Collecting Mets 1962 Cards and Things

There is a bunch of cards and related stuff to collect from the Mets First Year, 1962. 

Topps 1962 

Obviously, there is the 598 Card Topps Base Set which contains 24 NY Mets cards (#4, 7, 26, 29, 85, 94, 162, 183, 213, 256, 279, 293, 308, 337, 365, 408, 421, 436, 464, 497, 572, 593, 597 and 598).

7 of these cards command a bit of a premium:
- #29 Casey Stengel.
- #85 Gil Hodges.
- #213 Richie Ashburn.
- #572 Bob Miller (Short Print).
- #593 Rookie Parade Pitchers (Short Print - Craig Anderson and Bob Moorhead are the Mets on this card).
- #597 Rookie Parade Infielders (Short Print - Rod Kanehl is the Met on this card).
- #598 Rookie Parade Outfielders (Short Print - Jim Hickman is the Met on this card).

Interestingly, there are 2 Bob Miller Mets cards in this set and they are of different players. The #572 mentioned above and the #293. 

And, finally, there are 2 cards which have variations - a sort of Green Tint from the printing process. They are the #162 Sammy Drake and the #183 Roger Craig.

1962 Topps Stamps

Inserted in packs of 1962 Topps were Topps Stamps. 2 Stamp panels were inserted into regular packs with a small strip between the Stamps that contained a promotional offer for an album that the Stamps went in. 

9 Mets were represented plus a Team Logo for a total of 10 stamps. They were not numbered and the Mets included in this insert set were: team Logo, Gus Bell, Roger Craig, Gil Hodges, Jay Hook, Hobie Landrith, Felix Mantilla, Bob L. Miller, Lee Wallis and Don Zimmer. 

1962 Topps Venezuelan

The very rare 1962 Topps Venezuelan Set was a 198 Card release that only contained the following Mets:

#4 John DeMerit, #7 Frank Thomas, #26 Chris Cannizzaro, #29 Casey Stengel, #85 Gil Hodges, #94 Jay Hook, #162 Sammy Drake, #183 Roger Craig and #199 Elio Chacon. The fronts were identical to the Main Topps Release but the backs were in Spanish.

1962 Topps Baseball Bucks

1962 also saw Topps issue an oddball set of "Baseball Bucks". These were sold separately from their cards and were issued in packages costing 1 Cent. There were 96 "Bucks" in total and they resembled US Currency but with players instead of Presidents. There were 62 "1 Dollars", 24 "Five Dollars" and 10 "Ten Dollars. No Mets were 10 Dollars. 2 were $5 (Ashburn, Hodges)and 3 were $1 (Craig, Bell, Mantilla)

So that about sums up 1962 Topps. 

1962 Bazooka

1962 also saw Bazooka release some cards but not in the traditional way. Like they had done in 1960 and 1961, Bazooka Cards were included on the backs of Bazooka Bubble Gum Boxes. There were 45 cards in the set and they came as 3 card panels. These had to be hand cut into individual cards if that's what you wanted or they could be cut out as the 3 card panels. These are tough to find in good condition, obviously. 

There were 2 Mets included in the 1962 Set. The cards are not numbered. 

Gil Hodges

Don Zimmer 

Gil Hodges was included on a 3 card panel with Ken McBride and Frank Robinson.

Don Zimmer was included on a 3 card panel with Harmon Killebrew and Gene Woodling. 

1962 Post

Post Cereal issued a 200 Card Set in 1962. The cards were distributed on specially marked boxes of Post Cereals. Like the Bazooka  Crds they had to be cut from the box and thus are often in bad condition. There is only one Mets Card in the set: #183 Don Zimmer. Although he is shown in a Chicago Cubs Uniform and the card has his team as the Chicago Cubs, there is a small notation on the card that he was "Drafted by the New York Mets, Oct. 10, 1961. 

1962 Coins (Salada/Junket and Shirriff)

Two "Coin" sets were released in 1962 which both contain some New York Mets. 

The first was Salada/Junket Coins. these were issued in specially-marked packages of Salada Tea and Junket Desserts. They are marked on the back "Salada Tea and Junket Brand Desserts". 

The Coins are numbered and 5 of the coins have variations where the player with both his former team as well as The Mets (Charlie Neal #102, Don Zimmer #123, Gil Hodges #146, Gus Bell #158 and Bobby Gene Smith #176). Rest of the checklist includes Hobie Landrith #181, Felix Mantilla #183, Bob Miller #185, Roger Craig #189 and John DeMerit #192. 

The second set of 1962 Coins was issued in Canada in specially marked packages of Shirriff Potato Chips. These are practically identical to the Salada/Junket Coins but have "Shirriff Potato Chips on the back of the coin. While the Salada Set had 10 Mets Coins, the Shirriff Set only has 8. The checklist and numbers are the same with the exception of Don Zimmer #123 and Bobby Gene Smith #176. Also, there are no variations where the players are shown with their previous teams. 

Well that is that for 1962 and The Mets. Hope you enjoyed this review of the issues for that year, the first year in the history of the Mets and the year they went 40-120.