1973 - 1974 Fleer Crazy Magazine Covers

The previous post about the new Wacky Packages Old School stickers and the parody of Fleer's Crazy Magazine Covers provides a perfect segue to review this Fleer set that I've been meaning to cover:


In 1973 as the Wacky Packages craze was taking off and Topps was producing series after series of stickers, Fleer responded with their own set of parody stickers. However, instead of making fun of products, they decided to parody magazine covers instead.

Series 1:

Fleer's 1st series of Crazy Magazine Covers consisted of 30 stickers (similar in number to each series of Wacky Packages) and a 9 piece puzzle with checklists on the back (exactly like Wacky Packages):


Here is a look at the 1st Series stickers (click on the picture to see a larger image):





As you can see, the artwork is very poorly done on these stickers. It looks like Fleer was in a hurry to create a Wacky knock-off as quickly as possible, and it shows.

That is why I find this Old School Wacky so funny - because it is so true!


Even though the quality of the artwork is not very good, at the time I had fun collecting them, and did find some of the gags to be funny.

Here is the completed Series 1 puzzle:

Series 1 sticker backs are tan with instructions on how to peel the stickers, and can be found with 1, 2, or 3 blue stripes on the back:


Series 2:

Fleer must have sold enough of Series 1 to warrant a second set as Fleer released a 2nd Series with 30 new titles.

It is believed that the second series wrapper looks exactly like the 1st Series wrapper shown above, but with text that says "New Series". I have never seen that wrapper, nor has Rob who has put together an excellent review of Fleer's Crazy Covers (as well as many other parody sets) on his website Non-Wackys.com

Here are the 30 stickers that make up Series 2:





The Series 2 sticker backs are once again tan, this time with 1, 2, or 3 orange stripes:



The puzzle mentions this is the 2nd series:


Here is the completed puzzle (from Non-Wackys.com):


Series 2 puzzle pieces are very difficult to find, which is why I had to use this image from Rob's site. Even though the Series 2 puzzle is very hard to find, the Series 2 stickers are not that rare because of....

Series 3:

Fleer issued a 3rd Series, which in fact was just a reissue of the same stickers in Series 2 along with 10 new titles for a total set of 40 stickers. Because the backs for the 30 Series 2 titles are the same in both sets, it is impossible to tell whether a Series 2 title actually came from a Series 2 or Series 3 pack.

Only the 10 new titles have different backs. Some have puzzle pieces on the back:


while others have a checklist on the back:


Notice the first 30 titles are the same as Series 2. Only the last 10 titles are new for Series 3.

Since the checklist and puzzle pieces are on the backs of the stickers, separate puzzle/checklist cards were not included in Series 3 packs.

Here are the 10 new titles (which actually seem to be school text books instead of magazines):



The wrapper was modified on the back to indicate that there were now 40 stickers in the Series, but the wrapper still features Series 1 covers. The only difference on the front is the text "All New Series".

(Series 3 wrapper courtesy of Non-Wacky.com)

Since Fleer kept using the same wrapper it probably didn't help sales as kids who may have bought Series 1 and/or 2 probably didn't see the difference on the back of the wrapper about 40 stickers and figured they already had these stickers.

Even the Series 3 box (note the mention of 40 stickers) shows the Series 1 titles.


The box top does indicate "All New Series", but if you just saw an open box like this, you might figure you had already completed this set:


The box doesn't mention this is Series 3 although the checklist does.

Wacky Packages used the essentially the same wrapper design for each Series as well, but at least changed the color so that kids could easily tell that a new Series was out.


Topps would also put a sticker on the front of the box to make sure kids knew that there was a hot new series to collect.



From the artwork to the packaging, everything about the Fleer Crazy Covers seems rushed and quickly thrown together. I enjoyed collecting the stickers at the time, but in taking a look back now, it seems that Fleer could have perhaps had more success with it had they put a bit more effort and thought into it.

Wacky Packages Old School and Series 5 Post Cards are Out Now!

After a long wait, the 1st Series of Wacky Package Old School stickers has finally been released!

I originally posted about the set back in June 2008 when word first came out about the set:


Unfortunately the targeted Summer 2009 release date was optimistic as the sketch cards took considerable time to complete and then there were some production issues that resulted in the set having to be redone after the initial printing which pushed back the release date until now.

The set is based around package designs from the 1970's - hence the "old school" reference. The set was designed and painted by Dave Gross who has contributed many titles to the recent run of All New Series Wacky Packages. Dave has done a great job with this set in capturing the packaging from those times, and has come up with some very funny parodies.

The stickers are only available through the Topps Online Store. Here is the link if you are interested in purchasing a box which contains 24 packs:

http://www.toppsonlinestore.com/servlet/the-537/Detail

Here is a look at the complete 33 sticker set:


I really like the Crappy Magazine Covers parody as first of all its great to see Topps poking fun at Fleer, especially since the product (Crazy Magazine Covers) was a direct knockoff of Wacky Packages. The other thing that makes it so good is that it is so true - the artwork on those stickers really was crappy!


Take a closer look at the Slopee sticker. Look familar? It should:

Dave Gross confirmed that Oscar Gamble was the inspiration for the Slopee player on the WackyPackages.org forum! It doesn't get much more 70's than an airbrushed cap trying to cover a monster afro!


