Notable Players Excluded from 52 Topps
 

Trying to make a list of notable players not included in the 52 Topps set. Who am I missing? (I’m including DiMaggio and Doerr since they played in 51 and 52 Topps cards would have been awesome). Not including Whitey Ford since he was out of baseball. Why were these other guys not included? Did they all have exclusive contracts with Bowman? What about Satchel?

Ted Williams
Joe DiMaggio
Stan Musial
Satchel Paige
Nellie Fox
Ralph Kiner
Carl Furillo
Bobby Doerr
Sal Maglie
Don Newcombe

Here are some other possibilities. Some guys just getting started, some in the service, some at the tail end of their careers but played in either 51 or 52.

Lou Boudreau
Hal Newhouser
Lew Burdette
Whitey Ford
Charlie Keller
Mickey Owen
Clint Courtney
Jack Kramer
Hobie Landrith
Stan Lopata
Gene Mauch
Cal McLish
Mel Queen

They could not include players who retired in 1951 or earlier unless they were active coaches, at least that is my understanding. The others were likely Bowman exclusives, I know there's a list on the web or here of these players.

I'm really fond of the the coach/manager cards that populate the high series, and I wish they'd gotten Casey Stengel so the whole Yankees coaching staff would've been represented.

When you say active, what do you mean? Few players never played In 51!

Good account of the player conflicts and contract issues during The Bubblegum War


https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0ge...PPSXo73laus6k-

The only set DiMaggio was included in 1952, correct me if I'm wrong, was the Berk Ross Set.

The Bubblegum wars, do make for great reading, but I am a little upset we never got certain players in certain sets.

Like Stan Musial. He's one of the best players out there, for whom there are really few truly good cards. Sure, he's on a few Bowmans, what I'd give for a 56, 53 or 52 Topps card of him.

I collect 1953 Bowman. That set is already an all-timer, but would be on an entirely other level with Mays, Robinson, Paige, Banks, and Ted Williams (to name a few). Between the card wars and the Korean War, there are a lot of fantastic sets in the early 1950s that are missing 5-6 key players.