The Deckle is in the Details

When I posted at the end of May on the 1969 Topps Deckles, I figured it would be a pretty innocuous piece and for the most part I was correct. What I didn't realize at the time though, was that there was a pattern to how the cards were originally ordered, thanks to an e-mail from friend o' the archive Duke, who alerted me to the reasoning behind the two pulled cards and their corresponding replacements.

Wilhelm had actually changed teams when the yet-to-play-a-game Royals packed him off to the Angels on December 12, 1968. This left a hole that was made bigger by the the corresponding trade of Rusty Staub from Houston to Montreal early in the New Year as Topps was including players from the two dozen ML teams in '69.

Now, as you can see from the checklist below, the set was originally ordered by AL teams and then NL teams, alphabetically by city. But when Wilhelm and Staub were pulled, Wynn and Foy were placed out of sequence. Here look:

1		ROBINSON, B.	BALTIMORE ORIOLES
2		POWELL	BALTIMORE ORIOLES
3		HARRELSON, K.	BOSTON RED SOX
4		YASTRZEMSKI	BOSTON RED SOX
5		FREGOSI	CALIFORNIA ANGELS
6		APARICIO	CHICAGO WHITE SOX
7		TIANT	CLEVELAND INDIANS
8		McLAIN	DETROIT TIGERS
9		HORTON	DETROIT TIGERS
10		FREEHAN	DETROIT TIGERS
11		WILHELM	KANSAS CITY ROYALS
11		WYNN	HOUSTON ASTROS*
12		CAREW	MINNESTOTA TWINS
13		STOTTLEMYRE	NEW YORK YANKEES
14		MONDAY	OAKLAND ATHLETICS
15		DAVIS, T.	SEATTLE PILOTS
16		HOWARD, F.	WASHINGTON SENATORS
17		ALOU, F.	ATLANTA BRAVES
18		KESSINGER	CHICAGO CUBS
19		SANTO	CHICAGO CUBS
20		HELMS	CINCINNATI REDS
21		ROSE	CINCINNATI REDS
22		STAUB	HOUSTON ASTROS
22		FOY	KANSAS CITY ROYALS*
23		HALLER	LOS ANGELES DODGERS
24		WILLS	MONTREAL EXPOS
25		KOOSMAN	NEW YORK METS
26		ALLEN, R.	PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
27		CLEMENTE	PITTSBURGH PIRATES
28		FLOOD	ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
29		GIBSON	ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
30		FERRARA	SAN DIEGO PADRES
31		McCOVEY	SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
32		MARICHAL	SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
33		MAYS	SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS

I'd say the Cardinals got short shrift and the Giants made out pretty well but the disruption of the alphabetical sequences is odd. Nonetheless, here's the deckle of Willie Mays, in a classic pose I have always liked:



I'll be more alert when discerning the patterns within patterns Topps was creating in my future endeavors.