Morgan Holler

Well it's been a while since I discussed the Topps Sports Club but I've sucked in a 1976 Joe Morgan premium and there's really is no time like the present so here we are.

Topps started a collectors club in 1975, as noted here and based on the paucity of newsletter and premium examples, it doesn't seem to have gone over too well. I had inferred the existence of Joe but this is the first one I have seen:

It's 8" x 10", printed on thin paper and blank backed.  Mine clearly was hung up at some point and there is a good deal of foxing or staining present but I still like it.  That's a great shot of Morgan in his prime as well.

The issue accompanying the premium has seen better days:

Here is the Collectors Corner column from the issue featuring Morgan.  Card Collectors Company features prominently as does Larry Fritsch, who was probably the hobby's biggest purchaser of cards directly from Topps.

There was also full page of Pen Pals, who were able to put very short ads in looking for specific cards or trying to sell small lots. Although there are about forty different ads in this issue. I don't want to post the page as it has full street addresses for each "pal".

I found a scan of a flyer out there as well.  It didn't come with this particular issue but it's pretty neat:

We've seen that poster here recently here kids, just on a different medium.  There was definitely some integration between the Sports Club and the premium team checklist sheets Topps offered in the 1970's.

I still need to find a scan of the Dave DeBusschere premium that I believe exists.  I still don't know how many issues and corresponding premiums were published but if ol' Double D is out there, five may be it.

Mays and Means

Exciting times here at the Main Topps Archives Research Complex kids! I was recently contacted by Ken Liss, whose father, Norman, handled PR for Topps for more than 30 years. I'll hopefully fill in his details a little more down the road (a brief overview is here) but it looks to me that Norman Liss commenced his work for Topps right around the time the Rookie All Star project (1959 start) got underway, maybe a just a smidgen later.

Ken has kindly sent along three shots featuring Willie Mays during a 1974 visit to the Topps plant in Duryea, Pennsylvania that also feature his dad:

Clockwise from left:  Norman Liss, the Say Hey Kid and a man believed to be Ken Byrnes, Topps VP of Manufacturing. If I didn't tell you the year, you could probably guess at it pretty closely given the haberdashery and grooming of the times.

Here's a bit more of a closeup:

Wide ties were definitely the "in thing" in '74!

Here the boys are touring the manufacturing floor, with none other than Sy Berger (a Mays confidant and friend) in tow:

Look at those bags of what must be sugar off to the right-and can't you just smell the Bazooka?! Ken Byrnes recollected this visit a couple of years ago, it's a fascinating read.

There was a groundswell of publicity surrounding Topps and the Duryea plant in the mid 1970's, from Sy Berger's starring role in the Great American Baseball Card Flipping ,Trading and Bubblegum Book to inserts in various baseball annuals and mainstream magazines through things like Willie's visit to Duryea. Norman Liss would have been the instigator of all this PR.

The Doctor Is Out

Topps produced their first novelty premium in 1948 with the introduction of the initial series of Tatoo. Originally a one cent tab like the rest of their chewing gum line at the time, the product was soon tweaked and a larger unit (still a penny) was developed with a three panel graphic detailing how to apply the tatoo to your skin, although is was still a penny piece.  1953 saw a further increase in size (but not price) and an opened wrapper now measured 1 9/16" x 3 1/2". This basic design, size and price point would remain in effect for fifteen years, across an array of different issues covering sports and non-sports subjects alike. From about 1958 onward Topps tried to have at least one tattoo issue in the market each year, many themed to the children's cartoon shows that were proliferating on television during this era.  The run finally ended in 1967 with Doctor Dolittle Tattoo, although a 1968 issue called Magic Funny Fortune, while not a tattoo, retained the size and price point, likely making it the last Topps one cent product. It's worth pointing out though, that the film was only released six days before Christmas so essentially the tattoos were sold into early 1968.

Doctor Dolittle was first a series of books that began in the 1920's, depicting the improbable tales of a veterinarian who could talk to animals and set about 100 years in the past.  While it was a prestigious, award winning series of books, the Doctor's adventures were largely confined to the literary world until a fairly stilted musical was filmed in 1967 starring Rex Harrison. Topps linked the tattoo issue to the film, which was a colossal flop (although it won two Oscars) and almost bankrupted 20th Century Fox.  Needless to say, the tattoo set didn't exactly set the world on fire and it's a toughie to track down these days.  There is not a lot of information on the set available and it's tough to even find scans, let alone a checklist but I've tracked down a few images over the years.

