1949 Leaf Cards Skip Numbered?

[Griffins]

Originally Posted by tedzan

Due to conflicts with Bowman, the 1953 Topps set is missing 6 numbered cards.

Also, 4 #'s are missing in the 1955 Topps set.

I'm not aware of missing cards in the subsequent Topps sets.


Regards,

TED Z

Ted, '58 Topps is missing #145 Ed Bouchee, after he was charged with some sort of sex crime.

[PolarBear]

Thanks Ted, neat stories!

Originally Posted by Griffins

Ted, '58 Topps is missing #145 Ed Bouchee, after he was charged with some sort of sex crime.

Yup, #145 missing. What always annoyed me about that though is when Topps got Musial on the hook late in the season and issued an all star card, they didn't go ahead an issue a regular Musial card as #145 to fill in the set. 1958 Topps would be an almost perfect baseball set if they had done that.

[tedzan]

The last major BB card issues to have Stan Musial in them were the 1952 and 1953 Bowmans. It was my understanding that Stan did
not sign with Topps in 1952 or 1953 since he had a contract with Bowman. And he was under contract with Wheaties in 1951 & 1952.

In 1954, Sy Berger (Topps biggie) signed Ted Williams (Berger was a huge Ted W. fan). Somehow, I feel that herein lies a connection
why Topps did not portray Musial in their 1954 - 1958 sets. Finally, Topps included Musial in their 1958 (late) series of All-Star cards.

Furthermore, consider the following pattern of Bowman issues......

1948......Musial
1949......Musial
1950......Ted Williams
1952......Ted Williams
1952......Musial
1953......Musial
1954......Ted Williams....but, Topps forced Bowman to discontinue their Ted Williams card (#66).


TED Z

[PolarBear]

Yup, closest Musial and Williams came to being in a Topps set together was the 1958 all star card of Musial, but no regular card.

I've read that the reason Musial did not appear in Topps was they just didn't offer him what he wanted.

Another story I read was that Sy knew the owner of the Cardinals and agreed to have Topps (or Cy personally, can't remember) donate to one of his charities. He agreed if the owner would get Musial to agree to be in the Topps sets. He did, but it was late 1958 and he only appeared in the late series all star sub set. I just wish Topps would have though about it and given him the missing #145 as a regular card as well.

Ted of course was in Korea in 1952 and 1953. If not, I believe he would have been in the two Bowman sets with Musial, barring an exclusive contract with Topps. Ted then jumped to Fleer in 1959 when Musial finally got a regular card in Topps, so we never really get them both in a Topps set as regular cards.

They did appear together in the 49 Leaf set, as well as the Red Man set. Musial also appeared in the 1954 Red Heart set and the 1955 Rawlings set. Not sure if those were exclusive contracts. If so that would explain why he wasn't in Topps those years.

Not sure about 1956. There's another disappointment. If Musial had been in the 1956 Topps set, it would have been a perfect set.

[PolarBear]

Topps releases special cards every year at the National. in 2005 they released the "missing numbers" in the 1955 set, which includes the Musial.

[tedzan]

Don
Responding to these two comments of yours......

"Ted of course was in Korea in 1952 and 1953. If not, I believe he would have been in the two Bowman sets with Musial,
barring an exclusive contract with Topps."

I'm not sure about that......why wasn't Ted in the 1948 & 1949 BOWMAN sets; and, why wasn't Stan in the 1950 & 1951
BOWMAN sets ?

Both Musial and Williams were not only in the 1949 LEAF set, but prior to it, they were both in the 1947 BOND BREAD set.
Also, in the 1952 BERK-ROSS set. It's quite a mystery why they appear to be mutually exclusive in the BOWMAN sets ? ?

Don......
"Ted then jumped to Fleer in 1959 when Musial finally got a regular card in Topps, so we never really get them both in a
Topps set as regular cards."

Ted W. just didn't "jump" to FLEER in 1959. Have you read of my personal conversation with Ted (in 1984) regarding why
and how FLEER produced their 80-card set of Ted ?


TED Z

[PolarBear]

Not sure why Ted didn't appear in the 49 Bowman, I would think he should have. The 48 Bowman set though, at 48 cards, almost doesn't qualify as a set. Granted, Ted was a star but some people were bound to be missing.

Ted wasn't in Topps in 52 or 53 either. I really think his absence those years in both sets was because he was out of baseball. I really think we would have seen them both in the Bowman sets had he been in baseball. Never know though.

I'd love to read your conversation with Williams about Fleer. Is there a link to a thread on the forum?