I've Flipped for Flipp Tipps!

I've been getting my Goodwill binders at their Oakland Ave location here in Milwaukee. Although the store is terribly cramped, it is the nearest one to my apartment and generally has a good supply of binders, bobbleheads, and even the occasional Something Weird video DVD. But I found myself at the Goodwill on Capitol Drive yesterday and decided to see what they had to offer. 

It was a binder bonanza! I picked up four that will fit the 700+ card sets, each with the clear plastic coating that allowed my set shelf to retain its precious uniformity. 

Beautiful!

Cap's Goodwill was lacking in the bobble department, but I did score a very cool item that I had ever actually seen in person...

That would be a Brett Butler "Baseball Flipp Tipps" issue. Bound by a plastic handle, the item is essentially a two-sided 72-page flip book with a brief, instructional commentary on each page. The Butler Flipp features a drag bunt with images taken from game footage on one side and a staged sacrifice bunt on the other. 

Here is one of the Flipps in action, with a little Hawkwind in the background to set the mood. It's hard to tell from this, but the action actually looks pretty nice. It has a sorta-3D effect to it.

Butler played with the Giants from 1988 to 1990, playing centerfield and leading off. He was a speedy baserunner and a pretty good hitter who posted high OBP throughout his career. The fact that they show him laying down a sac bunt is pretty ironic in retrospect, as modern baseball junkies would be aghast at the idea of using a hitter like to Butler to bunt a runner over. 

Pretty much everything I've found about these, including the copyright date on the package, gives a 1989 release year. However, this article here suggests that they actually might not have been released until 1990, or late 1989 at the least. In addition to the Butler, the series also featured Giants Will Clark and Kevin Mitchell, as well as Mickey Mantle, Nolan Ryan, Don Mattingly, and the soccer great Pele.

I remember vaguely seeing something about these when I was a kid. My dad, for a brief time, sold sports apparel at flea markets and other such places. He got a few of the trade journals and catalogues in the mail, and I think I saw these listed in one of those. I thought the idea was pretty cool at the time, cool enough that it lingered with me for twenty-five years or so. When I found the Butler at Goodwill, I knew immediately what it was. Flipp Tipps originally retailed for $6.95. You can find any subject in the series for less than that, shipped, on eBay.