While I didn't bid on it, a curious piece of Topps history was hammered on eBay late last year. Using their own employees for photo shoots was a continuing theme with Topps in the Sixties and Seventies, and some of their antics are a little humorous in retrospect.
This is an original photographic pasteup from the archives of Brown Brothers, a stock photo firm that was big for a good chunk of the Twentieth Century:
Lelands has been auctioning off the firm's archival items on the 'Bay and also in some catalog auctions but the three notations are masking another Brown reference, namely the friendly "shopkeeper" pounding a baseball mitt, one Len Brown. Brown was Topps New Product Director Woody Gelman's assistant at the time and he's helping the PR push for those 1963 Bazooka boxes that not only had three package design baseball cards on the revere but five All Time Greats cards within.
These were the boxes being hawked by Len:
The reverse of the photo shows a lot of decrepit rubber cement along with a notation:
I've blown it up to make it easier to read:
I am surmising this particular piece came from Len's first wife and was in her possession as part of their divorce. Of note are mention of three 1973-74 test issues; in order these are Deckle Baseball cards from '74, plus The Waltons and The Rookies, both TV shows of the day that Topps tried to make work as card sets in 1973. I've covered the first two here previously but to my surprise I've never referenced The Rookies, which is one of the tougher test issues of the decade and far harder to track down than the other two, at least from what I've found.
They come from a time when Topps was trying to standardize some of their graphics:
A little text and a puzzle make up the reverse:
The example above is unusual as it's not severely miscut, since most of the set's surviving examples are found that way. In fact, many of its 44 subjects are horizontally-oriented and the cuts can be so bad that the caption is often found above the photo and not below:
Yikes! It's truly a tough issue and finding well-cut cards is super challenging. PSA has graded a mere 60 examples overall with nothing above a grade of 7 given. However, 44 of them are in the sole registry set, which is complete with a GPA of 6.898. By way of reference, 255 Waltons cards have been PSA slabbed (nine 9's given) and over 3,000 1974 Deckles, with seventy-six 10's granted somehow!
I'm on a bit of a Baseball Candy roll of late and today we look at what is the least popular of the five subsets that made up Topps' inaugural release of a standalone baseball set. That would be the Team cards.
I've written about these oblong, gold bordered cards previously but there was a recent sale of a full master set of 18 at Heritage that caught my eye, although not my wallet. Sets do come up, a bit infrequently, but every year or so one is offered at auction. It's unusual for the master set of dated and undated varieties to pop up but that too, happens from time to time.
Printed along with the Connie Mack All Star cards, PSA as of December 13th, had graded 1,053 examples of which the highest is a lone 8.5 of the dated Athletics card. The dimensions work against them as a mere six straight 8's have been assigned and it's easy to infer high grade raw examples are just not out there. Meanwhile 996 Connie Mack's have been slabbed by PSA and 211 Major League All Stars. That's a different distribution from the last time I really checked, about a decade ago, with the spread between Teams and the Connie Mack's almost pulling even while the Major League All Stars have gone from about half the population of the Connie's to a mere twenty percent or so. Those MLAS cards are tough kids!
Distribution between the dated and undated Teams varieties seems roughly even and the least graded cards are those of the Giants, followed by the White Sox and Cardinals. I'm still tying to figure out if Topps used three different cardboard stocks and can say the recent Heritage lot only showed two, the brilliant white stock that seems to stay bright forever and the far dingier tan backs. I've long thought a cream stock exists but it didn't show up in this lot and relying upon scans doesn't always yield precise results. Let's take a look then at two different Teams, the Dodgers and Athletics.
The boys from Brooklyn were going to blow a massive lead in the National League pennant race by season's end but it was a dynastic squad that often brawled with an even more dynastic one in the Yankees from 1947-56, with six World Series clashes but only a single World Championship to show for it.
