1949 Leaf Cards Skip Numbered?

[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?

[tedzan]

The following is a pretty accurate recollection of my conversation with Ted Williams in 1984.
We talked for about 45 minutes and this is part of it........

I started by telling Ted......

ME.....Ted, although I was an avid Yankees fan as a kid in the 1950's, I always rooted for you
to hit a HR at Yankee Stadium.
..........and sure enough, many times I saw you hit a HR....way up into the RF upper deck.

TED....If you're a Yankees fan, why did you root for me to hit a HR ?
ME.....Because your name is Ted; and besides, I always expected that the Yankees would win
the AL Pennant, anyways.

TED....(he smiled) why are you a Yankees fan ?
ME.....because Phil Rizzuto was my nearby neighbor in Hillside, NJ

TED....if the Scooter was on the Red Sox all those years, we would have been the Champs.

Then I turned the conversation to his BB cards. He was like a little kid.....I still remember how
enthusiastic he was "talkin' BB cards".
I showed Ted his 1954 Bowman card.

ME.....are you aware of how rare this 1954 Bowman card of you is ?
TED....no, but I signed a contract with Sy Berger of Topps in 1954 and no other Gum Co. was
allowed to portray me.

Then, without me asking him, Ted went on this long dissertation telling me how Sy Berger was
annoyed with him in 1959, when Fleer approached his agent to do a series of cards depicting
Ted. Fleer offered Ted $500 to do this series of 80 cards. Sy Berger offered Ted $1000 to stay
with Topps. Ted started laughing, as he told me that a bidding war between Fleer and Topps
ensued.
When Fleer upped the ante to $5000, Topps relented. And that people, is the real story behind
the 1959 Fleer Ted Williams set....straight from Ted, himself.

TED....Just think about it, that was a lot of money back then for having your pictures on a set
of gum cards.
ME.....Ted, you ain't kidding, that was my Dad's annual salary in 1959.

He gave me a firm handshake and thanked me for an interesting conversation.


TED Z

[PolarBear]

Neat Story Ted. Thanks for sharing. I wonder how much Fleer made on their $5000 investment.

At 5c a pack they would have to sell 100,000 (not counting overhead) to recoup the investment.

I still be they made a ton of money off Ted.

[doug.goodman]

One of the numerous reasons why, even though I have never met him, Tedzan is my card collecting hero.

Doug

[doug.goodman]

By the way, I believe these are all of the non-issued Topps card numbers (pre 1990) :

1953 - 253, 261, 267, 268, 271, 275

1955 - 175, 186, 203, 209

1958 - 145

1961 - 426, 587, 588

Let me know if I missed, or am wrong, about any.
Doug

[tedzan]

Thanks for the kind words. Your #'s are correct. My understanding is that the missing 6 numbered cards in the 1953T set
was due to the Bowman vs Topps conflict (especially regarding Phillies cards).

Bowman (being Philly based) prevented Topps from portraying the Phillies stars, Ashburn, Ennis, Konstanty, Roberts, Sim-
mons, etc. in their 1953 set.



Best regards,

TED Z