1973 / 1974 Fleer Baseball Big Signs Variation Helps Answer Question Regarding When These Were Issued

Thanks to Mike from the great Baseball Card Variations Guide Book Vol 2 for alerting me to the fact that there are 2 versions of the California Angels Fleer Baseball Big Sign.

One version has the Angels name with a lower case "a"

and the other version has an upper case "A", along with a darker shade of red

The signs are sometimes referred to as being from 1973 and sometimes from 1974.  Perhaps they were issued in both years.  One clue is that there are different colored boxes that the signs came in, which perhaps indicates that the signs were issued twice:

Unfortunately there is no date on the bottom of the box to help confirm:

The boxes appear to be exactly the same, including the item #. It would make sense that the different colored boxes indicate that these were issued at different times, and help explain why they are identified as being from either 1973 or 1974.

In checking through old pictures of ebay listings I had saved, I did find a picture of a set with the small "a" with a blue box

 I also found a picture of the set with a red box, but unfortunately the Angles card isn't showing:

Based on the information provided by Mike on the Angels variation, along with the different colored boxes, I believe the sets were issued in both 1973 (blue box) and 1974 (red box). 

Thanks Mike for passing this information along and helping shed more light on this set.

1973 Fleer Baseball Big Signs

Time again for another oddball Fleer release. This time we are "Super Sizing" our review by taking a look at the 1973 Fleer Baseball Big Signs:



When Fleer says "Big", they aren't kidding. These cardboard signs measure 8 x 11.5 inches, and dwarf a normal sized 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 card:


Unfortunately these are just a bit taller than a standard 1 pocket sheet as the top of the sign sticks out slightly, so storage can be a bit of a concern.

Storage issues aside, these are a very nice way to display your favorite team's logo. The signs even have a perforated hole at the top which you can punch out if you want to hang up the "sign".

Here is a look at all 24 teams, arranged by the division alignments from 1973:

AL East:


AL West:


NL East:


NL West:


The signs sold for $.10 a piece as shown on the box:


I think these signs were sold without a wrapper as I have never seen one, so presumably you could search the box for the teams you wanted. There is not a date on the box or on the back of the signs (which are just blank cardboard), so I can't say for sure that these were issued in 1973. I've sometimes seen these listed as being from 1974, but most of the time they are referred to as the 1973 Big Signs.

Fleer only issued 1 set of Baseball Big Signs, but issued 2 different Football sets. Next time we'll take a look at the Football signs.

UPDATE January 2023

There are 2 versions of the Angels sign.  One with a small "a":

 and one with a large "A":

This leads me to believe these were issued in both 1973 and 1974.  More details at this post:

1973 / 1974 Fleer Baseball Big Signs Variation Helps Answer Question Regarding When These Were Issued