"A Taste of Topps"

[BradH]

I'm hoping someone can lend some insight on two books I came across in a stash of stuff that I'm cleaning out of my office.

They are two Topps books that appear to be press material. The books are navy blue (hardback) and are titled, “A Taste of Topps.” They are identical except for the cards that are stored in them, and despite the title there is no gum to actually taste.

Each book has a written three-page summary of Topps baseball products for the 1995 season, followed by five permanent pages of nine-pocket sheets that are filled with cards from four different products:

 1995 Topps
 1995 Topps Stadium Club
 1994 Bowman
 1994 Topps Finest

Each book contains the same number of cards (45), but the player selection in the two books are slightly different. Most of them are commons, but there is a decent selection of star players (Glavine, Maddux, Smoltz, Murray, Molitor, Ripken, etc.)

My guess is that these were mailed to card dealers, members of the media and baseball teams, as they appear to have been issued by the Topps PR staff. Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks