1969 Is Fine - Part Two

Following last weeks' peek at the 1969 Decals,  today I'll be looking at the 1969 Topps Baseball Mini Stickers, more commonly known as 4 on 1 Stickers. 

Topps was pretty big on putting a "quad" of stickers on a card back in the 60's and early 70's, especially on the non-sports side. For some reason they decided to test a baseball themed mini sticker set in 1969, taking images from the 2nd series press sheet used for the regular issue. Perhaps Woody Gelman just liked the card design for '69! As an aside, the Football stamp stickers Topps issued in 1969, which had to be moistened to put into a mini album, are referred to as 4 in 1 Stickers. This makes me think it was more expensive to use true sticker stock but I digress....

In addition to the old standby of capless photos, Topps really broke out the airbrush in '69.  Kosco had come over to the Dodgers from the Yankees and Ollie Brown was, of course, selected in the expansion draft by the Padres (from the Giants) and had the honor of being the first player selected in MLB's third such crapshoot. Jim Bunning came over after the 1967 season from the Phillies to the Pirates and given his Philly duds, I would say Topps just didn't have a current picture of him. 

As Friend o'the Archive Keith Olbermann recently pointed out to me, Topps was facing a Major League Baseball Players Association boycott in 1967-68 and only a handful of new pictures were taken during that time.  Dexter Press and few other issuers tried to take advantage of this interregnum but the MLBPA worked out their differences with Topps after increased royalties were obtained for the players. They did start taking a lot of new photos in spring training in 1969 as a lot of tired old shots had been rehashed ad nauseum over the previous years.

Ron Reed was happily ensconced in Atlanta at the time, although he had been a player with the Detroit Pistons in the NBA  a couple of years prior. In addition to being one of a dozen MLB players who also played in the NBA/NBL, he played alongside former White Sox pitcher Dave DeBusschere while in Detroit and, in fact, was also coached by Double D, who was Pistons head coach from 1964-67!  In addition to dying on my 15th wedding anniversary, DeBusschere was also having a drink with an acquaintance of mine on the day he passed.  Anyhoo...

Topps indicia adorns the lower right card sticker of each quad, so 25 of these babies have such markings. The back is just a shade off true white:

Looks like the horizontal score line had a bit more oomph behind it during manufacture as you can't see the vertical companion.

I'll get into the teams and composition of the set momentarily, but one interesting variation from the regular issue Baseball set surfaces and gives us a window into the production timeline.

Clayton Dalrymple, shown with the Phillies in this set, while he has a team variation in the main set, having been traded from the Phillies to the Orioles on January 20, 1969. Here's the progression:

So at what point did Topps make him an Oriole?  We saw last time out that the Decals were composed sometime between 12/12/68 and 1/22/69 and the Mini Stickers fall into the same rough time frame. Once again Donn Clendenon helps with the dating. Remember he went through a crazy period where, as Wikipedia tells us:

"With first base prospect Al Oliver waiting in the wings, the Pirates left Clendenon unprotected for the 1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft, and he was selected by the Montreal Expos. On January 22, 1969, the Expos traded Clendenon and Jesús Alou to the Houston Astros for Rusty Staub. The Astros had recently hired Clendenon's former Pirates manager, Harry Walker, with whom Clendenon had a personality clash, to steer their club. Clendenon refused to report to his new team.

The Expos and Astros worked out a new deal, and Clendenon joined the Expos on April 19, 1969."

He's an Expo in the 4 on 1's It's easy to pinpoint the bookend dates for the Mini Stickers then. They couldn't have been approved for final design before October 14, 1968 (the day Clendenon was selected by the Expos from Pittsburgh) or after January 20, 1969 when Clay Dalrymple became an Oriole. Clendenon's regular issue card with the Expos shown also goes for about ten times the Houston version, while Dalrymple has many more Orioles cards available so the first regular issue print run was altered and subsequent runs had the majority of both player's cards with their new teams. I think it's good bet then that the Mini Stickers were printed just after the first run of the second series was composed.

A color process proof of the Mini Stickers exists and was auctioned for a song by REA a little while back:

These were taken from the "A" sheet, or left side of a 264 master uncut series 2 sheet, as iPhoned by Friend o'the Archive Anthony Nex; Clendenon as an Expo is third card in on rows 1 and 9, while Dalrymple is eight cards over on the 6th row:

You can clearly see how the top two rows of the regular press sheet are double printed and reappear near the bottom.  The rightmost column was excised for the Mini Stickers, which saved Topps from having checklists appear in the set but truncated the World Series subset by one subject in sticker form.  In fact, where else can you find a checklist of the cards NOT replicated as stickers?  Witness:

107  2nd Series Checklist

155  Pete Ward (White Sox)

167  World Series Game 6

172  Jerry Stephenson (Red Sox)

182  Bill Rigney (Angels)

183  Don Shaw (Expos)

211  Galen Cisco (Royals)

212  Tom Tresh (Yankees)

214  3rd Series Checklist

217  John Donaldson (Athletics)

Here's the "B" Sheet, from an old Huggins & Scott auction:

You can see how Topps sliced and diced the rows when compared to the "A" sheet.  That's how they rolled back then! If you count from the top down, the 8th and 9th rows, which are replicated as the 11th and 12th rows, are all extra prints, appearing three times over the two half sheets.

