Topps Gyped Us...

[Harliduck]

Being a newbie, I am sorry if this has been brought up already, but after reading back 3 years of posts (haha, I can't get enough, nerd here) I haven't seen it.

For whatever reason, Topps didn't make certain cards of players at the begining of their careers, or the end, and we got screwed. Not talking the "non" contract cards of the 50's and the Maury Wills situations, but these -

1957 Harmon Killebrew

Got to start with my idol. A 55, 56....no 57?? One of the coolest years of cards, and no Killer. Back on track with a 58...

1976 Harmon Killebrew

I would have killed for a card with him in a Royals uniform!!

1974 Willie Mays

The World Series card is not enough, and it would have helped that lackluster year...

1967 Sandy Koufax

Now that was just RUDE! He won 27 games in 66!!

1966 Steve Carlton

Rookie card in 65, then had to wait until 67?? I was ticked when I went for this set!

1977 Reggie Jackson

Ok, there was a card, but an airbrushed (poorly) Yankee? How awesome would it have been to have an action shot of him as an Oriole!?!?

1970 Mickey Mantle

OK, he was retired...but cmon, stretch him ONE MORE YEAR!

1972 Ernie Banks

Seriously? He still hit 3 HRs in 71!!

1967 Bobby Richardson

The guy had a FULL season in 66! Is 139 games not enough?

1980 Thurman Munson

He played almost a 100 games before he passed away, Topps missed a BIG opportunity to honor a great one...instead, no card.

1975 Al Kaline

The guy has a full season, gets his 3000 hit (can't quite get that last HR though, haha) and all he gets is a Highlight card...gyped!


I am sure there are many more...but I would have loved to have any one of these cards...especially the Killebrews!!

Great list, Harliduck. Here's a few more:

1972 Topps card of Luis Tiant with the Red Sox
1974 or 1975 Topps card of Orlando Cepeda with the Royals
1965 or 1966 Topps card of Satchel Paige with the Kansas City Athletics


Topps did get it right in 1968 with a final card of Elston Howard with the BoSox, one of my personal favs.

Regarding Tiant, he wasn't in the 1972 set, but was included in the 1970-71 Ovenca Venezuelan Winter League set (I believe misdated 1970 in most guides) in a Red Sox hat and uniform.

A quick search on Ebay reveals that Killebrew was depicted with the Royals in the 1975 APBA Kansas City Royals team set and 1975 SSPC.

[Paul S]

Wouldn't have minded seeing a memorial card of Munson, as Topps honored Campanella after his accident.

Would have been very cool if Topps gave a Minoso card for each (retired) decade he batted in.

[Harliduck]

Adam...THANKS! Just went and bought that very card...I passed on the APBA, no picture...

Didn't even think about Satchell Paige...we were robbed on that one.


Yes on the Munson, would have been a highlight of that 80 set for sure. Topps could have also done a better job with Clemente in 73, but considering their track record I suppose we should be lucky he got a card at all in that set. One of my favorite Clemente cards. I think the Campanella is a great card...

[Tomman1961]

I agree on the Munson. I remember being surprised -at age 20- that Topps did not have a Munson.Topps did a nice Campanella and coincidently at the same position. As far as Clemente, I am sure all Topps were printed when his death occured, but then it strikes me that they had time to "do something" in later print runs like series 4, 5, or 6. Je should have had 2 cards that year.---Tom

[HRBAKER]

Let me direct you to this cool website discussed here many times before. Here is a sample of what several enterprising card collectors have created.

http://www.vintagecardtraders.org/vi...do/pseudo.html

[savedfrommyspokes]

1977 Reggie Jackson

Ok, there was a card, but an airbrushed (poorly) Yankee? How awesome would it have been to have an action shot of him as an Oriole!?!?

You could always replace the pathetic airbrush job with the 77 Burger King Jackson...an actual photo in a Yankee uniform. There is also a 77 Topps Reggie proof out there...I attached a copy of a photo I found, as this card is only on my wish list.

[Exhibitman]

They definitely missed the boat on both tribute cards. I especially felt it with munson since I was a fan.

[Harliduck]

Wow, thanks for that link...those are really cool. As neat at the 57 Killebrew looks, I think that 63 Fleer Aaron would have been one of my favorite cards.

[chris6net]

As a big Mets fan I always wondered why Rusty Staub was not in the 1972 and 73 sets.

[David W]

Originally Posted by chris6net

As a big Mets fan I always wondered why Rusty Staub was not in the 1972 and 73 sets.

That's Rusty running in from right field so he did kind of make a card

[Bob Lemke]

You can also poke around my Photobucket for many baseball and football cards "that never were." There is a link below. I'm not all that facile with the new Photobucket layout, but I have images in one "album" of 1955 All-Americans, and separate albums for baseball and "misc. football."

I'm now at my Pennsylvania headquarters for the winter and hope to get active on making more customs in the next few months.

I post each new creation at boblemke.blogspot.com .

[Harliduck]

Bob...great blog, I just spent the better part of two hours looking through it while smelling the turkey cook, thanks! Loved the article and custom card of Allen Lewis...great story. Being a fool die hard Mariners fan remember Charles Gipson...also loved the pictures of the old players and their wives, girlfriends, etc...

[Rich Klein]

Originally Posted by Harliduck

Being a newbie, I am sorry if this has been brought up already, but after reading back 3 years of posts (haha, I can't get enough, nerd here) I haven't seen it.

