auction was $1,275, so that should give an idea of how rare this card is.

Here is a look at the back.   

It does have a similar color scheme as the back of the Greatest Moments cards, but does have a different card stock:

Information on how this set was distributed is very limited. Fortunately a wrapper has surfaced, and recently sold at auction for $3,287.

However, the wrapper does not mention a game card

 nor does the box:

However, in searching for images of Topps coin rub cards, I came across this picture:

 

This picture comes from an post from The Topps Archives about the Topps Action Emblems from 1973 - 1974.  The wrapper for this test set does mention a baseball rub off game card in each pack, and the size of the wrapper does seem to match the size of the game card:

So with a little research, it turns out that the game card actually was part of the Action Emblems test, not the Greatest Moments set.  I just hope the winning bidder realized that they were buying a test card from the Action Emblems test, and didn't think they were picking up a previously unknown Greatest Moments card.

2016 Topps Baseball Wacky Packages Promo Stickers

I was just looking at ebay to see the 2016 Topps Baseball cards that have just been released, and discovered that Topps is including promo stickers for an upcoming Wacky Packages set devoted completely to baseball.

Here is a look at the 6 promo stickers available in 2016 Topps Baseball packs:

According to the back, the Baseball Wacky Packages series will be going on sale in March:

Here is a look at the Cubs sticker which is not one of the promos

And here is a link to the flyer.


What a great idea combining two of my favorite collectibles - Wackys and Baseball.  I can't wait for these to come out next month!

1966 Coke NFL Eagles Promotion Poster

Saw this poster yesterday at an antiques shop. Its a poster for the promotion Coke did with the NFL back in 1966.

One of the prizes from the promotion was a team poster with Dave Boss artwork, which is shown on this poster.   In return for collecting a full set of bottle caps, you could earn a couple of different prizes.  Here is a look at the Coke Saver Sheet for the Chicago Bears:

Here is a closer look at the prizes:

 
And here are the details on claiming your prize:

Interesting that you could hand draw substitutes for the caps you couldn't find with the help of a sheet from your local Coca-Cola Bottler, and also interesting that you could redeem the prize at Sears.  

Just as they did with Major League Baseball, there were a few other promotions that Coke did with the NFL for other sets of prizes that I will cover in future posts.