[toppcat]

I just got my copy of Stirling's Sports Card Catalog from Leon and have been paging through it. This slim book from 1977 was the source of some odd revisions to the ACC numbering system. T206 became T2060, you get issues like W3663, etc. as the author tried to establish a four digit code for general use.

The ACC updates published by Buck Barker also altered the ACC numbering for Topps at a point near then end of it's run (Tenth Catalog Additions, 1971) which ditched the R414-1, R414-2 sequence for Topps and some other bubble gum cards (such as Fleer) that looks to have topped out at R414-48 for Topps. As there was a three year gap in updates, the last having been issued in 1968, it appears Buck was either tinkering with things before doing the tenth update series (four parts, issued May thru Dec.) or he just ran out of steam as the project discontinued in '71 as Card Collector's Bulletin, a longtime hobby pub steered by Barker and which featured the updates, ceased to exist.

Barker apparently developed a yearly suffix for annually issued sports sets, so the first set picked up in this sequence was 1968 Topps Baseball, described as R414-68. 1969 became R414-69 and in 1970 we got R414-70-1 for the regular issue and R414-70-2 for the really rare Cloth Stickers. A good idea as the ACC's main problem in my mind is lack of chronological sequencing in the coding.

Anyway, Buck's listing of the 70 Cloth Stickers shows they were contemporary to their time and I scoured Stirling to see what he had in 1977.
Basically, there is an intriguing listing for the Topps Dice Game which shows 1963 as date of issue, really the only surprise I've found so far. Interesting but Stirling also has the Plaks as a 1972 issue so '63 could be wrong.

Another set I cannot figure is a 1968 Topps baseball poster issue of 16, measuring 11" x 14" and ID'd as R429-68-1 in the ACC Updates and R3728 in Stirling. I may be having a senior moment but cannot place this poster issue. It's not the Action All Stars mistakenly identified and the Player Posters from '68 are listed in both books, so I am confused as to what this could be.

Well, just some ramblings on a rainy morning.....