1983 Topps Foldouts Baseball Forum

If you're unfamiliar with this product, it's basically 17 cards in one long strip folded into a booklet that highlight hitting and pitching leaders of the era, thus there are five sets.

As I'm organizing my actual collection - not trade inventory as that was done a couple of years ago (sans hockey which is still a mess) - I've been putting cards in binders and truly enjoying seeing them, within the context of the year and various sets all together in one or more binders.

I'm up to 1983 and as I plan ahead for binding this particular year, I'm trying to decide if the foldouts should become cutouts so that they may end up in a binder which will periodically be viewed and enjoyed, unless someone has another option to where I can see them fairly regularly.

How long is a strip?  Could you fold once, in the middle, and slide into an 8×10 sheet so half the fronts display on each side?

I'm not a binder guy, but in your case if you wanted them displayed in one, I don't see any problem with cutting them up. I know some people prefer Sports Illustrated For Kids cards removed from their sheets, for example. And if it worries you that much you could always try to get a second set to keep intact. As a somewhat related example, I've been peeling more of my Finest/Chrome-type cards lately, and if I've happened on doubles of those I've kept them intact. So I think you should do whatever you'll enjoy more!

Joshua - do you plan on keeping them forever? Do you care about resale value? Depends on the answer to those questions.

If you care about the resale value, then leaving them attached might add value. (Might.) If that's not your concern, and seeing them anytime you want without extracting them in a strip from a larger binder page is, then separate them.

If I wanted to keep them in one place, and intact, I would probably go with two 4-pocket pages as the thickness would require a larger pocket, but then they would be deep enough, they would be less likely to pop out when the page is turned.

I hope you find the solution that works best for you. Have a great day!

Resale is rarely a concern for me - I do take care of cards in my collection, but in my case it's simply a diversion from life. I have separated sets that were perforated, but these are not. Having said that; the idea of 4-pocket pages is a great one to keep them intact. I may have to do that as I do with the Collect-a-Books I love.

Very timely topic. I have the 5 sets comin to me in the mail as we speak. My thought is to get a seconds run of each set. For the second one I'll separate them out. I like the idea of 4-pocket to hold the entire set in one piece. For the second, separated, set I'd put each section nito the appropriate sized sheets. These were meant to be seen. 

I agree. I've not made a decision just yet, but am leaning toward the 4-pocket pages. The other thing I'd thought of was to somehow make a hanging display that would allow for both sides to be seen. I'd have to measure the length since I'd like to get some sort of sleeve to hold them if I go that route.

Each panel is 3 1⁄2 × 5 5⁄16 and there are 8 panels per set so lengthwise unfolded would make it, ballpark 3 1⁄2 feet

Well that definitely eliminates my idea.  I've never seen these before and didn't expect they were that big.