Sy Berger

[sayhey24]

This announcement today from Marty Appel, one of the great baseball PR men:

Sorry to announce the passing early this morning of Sy Berger, 91, in Rockville Centre NY. Sy is considered the "father of the modern baseball card," having gone to work for Topps after graduating from Bucknell and then service in World War II, and designing the first Topps set of baseball cards at his kitchen table. He came to personally sign all the Major League players over the next 40 years, establishing the cards as an important part of American culture - and for many, the gateway to America's pastime. His greatest friend may have been Willie Mays, but he had beloved friendships with thousands of players.
Getting one's picture on a Topps baseball card meant you had "made it." Football followed, based on a handshake with NFL Commissioner Bert Bell - and then basketball and hockey. Sy handled entertainment products too, including the Beatles. He flew to London to meet with Brian Epstein, spoke Yiddish to him, and made a deal. There was Elvis, Michael Jackson, and much more. Death came peacefully in his sleep of natural causes. Survivors include his wife of 68 years Gloria, a daughter, Maxine Berger, her husband Mark Bienstock and their daughter Amelia…..a son, Glen and his wife Jeannie, and their children Jonathan, Sarah and Maxwell, and a son Gary and his wife Tipayawan, and their son Jeremy, plus two great grandchildren. Funeral services are pending.

[cardsfan73]

RIP Mr. Berger.

[ALR-bishop]

[ethicsprof]

my condolences to family and friends.

Barry

[campyfan39]

In researching my book I had a dozen or more players talk about what a great guy Sy was. He would bring stacks of gum and multiple copies of each players cards into the locker rooms. He even offered several of them the chance to buy complete sets in the early 50's for almost nothing. Most like Johnny and Ed O'Brien now lament the fact that they passed.

[cardinalcollector]

A Baseball card "Mount Rushmore" candidate if there ever was one. RIP

[ocjack]

He leaves a legacy that will continue to be a part of the American culture forever. My condolences to his family. From their number, he leaves an even greater legacy through them.

[Peter_Spaeth]

But back to those 1952 high numbers. Faced with a bulging warehouse of cards now almost 10 years old, Berger, the preeminent card designer, licensing agent and contract hound, now switched hats and tried his hand at actually selling baseball cards. Wholesale. Really, really wholesale.

“Around 1959 or so, I went around to carnivals and offered them for a penny a piece, and it got so bad I offered them at 10 for a penny. They would say, ‘We don’t want them.’

“I couldn’t give them away. So we said let’s get rid of them. We decided to dump them in the ocean.” Topps had stored those 1952 Topps for eight or nine years. According to Berger, these were all cut cards.

“They were put in boxes. It took three garbage trucks. I would say 300-500 cases. All high series of 1952 Topps. “I found a friend of mine who had a garbage scow and we loaded the three trucks-worth on the barge.” It was tugged out by a tugboat, with Berger on board to supervise the undertaking, such as it was. “I was out there with it. Opposite Atlantic Highlands, a few miles out.”

The cases were stacked on the center of the barge, and a switch was thrown and those (now) precious cards were consigned to the deep. “And that was the end of it,” said Berger. “Whoever thought that they would have the kind of value that they would have?”

Attaching a dollar number is essentially impossible, or at least unwieldy, but one could make a good argument that our pile of cardboard on the ocean floor would now be worth tens of millions of dollars. The exercise runs afoul of hypothetical quicksand, because if the cards hadn’t been dumped, the high series wouldn’t be so valuable 50 years later. You get the idea.

[ALR-bishop]

That story is part of hobby history, and of all people he should know what happened, but that story has always seemed fishy to me. Why dump them in the Ocean. To save dump fees ? I think James Cameron should check it out.

[Peter_Spaeth]

That nobody wanted them at 10 for a penny in 1959 sort of underscores just how subjective card values -- or any collectible -- are.

[ALR-bishop]

The Card Collector's Company was selling the 52 high numbers for a "premium" in the 60s. Does anyone have an older catalog from them ?

[Gary Dunaier]

I got a kick out of the part in Boyd and Harris' Sy Berger interview in The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book (Little Brown, 1973) where they point out that Mr. Berger was on a water diet at the time they spoke with him, and they quoted him as saying something to the effect of "I'm almost beginning to like the stuff."

Rest in peace, Mr. Berger.

[ocjack]

They were $1 each in 1965 according to Marshall Oreck's catalog.

[Exhibitman]

The Stan Lee of baseball cards...

[turtleguy64]

we just lost a ton of knowledge and memories.From all accounts,he was a mensch.Another icon bites the dust in my lifetime.When the world ends,only Keith Richard and cockroaches will be left.

[jimtigers65]

While deployed to Afghanistan in 2004 a friend sent me some packs of 2004 Topps Fan Favorites. So without much else to do besides 12 hour work shifts, I decided to try to get this set signed, writing the players for autograph requests. When sending out each request I put my home address on the envelope (not my deployed address for fear of signed cards getting lost). To my surprise I received a letter at my deployed location from Mr. Berger on Topps letterhead. He wished me luck on my task and mentioned. Pretty cool success!
BTW, still working on this set. I have 110 out of 149 cards signed.

Jim

[Bigb13]

Rest in peace

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by Gary Dunaier

I got a kick out of the part in Boyd and Harris' Sy Berger interview in The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book (Little Brown, 1973) where they point out that Mr. Berger was on a water diet at the time they spoke with him, and they quoted him as saying something to the effect of "I'm almost beginning to like the stuff."

Rest in peace, Mr. Berger.

One of the better and longer looks at Sy is in that interview. There are a couple of others on the web that are pretty good but I always thought that one was the best.

This came in the mail today, I BIN'ed it last week:

[Cerberus]

.......on Berger, and baseball cards in general, posted today on Gizmodo:



http://gizmodo.com/the-unlikely-stor...ped-1671240881

[4815162342]

Conan O'Brien just made light of his death in a joke on his show.

[turtleguy64]

that's why Conan is stuck in oblivion on TBS.