My Vintage Frankenset has 3 access rules:
– Cards must have been released before 1981.
– Must fit in a standard top loader.
– No flagship Topps baseball allowed. (I have another project for that.)
We’re at page 6.
This page probably contains a little too much hockey, but I’m not too picky about it. (Last year I filled in gaps on this page with a Canadian seller on Sportlots, buying some cheap OPC hockey cards.)
Now let’s take a closer look at each card.
1978-79 O-Pee-Chee #46 Bob Stewart
Kind of stumbling out of the gate with the first card off the page. With a fold and a boring photo (And from a set repeated later on the page), I have to say that Bob Stewart will probably get the boot here if I ever come across another viable old card #46.
And there’s the back.
1938 Air Raid Precautions #47 Anti-Aircraft Searchlight
Then a few non-sport minis to spice things up. I think before radar they just shined giant flashlights into the sky to look for enemy planes.
This is Wills’ third tobacco card in the franken set, with the cigarette company also occupying a spot on each of the first few pages, not to mention the partial “Wonders of the World” set I’m trying to complete. They must have been very prolific at making cool cards with their cigarette packs back in the day.
1968 Brooke Bond History of the Car #48 -1967 Ferrari P4, 4 liter
Look at my Ferrari, guys. 😎 Ha, no, I’m not really the car enthusiast type, but you have to appreciate a round sports car. I might try to upgrade this top loader, but I think some yellowed beaters in the mix would add to the frankenset’s charm.
Crap, I forgot to take a picture of this and may be too lazy to correct it, sorry.
No, wait, while I’m searching my archives for the term “Ferrari” to refresh my memory about acquiring this card, it turns out the back is already shown here, so I’ll retake that photo. (You can ignore Wills’ coincidental bonus content.)
Note: the car cards came with tea, not smokes, but yes, it makes sense to see this from 1968, with tobacco cards usually being pre-war.
1973-74 Topps #49 Nick Libett
Hockey is back with a very red card. (It’s a very “winged” card by the way!)
What would a vintage frankenset be without some stained spines in it? (A appearancethat’s what!)
1977 Hostess #50 Ron LeFlore
Great example of a hostess card getting the honors middle square spot on the page, although no one will submit it for review.
Ron LeFlore is a player from before my time with a unique backstory, but the short version is that he first started playing baseball on a prison team in the early 1970s and went on to become an MLB All-Star based on that 1976 season.
1977-78 O-Pee-Chee #51 Ron Schock
My knowledge of hockey is so weak that I honestly would have assumed he’s wearing a Sabers jersey here if it weren’t for the informational text suggesting this is an outdated photo. Looking closer, I think they are penguins, and yes, that is confirmed on the back….
The top name in that font is reminiscent of the old Radio Shack logo, right?
1976-77 O-Pee-Chee #52 Greg Joly
This is a beautiful card, where the photo matches the design well.
The back makes me want to make a Jolly Green Giant reference, or Joly green, as appropriate.
1975 Mike Mandel Photographers #53 Richard Link
Here’s another example of Nick Vossbrink influencing my collection by blogging about fun, under-the-radar cards. In fact, I think it may be so you card which inspired the creation of this Vintage Frankenset. Nick posted about this set of photographer cards on the SABR cards blog in 2017 although I don’t think I followed the blog at the time and didn’t see it until he linked to the post on his own blog in 2020. When I went looking to see if I could score one, there were a few options on eBay for $10 each, and I was prompted to click on Dick Link here for the photo. I believe it was the other Nick (dimeboxes) who once made a post looking for cards with a photo of a crouched catcher signaling – a common occurrence in baseball (before PitchCom®) that rarely appears on a card*. So that’s some bonus mojo this card has to offer.
*Seriously, try to find one!
And so I ended up with a neat random card that I could sort with my few other odd cards that don’t really fit with any of the other cards in my collection. “Hey, maybe I should make a vintage franken set…?” And there you have the origin story of this project!
1978-79 O-Pee-Chee #54 Doug Favell
Page 6 leaves the same way it came in, with a ’78 OPC hockey card of a man looking to the right of the card.
Facsimile signatures on cards have not aged well. It usually feels like the card manufacturer is trying to trick young, naive kids into thinking that the players actually signed all their cards before wrapping them. Quite interesting to look at the handwriting, I think.
Another look at these 9 cards together…
That’s it for page 6. Thanks for reading. I’ll see you back here sometime in 2026 for (baseball heavy) page 7, God willing.
#Vintage #Frankenset #Page