For whatever reason, Topps didn't make certain cards of players at the begining of their careers, or the end, and we got screwed. Not talking the "non" contract cards of the 50's and the Maury Wills situations, but these -

1957 Harmon Killebrew

Got to start with my idol. A 55, 56....no 57?? One of the coolest years of cards, and no Killer. Back on track with a 58...

1976 Harmon Killebrew

I would have killed for a card with him in a Royals uniform!!

1974 Willie Mays

The World Series card is not enough, and it would have helped that lackluster year...

1967 Sandy Koufax

Now that was just RUDE! He won 27 games in 66!!

1966 Steve Carlton

Rookie card in 65, then had to wait until 67?? I was ticked when I went for this set!

1977 Reggie Jackson

Ok, there was a card, but an airbrushed (poorly) Yankee? How awesome would it have been to have an action shot of him as an Oriole!?!?

1970 Mickey Mantle

OK, he was retired...but cmon, stretch him ONE MORE YEAR!

1972 Ernie Banks

Seriously? He still hit 3 HRs in 71!!

1967 Bobby Richardson

The guy had a FULL season in 66! Is 139 games not enough?

1980 Thurman Munson

He played almost a 100 games before he passed away, Topps missed a BIG opportunity to honor a great one...instead, no card.

1975 Al Kaline

The guy has a full season, gets his 3000 hit (can't quite get that last HR though, haha) and all he gets is a Highlight card...gyped!


I am sure there are many more...but I would have loved to have any one of these cards...especially the Killebrews!!

Remember in those days, Topps was producing cards for the "kid" audience and they figured if they guy had retired, the kids would not want him anymore.

Obviously, on an historical basis -- this was a mistake BUT when you think your target audience is 10 year old boys -- these omissions make sense

Players such as Richardson and Koufax announced their retirement, so why publish a card of them. In fact the only reason we have a 69 Mantle was because it was presumed he would play one more season in 69. He retired in March,,,, so Topps just added a line to the card.

[Volod]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

Remember in those days, Topps was producing cards for the "kid" audience and they figured if they guy had retired, the kids would not want him anymore.

Obviously, on an historical basis -- this was a mistake BUT when you think your target audience is 10 year old boys -- these omissions make sense

Players such as Richardson and Koufax announced their retirement, so why publish a card of them. In fact the only reason we have a 69 Mantle was because it was presumed he would play one more season in 69. He retired in March,,,, so Topps just added a line to the card.

D'oh!! I was thinking of the same point, Rich. Thanks for beating me to it. I'll bet it wasn't until sometime in the 1980's that Topps realized it had somehow acquired an adult market. There must be quite a few other star players in the postwar era who had no Topps card in the year following their retirements. The company simple figured those guys dropped off the edge of the flat earth when they hung it up.

[Gr8Beldini]

Re: Stretching Mantle to 1970... Topps did stretch Mantle plenty by including him in the '69 set. He retired prior to the '69 season.

[skelly]

I agree about the missing 57 Killebrew being a bummer. I must admit, however, that there being so many later cards of Banks, Mays, Aaron, Clemente, etc... were the reasons I decided not to collect the sets from the early 70's. I just couldn't stand the fact that your paying the big money for players that have been in the league for well over 10 years at that point.

[Tomman1961]

David W:
Nice Staub/. I had a thread going a few months ago about stars in the background of other cards. As a Staub favorite I too stumbled across the Mets that were airbrushed into Astros on that shot. That is Rusty running in from right field. Staub and Tops had contract problems those years. I agree stringly on the Munson. big thumbs down to Topps that year. And I also thought should have done a Clemente in he higher series as a second card. Did Lou Brockhave a card the next year? He batted over .300 in his last year and already announced his retirement.. I have not looked it up, nor his card.

[insidethewrapper]

Bob: Could you make a 1953 Glendale of Al Kaline ? Wish that card was made.

[savedfrommyspokes]

Brock appeared in the 1980 Topps set on a Highlights card commemorating both his and Yaz's 3000th hits.

In feel that in many of the cases in which retired stars of the 70s were being left out of Topps sets following their last season, Topps did this because they prepared their sets to showcase the players who would likely be on the team for the upcoming season, not as much as for a recap of who was on the team from the previous season (as the stats on the back would indicate). So Topps likely felt that if they knew that a player would not be playing the upcoming season, they could replace him in the set with a player who would likely be on the team for the upcoming season.

The same would apply for players who changed teams....showing the player with the new team ASAP was clearly part of Topps' business plan...they even expanded their offerings in the 80s with their Traded Sets(after some attempts in the mid 70s).

[chris6net]

As a 10 year old in 1973 and a diehard Mets fan I never realized that was Rusty in the background of the Tommie Agee card. I remember when the last series in 1972 game out and I saw the Fregosi Traded card I wondered if Rusty was going to be on a Traded card as well.

[con40]

The 1980 Munson and the 1957 Killebrew were my designs... Like Bob Lemke, I have done many "Cards That Never Were" and keep a gallery...

Keith Conforti Design Gallery

[HRBAKER]

Keith there are some beautiful cards in your Gallery.
Nice work.

[ALR-bishop]

Agree Jeff, Keith is an artist

[frankh8147]

1959 and 1960 Ted Williams Topps cards would have been sweet! Also, Ted made the All Star game those years too so he could have also had high-number all star cards.

[con40]

The cards are lots of fun to do... wish I had time to do more. Happy to share them here.