Thanks to Scott Veatch who sent last week’s 1964 Great Teams of Past mailing, we have another one from his treasure vault. It’s the annual mailing announcing the 1965 edition of the APBA Baseball cards.
As much as some of us long for the days of old, reading these mailings does make me appreciate how customer friendly the Company has become. Now don’t laugh… Back in the old days, we would have to wait till at least March 20th for our cards and even then, only if you ordered ahead of time (the term “pre-ordered” wasn’t around back then).
And we waited patiently and quietly. As the brochure says, “We will not reply to any inquiries concerning the delivery of your order until after April 1st.”
KEEP YOUR ROSTER SHEET, the brochure says in big bold caps because you won’t receive a copy with your cards. Man, APBA expected us fans to be so organized back then.
But the bright side back then… the prices were amazing. You could get the whole set for $7.00 ($7.35 if you lived in “Penna.”). Remember, no C.O.D. orders!!
1965 was the year that APBA Golf fans could first order the Augusta National Golf Course i.e “The Masters”. You could buy in 1965 for $4.00 and the entire golf game for just $7.25.
You can see the entire 1965 APBA Baseball notice brochure here.
Thanks again to Scott Veatch for this look back at APBA history!!
Yeah I like how I can start my 8 team solitaire keeper league as early as January now. Only problem is finding rankings that early online.
Interesting that while the 1964 season set was the first season which offered XB’s (printed on regular paper), there is no mention of the XB’s in that new card notice from 1965. I am assuming the announcement came on another printing possibly? I have some APBA mailings from that period, I guess I will check and see if I have one for the 1964 XB’s. Also, amazing how in 1965 you could still order the original 1957 set (last single-column season), 1958 (first double-column season), as well as 1962 and 1963. Each for $7 …. wow.
Right, Jim. The XBs were first available for the 1964 season and they were announced on a separate sheet in that same mailing.
I was a boy of 11 when I received this notice — they usually arrived in the mail during the first week in January. Sometimes it arrived during Christmas vacation. I remember that the longest stretch of time all year was that period between the last out of the World Series and the arrival of the new card set in March.
I ALWAYS mailed back the order form within a day or two of getting the notice in the mail. And I remember the agony of waiting, waiting, waiting for the cards to arrive 10-12 weeks later. I’d come home from school each day and ask my mom if they had arrived. It was a significant enough event in my life as a boy that I can remember what I was doing on the day the cards arrived, each year between 1965 and 1980.
Yeah, I guess you can say I was obsessed.
Great memories.