Swann Song

Further to some recent posts about the quite nicely-done Topps Sports Club News, Friend o'the Archive John Moran sent along scans of all six pages of what I believe is the final issue, Volume 2, Number 2, released for the Fall of 1976. As surmised last time out, Lynn Swann was the Guest Columnist du jour and the subject of the color 8"x 10" insert for this issue.

Here then, is the last of it:

Yup, Herb Goren gets another byline and I still suspect he pretty much wrote most of the content. The 1976 Football set preview kicks off what was a mostly mundane half-decade for Topps sports card design.  

Page two is all continuity:

Fun and games abound on page three plus book reviews that cover all four major sports.  Give the talent available to Topps in their stable of freelance artists and in-house in 1976, I have to say the illustrations continue to underwhelm, remaining the one really weak area in the whole publication:

The collecting network continues to network on page four:

There some inside dope on various athletes on page five.  Always a popular feature in the sports mags of the day, so why not here?

More underwhelming artwork with "Hot Dog: and some quiz/crossword answers.  

And that was that. As I've mentioned, the Sports Club seemed like a pretty good idea, with a clean, professional look.  The ride-along extras though, were what really made this a sweet deal for the audience it reached. It sure seems like fun while it lasted!

Membership Has Its Privileges

Back at it kids, with more peeks at Topps Sports Club news today!

The cover of Issue #3 had confused me when I first encountered it as I wasn't sure if there was, in addition to the Bobby Clarke 8x10, one of Dave DeDusschere.  Now that I have the full issue in hand, thanks to Friend o'the Archive David Eskenazi, I can see why I was confused as it took some time for me to grok that only the Guest Columnist (who most certainly did not pen the words of wisdom in each issue) got the photo insert honors.  Double D was so prominently featured that I thought he might have a glossy as well but I was, after a full review of the issue, quite shockingly, wrong.  Anyhoo, here we go.

The aforementioned page 1:

DeBusschere was interviewed by Herb Goren, who was a big name sportswriter and, having been the PR Director for the New York Rangers seems a likely candidate to have penned the Clarke piece.  In fact, given his CV, he may have ghosted all of the guest columns.

Page 2 is for continuity:

Page 3 is where the fun begins. The Pen Pals are long moved away folks...

More fun happens on page 4. Love the book reviews, I read all of them back in the day except the Modern Encyclopedia of Basketball:

More continuity takes up most of page 5 as did the Collectors' Corner:

Many familiar names are listed in the effort to put kids in touch with various collectors clubs around the country, which details I have to imagine were provided by Woody Gelman. Some noteworthy names were proffered: Jim Nowell organized what was essentially the first baseball card convention and Richard Egan wrote a very early E card guide that was a masterwork of organization in the pre-Internet days.  John Stirling also published a price guide in 1977 that was the best one yet.

An old vaudeville joke made an appearance in "Hot Dog" on the sixth and final page:

This came with two inserts I think.  The Clarke 8x10 was of course in there:

It's paper but really well done.  In fact, the entire package was unfailingly professional is every aspect and that expense probably helped doom the club.  But before that happened in 1976, Topps reached out to their subscribers to pump the membership numbers:

I have no idea who Darrell West was. I assume it's just a made up name as the newsletter would seem, to me at least, to have been an outside production with specific input from Topps. I will say that the $2.50 for three issue was money well spent given the preview cards and extras included with each mailing but it may have been too much for the average pre-teen back then.

The flip side tries the old soft sell:

I'm sorry but if it took you hours to get through a typical issue, even with all the games and quizzes, you probably were not the brightest bulb in the package!  The premium offers were mostly well beyond the typical fare offered by the Bazooka Joe comics:

We've visited the vinyl Sports Card Locker, or something very close to it, before, so that was already a known quantity to loyal Topps consumers. The athletic shoes and the kicking toe were not typical fare though:

1976 kicked off with a baseball issue, of course:

Joe Garagiola had a long association with Topps, going back to at least 1959 and was the MC for the annual Rookie Banquets.

Page 2 is, once again, devoted to continuity:

Embiggen the crossword clues here as the puzzle can still be worked on!

Pen pals galore, as the card collecting hobby was really taking off in 1976:

Did Topps make an unforced error on page 5 with the Collector's Corner presenting a repeat Q&A about the 1974 Washington National League cards?  It had already been asked and answered in the very first issue! I do like how they steered collectors to the two largest buyers of aftermarket cards from Topps: Card Collectors Company and Larry Fritsch.

Too bad that picture of Garagiola and Johnny Bench never made it into the 1976 set, although the Kurt Bevacqua contest winner card is a classic.

Here is the rest of the crossword clues and puzzle:

The Joe Morgan 8x10 was another winner:

Finally, we know at least one more issue was produced as a Lynn Swann photo extra is in my collection, I just need the newsletter!

Morgan Holler

Well it's been a while since I discussed the Topps Sports Club but I've sucked in a 1976 Joe Morgan premium and there's really is no time like the present so here we are.

Topps started a collectors club in 1975, as noted here and based on the paucity of newsletter and premium examples, it doesn't seem to have gone over too well. I had inferred the existence of Joe but this is the first one I have seen:

It's 8" x 10", printed on thin paper and blank backed.  Mine clearly was hung up at some point and there is a good deal of foxing or staining present but I still like it.  That's a great shot of Morgan in his prime as well.

The issue accompanying the premium has seen better days:

Here is the Collectors Corner column from the issue featuring Morgan.  Card Collectors Company features prominently as does Larry Fritsch, who was probably the hobby's biggest purchaser of cards directly from Topps.

There was also full page of Pen Pals, who were able to put very short ads in looking for specific cards or trying to sell small lots. Although there are about forty different ads in this issue. I don't want to post the page as it has full street addresses for each "pal".

I found a scan of a flyer out there as well.  It didn't come with this particular issue but it's pretty neat:

We've seen that poster here recently here kids, just on a different medium.  There was definitely some integration between the Sports Club and the premium team checklist sheets Topps offered in the 1970's.

I still need to find a scan of the Dave DeBusschere premium that I believe exists.  I still don't know how many issues and corresponding premiums were published but if ol' Double D is out there, five may be it.