Packs contain 3 stickers and a checklist card. The checklist is very similar to the checklist cards that came in the 1970s packs


and as the Original Series always did, features a Topps product for the puzzle:


The Wacky is based on the 1975-76 Basketball wrapper:


In addition to the 33 sticker set, the box also contains an envelope with a number of bonus items


including 1 of 3 different colored Wacky Packages Old School logo stickers:


In addition, each envelope contains 3 large stickers that measure 5" x 7" of some of the titles in the set. There are 9 different larger stickers in total as seen in this picture of the full set:


For comparison purposes, here is one of the 5" x 7" stickers beside the regular sized sticker:


The 5" x 7" stickers are great for having a better look at the artwork.

Also included is a promo sticker for Series 2 Old School, so it appears more will be on the way:


Each evelope also contains a unique 1/1 sketch card by legendary Wacky artist Jay Lynch featuring classic Wacky characters:


from vintage Wackys:


Almost all the sketch cards are black and white, but there are a few that have been done in color:


Also included is a promo poster for the set:


If you look closely at the poster, in the background it contains an image I've posted a few times from an old Topps annual report showing a sweet amout of Topps goodies from the 1970s:


Also included is a promo sticker for the Wacky Package Series 5 Postcards which were just released this week (although oddly enough the title on the sticker doesn't appear in the new postcard set):


Here is a look at the post card set:


The post cards are also only available from the Topps Online store at this link:

http://www.toppsonlinestore.com/servlet/the-546/2010-Wacky-Packages-Series/Detail

These two releases along with the Old School Series 2 promo show that Topps is still actively managing the Wacky Packages brand. It appears there may also be an All New Series 7 (or possibly a new name) later this year, so we can look forward to more Wacky releases down the road.

I'd like to say thanks to Dave for a fantastic Old School set and Jay for the great sketch cards!

The 1968 Coke Caps / Dexter Press promotion and Coke's connection to Free Agency

Coca-Cola ran a promotion in 1968 which once again featured baseball photos printed by Dexter Press that could be won by collecting player bottle caps as they had done in 1967, but on a smaller scale, both in terms of the number of teams involved as well as the photo size itself.

The 1968 photos are smaller than the 1967 photos, and are closer to post card size (3 1/2" x 5 1/2"):

The backs once again feature a player biography:


Here is a comparison between the 1967 card on the left and the 1968 card on the right to give an idea of the difference in size:


Whereas the 1967 promotion included all but 2 teams, the 1968 promotion was focused primarily on 6 teams which had 12 photos each:

The Astros:

Finally we see a Coke ad!

Its interesting to me that the Astros are included in this set given that at this time Topps was not allowed to use the Astros logo or name on its 1968 cards, and Fleer also had to leave the Astros out of their 1968 Team Emblem set. So why was Dexter Press able to print Astros cards for Coke?

The Braves:


The Giants:

The Orioles:


The Red Sox:


and the Twins:


In addition to these main teams, there were also a few other teams represented:

The Pirates had 2 cards (Roberto Clemente and Bill Mazeroski)

The Angels had 1 card (Jim Fregosi)


The Phillies had 1 card (Dick Allen), and the Tigers had 1 card (Bill Freehan).

I have not been able to find any cap saver sheets for the 1968 set, so its not clear how the promotion was handled, especially in terms of the teams that only have 1 or 2 players represented. Perhaps they were part of a set that was available in markets that did not have specific team promotions.

The 1968 Coke caps are very similar to the 1967 Coke caps with the one difference being that the 1967 caps list the players position:


while the 1968 caps do not:


How the Coke caps are tied into Free Agency:

The other interesting thing about the promotion was that the player bottle caps do not feature logos for any team except the Dodgers:


yet the pictures that could be won by collecting caps did feature logos.

According to this post by Coke cap collecting expert Troy Kirk, on Net54Baseball.com in discussing why the Cardinals are not in the 1967 Coke set:

"As to the Cardinals caps, I think Busch was the reason as others have stated. The caps were licensed by the players association only and not by the teams, that's why the team logos are not on the hats. This promotion helped fund the players association when it was getting started. Marvin Miller talks about the promotion in his book. The owners tried to torpedo the Coke promotion before it ever got started by not allowing logos on the caps, but Coke reluctantly agreed to do the caps without logos. Bowie Kuhn was the owners' lawyer who tried to torpedo the promotion.

Since the teams were not involved and it was only through the players, it seems like Busch wouldn't have a say in whether the Cardinal players were in the set. But I think the Cardinal players probably had something in their player contracts that they were not allowed to endorse other drink companies."

According to Roger Abrams in Legal Bases: Baseball and the Law, the Players Association only had $5,400 in 1966 when Marvin Miller took over as director. In order to raise funds for the union, Miller secured $66,000 by signing an agreement with Coca-Cola to put players’ pictures under their bottle caps.

So Coke's baseball cap promotion helped fund the players union when it was getting started! As the Players Association grew in power from this point, they ultimately were able to put an end of the reserve clause and launch the era of free agency, thanks in part to the deal that Marvin Miller worked out with Coca-Cola to get the union on its feet financially.

UPDATE: 2/2011

Cardboard Junkie has done a great post on the Sertoma Stars set which took the 1968 Dexter Press photos and turned them into business cards!