Q&A

Q:

"Could you explain why the 1963 Fleer Joe Adcock card is so valuable? He was a good player but not at the same level of Koufax, Yaz, Mays and Clemente, whose cards sometimes sell for less than his."

A:

When Fleer issued its set in 1963, the company printed a 66-card set plus a checklist card. Figuring that a 66-card set could fit twice onto a 132-card sheet, they did one of two things: they either shorted one of the cards from one half-sheet to allow the checklist to fit, or they dropped a card altogether and replaced it on the sheet. In any case, this is the card that was short-printed:

(Interesting how Adcock is shown as a Brave but listed as an Indian. Perhaps Topps had a monopoly on airbrush artists, too.)


The designation as a member of the Cleveland Indians was no mistake, as Adcock was traded to that team after the 1962 season. '63 would be his only season playing in Cleveland, however. He would be traded to the Angels and play the final three seasons of his career with that club.

Looks like Joe Adcock was getting used to getting moved around.

The checklist card that replaced his looked like this:

It's actually a really colorful card on the front,with its drawing of fielder snagging a fly ball and making what appears to be an "OK" sign with his right hand. The back of the checklist, though, uses the same color Fleer used with the set's base cards:

The '63 Fleer checklist card is given a premium when it comes to value, but that's likely due to the same reason all 1960s-era checklists get a bump: many were marked up, and many were simply tossed out because nobody wanted duplicates. That said, the way its inclusion effectively short-printed Joe Adcock's card is the reason his card is considered the key card to the set.

I may end up doing a full-blown treatment on the 1963 Fleer set here eventually. Keep a look out for it.