Years ago, I purchased complete sets of Donruss' 1973 Baseball Super Freaks 1st and 2nd series. I also had the wax wrappers that went along with the sets, but I stored them separately from the cards. Recently, I sold off the two sets to another collector.

The problem was that I could not tell which set was the 1st series and which set was the 2nd series. I wanted to relay the correct information about the sets to the person who had purchased them from me. The cards do not have copyright dates on them.

Set "One":
44 cards
white card backs
artwork in the set is featured on the 1st series wrapper

set "Two":
42 cards
yellow card backs
name oval on front of some of the cards


I had always thought that since the 44-card set had the card artwork that was featured on the wrapper that it was the 1st series set. Note that the 1st and 2nd series wrappers both use the same two characters/artwork from one of the sets. The 44-card set seemed simpler, and none of the cards had name ovals on the front.

If you look at Jeff Allender's checklists, he says the 1st series had 42 cards and orange (they are actually yellow or gold) backs, and the 2nd series had 44 cards and white backs.
http://www.nslists.com/basesuf1.htm
http://www.nslists.com/basesuf2.htm

If what Jeff listed was correct, it seemed really odd to me that they would create generic artwork for the 1st series wrapper and then create the 2 characters featured on the wrapper for the 2nd series set. And, why remove the name ovals from the card fronts for the 2nd series?

I've seen some online card shops list the 44-card set as the 1st series and some list the 42-card set as the 1st series.

So, which set is actually the 1st series?

If someone here has any wax packs from either series, could you try to see through one of the wrappers to see if the card backs are yellow or white and let me know which series is shown on the wrapper?

Welcome to CardTalk! I was still researching the matter with the return email partly completed.

Anybody with a definitive answer, please chip in!

My tagging for the two sets was probably based on Chris Benjamin's Sport Americana Price Guide to the Non-Sports Cards, Volume 4. I must have had information from somewhere else too, since I didn't come up with "orange" on my own! (I haven't checked the email archives.) But Chris shows images of the 42-card set with the 1st series wrapper and box, and the 44-card set with the 2nd series list.

When anybody chooses to specify which series they're talking about on the net, they're split about half and half. I was about to try to buy a pack and settle it that way, because one half of the mentions may have been referencing Chris or my lists, and if the other half said it was the other series, they probably had a good reason.

I couldn't find any set-registry entries. I finally found a single web image that showed cards together with a wrapper, and it had the 2nd Series wrapper and items from the 42-card set, opposite from Chris's grouping.

So I'm concluding I was wrong, but with a good excuse because I was quoting the "Bible." (Vintage NSU Pop-Out Price Guides seem to have had it right!)

It is very confusing because the cards are not marked which series they are from, and I have seen the 1st and 2nd series cards listed for sale in a variety of ways:
some people say the white backed cards are the 1st series
some people say the white backed cards are the 2nd series
some people just say "Baseball Super Freaks" and leave out which series the cards are from


We can use these blog posts for card image references:
http://quasi-interestingparaph...r-freaks-part-1.html

http://quasi-interestingparaph...r-freaks-part-2.html

http://quasi-interestingparaph...r-freaks-part-7.html

Note these white backed cards:
3 Shecky the Short Stop
9 Sam the Switch Hitter
43 Foul Ball Fred

As I mentioned before, the artwork for these characters appear on the wrapper, which is why I thought the white backed cards were for the 1st series:
3 Shecky the Short Stop
9 Sam the Switch Hitter

But, here is the real proof... an old auction for 2nd series wax packs:
http://www.worthpoint.com/wort...-packs-weird-ohs-odd

And, looking at the picture of the backs of the three packs, you can see through the wrapper:
Left Pack - 43 Foul Ball Fred
Middle Pack and Right Pack - 9 Sam the Switch Hitter

So, if those wax packs were not tampered with, then the 2nd series packs had the white backed cards.

This should be the correct information:
1st series - 42 cards - yellow backs
2nd series - 44 cards - white backs

And, Jeff's and Chris' checklists were originally right... except for the orange back part.