The wrapper was pretty groovy in one respect (lettering) and I believe it's one of only two penny tattoo produced by Topps that sports a production code (aka commodity number), with the other being Comic Book Tattoos issued earlier in 1967:

 

Those scans are from the wonderful wackypackages.net site!

The tattoos are standard issue and only needed a couple of primary colors when produced:

I suspect there were 48 different tattoos, but like similar issues, unless specific subjects are identified, the checklist is either incomplete or uncompiled in the extant guides. It's no matter, since the outside of the wrapper is really the collectible item.

Speaking of Doctor Dolittle, it survived in Woody Gelman's Idea Book:

You can see the little production rip that was a "feature and not a bug" on a host of Topps penny issues from their founding in 1938 until they stopped using the equipment in the mid-70's. There were a couple of two cent issues after (Wacky Packages and Monster Tattoo) but this style was no longer in regular use after 1967. Topps would convert to a "floppy" five cent pack and new design (accordion style) for their later tattoo issues, ala 1971 Baseball Tattoos but they certainly got a lot of cheap mileage out of the old ones over the years.

Spooktacular Fun!

Well Hallowe'en is once again just around the corner and lo and behold something themed to the day before Samhain (which no one ever talks about) has just come across my bow.  I missed out on the auction of this great piece but a very early Topps sales brochure just sold on eBay:

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Those are some serious Leave It To Beaver graphics! I kid, I kid, this is a great brochure actually. For me, one of the best things about it is I've found another piece to add to the Master Topps type list: Trick or Treat Bubble Gum! There's little pictures and games on the interior so it counts: 

Now the sweetest thing of all is the fact I can date the brochure and also show what is likely the second earliest Topps Fun Pack. Take a gander at this, one of the most amazing things I have seen in relation to Topps:

This puts the brochure at 1950 to my mind as all the tiny little Topps card sets issued with penny gum tabs came out in 1949.  In additon License Plates (Stop &Go) and Varsity would still have been active retail products in the fall of that year. In fact, Varsity may not even have been out by the this brochure was created  Some of that gum must have been quite stale!  An earlier bulk pack was offered in the Spring of 1950 with similar items but also included five cent packs and wholesaled for a whopping 94 cents a pop. It also looks like Topps was pushing the Fun Pack idea based on past success with the format. These were just under 15 cents each (or 16 cents farther afield). This is really something as we have another distribution method for the 1949 Felt Backs (Varsity Gum).

Topps Hallowe'en products are on my radar for sure, more to come as I develop things!

Mighty Atom

I have to confess I'm a fan of the various Topps tatoo (tattoo) issues over the years.  I liked 'em as as kid and I like 'em now.  I especially like the one cent packs that were the standard bearer of the skin transfers offered through 1967, where the inside of the wrapper held the tatoo before a change in format brought us five cent packs with folded, cascading sheets and multiple images. Topps came up with a basic template for their penny tatoo packs in 1949 and it lasted for eighteen years-pretty impressive.

I've covered a number of tatoo issues already but the Astro Boy issue of 1963 is uncharted territory.

Originally a manga character created in the 1950's, Astro Boy (in Japan it was "Mighty Atom") was a long running Japanese cartoon (in black & white) that was broadcast in the US on NBC from 1963-65 and then rerun for another decade or so.  It's since been revived but I loved the original series as a kid and it was really the start of anime as we know it today.  There were a ton of these shows on in the 60's (Speed Racer, Tobor the Eight Man, Marine Boy) and some were better than others but Astro Boy got the nod from Topps. I guess their TV rights were fairly cheap and they only had to be dubbed into English as all the animation had been done for the original airings in Japan so any licensing that could be had from Topps was gravy.

There are probably 48 Astro Boy tattoos; I've never seen a full checklist as is common with the tattoo issues and multiples of 24 are fairly common in this era for similar sets. Three wrapper graphics were used, here's one:

The reverse had the standard Topps graphic instructions:

Here's a better look at the wrapper (wrapper graphic #2):

The National Broadcasting Company copyright is prominent and although no year is listed I think it's safe to say it coincided with the US premiere in September 1963. The third wrapper graphic is something I don't have a color scan of and have to show one from Chris Benjamin's Sport Americana Guide:

The tattoo itself is your typical line drawing:

That one has been damaged but that's the thing with these, they are pretty scarce and one of the hardest to find of the Topps tattoo issues.  Here's an acetate proof that has the graphic from above represented:

There's a pretty good Astro Boy site with a decent forum out there.  You can click here to access it.