The back of this undated card shows off the brilliant white stock; it's a thing of beauty in a way:
Meanwhile the Whiz Kids got a National League Champions notation:
There was no Yankees card as seven teams were never produced, so no corresponding American League Champions card exists. The back of the Phillies card is also brilliant white:
They got two red pennants added on the back as well.
Now for the dated cards, which were issued after the undated ones, likely in a bid to avoid running afoul of Bowman. Dodgers again:
Here's a closeup of the name plate showing the date.
The dingier card stock is easily discernable when compared to the white:
The Phillies stand tall...
...despite the dingier card stock:
That's how the whole auction lot presented; brilliant white for the undated cards, dingy stock for the ones with dates.
The offered set was ninth on the PSA Registry and a check over there shows sixteen master sets on the registry, with half of them at 100% completion. The Heritage lot was the lowest ranked set that was complete, with a GPA of 3.48; the no. 1 set has a GPA of 6.16 and only one other partial is above 6.
These cards are not for everybody but many Hall of Fame players can be found in the photos and they certainly have their place in the history of the hobby.
Three major Topps rarities of the Postwar era were auctioned earlier this month by Heritage Auctions and I have to say, the results were a little lackluster overall. As previously documented here (and in any major price guide of the last forty-five years) the 1951 Topps Major League All Star subset of Baseball Candy contains three cards that were never released to the public: Hall-of-Famer Robin Roberts, 1950 NL MVP Jim Konstanty, and Eddie Stanky. Two Phillies and a Philly native, which may be why they got yanked, the City of Brotherly Love being home to Topps arch-rival Bowman.
These may be the sixth examples of each subject to emerge from the depths of the Topps files and Woody Gelman's massive ephemera collection but more research is needed on that front to confirm. No matter, they are truly rare and desirable. Which is why I am a little surprised at the prices each realized for two of them.
Let's begin with the Roberts card:
Like the other two offered, it's graded by PSA as Authentic-Altered. The alteration can be seen here:
The backs are important as it helps trace each example. Someone heavily taped the hinge and die cuts on this one as it had been used as intended. This intrigues me as it could indicate a kid got ahold of it originally.
Next up is The Brat, Eddie Stanky, a vastly underrated and somewhat unknown ballplayer these days but not by those that played against him or appreciate baseball history (he retired with a .410 lifetime OBP):
Same story here, it's popped and taped:
Finally, the Konstanty. I have to say, if you pointed this guy out in a police lineup and said he was a major league pitcher, I probably would have cracked up if I didn't know better:
As with the other two, a quite thorough tape job was performed:
Now for the prices, which include the buyer's premium:
Roberts: $66,000
Stanky: $43,200
Konstanty: $19,200
The Stanky ended about where I thought it might, perhaps under by about 10-15% but Roberts and Konstanty seem like they went pretty low. The fronts look quite presentable to me and the tape jobs probably didn't help but these cards emerge for public sale on average maybe once every eight or ten years. As a rough comparison, sloppily hand cut proofs of each, which were not die cut, sold in an REA auction in 2018 for:
Roberts: $132,000
Stanky: $45,000
Konstanty: $45,000
So the current result is a little lackluster it seems.
Each of the Heritage examples also have their own unique smudge on the front which means they can be matched against previous examples. The backs are unique as well but the main problem here is the lack of good, his-res scans of all known examples. Hopefully some images will surface and a comparison can be made. Meanwhile, congratulations to the winner(s) of these extremely difficult cards!
I regret I don't have any Christmas-themed objet's d' Topps to share this year but have no fear -a whole buncha of product updates from Friend o'the Archive Lonnie Cummins are here!
What's odd is that the lip-licking kid has been redrawn (a tip o'the Santa hat to Mark Newgarden for that observation). It's slight but the two images not the same. The fruits orbiting his head are new as well. I get the additions to his noggin's solar system but the changed main image is a little mystifying. Also of note, the gum count has doubled, to 160 pieces of "ballgum" as they say up North:
The back panel is fruity:
The U.S. box had a Bazooka ad but in in Canada a side panel recreated the image from the (U.S.) box top, with the sparkly gumballs in orbit.