OK, I looked into this some more, and I came across something that contradicts what I just posted.

I found someone that is selling a GAI 9.0 1st series pack. On their website, they show the front and back of the pack:
(scroll down to Baseball Super Freaks)
http://www.qualitycards.com/psabaseball2.htm

front:
http://www.qualitycards.com/pictures/10330159.jpg
back:
http://www.qualitycards.com/pictures/10330159b.jpg

While it isn't too easy to tell, you can again use this reference website for the white back cards:
http://quasi-interestingparaph...r-freaks-part-3.html
Note card 15 Barney Big-Mouth

The card images match up (you may need to use something like Photoshop to put the card image on top of the pack back image).

This information would mean that:
1st series - 44 cards and white card backs
2nd series - 42 cards and yellow card backs

While I don't know GAI pack grading too well, I am thinking they are more reliable when it comes to spotting resealed packs, so the 1st series GAI graded pack was probably authentic.

The packs from the 2nd series pack auction I linked before were probably pieced together and actually contained (what I now think are) 1st series cards. The seals on the back did look very sloppy, but at the time I wasn't thinking they were fakes.

A 42-card 2nd series set does make more sense (as I had in my first post) since the Football Super Freaks set (a set released in 1974) also contained 42 cards.

This just goes to show how difficult it can be when buying wax packs on eBay... the wrappers are way too easy to reseal, and people can put anything inside of those packs.

It would be great if someone with a wax box from either Baseball Super Freaks series could examine some of the backs of the packs to verify these findings.

I've been struggling with this issue for a while now. Not because I don't know which series is which, but because I DO know, and everybody's getting it wrong.

When I was in first or second grade, I collected the first series. I spent months tracking down every last sticker, buying many duplicates at the Pic-N-Sav and trading with other kids to get what I needed. They were the 44-card set of white-back cards with different art for the vertical and horizontal orientations.

The second series came out months later. They had yellow backs with only horizontal backing-art and recycled art from the first series on the box and wrappers. I did NOT collect the second series. I considered them inferior.

I would be VERY, VERY surprised if my memory of this were wrong. I was extremely picky about what I collected, and I studied the art in minute detail. I will never forget Shecky the Shortstop, Sis E. the Second Sacker, Henry the Horrible, Freddy Far-Out and What's-His-Name.

I vividly remember the one card I couldn't find in the stores. It was card #39, the purple alien with four legs. I first saw it stuck to the side of a cigar box belonging to a girl in my sister's class. I got my sister to arrange a "meeting" where we negotiated what I would trade for it. (I don't remember what I gave up. It wasn't important.) We carefully worked the sticker off the box, and I carried it home like it was made of gold.

THIS WAS SERIES ONE. I REMEMBER IT.

Welcome aboard! But if *everybody* was getting it wrong, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

I was watching to see if I could pick up a single unopened pack or two, because the cards I have were represented as the reversed order. I was leaning toward the "42" for the 1st Series because Football Super Freaks was a series of 42. But FSF was issued with both white and green backs. Since the two BSF sets came out so close together, I'm wondering which one was actually designed first. It almost sounds like Series 2 was a test set that they judged inferior, then spruced it up for the white-back Series 1, and then marketed the test set as a 2nd series.

And somehow I wouldn't be too surprised to find out that everybody was right, and Donruss mixed things up for different regions and printing.

But I'll accept Thinkbolt's memory (and cardsharp's later research) as the "definitive" answer!

I remember collecting series with the white backs as a kid when I lived in Florida (1973/74). Then we moved to Colorado (74) and I collected the series with the yellow backs. I always assumed that it was the second series based on that. I recently bought several packs that said second series on them (red)and inside were the ones with the white backs in which I was suprised to see because I was expecting the yellow backs. I've seen packs on ebay that you can see through the packs when zooming them in and noticed a white pack that also had the white back cards in it. So I'm assuming that the white backs can be found in both red & white packs. I have yet to see or find an unopened pack with the yellow back cards .