T207....indeed a strange set....let' talk about it ?

[Bridwell]

Hi Tim,

That list you made of the next 100 players would make a great addition to the set. I'd certainly be collecting them, if they were made. Lots of big names in there.

I'm thinking that the designer of the set was unable to secure the written authorizations of most of the star players. I do agree that there are enough unpublished players that the original design could have been 300 players, instead of 200. They may have, very simply, sent authorization requests to every team, who handed them out to each player. Some came back signed and some didn't. They may have tried a 2nd time when there was light response. They probably weren't offering any payment, so the stars may have passed on signing it. By then, the stars were getting paid for various endorsements but the common players were happy to just be included. Once they had about 150 authorizations they started making the cards. They later added another series to reach 200. That would explain Marc's observation about the lack of stars in the Broadleaf class/series which was printed a little later. The lesser players might even have asked to be included, while the top players didn't care either way. Maybe a few more authorizations trickled in, but not enough to add another series of 50. Or production was halted, by then, for other reasons. Just wild theories.

Ron