Speaking of fruity gum, a Wild Cherry Flavor Mates wrapper also exists:
That makes five flavors now:
Banana
Fruit Punch
Grape
Orange
Wild Cherry
Interestingly the Banana and Fruit Punch flavors are clearly identified as having "Imitation Flavor" on the main "splash" of their wrappers and both of those carry a commodity code. The Orange and Wild Cherry flavors only note natural and artificial flavors in the ingredients indicia and carry no code, so I wonder if they predate their imitation brethren? The codes started sometime in 1966 and while there could have been tests of the product, or a tweaking of ingredients it may have just been a matter of timing on each wrapper's design and implementation.
I'm still looking for a good scan of the Grape wrapper and any other variants that might exist but this blurry image (also from Lonnie) is inconclusive as to what is written thereon, but don't believe I see a commodity code or any large "Imitation Flavor" wording, so it adheres to the present "no code/no imitation" protocol:
Lonnie also sent along a much more vivid partial box cover scan that makes me think our flavors have maxed out at five:
That's all four known individual fruit flavors indicated, with fruit punch implied, I guess! That's some enticing artwork but I don't think it helped sales much.
When Topps issued the 1967 Funny Travel Posters set, they were also wrangling with their first Wacky Packages issue. I've mostly stayed away from the Wacky's here as they are so well documented elsewhere but of the eighteen different mascots depicted on the Madison Avenue poster I've been dissecting here for the past two weeks, eight appear in the first run of Wacky Packages. Often referred to as die-cuts, the 1967 release is the ur-Wacky Packages set and it featured gummed-backs, meaning you had to moisten what was a die cut subject to get it to stick.
It's hard to believe now but it wasn't a massive success, although it did have at least three press runs including at least one into 1968, which also seem related to cease-and-desist letters. As would be the pattern, a number of subjects were withdrawn when these letters were received by Topps, so those stickers were pulled and replaced by another on the sheet. It would be the 1973 series of peelable stickers that truly kicked off Wacky-mania although it pretty much was created using the same Art Spiegelman roughs (his first major Topps assignment) and Norman Saunders finished artwork that kicked things off in 1967.
Here's what the original 1967 release looked like when presented to the youth of America, thanks to a killer image I found over at wackypacks.com:
Right away, you can see two of the brand mascots from the Funny Travel Posters set were used on the box. Let's start with the duck.
The Quaker Oats Quaker from the poster set was, like the other mascots depicted, done relatively straight:
Not so much with the Wacky stickers:
And there's no way that wasn't meant to look like Donald Duck! Plus, he appears to be a little stoned, which may be intentional given the involvement of Spiegelman.
Our other box inhabitant is a bit more stern and menacing:
Yikes! Well Mr. Clean does seem capable of taking care of himself I'd say. As seen below, he clearly worked out.
Alongside our earring-ed friend, we have two other mascots that made their was onto Wacky Packages. As mentioned above, Topps always included something of their own when poking fun at other products. As most of you probably know, they began this form of self protection with Gadzooka:
Meanwhile, in the land of hangovers:
Kinda funny how that actually has come to pass, right White Claw fans?
Cracker Jack got roughed up a bit. Compare this...
...to this:
Ouch!
You have to wonder what Li'l Green Sprout would have thought of his dad had he ever seen this:
Quite a change from our smiling friend here:
He's a thirsty one it seems, but the parody version sure looks like fun!
We conclude this silly series under a gray cloud:
Morton Salt actually used the "When it rains it pours" slogan to demonstrate that its salt would still flow in inclement weather. I'm assuming there was some kind of tackiness problem with all salts on rainy days before then but who knows? Well, it looks like Topps knew:
Other mascots from the Madison Avenue poster would appear in later releases of Wacky Packages, but these eight were the original imposters!
