Brooks Robinson proofs/test/FINAL negatives/etc

[ALR-bishop]

Mark---Dave can speak for himself but I think he is doing an article for Wrapper magazine...if you google that you will find their web site. His Topps blog referenced above is my "gospel" for info on regular, insert and test Topps issues.

[toppcat]

Hi Mark:

I've been tracking all the various oddities produced by Topps from the beginning until about 1980, although I am more and more focusing on the pre 1972 stuff and the corporate history.

The Wrapper is indeed a great little magazine published by Les Davis that has been going for over thirty years. Here is their link where you can order a sample copy; it's pretty much my favorite hobby publication:
http://www.thewrappermagazine.com/

My Wrapper piece is on the origins of Topps and their predecessor companies. It contains a lot of new information about the Shorin family and debunks many of the commonly told anecdotes that are all over the web concerning the early days.

I collect type examples of all Topps cards thru 1980 but as noted above I may scale this back to pre-72. I've pretty much put together all the Topps baseball sets I care to at this point as well, though it's only a short run from 67-75. I also collect old Brooklyn Dodgers cards and am working on a T206 set plus a couple odds and ends.

You should never listen to what Al says by the way

[Mark70Z]

Dave - If you do ever go pre-72..."remember" me for all your '72-'78 Brooksie items if you depart w/them

WoW! I'm sure there's a tremendous amount of research involved in locating the "true" history of these companies. Is most of the information from a first hand source, or is it from secondary, and/or from reading documents from the past?

You gotta listen to AL!

[toppcat]

Mark:

My post 72 stuff is essentially the full run of Topps sets, nothing esoteric save a couple of test issue types i plan to keep. Don't think I have any Brooksie items outside of that.

Most of my sources have been secondary but I am trying to get some primary source material going and have had some success on that front (and one notable failure as Arthur Shorin, very politely, just begged off answering a few key questions). My biggest issue is what I am going to do with all my research; for now some articles, the blog and a couple of focused guidebooks are my plan.

[Mark70Z]

Why do you think these individuals, that were very influential within these companies, seem hesitant to answer the questions of the past?

[ALR-bishop]

I would bet what seems important to collectors now was insignificant to them at the time and that they may not actually know or remember a lot of this stuff unless there are records, which beyond the kind of stuff coming out of Topps Vaults may be doubtful

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by Mark70Z

Why do you think these individuals, that were very influential within these companies, seem hesitant to answer the questions of the past?

Topps brass never wanted their employees to talk, especially management. That extends to this day, even after the company was sold. Just they way they did things, which I have to say worked quite well.

[Mark70Z]

Assuming that they know, or remember, I don't know what would be the purpose of keeping the information confidential at this point.