Posted By:
Ted ZanidakisI caught him in an idle moment. I told him that as avid a Yankees fan that I was in the 1950's....
that I always rooted for him to hit a HR at Yankee Stadium. And, many times he did, into the RF
upper deck.
TED....So, he asked me why I rooted for him ?
ME.....I told him because his name was Ted; and besides, at the end of the season the Yankees
would always win, anyway.
TED....he smiled, and then asked me why I was a Yankees fan ?
ME.....because Phil Rizzuto was my nearby neighbor in Hillside, NJ
TED....if the Scooter was on the Red Sox all those years, we would have been the Champs.
Then I turned the conversation to his BB cards. He was like a little kid....I still remember how en-
thusiastic he was " talkin' BB cards ".
ME.....are you aware of how rare your 1954 Bowman card is ?
TED....no, but I signed a contract with Sy Berger of Topps in 1954 and no other Gum Co. could
portray me.
Then, without me asking him....Ted went on this long dissertation telling me how Sy Berger was
annoyed with him in 1959 when Fleer approached his agent to do a series of cards depicting Ted.
Fleer offered Ted $500 to do this series of 80 cards. Sy Berger offered Ted $1000 to stay with
Topps. Ted started laughing, as he told me that a bidding war between Fleer and Topps ensued.
When Fleer upped the ante to $5000, Topps relented. And that Jeff, is the real story behind the
1959 Fleer Ted Williams set....straight from Ted, himself.
TED....heck, that was a lot of money back then just for having your pictures on a set of gum cards.
ME.....Ted, you ain't kidding, that's my Dad's annual salary.
We talked some more as we walked, and then Ted had to meet some dignitaries.
TED Z