Ron Santo Inserts from the '60's

I was able to add a couple Ron Santo inserts to my collection, one from 1967 and one from 1968. I picked these up a few weeks ago. I would imagine that the price of any Ron Santo item will be going up, at least for a few weeks.

First, a few words about inserts. Back in the day, we didn't call them inserts. They were just the extra junk that came in the pack, like the gum. There were posters, game cards, deckle edge cards, coins, comic books, stamps, and a few other things that I forgot.

When I opened a pack, I never paid much attention to the extras. I was much more concerned about the cards in the pack. Yup, it was the base cards that were king. I don't know anyone that bought more packs hoping to get that one special deckle edge card.

And, my how times have changed! Today, there are collectors that pay no attention to the base cards. Its all about the inserts. Or more specifically, its all about how much can be made by flipping the inserts on ebay.

Too bad.

I will now step off of my soapbox and show the promised inserts.



First up is this "All Star Pin-Up" insert from 1967. These are big, double the size of a baseball card, at 5" x 7". The set included 32 players, and Ron Santo was the only Cub in the bunch.



This card is from the 33 card insert from 1968. The cards are slightly smaller than a regular card, at 2¼" x 3¼". As with the 1967 posters, Santo was the only Cub in the set.

The cards were to be used to play a game of baseball, similar to Topps' first cards from 1951. In fact, the backs of the cards look very similar. They even had rounded edges like the '51s. And in keeping with Cubs tradition, Santo popped out and the runners don't advance.



Here are the '51's and '68's backs side by side. You can definitely see a resemblance between the two .

I was able to pick up both of these at reasonable prices and they are both in really nice condition. I'm glad I got them.