As with the 1969 Decals, I'll give you a checklist ordered by team.  Note all the of the designated rookie cards have two players apiece but I've shown each player individually:

LAST		FIRST		TEAM		REG #
REICHARDT		RICK		ANGELS		205
RODGERS		BOB		ANGELS		157
WEAVER		JIM		ANGELS		134
BAUER		HANK		ATHLETICS		124
NOSSEK		JOE		ATHLETICS		143
ODOM		JOHN		ATHLETICS		195
AARON		TOMMIE		BRAVES		128
BRITTON		JIM		BRAVES		154
HARRIS		LUMAN		BRAVES		196
MILLAN		FELIX		BRAVES		210
REED		RON		BRAVES		177
GIBSON		BOB		CARDINALS		200
HUNTZ		STEVE		CARDINALS		136
NELSON		MEL		CARDINALS		181
PINSON		VADA		CARDINALS		160
SHANNON		MIKE		CARDINALS		110
TORREZ		MIKE		CARDINALS		136
BECKERT		GLENN		CUBS		171
DUROCHER		LEO		CUBS		147
HANDS		BILL		CUBS		115
SMITH		WILLIE		CUBS		198
FAIRLY		RON		DODGERS		122
KOSCO		ANDY		DODGERS		139
LEFEBVRE		JIM		DODGERS		140
PURDIN		JOHN		DODGERS		161
SUTTON		DON		DODGERS		216
BATEMAN		JOHN		EXPOS		138
CLENDENON		DONN		EXPOS		208
FAIREY		JIM		EXPOS		117
GIBBON		JOE		GIANTS		158
HIATT		JACK		GIANTS		204
MAYS		WILLIE		GIANTS		190
SADECKI		RAY		GIANTS		125
EDWARDS		JOHNNY		HOUSTON		186
GILSON		HAL		HOUSTON		156
McFADDEN		LEON		HOUSTON		156
RADER		DOUG		HOUSTON		119
WILSON		DON		HOUSTON		202
ALVIS		MAX		INDIANS		145
AZCUE		JOE		INDIANS		176
SNYDER		RUSS		INDIANS		201
WILLIAMS		STAN		INDIANS		118
CARDWELL		DON		METS		193
COLLINS		KEVIN		METS		127
HENDLEY		BOB		METS		144
MARTIN		J.C.		METS		112
DILLMAN		BILL		ORIOLES		141
JOHNSON		DAVEY		ORIOLES		203
MAY		DAVE		ORIOLES		113
PHOEBUS		TOM		ORIOLES		185
BROWN		OLLIE		PADRES		149
McCOOL		BILL		PADRES		129
PENA		ROBERTO		PADRES		184
SELMA		DICK		PADRES		197
CALLISON		JOHNNY		PHILLIES		133
DALRYMPLE		CLAY		PHILLIES		151
HISLE		LARRY		PHILLIES		206
JACKSON		GRANT		PHILLIES		174
LERSCH		BARRY		PHILLIES		206
WISE		RICK		PHILLIES		188
DAVIS		TOMMY		PILOTS		135
HANEY		LARRY		PILOTS		209
MORRIS		JOHNNY		PILOTS		111
OYLER		RAY		PILOTS		178
BUNNING		JIM		PIRATES		175
CANNIZZARO		CHRIS		PIRATES		131
PAGAN		JOSE		PIRATES		192
SISK		TOMMIE		PIRATES		152
LAHOUD		JOE		RED SOX		189
PETROCELLI		RICO		RED SOX		215
STANGE		LEE		RED SOX		148
THIBDEAU		JOHN		RED SOX		189
YASTRZEMSKI		CARL		RED SOX		130
ARRIGO		GERRY		REDS		213
ROSE		PETE		REDS		120
WAGNER		LEON		REDS		187
WOODWARD		WOODY		REDS		142
ADAIR		JERRY		ROYALS		159
BUNKER		WALLY		ROYALS		137
HARRISON		CHUCK		ROYALS		116
BALDWIN		DAVE		SENATORS		132
BRINKMAN		ED		SENATORS		153
FRENCH		JIM		SENATORS		199
HOWARD		FRANK		SENATORS		170
WORLD SERIES		GAME 4		SPECIAL-WS		165
WORLD SERIES		GAME 3		SPECIAL-WS		164
WORLD SERIES		GAME 7		SPECIAL-WS		168
WORLD SERIES		GAME 2		SPECIAL-WS		163
WORLD SERIES		GAME 1		SPECIAL-WS		162
WORLD SERIES		SUMMARY		SPECIAL-WS		169
WORLD SERIES		GAME 5		SPECIAL-WS		166
FACE		ROY		TIGERS		207
HORTON		WILLIE		TIGERS		180
McLAIN		DENNY		TIGERS		150
TRACEWSKI		DICK		TIGERS		126
GRZENDA		JOE		TWINS		121
PERRY		JIM		TWINS		146
ROSEBORO		JOHN		TWINS		218
UHLAENDER		TED		TWINS		194
CHRISTIAN		BOB		WHITE SOX		173
NYMAN		GERRY		WHITE SOX		173
PAVLETICH		DON		WHITE SOX		179
WOOD		WILBUR		WHITE SOX		123
CLOSTER		ALAN		YANKEES		114
CUMBERLAND		JOHN		YANKEES		114
McDANIEL		LINDY		YANKEES		191

EDIT 4/17/16: A further tip of the cap to Keith Olbermann, who pointed put the first version of this post had Dalrymple shown with the wrong team on the Mini Stickers. His catch has helped tighten up this post considerably.