If you click back to the prior post you will note the 1977 Stirling Guide mentions 66 stickers are known in the set and we know the extant examples are numbered within the second series of issued cards. I do not think there are necessarily 66 possible stickers at this point, though they all definitely come from the 2nd series. More on this in a moment.
At least three Cloth Stickers have a different player pose than in the corresponding regular issue, two of which (Higgins and Nye) were due to early December 1969 trades, so the Stickers came from an early proof run of the second series. Their issued cards show capless head shots, a classic Topps way of dealing with trades the occurred during a production run. Here is the Higgins sticker:
That is from the collection of Bob Fisk by the way, as are all individual shots of stickers in this post I believe. I can't find a scan of Nye right now.
Now, based upon the Stirling reference and the known checklist, the 66 card chunk I will show below (part of a series of sheets scans sent by Friend o'the Archive John Moran) reveals what I consider to be the possible universe of players in the cloth set. But let's first note the 1970 second series was printed on a 264 card master sheet that ran from #133-263 (plus 4th Series checklist #343) for a print run of 132 cards and featuring two similar 66 card blocks on each side. I would label this an A/A B/B pattern as each side has 66 double printed cards.
Here is the 66 card block that contains the Stickers; it is from the bottom half of the left sheet and has issued poses of three players whose stickers differ (and a possible fourth):
Note LeMaster in the seventh column bottom row. While a number of stickers are known with tasty Topps period brown backing paper:
Lemaster's shows a rolled over bottom with printer's color bars and shows why this type of rolling was possible on stickers taken from the bottom row. I ran this shot last time but it makes sense to show it again here to illustrate:
I am not sure why the Lemaster pose was changed for the cards as he did not leave the employ of the Astros from 1969-70. What I am becoming sure of though, is that some of the cards in the "block of 66" used to make the stickers are not known and that there is a pattern that shows why.
If you visualize the sheet with six letter rows (A-F) and 11 numbered columns, the A and B rows contain no known stickers. That brings us down to 44 possibilities I think.
Further investigation shows that no stickers are known from columns 1 and 11 (the left and right most columns) and that only three partial stickers (divided vertically down the middle) are known from columns 2 and 10. From Column 2, here is part of Ray Culp:
And from Column 10, Alston and, the coolest ball player of all time, Lloyd Palmer (so cool in fact, Topps dared not shear off his shades):
This means the entirety of all known, complete stickers come from rows C-F and columns 3 through 9, leaving 28 full sized candidates for the set (as likely constituted) and as theorized previously on Net54 by both Bob and John, who deserve the credit for the 28 card theory.
I do think it possible the partials could exist in full form but have no evidence yet of this so we have the likely 27 known full stickers to contend with and one (the Padres Rookies) highly probable example that remains unknown, at least to me, at this time.
Here is a list of the known stickers (Higgins and Nye with their former teams, the latter an educated guess with a high degree of confidence) with their numbers, as issued in card form, and teams:
| 200 | AL PLAYOFF #2 | ORIOLES | |
| 167 | BURBACH | YANKEES | |
| 256 | DAVALILLO | CARDINALS | |
| 153 | GENTRY | METS | |
| 208 | GLADDING | ASTROS | |
| 169 | HALL, TOM | TWINS | |
| 216 | HARTENSTEIN | PIRATES | |
| 257 | HIGGINS (VAR.) | SENATORS | |
| 263 | JOSEPHSON | WHITE SOX | |
| 238 | LABOY | EXPOS | |
| 178 | LEMASTER (VAR.) | ASTROS | |
| 210 | MARICHAL | GIANTS | |
| 250 | McCOVEY | GIANTS | |
| 158 | McNERTNEY | PILOTS | |
| 261 | MOTTON | ORIOLES | |
| 146 | MURPHY, DANNY | WHITE SOX | |
| 179 | MURRELL | PADRES | |
| 160 | NIEKRO, PHIL | BRAVES | |
| 195 | NL PLAYOFF #1 | METS | |
| 197 | NL PLAYOFF #3 | METS | |
| 177 | NORTHRUP | TIGERS | |
| 139 | NYE | CUBS | |
| 163 | O'BRIEN | RED SOX | |
| 226 | PERRANOSKI | TWINS | |
| 259 | REYNOLDS, TOMMIE | A'S | |
| 212 | SANTORINI | PADRES | |
| 193 | WEGENER | EXPOS | |
| 242 | ALSTON (PART.) | DODGERS | |
| 144 | CULP (PART.) | RED SOX | |
| 252 | PALMER, LLOYD (PART.) | PHILLIES |
I would add the Padres Rookies #262 to that list obviously as the odds are overwhelming that it exists in sticker form. So for the sake of good order:
| 262 | PADRES ROOKIES | PADRES |
The following five should likewise exist as partials:
| 206 | BOYER, CLETE (POSS. PART.) | BRAVES | |
| 182 | HALL, DICK (POSS. PART.) | ORIOLES | |
| 136 | HARGAN (POSS. PART) | INDIANS | |
| 211 | WILLIAMS, TED (POSS. PART.) | SENATORS | |
| 189 | YANKEES ROOKIES (POSS. PART.) | YANKEES |
The Yankees Rookies feature Thurman Munson but the partial would only show his name, not his portrait. Here is a shot of a 1972 Cloth Sticker sheet that shows the same type of vertical short cutting:
That leaves 30 possible "no prints" from 1970 although I think it somewhat probable they could exist due to the notation in Stirling. Those 22 from the top two rows are less likely since we have no evidence these rows made it to sticker form:
| 199 | AL PLAYOFF #1 | ORIOLES | |
| 227 | ASTROS ROOKIES | ASTROS | |
| 172 | BRAVES ROOKIES | BRAVES | |
| 152 | BROWN, IKE | TIGERS | |
| 149 | CHAMPION | PHILLIES | |
| 135 | DIETZ | GIANTS | |
| 235 | EPSTEIN | SENATORS | |
| 156 | FISHER, EDDIE | ANGELS | |
| 147 | HERMOSO | EXPOS | |
| 186 | JOSEPH | PHILLIES | |
| 155 | MENKE | ASTROS | |
| 198 | METS CEL. | METS | |
| 157 | MOTA | DODGERS | |
| 196 | NL PLAYOFF #2 | METS | |
| 223 | OLIVER, NATE | CUBS | |
| 260 | OSTEEN | DODGERS | |
| 151 | ROBERTS, DAVE | PADRES | |
| 191 | ROMO | RED SOX | |
| 222 | ROOKER | ROYALS | |
| 188 | SANGUILLEN | PIRATES | |
| 161 | SCHEINBLUM | INDIANS | |
| 148 | WEAVER | ORIOLES |
I feel the eight cards from the extreme left and right columns of cards in rows C-F are more likely to be found as stickers than the 22 cards from the A and B rows since rows C-F are where the action is. These eight are:
| 201 | AL PLAYOFF #3 | ORIOLES | |
| 133 | CARROLL | REDS | |
| 176 | HART | GIANTS | |
| 150 | KILLEBREW | TWINS | |
| 166 | OLIVER, AL | PIRATES | |
| 202 | ORIOLES CEL. | ORIOLES | |
| 141 | PIRATES ROOKIES | PIRATES | |
| 243 | SPARMA | TIGERS |
Of those, #243 Sparma would likely show his old team, the Tigers, as he too was traded (to the Expos) in early December of 1969. It's odd all four potential pose variations feature pitchers!
You can also go here for more details and scans from the original Net54 posts. It would be great if the Padres Rookies sticker surfaces!
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