Picking up where I left off before Turkey Day weekend, this will continue my look at the Madison Avenue entry from 1967's Funny Travel Posters. First though, here's a look at the retail wrapper and box:
Pretty eye-catching but the box is even nicer, with excellent mini-poster reproductions from the set beckoning:
The set was remaindered by Topps, so it clearly wasn't a big seller. They sloughed it off as part of a promotion called Sale-A-Bration that packaged together several languishing sets that presumably had a nice discount when ordered as part of the deal. Based upon the commodity codes of other sets in the promotion, it looks to have been a 1968-69 endeavor.
You can't see it but the back panel of the box has a playful version of the the curved Topps logo, with some little kids playing about it:
Now, back to Madison Avenue....specifically the bottom row of the poster:
Let's start with the Morton Salt Girl and move left. She is still one of America's most identifiable brand mascots after a mere 110 years. Her look had evolved quite a bit since her 1914 debut and Topps looks like they used the 1956 version for the poster; it would be updated yet again a year later:
If you have a sweet tooth, or even if you don't but have had it foisted on you at a ballgame or kids party, you know that Cracker Jack has been filling dentist's coffers for over 125 years. The Sailor Boy logo is just as well-known as the Morton Salt Girl and, as it turns out, it originally depicted the founder's son and his dog Bingo, who both debuted in 1918. There is a Topps connection or two with the snack as they put out a two panel set commemorating the first 1982 Cracker Jack Old Timers Classic played in Washington DC that year:
About 200 Million boxes of Cracker Jack are sold every year and that sometimes seems like the number of uncut panels Topps printed up of the set back then as well! The game, which was a charity event, was well-advertised and televised nationally so Topps got a lot of publicity for what I believe was a handout at the game and also a premium offer. Luke Appling, 75 years young, took 61 year-old Warren Spahn deep in the bottom of the first, which was a pretty big story when it happened:
My favorite part of Cracker Jack is the elusive peanut, as it nicely rounds out a handful of this stuff, and I'll bet it's not a coincidence Mr. Peanut is sauntering by the Sailor on the poster. More iconic branding from 1918 here kids:
After a relatively stable ninety years or so, the monocled, walking legume with the elegant top hat has turned into a creepy, nightmarish looking thing-yikes!
Next up is Nipper, the longtime mascot for RCA Victor. Any number of mutts have been portrayed as the music loving canine over the years, so the one Topps used looks more approximate than specific. Heres' a more classic looking version:
Alka Seltzer is still with us, although you can just use baking soda dissolved in water to get the desired relief and save some dough. The brand mascot was known as Speedy, although he morphed from an earlier character called Sparky in 1951. Speedy was retired in 1964, although it was well-known enough to be featured by Topps and it eventually returned in the mid-70's and has been seen sporadically since. Here's a 1976 version in wonderful stop-motion animation that features a song some of you may have had burned into your brains if you are of a certain age:
Next up, using a method that was also used in Wacky Packages for '67 and forever after, we see Bazooka Joe. Topps would always include their mascot, or a brand of theirs, in the product parody sets. This would theoretically stave off lawsuits but it sure didn't stop the cease and desist letters! The post-Wesley Morse version of Joe was trending toward this look, as seen three years later on this 1970 Bazooka Bits pouch:
Mr. Clean here reminds me of the little sanitation worker who cleaned up after the Muses at the end of Peabody's Improbable History. He still looks pretty much the same today as he did when introduced in 1958, although he was an actual human being then:
Finally, we get to our last mascot, one from Pillsbury's Funny Face drink mix, which really completes a spiral of sorts! The drink mix powder competed with Kool-Aid but as I recall it, wasn't nearly as good and featured some nasty artificial sweetener. Funny Face had killer graphics and commercials though and their mascots, at least the non-racist ones, were rad. Here's one now:
I mentioned 1967 Wacky Packages earlier, didn't? Well eight of the mascots here were also parodied in the inaugural set of stickers and I'll take a look at those next time.
