Sy Berger (and the people behind our hobby)

[UKCardGuy]

This pickup arrived in the mail today. Sy Berger's autograph. I was really pleased to pick up a piece of baseball card history for less than $3

So let's have your memorabilia of the people who built our hobby. (Anyone who played a role in the design, production, marketing of cards or that helped establish card collecting as a hobby)

[doug.goodman]

That's great!

[irv]

Great pick up.

Congrats.

[jamflicker]

Nice pick up. He had a Topps fan favorites card in the early 2000’s and I got that signed. One of my favorite autographs.

[Gary Dunaier]

Originally Posted by jamflicker

He had a Topps fan favorites card in the early 2000’s

Topps also issued a Certified Autograph variant of that card.

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by Gary Dunaier

Topps also issued a Certified Autograph variant of that card.

In my book, those are worthy autographs to have.

In the mid-1980s, when I was breaking cases by the hundreds and drowning in commons (before Frank Pemper put me in touch with Larry Grossman,) I had the idea to try to market and sell card albums - simple 3-ring binders with sheets inside stuffed with minor stars and commons. I was under-financed and didn't have a distribution plan, but for fun I actually called Topps, asked to speak to Sy Berger, to ask if using pictures of Topps cards on such an album would require a license.

Sy answered and basically, I was wasting his time but what I remember is that he didn't treat me that way. He treated me like a valuable Topps customer and, frankly, like a fellow guy who loved being involved with baseball and the business.

I have thought about Sy over the years, what he must have thought. From dumping those cases of 1952 Topps into the ocean, to the mid to late 1980s, when he realized he could literally print money. I knew a guy who knew Sy around that time and I asked him what Sy thought and he said something about Sy smiling a lot, and loving the way the baseball card market was rocketing along.