Triple Action Sportsflicks Baseball Cards: A Brief History and Guide to Value
During the 1950s and 60s, baseball cards were hugely popular with children and collectors alike. While major brands like Topps and Bowman dominated the hobby, smaller regional companies also tried to capitalize on the baseball card craze. One such company was Triple Action Sportsflicks, a short-lived sports trading card publisher based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Triple Action Sportsflicks released just three series of baseball cards between 1957 and 1959 before shutting down operations. Despite their small catalog and short print run, Triple Action baseball cards have developed a cult following among vintage card collectors today. Let’s take a closer look at the background of this obscure early issuer and explore what makes their scarce vintage cardboardcoveted by investors.
The Origins of Triple Action Sportsflicks
Triple Action Sportsflicks was founded in 1956 by brothers Mark and Robert Stevenson. Prior to launching their baseball card line, the Stevenson brothers operated a small regional sports film distribution company called Triple Action Sportsflicks. They acquired 8mm films of baseball, football, and hockey games and rented them to local sport shops, bars, and schools throughout Minnesota and the Dakotas.
Seeing the excitement children had for collecting Topps and Bowman baseball cards, Mark and Robert decided to leverage their sports film distribution ties to produce their own line of local sports stars trading cards. Their first series in 1957 featured players from the Minnesota Twins, as well as minor leaguers based in the Upper Midwest. Distribution was primarily through the same sport shops and bars where they rented their sports film reels.
The 1957 series met with modest success on the regional level. Emboldened, Triple Action released a larger second series in 1958 featuring more Twins players as well as stars from other AL teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Tigers. By this point, they had expanded distribution beyond Minnesota into parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, and the Dakotas. Rising production costs and increased competition from Topps began squeezing their small operation.
Their 1959 set would be their biggest at 132 cards but also their last. After two years of modest profits, Triple Action Sportsflicks went out of business in late 1959 as the national brands like Topps, Bowman, and Fleer cemented their dominance industry-wide. The Stevenson brothers liquidated their remaining card and film inventory and moved on to other business ventures in the Twin Cities. For 20 years, their intriguing but short-lived baseball card experiment was forgotten.
Rediscovery and Rising Collector Interest
In the late 1970s, the rise of organized collector conventions and shows helped spark renewed interest in pre-war tobacco cards and other early 20th century issues. During this period, a small group of dedicated Minnesota collectors rediscovered the obscure Triple Action Sportsflicks cards in the personal collections of local sport memorabilia dealers and collectors.
Word slowly spread of these rarely seen regional issues from the late 1950s featuring familiar names like Harmon Killebrew, Camilo Pascual, and Zoilo Versalles. The limited surviving population, the novelty of featuring obscure local players, and mystique of being distributed by a vanished small operator gave Triple Action cards instant cache among vintage enthusiasts.
In the 1980s, the advent of dedicated sportscard price guides and the first nationally-circulated hobby magazines helped expose Triple Action to collectors on a national scale for the first time. Auction appearances in the late 80s and 90s saw their prices steadily rise as conditioned specimens became increasingly difficult to locate. In the pre-internet era, the brand remained obscure, but high-grade examples routinely sold for mid-three figure sums.
Early 2000s Boom
The early 2000s vintage baseball card market saw record prices paid as collectors with internet access and online connectivity helped drive enthusiasm and pricing to new heights. Multi-thousand dollar auctions became commonplace for scarce pre-war tobacco issues like 1909-1911 T206s and 1913 E90-1s. This wider collector pool drove additional demand downmarket to regional 1950s issues like Triple Action.
The rise of online collecting forums, trade boards, and dedicated sports memorabilia auction sites also enabled collectors across North America to learn of these extinct Minnesota brands for the first time. With their limited production runs, scarce high-grade survivors, and inclusion of many familiar stars from the late 1950s, Triple Action cards began routinely surpassing $1,000 even for common players in gem mint condition.
A 2007 PSA 9 graded Harmon Killebrew rookie from the 1957 set achieved $3,250 at auction, signaling Triple Action cards had firmly joined the ranks of desirable pre-Bowman issues. By the late 2000s, even well-circulated examples with flaws sold briskly in the $200-500 range on eBay, as full sets traded hands for $10,000+. For local collectors, finding any intact Triple Action cards remained a serious challenge more than 50 years later.
Modern Values and Desirability
As we enter the 2020s, the vintage sports card market remains robust, and that extends to coveted regional brands like Triple Action Sportsflicks as well. Condition remains paramount – mint survivors are the holy grails for sophisticated collectors. Common players in PSA/BGS 9 gem condition can still achieve $500-1000, while true star rookies can surpass $2,000-3,000. Full high-grade sets are exceptionally rare and can sell for $20,000+.
Even for more affordable well-circulated examples, strong four-figure prices remain the norm due to their great scarcity and local nostalgia appeal. Unsigned rookie cards that can be neatly slabbed at PSA 8 also attract active bidding at $600-1000. The brand’s small 57-59 run, exclusive regional distribution area, and lack of surviving high-grade material ensures strong residual interest from condition-focused investors.
The Triple Action Sportsflicks brand remains one of the biggest secrets and surprises within the realm of scarce 1950s baseball cards. Their limited regional story paired with famous players and scant surviving high-quality material makes these cards a true collecting challenge. Those able to find and afford choice specimens will enjoy owning a rarely seen piece of early sports card and Minnesota history prized by experienced collectors.
