The Modern Hobby Guide To Topps Chewing Gum: 1938-1956

[toppcat]

Well my long term project has been completed and The Modern Hobby Guide To Topps Chewing Gum: 1938-1956 is now available for a free color download or online viewing at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/126643197/The-Modern-Hobby-Guide-to-Topps-Chewing-Gum-1938-to-1956 This is a comprehensive history, homage and price guide of all things Topps.

There is also a companion blog for the Guide: http://themodernhobbyguide.blogspot.com/ This will be where updates, corrections, news etc will be archived. I am encouraging readers to send me such corrections and updates as they encounter them. You will see versions 1.0 and 1.1 have already been issued-these were trial runs and version 1.2 as hosted there is the current one. Many more images will be added there for the sets and ephemera covered in the guide. That part of the project will take some time.

A print on demand version in B&W will follow at some point, probably on lulu.com. I have to fix some issues with the checklists before I am comfortable with a print version.

This Topps Archives blog will still be active as well but I am going to reduce my posting frequency to about once per week. Topps Archives will focus more and more on post 1956 issues as I start to contemplate my next project.

Unfortunately Blogger is not letting me add elements to my pages right now but there will be prominent links to the Guide on both blogs once they get over their technical issues.

Enjoy!

[ALR-bishop]

You are The Man when it comes to things Topps Dave. Thanks both for all your great work, and for sharing it so freely

[bobsbbcards]

You are The Man when it comes to things Topps Dave. Thanks both for all your great work, and for sharing it so freely

What he said. I can't wait to read it!!

[Bestdj777]

You are The Man when it comes to things Topps Dave. Thanks both for all your great work, and for sharing it so freely

+1. I just skimmed through and this looks awesome. I love your blog and cannot wait to see what exciting things are in this guide.

[CW]

Thanks again, Dave! This is a great read, and an invaluable guide to our great hobby.

[Brianruns10]

An excellent guide!

52 Topps are my specialty, and I have some thoughts.

1) For what it's worth, I can confirm as well the availability of the high numbers outside of the east. I know an area collector who grew up in the suburbs of Kansas City in the early 50s, and managed during that time to assemble a complete set of '52s including the highs, though he recalled, it was with some difficulty. It was only the local Rexall that stocked the high series.

2) Count me as a doubter of the official story that the high series was unplanned or rushed. I think the sixth series was planned, but the execution was botched, and so Topps in later years spun a more romantic tale of the sixth series being unplanned, rather than a blown marketing job.

Indeed there are some aspects of the cards that seem rushed (such as the issues with the nameplates), but earlier cards had problems as well. Note the Goodman 23 card, and its badly crooked lettering in the name plate. And the quality issues with the nameplates belies the absolutely outstanding artistic quality of the images themselves. They're so distinct, that I would argue that even a lay person could pick out a high number from a bunch of commons, because the level of artistry and skill in the colored renderings is so great. One need only compare the work on Bob Kelly or Chuck Dressin, compared to 1st series efforts like Cliff Chambers or Jim Russell.

There are two logical conclusions: 1 is that Sid Berger and his cohorots were responsible, as they have claimed, for doing all the artwork themselves. Their increased skill would therefore show in the high quality of the work on the high series, but also belie claims that they were rush jobs. The other possibility is, if it WAS a rush job, they hired outside help from artists or experts with flexichrome. I can't answer this question, and perhaps someone else can.

The other reason why I don't hold to the high series being rushed, is it just does not make sense to me that, if it was unplanned, why such big name players would've been excluded. If they had only planned 310 cards, why weren't Mantle, Robinson, Campy or Reese already released? If the highs were a rush job, I'd expect the makeup of the players to be much more scattershot...lesser known players, rookies, managers, coaches.

Instead, they front load the series. Look at cards 311-315: Mantle, Robinson, Thomson, Campanella and Durocher. Those are not after thoughts. Rather the high series feels to me like a pretty textbook marketing ploy...keep the kids buying the cards looking for the favorites, and hold back the best ones until the last series, so you've maximized your profit.

It does seem clear they had somewhat anticipated the drop off in interest, and attempted to compensate by frontloading with players from a region with teams at the Series. The bevy of New York and New England players bespeaks to a targeted roll out. But I think they overplayed their hand, and the sales in and around New York did not take up the slack for the weaker sales outside the region, hence their troubles in offloading the highs, and their subsequent scarcity.

So I think the high numbers were planned, but the marketing and sale was botched. So in later years, Berger, who already seems to be something of a yarn spinner, what with his tales of dumping cards in the river, opted to create a more "aw shucks" story about the Topps set being so successful, they wanted to give the kids even more cards. It sounds a lot more gee whiz and altruistic than the former story, which is a little more cynical in tone, relying upon a pretty calculated marketing ploy to keep kids buying cards,looking for their favorite players.

That is, at least, my interpretation in my experience as a 52 topps specialist. The Topps guide is outstanding, and I've already downloaded a copy for my reference library!

[toppcat]

Thanks Brian-this is the kind of feedback I am looking for.

I would love to find some airchecks of the Topps radio ads for the 52 highs and confirm if the "second series" came out after the world series ended in order to circumvent some Bowman contractual wording.

[Brianruns10]

Toppcat, I've long contemplated doing a comparative analysis of all the cards...there are many with distinct styles, clearly by the same hand...it'd be fun to try and group them, to learn about who painted which portrait, and when. I think that could reveal a lot about the production of the cards, and what was done, and when.

BR

[brad31]

Just had a chance to start reading - very comprehensive and informative. Thank you for all the hard work and great information. I can't wait to get time to read about more years!

[Rickyy]

I'm going to enjoy reading this. This is definitely magnum opus. Anyone who has any interest in Topps or card collecting in general will love this. Thank you Dave.

Ricky Y

[Harliduck]

Thanks for posting...am really enjoying the read. Interesting to know some of the early ethics of the Topps company...

[Zach Wheat]

David,

I echo the previous sentiments - thanks for the hard work & sharing so freely. That is one thing I really like about this hobby...

Z Wheat