Topps 1953
 

Recent article by George Vrechek on the print layout of the Topps 1953 set


http://www.sportscollectorsdigest.co...s-baseball-set
http://www.sportscollectorsdigest.co...inal-print-run

Very cool article, I'm always surprised nobody who worked for Topps back in the 50's and 60's has more info on the print runs.

I've looked into this stuff for many years now and can assure you the people at Topps back then have no clue. Coupled with Sy Berger's decades of spin and the reticence of their owners and key personnel to divulge details even half a century after the fact, it's pretty much up to the collectors interested in this subject to come up with answers.

In any event, four or five firms did most of the Topps printing over the years:

1948 to late 50's, most work went to Lord Baltimore Press. Prep work done in NYC, printing in Baltimore.

~1960 to early 80's, mostly done by Zabel Brothers in Philly. Zabel did Bowman's work and after Topps bought them, they started using Zabel sometimes before they became the main printer around 1960. After Zabel went under around 1982, work was farmed out more and more to lowest bidder.

A firm in Baltimore called A. Hoen also did work, possibly when Lord Baltimore Press got bought out by International Paper in the late 50's and phased out third party jobs and Topps was transitioning to Zabel.

Chromographic Press, of Hampden, Connecticut did some late 60's and early 70's jobs. It was owned by a Topps director named Peter Shorin. Shut down about 1971. At a guess,this firm may have done specialty work like decals, etc. since it appears the Chromagraphic Process differs a little from the Lithographic process used to make cards. Maybe one of the printers here can distinguish.

And I think a firm called Stecher-Traung in Rochester, NY did overflow work in the early 60's and printed one of the infamous 2nd series Baseball runs in 1962.

I think they may have used a firm in NYC (possibly in Brooklyn) from their beginnings in 1938 until the mid 60's to do some work as well, possibly only for their various candy and gum wrappers and interior packaging, which required attention to sanitary detail. I can't locate a name though. The glassine/foil/wax papers used in manufacturing seem to have been handled separately from the cards but I'm not 100% certain of that point, especially from the 60's onward.

Topps
 

Good thing Dave never worked for Topps, or we might know nothing at all :)

Thanks for the info, Dave. When i was in the service, we used a self-deprecating slogan about our jobs: 'my work is so secret that i don't know what i'm doing.' Funny, but true.