1952 Topps - The Missing 3

[toppcat]

I came up with Art Schallock (Yankees), Joe Landrum (Dodgers) and Ray Noble (Giants) once as the possible last three cards, where my reasoning assumed no big names were available. More HERE if you are interested.

I looked at it again with some possible bigger names and came up with Ralph Kiner, Hal Newhouser and Johnny Logan as possibilities.

Again, more HERE if interested.

It's interesting that no White Sox players are in the highs.

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by toppcat

I came up with Art Schallock (Yankees), Joe Landrum (Dodgers) and Ray Noble (Giants) once as the possible last three cards, where my reasoning assumed no big names were available. More HERE if you are interested.

I looked at it again with some possible bigger names and came up with Ralph Kiner, Hal Newhouser and Johnny Logan as possibilities.

Again, more HERE if interested.

It's interesting that no White Sox players are in the highs.

Just curious David - why not Ted Williams? Sy said in one of his interviews one of the missing 3 was one of his favorite players.

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by Zach Wheat

Just curious David - why not Ted Williams? Sy said in one of his interviews one of the missing 3 was one of his favorite players.

Sy said a lot of things over the years that were just PR puffery. They could have tried but missed out with Williams for any of several reasons but he seems like a guy they would try first in such a scenario. Mantle for instance, was signed on July 14th and the "second set" was out by some time in August but Ted was already back in the military for a couple of months by then.

Williams was with Berk-Ross, Star-Cal and Redman in 1952 it seems. I'm guessing his Berk-Ross deal could have been exclusive for trading cards with gum; they had DiMaggio too, who wasn't in any Bowman or Topps (1951) sets and I assume they paid up for some players of stature. It's ironic Joe D. was a spokesman for Bowman Color in 1953.

[Zach Wheat]

My feeling is it wasn't an exclusive contract with Berk Ross aka Hit Parade. Admittedly, I am not as versed in the particulars as you would be but Lemke wrote an article on the Berk Ross sets and he suggests the set was unlicensed and they were flirting with the NIL issue. Lemke details that the original lawsuit for NIL $$ actually originated from the Berk Ross set (compensation for 6 of the players was $20) and was filed by the same attorney (Shapiro) for the same reason as the more popular Haelean Lab (aka Bowman) V Topps Inc. lawsuit in 1953. So just a guess here...and its only a guess...but the contract with Williams wasn't exclusive since the compensation was minimal for the players mentioned in the lawsuit. To me, that suggests Hit Parade, et al. had a tight budget. The '51 set included 30 figures not related to baseball. This again suggests that Hit Parade et al. was on a tight budget.

My guess is Topps just couldn't get the contract with Williams signed as he was overseas by July of '52. And Berger has said a number of times Boston was his favorite team growing up, which leads me to think Williams might have been 1 of the 3.

Again just a wild guess.

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by Zach Wheat

My feeling is it wasn't an exclusive contract with Berk Ross aka Hit Parade. Admittedly, I am not as versed in the particulars as you would be but Lemke wrote an article on the Berk Ross sets and he suggests the set was unlicensed and they were flirting with the NIL issue. Lemke details that the original lawsuit for NIL $$ actually originated from the Berk Ross set (compensation for 6 of the players was $20) and was filed by the same attorney (Shapiro) for the same reason as the more popular Haelean Lab (aka Bowman) V Topps Inc. lawsuit in 1953. So just a guess here...and its only a guess...but the contract with Williams wasn't exclusive since the compensation was minimal for the players mentioned in the lawsuit. To me, that suggests Hit Parade, et al. had a tight budget. The '51 set included 30 figures not related to baseball. This again suggests that Hit Parade et al. was on a tight budget.

My guess is Topps just couldn't get the contract with Williams signed as he was overseas by July of '52. And Berger has said a number of times Boston was his favorite team growing up, which leads me to think Williams might have been 1 of the 3.

Again just a wild guess.

Could be. All you can really do at this point is make best guesses on this stuff.

Am I reading this right, Berk-Ross may have been partially licensed? I'll have to look at that Lemke piece again.

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by toppcat

Could be. All you can really do at this point is make best guesses on this stuff.

Am I reading this right, Berk-Ross may have been partially licensed? I'll have to look at that Lemke piece again.

Agree. I believe it was at least a partially licensed set but the litigants versus Hit Parade et al (the firms named in the original lawsuit) had representation contracts with some but possibly not all of the players in the set. I believe that's why their initial "test run" Berk Ross set in 1951 included so many outside MLB. I believe their initial legal complaint was based upon their $20 compensation was not enough for the rights to their "NIL" and therefore the request for $50K in total. (I could not find the original suit yet - just Lemke's summary). I believe the players ended up losing the legal battle, but this set the stage for the later NIL legal proceedings with Haelean, Shapiro and Marvin Miller, etc.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Zach Wheat

Agree. I believe it was at least a partially licensed set but the litigants versus Hit Parade et al (the firms named in the original lawsuit) had representation contracts with some but possibly not all of the players in the set. I believe that's why their initial "test run" Berk Ross set in 1951 included so many outside MLB. I believe their initial legal complaint was based upon their $20 compensation was not enough for the rights to their "NIL" and therefore the request for $50K in total. (I could not find the original suit yet - just Lemke's summary). I believe the players ended up losing the legal battle, but this set the stage for the later NIL legal proceedings with Haelean, Shapiro and Marvin Miller, etc.

I have a 1953 Bowman Mickey Vernon but it doesn't have any actual dollar amount listed. I also have a card contract of Mickey Owen for 1955 Topps. He had a choice of picking a Polaroid camera, a set of Spalding Golf clubs, RCA Hi-Fi Phonograph, or a check. Does not give amount check would be. I have owned a few others and the players made very little from the card companies based on the ones I have seen/owned.