Printing of Topps Cards Pre-1965

[toppcat]

I have been pondering some information I have come across recently and figured I'd post it here to see if any more details can be provided by the collective brain trust.

There seems to be mounting evidence that before they moved to Duryea, PA in 1965 some Topps cards were actually printed in part by a firm in Philadelphia called Zabel Brothers Printing. My suspicion is that the uncut sheets were transported to Topps' facility in Brooklyn's Bush Terminal, very possibly by barge (but truck would work too), where they were cut and inserted into packs along with the gum manufactured in Brooklyn. Lord Baltimore Printing of Baltimore also printed Topps cards in this era and maybe in the same way, with uncut sheets going to Brooklyn either by barge or truck. I think wrappers for cards not sold with gum may have been printed in Philly or Baltimore as well and boxed in each plant. This theory is partly based upon a large find of 51 Red Back Doubles packs (no gum in these) in the Philly area and known glass negatives produced by Lord Baltimore Printing.

Topps had docking facilities at Bush Terminal and barging is an extremely likely method of transport in this timeframe. And don't forget the use of garbage scows to dump excess 52 high numbers in 1960-scows for non-governmental businesses in NYC are owned or operated by tug companies and are after all, barges and they had lots of confectionery raw materials delivered by barge.

I think it possible Zabel printed Fleer and Philly Gum cards too.

Now, it is possible Topps also printed at their Brooklyn plant and these two printers were for overflow work. I also believe a third printer, likely located in Rochester, NY also printed some Topps cards over the years. However, it may be that only the cards that had gum in their packaging were cut and packed in Brooklyn.

Anyone out there have some more info or thoughts?

[tedzan]

Dave

In the Fall of 1949, Zabel Bros. were contracted by the George Moll Advertising Agency to print the more colorful Bowman sports and
non-sports cards. I think the first set of cards Zabel Bros. printed for the Bowman Gum Co. were the 1949 Wild West cards (issued in
late 1949, and early 1950).

Regards,

TED Z

[Jim VB]

Dave,

As we've discussed, my dad used to work for the A&P which was also in Bush Terminal. I was 8 or 9 at the time Topps moved all operations to Duryea, so I don't remember their operations.

I do know that, at least for the A&P, not much of anything was moved by water. Lots of stuff was moved by rail, as all those factories and warehouses had spurs right into the buildings. The interstate highway system was still relatively new, so the trucking industry was still growing. The A&P was on the "cutting edge" using a "piggyback" system. This was two truck trailers, loaded onto one flatbed railroad car. They did this to move goods into and out of central locations away from the cities. Then they off-loaded the trailers and drove them to their destinations.

By the mid 1960's A&P was closing their Bush Terminal plant (and factories in Brockport, NY and Terra Haute, IN) and consolidating to one new factory in upstate NY. This enabled them to almost completely abandon rail and utilize trucks for all deliveries. A&P was then able to close almost all their regional warehouses and have their stores order from and deliver from the single manufacturing plant. They could have never done that from Bush Terminal, because transportation logistics were a nightmare.

We lived less than 15 miles from the plant in Brooklyn and, depending upon the time of day, my dad's commute was 60-90 minutes each way.

I would not be surprised to hear Topps had similar problems and explored similar solutions before settling on Duryea as a home.

[tedzan]

Here are the very first Gum cards produced by Zabel Brothers. Note the "5-Star Bowman Series" logo that was com-
mon to these 3 sets.

My source of this information is George Moll from a lengthy interview I had with him in 1981. Mr Moll's art department
was responsible for all the GUM, Inc (Play Balls) cards and the Bowman's from 1939 to 1955.


<img src="http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt113/zanted86/1949a1950bowmancards.jpg" alt="[linked image]">


.................................................. .................................................. ...............1950 AL MVP
<img src="http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt113/zanted86/b1949a1950bowmancards.jpg" alt="[linked image]">
..Had Curt pitched in the 1950 W.S., Phillies may have beat the Yankees..................A great Pro Quarterback


TED Z

[toppcat]

OK-Bowman too, that makes a a lot of sense, totally spaced on that.

Jim, the thought of having to drive to work in NYC every day is frightful-traffic is just the worst. The rail option at Bush Terminal is intriguing and may have been used but I think barges may have been cheaper; I may check into that but I deal with barges all the time at work but they were pretty cost efficient in the burgeoning containerization days. In any event, Philly to Brooklyn barge hauls are very common.

