1971 Chicago Cubs Dell Stamps
Thursday was a light mail day, but it did bring in a sweet package that I purchased off eBay. Much of the One Million Cubs Project is all about trading, but on occasion I'll seek out some oddballs on eBay.
One such set I actively searched was the 1971 Dell Stamps set. There are a few loose stamps in my collection that were apart of an oddball lot I bought a few years ago. Really, I didn't mind if I had the Stamps loose or in the complete booklet, figuring they would be a bit less if loose. Little did I know I could find the booklet on the cheap. In fact, I found one for just $16.69 shipped.
The front cover is very colorful and really pops. The font and color screams 1971. Love it.
On the inside cover is a brief history on the Cubs. On the next page is the first set of stamps. There are 12 on each page. The first page features: Randy Hundley, Fergie Jenkins, Jim Colborn, Glenn Beckert, Bob Miller, Ken Holtzman, J.C. Martin, Danny Breeden, Ken Rudolph, Ron Santo, Juan Pizarro, and John Callison.
My beef with the Dell Stamps is that Miller, Martin, Breeden, and Pizarro are pictured with other teams. Not even a classic 1970's airbrushing for these players. That's a bummer.
The next pages feature the back sides of the stamps with a short bio and on the next page is stats for each of the 12 players.
Next, we find "Historical Events of the National League," which includes an 1897 snippet about the Cubs scoring 36 runs in a nine inning game.
The final set of stamps feature: Billy Williams, Jim Hickman, Don Kessinger, Joe Pepitone, Joe Decker, Bill Hands, Roberto Rodriguez, Hector Torres, Paul Popovich, Milt Pappas, Phil Regan, and Ernie Banks.
Again, more players in other uniforms: Pepitone, Torres, and Pappas. But look at Roberto Rodriguez. That's a clear painting , or really bad air brush job. Maybe after the Rodriguez stamp was seen quality control decided they will just feature players in whatever photos they had access to.
The next pages again feature the back sides of the stamps with corresponding stats for those players.
Finally, an advertisement for all other Dell Stamps team books as well as Chicago Cubs All Time Stars: Hack Wilson, Gabby Hartnett, Rogers Hornsby, Hank Sauer, Charlie Grimm, Kiki Cuyler, Charley Root, and Larry French.
Very happy with this booklet, and not sure how I will store it. For now, it'll join some other programs on a shelf. For the record, this booklet will count as 24 cards for the One Million Cubs Project as I'll count each stamp as a card.