Listen: Brian Joura has come unstuck in time.

Yesterday the time travel was all through the 1970s up until around 1986. Who said you could never quarantine the past? There were two shelves of … stuff that had been quarantined for at least 34 years. Found some neat items, things that brought me back to certain times and places and people.

From a Mets perspective there were a bunch of scorecards and yearbooks but the thing that made me the happiest was a collection of sticker albums that I distinctly remember getting but wasn’t sure was still in my possession. The item in question was the Dell Today’s 1971 National League Eastern Division collection of team booklets. The six booklets were inside an enlarged manila folder-like sleeve.

They’re called stickers but that’s a little misleading. There were lines to cut them out of the booklet but it’s not like they had any sticky substance. And if you were to cut them out, there was nothing that would have been suitable to keep them in. Given my cutting skills at the time, it’s a really good thing that they’re still in the book.

If cut correctly, the stickers would measure 1-7/8 x 2-15/16 inches. The front was a picture with a facsimile autograph and the back had a brief bio. Each team had 24 stickers over two pages. The players for the Mets were:

Wayne Garrett
Nolan Ryan
Art Shamsky
Gary Gentry
Jim McAndrew
Tom Seaver
Al Weis
Ed Kranepool
Jerry Grote
Cleon Jones
Tug McGraw
Ron Swoboda
Dave Marshall
Ron Taylor
Danny Frisella
Bud Harrelson
Dean Chance
Ken Boswell
Donn Clendenon
Tommie Agee
Bob Aspromonte
Ray Sadecki
Duffy Dyer
Jerry Koosman

The front of the booklets carry the stamps of MLB and MLBP (no A at this point) which meant they were allowed to use pictures with team logos. Chance, Aspromonte and Sadecki were all in other team uniforms besides the Mets. And the facsimile autographs look like they were all signed with the same pen. And somehow Agee signed his first name “Tommy.”

This isn’t particularly valuable but it was a joy for me to come across because I remember getting it. This was delivered without begging for it – it was a complete shock to get. Maybe one of my older brothers got it for me – don’t remember the particulars but it was given to me and that’s what matters.

Now, if only my Danish Go-Rounds All-Time Baseball Greats cards would materialize like these sticker albums did…

“Oh how I love things as they used to be,
Don’t show me no more, please.”

8 comments on “Mets Card of the Week: Dell Today’s 1971 New York Mets

  • TJ

    Awesome. I’ve got some Met items of long ago that I hope I still have…somewhere in the house. Now you have inspired me to dust off the archeological skills and start a dig. Thanks.

    • Brian Joura

      Hope you find some good stuff!

  • Mike W

    I remember the book. I had it too. But, I cut out all of the players. They ended up crushed in a paper supermarket bag under hundreds of cards. Do not remember what happened them.

    • Brian Joura

      The fate of most of these, I’m sure.

  • Doug Parker

    Love these, and the NL All-Stars version (which I believe has a duplicate of the Seaver).

    But man, Dean Chance pitches two dinky September 1970 innings for the Mets and makes it into this album and gets a 1971 Topps Mets card? Makes my heart hurt for Dave Schneck, with his 413 ABs and lack of any contemporaneous cards…

    • Brian Joura

      Yeah, the card companies liked their washed-up vets for sure. Picking Al Weis for this set over Art Shamsky or Ken Singleton was another one.

  • JERseyjack

    uuhh. looks like Shamsky is on the list w Weis !

    • Brian Joura

      I stand corrected. Just Singleton, then.

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