Getting a grip on what was actually printed and/or assembled inside Bush Terminal should occupy some of my winter!

I also wonder if the Rochester connection makes sense in light of large 52 Topps high number finds in upper NY state and Canada.

Finding details about Zabel is maddening. There are references to the family here and there and some decent articles in the NY Times archive but I can't find too much on their day to day ops except that they produced vast quantities of sheet music.

I'll post this at the old Net54 Non Sports board and see what's shaking over there. They have a really good Goudey factory thread going right now.

Links:

Topps: http://www.network54.com/Forum/526604/thread/1258587036/last-1258587036/Printing+of+Topps+Cards+Pre-1965

Goudey: http://www.network54.com/Forum/526604/thread/1258224482/last-1258563100/The+Goudey+Page+-+Including+Recent+Factory+Shots...

[jeffshep]

Interesting blurb on the sale of Bowman to Topps, from Billboard Magazine Feb. 25th, 1956...."the Bowman Gum division of Connelly Containers...". Was Bowman possibly bought out before the sale to Topps? Connelly was apparently a printer - or paper manufacturer, haven't looked much into it - perhaps they did the printing towards the tail end of Bowman's existence?

Just throwing wrenches Dave, I'll post this on the non-sport side as well...

<img src="http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/scratchtest/BillboardMag02_25_56.jpg" border="0" alt="">

[toppcat]

Shep-pretty good wrench (sorry, couldn't resist)!

Connelly Containers still exists in Philly and they make corrugated cardboard boxes, which is an interesting twist. The cases that boxes of cards came in were corrugated obviously.

MORE: ON 4/26/52 Bowman renamed itself Haelan Laboratories, Inc. so maybe that is what morphed into Connelly? Bowman itself became a division of Haelan as of this date and that division is what was sold to Topps in early 1956 (feb.) 1952 is when the BGHLI indicia started appearing on Bowman cards and it continued through '55, with Haelan Laboratories being spelled out from '53 onward. I wonder if Connelly bought Haelan first? The Haelan deal may have been the start of Bowman's financial troubles.

AND: "Connelly Containers Inc (Bala Cynwyd, PA) is to be acquired by Georgia-Pacific Corp for an undisclosed sum. Connelly president Thomas Connelly said the company's 120 employees would be retained, and that he would continue with the firm. Connelly Containers posted 1998 revenues of less than $38 million, and is operating at less than 50% of capacity. Georgia-Pacific already operates 4 heavy-duty corrugated-packaging plants, but Connelly Containers will be its first in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area.

Read more: http://www.faqs.org/abstracts/Business-regional/Maggios-sell-their-cheese-business-Red-Bell-says-Lion-rejected-takeover.html#ixzz0XJ8ugBMt"

[Doug Hall]

My grandfather William Zabel was the President of Zabel Brothers Co in Philadelphia. I can vouch for the fact that Zabel Bros,. was the sole printer of Bowman cards beginning 1949 and then Topps. I am not sure when Topps printing ended at Zabel Bros. As far as I know, there was never a second printer during the time Zabel Bros. was printing the cards.

As for shipping from Zabel Bros. plant at 5th St. & Columbia Avenue to Topps, I am fairly certain barges were not used. The sheets were stacked on large pallets and those loaded onto trucks. While it is possible the trucks simply went to a dock in Philly, that is doubtful. I had summer jobs at Zabel Bros. because I was the only grandson and my grandfather was hoping I would eventually run the company after his son, my uncle, retired. So he gave me work in all parts of the printing process. Zabel Bros. was printer for many, many companies. It was a big operation. I never heard of anything being shipped by barge.

[ALR-bishop]

Great post Doug. Welcome to the board.

[toppcat]

I have to check but believe Doug sent a few comments to my blog a few years ago so welcome here now!

I was still putting a lot of my research together in 2009. The barges were used for raw ingredients used in Topps confections when they were made in Brooklyn. I would think by early 1966, when Topps moved most production from Brooklyn to Duryea, PA it was all coming in by truck.

Still researching-stuff pops up all the time.

[bobsbbcards]

Great post Doug. Welcome to the board.

+1 :)