Ted Williams and Stan Musial....why are they missing in certain sets ?

[tedzan]

In a recent thread, the topic of discussion why Ted Williams and Stan Musial are included in certain major BB card sets, but not in others.
Back in the mid-1980's, when I was completing sets, this "mystery" sparked my curiosity, and I wrote an article about it.
Let's see what I recall. So, we'll start with 1941, the 1st year that both Stan and Ted were playing in the Major Leagues.

1941….Stan Musial's Major League debut was September 17, 1941. Just a couple of months after GUM, Inc. printed their PLAY BALL Hi #
series (#49 - 72), which was issued circa late Summer 1941.



1940's Exhibits

. .




1947 BOND BREAD






1948 BOWMAN........ no Ted Williams






1949 LEAF

. .




1949 BOWMAN........ no Ted Williams





1950 BOWMAN........ no Stan Musial





1951 BOWMAN........ no Stan Musial





1952 BOWMAN……….Ted Williams reported to Flight school at the Willow Grove (Pennsylvania) Naval Air Base for Jet aircraft training
before seeing action in Korea (1952 - 1953). See 1959 FLEER cards
.




1953 BOWMAN........ no Ted Williams






1954 BOWMAN.…….True story: Sy Berger (TOPPS executive) was an avid Ted Williams fan. Circa late 1953, in the design of the 1954 TOPPS set,
they designed the 1st and last cards featuring Ted Williams. When BOWMAN issued their 1st series of 1954 cards with Ted, Berger sued BOWMAN.
Forcing BOWMAN to discontinue printing their card of Ted. They replaced Ted's image with Jim Piersall for card #66 on their 32-card printing plate.
Speaking of "printing plates", stay tuned for the rest of this story in a subsequent post here. You'll find it very interesting.






1954 TOPPS > > 1958 TOPPS (Lo #s)........ only Ted Williams






1958 TOPPS…. Finally, TOPPS featured Stan Musial in their All-Star series (Hi # s)






1959 TOPPS Stan Musial....but, no Ted Williams






1959 FLEER……. I'll relate an interesting story regarding this set, as told to me in a personal conversation with Ted Williams (circa 1985 in Cooperstown).
Stay tuned here.









TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[Peter_Spaeth]

52 Berk Ross -- both.
Weren't both in 52 Red Man?
54RH Musial only
54WF Ted only
60F Ted only
60T Musial only

[tedzan]

I guess I don't consider the 1952 Berk-Ross a major set.

Yes, everyone is in it, including Joe DiMaggio who did not give them permission to print his image.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[paul]

I've always found it interesting that when Williams appeared in a Topps se6 or a Bowman sett, Musial did not appear in either Topps or Bowman. And vice versa. I have no explanation for this. I also don't understand why there is no 1958 Topps regular issue of Musial. They obviously had the right to print his card since he appears in the All Star subset. Why not print a regular issue card too?

[Peter_Spaeth]

It's interesting that with the relatively few cards he has, and his obviously elite numbers, and his likeability, Musial cards tend to command so few $$$$ outside his 48 Leaf.

[commishbob]

Here is the '59 Stan The Man

edited to add...that red-billed cap was last sworn in 1955 if Dressed To The Nines is to be believed.

[itslarry]

Originally Posted by paul

I've always found it interesting that when Williams appeared in a Topps se6 or a Bowman sett, Musial did not appear in either Topps or Bowman. And vice versa. I have no explanation for this. I also don't understand why there is no 1958 Topps regular issue of Musial. They obviously had the right to print his card since he appears in the All Star subset. Why not print a regular issue card too?

Clearly they are the same person

[ALR-bishop]

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrE...nt10S.O6WvQW8-

[Leon]

No Musial in '58 Topps? Good question.

Ted- Nice info....thanks again for sharing!

Originally Posted by paul

I've always found it interesting that when Williams appeared in a Topps se6 or a Bowman sett, Musial did not appear in either Topps or Bowman. And vice versa. I have no explanation for this. I also don't understand why there is no 1958 Topps regular issue of Musial. They obviously had the right to print his card since he appears in the All Star subset. Why not print a regular issue card too?

[Paul S]

Originally Posted by Leon

No Musial in '58 Topps? Good question.

Ted- Nice info....thanks again for sharing!

No base card, but he does have an All Star card.
(apologies if this was mentioned already)