1976 SSPC Dennis Leonard

#164 Dennis Leonard

Here is the sixth card of Dennis Leonard that I have posted on here, but just the second SSPC card. Dennis is such a regular at Royals events that it feels like I should have a dozen cards signed by him. I only have eight, but I have a couple of unique odd balls signed by him. I am really looking forward to showing the next one and that is not something I usually say about the seventh card I have posted of a player.

As for SSPC, I went in to detail about the set when I posted the first card of Cookie Rojas in early 2103. Check out that post if you would like to know more about the set. Or, head over to Night Owl Cards and look for some posts he did on the set. There have been some good ones over there.

I got this card signed at a Royals game in 2015. Dennis was in the Royals Hall of Fame for the Sunday alumni autograph signing. This is one of the rare times that I wish the card was signed in black and not blue. But, for a blue on blue signature, it still stands out fairly well.

1976 SSPC, Cookie Rojas

#171 Cookie Rojas

Here is the fourth and final Cookie Rojas card that I got signed at All Star Fanfest this past summer.

This is the first and only card from the SSPC set that I have got signed. I had hoped to get a couple more signed at Royals Fanfest this past weekend, but I failed to get a single card from the '70s signed.

I really know nothing about the SSPC set. But, a quick search on Baseballcardpedia did teach me some things. Apparently, these cards were not distributed in packs. Team sets were supposed to be sold in stores and complete sets could be ordered from a magazine called Collector's Quarterly for $9.99.

SSPC stands for the Sports Stars Publishing Co. and they were distributed by TCMA, who is more famous for the minor league sets they were making at the time. The cards are unlicensed and none of the players signed any releases for their images.

Before too many of these cards could be sold, Topps stepped in and sued the company. As a result, SSPC had to cease making and selling the cards and whatever inventory was on hand had to be disposed of. Yet, many cards did hit the market and they can be picked up fairly cheaply.

According to Baseballcardpedia, Keith Olbermann did all of the write-ups on the back of the 630 card set.