Sportscaster Series #04 Variations that I Have Found So Far. Please Pass Along Other Information That You Have

Here is what I found for the 24 cards in Series #4 so far.   It looks like the first print run has no letter.  Those can be found printed either in Japan or Italy.  In addition, I am finding print run "A" and print run "B".  So I'm working on getting all four versions for Series #4.

I have every card from print run 'B' and every card but not many cards from print run "A".  For the first print run (blank instead of a letter) I am missing #12 and #22 from Italy and I have all of the ones from Japan.  I only have six cards from deck "A".

Here are the back variations I've seen.  I have yet to check for variations on the front of the cards.

4-10 Earl Anthony - 'A' and 'B' have added awards and records
4-14 Dave Cowens - 'B' has a different caption.  I don't have 'A'
4-15 Rick Barry - 'B' has different caption and awards.  I don't have 'A'
4-19 Volleyball - An American Invention - 'A' and 'B' have different text
4-20 Jonty Skinner - 'B' has added awards. 
4-22 Johnny Bench -  ' ' Italy and 'B' have a different caption and records than ' ' Japan.  


Jonty Skinner was the first person to break 50 seconds in the 100-m Freestyle. I worked with him in Colorado many years ago.

Card 4-24 features Bruce Jenner.  The subtitle is "Mr. Track and Field".  Wow!

Sportscaster Series #03 Variations that I Have Found So Far. Please Pass Along Other Information That You Have

Here is what I found for the 24 cards in Series #3 so far.   It looks like the first print run has no letter.  Those can be found printed either in Japan or Italy.  In addition, I am finding print run "A" and print run "B".  So I'm working on getting all four versions for Series #3.

I have every card from print run 'B' and every card but one from print run "A".  I am missing 3-16 Hank Aaron from deck "A".  For the first print run (blank instead of a letter) I am missing Aaron from both the Japan and Italy prints.  I'm also missing 19 of the 24 first print run cards issued from Italy.  

Here are the back variations I've seen.  I have yet to check for variations on the front of the cards.

3-10 Daniel Moreton - 'A' and 'B' have added awards
3-12 Cornelius Warmerdam - 'A' and 'B' have different text and awards/records
3-15 Julius Erving - 'A' and 'B' have added awards and text
3-16 Hank Aaron - 'A' and 'B' have different text 
3-18 Yukio Endo - 'A' and 'B' have the outdoor icon; ' ' has the indoor/outdoor icon
3-19 Phil and Tony Esposito - 'A' and 'B' have additional text.  They also corrected an error where the names were interchanged in the text.
3-20 Joe Namath - 'A' and 'B' have different captions and text than ' ' 
3-22 Irena Szewinska - 'A' has updated sub-title and text; 'B' makes another update to sub-title and text
3-23 Steve Williams - 'A' and 'B' have added awards
3-24 Dwight Stones - 'A' and 'B' have additional text

Jesse Owens Used to Show Up at Our Park District Events, Especially Track Meets

Today the Jesse Owens movie is out in theaters today.  I had the US version of this card as kid since I subscribed to Sportscaster cards for a while when they were introduced.  Since he was in deck #2 I had his card right away.  

Owens worked for the Chicago Park District for some time.  I remember meeting him at some Park District events.  I distinctly remember having his autograph on a great 5x7 picture.  I kept my autographs in the top drawer of a nightstand in our bedroom.  I kept my cards in boxes on the top shelf of our closet because I valued cards more than autographs I guess.  The cards and everything hidden away in the closet survived.   The autograph didn't fare so well.   

I've got his Starting Lineup figure and a few other modern cards featuring Owens.  

Sportscaster Series #02 Variations that I Have Found So Far. Please Pass Along Other Information That You Have

Here is what I found for the 24 cards in Series #2 so far.   It looks like the print run can be either 'A' or blank where there is no letter in bold.  For the blank print run I'm finding then printed in either Japan or Italy.  So I'm working on getting all there versions for Series #2.

I have every card from print run 'A' and every card but one from the first print run (blank).  I am missing 2-08 Joe DiMaggio.  Here are the back variations I've seen.  I have yet to check for variations on the front of the cards.

