Room At The Top

More 1957 Baseball Paper Proof news today campers!  Before we were jolted into the realization that Topps sometimes used these proofs to create mockups of proposed future sets, we made an effort here at the Main Topps Archives Research Center to checklist known proofs from the 1957 high numbers.  We were stuck at 32 proofs but recently Friend o'the Archive Keith Olbermann sent along a couple more names and it's time to update things. There is, of course, a twist as well.

Here is where things stand today.  The entire high number run of 55 cards is shown and for each one with a known proof, either from the original Card Collectors Company ad offering many for sale or Olbermann's collection, that is noted as well.

353	Cal Neeman	Proof
354	Rip Coleman	Proof
355	Frank Malzone
356	Faye Throneberry	Proof
357	Earl Torgeson
358	Jerry Lynch	Proof
359	Tom Cheney	Proof
360	Johnny Groth	Proof
361	Curt Barclay	Proof
362	Roman Mejias
363	Eddie Kasko	Proof
364	Cal McLish
365	Ozzie Virgil
366	Ken Lehman	Proof
367	Ed Fitz Gerald	Proof
368	Bob Purkey	Proof
369	Milt Graff
370	Warren Hacker	Proof
371	Bob Lennon	Proof
372	Norm Zauchin	Proof
373	Pete Whisenant	Proof
374	Don Cardwell	Proof
375	Jim Landis
376	Don Elston	Proof
377	Andre Rodgers
378	Elmer Singleton	Proof
379	Don Lee
380	Walker Cooper	Proof
381	Dean Stone
382	Jim Brideweser
383	Juan Pizarro	Proof
384	Bobby Gene Smith	Proof
385	Art Houtteman
386	Lyle Luttrell	Proof
387	Jack Sanford	Proof
388	Pete Daley
389	Dave Jolly	Proof
390	Reno Bertoia
391	Ralph Terry
392	Chuck Tanner	Proof
393	Raul Sanchez	Proof
394	Luis Arroyo	Proof
395	Bubba Phillips
396	Casey Wise	Proof
397	Roy Smalley	Proof
398	Al Cicotte	Proof
399	Billy Consolo	Proof
400	Dodgers' Sluggers	Proof
401	Earl Battey	Proof
402	Jim Pisoni
403	Dick Hyde
404	Harry Anderson	Proof
405	Duke Maas
406	Bob Hale
407	Yankees Power Hitters

New additions bring the count to 34: #384 Bobby Gene Smith and #400 Dodgers Sluggers.  Here is #400, which is my favorite card in the set:

Bobby Gene Smith, another newbie to the list, is the bearer of our first twist, a ginormous top border:

The proofs must have included all the borders and gutters.  What's not clear is whether or not there were full, 264 card proof sheets run off in paper.  

One more twist, here is Ken Lehman, another "topper" and his scrawl:

I am reasonably certain that is Woody Gelman's handwriting there. I can make out "BB" and then "GENE" so he may have been next to Bobby Gene Smith atop the press sheet.

There are two other big top border cards are, one of which is also marked up:

#359 Cheney (both)

#378 Singleton (top border)

It would be pretty cool if we could confirm all 55 high numbers in paper.  The Yankees Power Hitters card that concludes the set has Mickey Mantle on it so finding that one would be sweet (and even sweeter for the owner).