2-01 Une de Main - 'A' has different caption
2-02 Jack Nicklaus - 'A' has different text
2-03 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - 'A' has variations in text and awards
2-04 George Blanda - 'A' has updated awards
2-11 Vasaloppet  - 'A' has additional text
2-17 Johnny Cecotto - 'A' has updated awards
2-19 Eddy Merckx - 'A' has additional text and different title - front and back
2-21 Kornelia Ender - 'A' has variations in text and awards
2-22 John Naber - 'A' has additional text
2-23 Teofilo Stevenson - 'A' has variations in text and awards
2-24 Chris Evert - 'A' has updated records


Please let me know if you have seen other variations.

The cards pictured above are from the Finnish version of the set.  I don't have a checklist so I will wait until I finish (sorry for using that word) the North American set to search for a checklist from Finland.  

Sportscaster Series #01 Variations that I Have Found So Far. Please Pass Along Other Information That You Have

I found it!  After a long search of the house I finally found my notebook that documented my Sportscaster card checklist.  I won't computerize it until after I've gone through all of the set.

Sorting my thousands of Sportscaster cards is taking forever.  They don't sort as easily as baseball cards because these cards are so thin.  Having the numbers being really small doesn't help either.

For now I'm only looking at the set sold in the U.S.A., otherwise known as the American set or the North American set.

Here is what I found for the 24 cards in Series #1 so far.   It looks like the print run can be either 'A' or blank where there is no letter in bold.  For the blank print run I'm finding then printed in either Japan or Italy.  So I'm working on getting all there versions for Series #1.

I have every card from print run 'A' and every card from the blank print run printed in Japan.  Here are the back variations I've seen.  I have yet to check for variations on the front of the cards.

1-01 Roger de Coster - 'A' has updated awards
1-02 Bobby Orr - 'A' has different sub-title and text, less awards
1-03 Muhammad Ali - 'A' has different text and updated awards
1-04 Jesse Owens
1-05 Guy Drut
1-06 Faina Melnik
1-07 Mark Spitz -  'A' has re-worded text in the records
1-08 Michael Rousseau
1-09 Fanny Blankers-Koen
1-10 Bernard Thevenet - 'A' has updated awards and text
1-11 Michel Broillet - 'A' has more text
1-12 Nordic Skiing (person pictured?)
1-13 Fishing (person pictured?)
1-14 Frank Shorter  - 'A' has switched to the outdoor sport icon; " " has indoor & outdoor icon
1-15 Johnny Unitas
1-16 Anton Geesnik - 'A' has different text????
1-17 Pele - 'A' has added text
1-18 Jimmy Connors
1-19 Fencing  'A' has different title - front and back
1-20 Jets vs. Colts - 'A' and ' ' Italy have a different caption than ' ' Japan
1-21 Tom Seaver - 'A' has updated records
1-22 Lasse Viren - 'A' has switched to the outdoor sport icon; " " has indoor & outdoor icon
1-23 Alberto Juantorena - 'A' has updated records
1-24 Pete Maravich - 'A' has updated records

Please let me know if you have seen other variations.  I'm sure I will find out who is in the Jets/Colts picture once I put in an effort.

Can You Relate to My Sportscaster Card Dilema?

I'm working on a master set of Sportscaster cards.  My goal was to post once a week or so and show some cards and some variations.   I've got one problem that is hindering my progress - I can't find my binder that I'm using as a checklist.

This is embarrassing since I am quite an experienced Excel user.  I hope to find this binder over the holidays.  Injury doesn't allow me to search for it in my basement any time soon.

I hope that my next post will mention all of the variations that I've found in the first series of Sportscaster cards.  I just need to find the binder.

More soon I hope.

More Track and Field Cards - This Time From Sweden

I'm trying to get all of the Sportscaster cards from each country.  Even if that isn't possible, I at least want to get all of the Track and Field cards from these sets.

This week I received my first cards from Sweden that were included in this set.  These cards all start with the number 47-021 before the deck and card numbers.

I have no way to read what is being said about Bruce Jenner.  Imagine what they would say today?

From what I've read, the set from Sweden has 76 decks.  That means I am going to be missing lots of track and field cards.

I still have no cards from France, Italy, Germany, Belgium or Denmark,  Where are they hiding?

Does anyone have a checklist of these cards from all countries?