Mystery Dating

Mile High Auctions recently featured a very scarce pack from either 1967 or '68 and while not quite a unicorn, it's pretty close.  I've posted here previously (click the 1967 Topps Baseball Punch-Out labels for more) about the 1967 Topps Baseball Punch-Outs  which were mostly sold in long cello packs containing two three card panels, a most unwieldy format:

Gotta love the ingenuity, although it seems to have been a limited release--not a test--but seemingly only issued in a few regions-one was around Baltimore, so these may have been printed by a specialty lithographer down there.

The commodity code reads 0-485-51-01-7. These codes commenced in the Spring of 1966, as Topps moved production to Duryea, PA while the top brass and non-production staff remained in Brooklyn and allowed tracking of the various product and components of same. Lonnie Cummins has decoded a good portion of what these strings of numbers mean (see The Wrapper issues #316 & 317 for a very detailed look) and using his method, we can decipher some of this:

0 represents the specific media, in this case the Wrapper

485 is the Product Line/Stock Number, which can be tricky.  These can be inconsistent within a specific issue that was issued over a long period of time (often in series) and would often be reused in later years for different products.  The first digit usually signifies the product line, with a 0 for a candy or gum issue (1 is used here instead for some sets). Generally a 4 is for Entertainment Cards, which includes Sports Cards, but oddball sets (and some regular ones) don't always follow the pattern and it's not clear why.  My own take is that it may represent which group within Topps was responsible for the set but I am not real solid on that. The last two digits are the project number, which reset every calendar year and was assigned once Topps brass gave the go ahead for a particular set or product.

51 is the Format, or Style and is thought by Lonnie to relate to the printing and/or packaging process, possibly even detailing the machinery used to wrap the packs.

01 is the revision number and starts at these two digits.  This means the first iteration.

7 is for the last digit of the year of conception (and likely copyright).  For the period of 1966-68-ish it's not uncommon for a test or oddball product to be issued the year after this digit indicates (or even later in a couple of cases).

Look, a code!

That reads: 1-485-35-01-7 and means:

Display Box-Entertainment/Sports Stock #-Format Code (unknown)-First issue (no revision)-approved 1967.

Now, here is where it gets intriguing.  I have long thought that the set was first issued in the above cello livery and then reissued in wax the following year after it was revised to remove some retired a handful of players that changed leagues or retired after the 1966 season (and seemingly Bob Gibson as well) but I think I got it backwards. Check out this sucker from Mile High:

The back tells the tale, as (almost) always:

The stock number is quite a bit earlier than 485, while the format number is not really decipherable it is different than 51 and this is a second revision wrapper, which is looking like it came out in 1967.

A proof for the wax box exists and it's dated (in pen, with illegible commodity number) on March 7, 1967

Given the sixteen product gap between issues I now think both versions came out in 1967 as the Topps stock numbers go into the 90's that year. The timing of the wax wrapped Punch-Outs looks like Spring Training or just after, then once the roster moves could be processed, the cello timing looks like mid-season.

I believe this is the only Topps set issued in this super elongated cello format. The wax likely held two "cards" as you need that many to play the game.  The auction listing stated the wax packs were not issued but I disagree as we are looking at a second revision wax pack. Maybe there wasn't enough profit there, or it was the test version but some escaped in wax and while the set is tough, there are enough out there that the extant subjects are slightly beyond normal test issue territory. The PSA pop report is sparse, which seemingly contradicts this, but a lot of the surviving cards have been "popped" and not graded.

An Almost Perfect Wrold

Well Larry Serota, one of the two kings of the 1967 Punchouts (the other is Al Richter) has just posted his final tally of lineups over at Net54baseball.com. After tracking down the final two lineups (turns out they belonged to Team Captains Elston Howard and Willie Mays, making both four lineup men) the final count looks like this:

LAST	FIRST	LINEUPS	NOTE
AARON	HANK	2
ALLEN	RICHIE	3
ALLEY	GENE	2
ALOU	FELIPE	2
ALOU	MATTY	3	2 POSES
ALVIS	MAX	3
APARICIO	LUIS	4
BARBER	STEVE	2
BATTEY	EARL	3
BOYER	CLETE	3
BOYER	KEN	3
BROCK	LOU	2
BUNNING	JIM	1
CALLISON	JOHNNY	2
CAMPANERIS	BERT	DELETED
CARDENAS	LEO	3
CARTY	RICO	2
CASH	NORM	3
CEPEDA	ORLANDO	4
CHARLES	ED	1
CLEMENTE	ROBERTO	3	2 POSES
CLENDENON	DONN	2
COLAVITO	ROCKY	1
CONIGLIARO	TONY	2
DAVIS	WILLIE	2
EDWARDS	JOHNNY	2
ETCHEBARREN	ANDY	2
FLOOD	CURT	2
FREEHAN	BILL	1
FREGOSI	JIM	2
GIBSON	BOB	DELETED
GREEN	DICK	3
GROAT	DICK	3
GROTE	JERRY	DELETED
HALLER	TOM	2
HART	JIM RAY	2
HERSHBERGER	MIKE	4
HOWARD	ELSTON	4
HOWARD	FRANK	4
HUNT	RON	3
JACKSON	SONNY	1
JONES	CLEON	2
KAAT	JIM	2
KALINE	AL	2
KILLEBREW	HARMON	3
KNOOP	BOBBY	3
KOUFAX	SANDY	2
KRANEPOOL	ED	2
LEFEBVRE	JIM	2
LOCK	DON	2
LUMPE	JERRY	1
MANTLE	MICKEY	3	2 POSES
MARICHAL	JUAN	2
MAYS	WILLIE	4
MAZEROSKI	BILL	2
McAULIFFE	DICK	1
McCARVER	TIM	3
MCCOVEY	WILLIE	1
McLAIN	DENNY	2
McMILLAN	ROY	DELETED
MENKE	DENIS	2
MORGAN	JOE	2
OLIVA	TONY	2
PEPITONE	JOE	2
PERRY	GAYLORD	1
PINSON	VADA	2
POWELL	BOOG	4
REICHARDT	RICK	1
ROBINSON	BROOKS	DELETED
ROBINSON	FLOYD	1
ROBINSON	FRANK	3	2 POSES
ROMANO	JOHN	4
ROSE	PETE	2
ROSEBORO	JOHN	1
SALMON	CHICO	2
SANTO	RON	2
SCOTT	GEORGE	3
SIEBERT	SONNY	1
SNYDER	RUSS	3
STARGELL	WILLIE	3
STOTTLEMYRE	MEL	2
TORRE	JOE	2
TOVAR	CESAR	2
TRESH	TOM	2
VERSALLES	ZOILO	1
WAGNER	LEON	2
WHITE	BILL	3
WHITFIELD	FRED	3
WILLIAMS	BILLY	2
WYNN	JIM	3
YASTRZEMSKI	CARL	3
	TOTAL	198

As predicted here, there and elsewhere, the total of 198 brings finality with 14 Team Captains known with a single lineup, 40 with two, 24 with three and 8 with four. 86 players are in the set and with the four pose variations there are 90 poses in all. As Larry states, 66 groups of three smooths out the math as lineups are particular to the groups of players in each triad (the connected panels as sold in the ten cent "long" packs).

Amidst all this carefully executed perfection though lurks the single lineup question. Namely, if you eliminate the four 66'ers (players who changed leagues and were pulled after only captaining one lineup) there are still ten single lineup players. Eight of these would likely have been replaced by turning a three lineup player into a four lineup-er and I suspect two captains went from two to three lineups as replacements were filled in a second print run as the skewing from 1 through 4 is extreme even for Topps.

In a perfect world, the distribution of captains would probably have been with either 2 or 3 lineups. The interaction of pulled players' lineups must have impacted this though, as it seems there would have been 44 two lineup captains and 22 three lineup captains if everything had gone according to plan (if two players went from 2 to 3 lineups the count of those would have been 22). In a set where rules of three rule, that makes (almost) perfect sense.

Here's shot of Luis Aparicio, one of the four lineup players, Captain of Captains!

Position Paper

Well, the discovery of the Mickey Mantle variation in the 1967 Punch Out set has rendered a good portion of my last post obsolete as it turns out. I was going to go back and edit the previous post a little to avoid confusion but I finally decided against it. I think the mysteries of this set can finally be sussed out though.

I was right that there is a common divisor with the set but it's not 3 or 9 or 22. Nope, it's clear now that it's good old 5 & 10. It's also clear that a meticulously thought out set was disrupted by events after the end of the 1966 baseball season.

Let's take another count of Captains: 14 are known with a single lineup, 40 with two, 26 with three and 6 with four. 86 players and 90 poses in all. Let's also look at what I called the 66'ers last time out, i.e. players who retired or changed teams after the 1966 season as the player's team at the end of play is what is reflected in the set.

66'ers? There are six: Clete Boyer, Don Lock, Floyd Robinson and John Romano from the AL, all of whom would be in the NL for '67, Sandy Koufax, and one more, who we'll get around to in a second.

After I thought there had to be 198 lineups to make the math work for the set, I did a survey of each player's position. What I found out was that most positions proved out to 10 players per, with 30 Outfielders as no LCR distinction was made by Topps. Additionally, it looked an even split for AL and NL players at each position but I was missing four: 2 Shortstops, a 3rd baseman and a pitcher. Since only 86 subjects are known this made a lot of sense but 90 cards would have to comprise a full set with even distribution. So, I took a closer look at the phantoms to see what was up with that.

One, Jerry Grote, a catcher for the Mets, was at a position that proved out to 10 players, so it seems he really was a no-print. His inclusion in the Standard Catalog checklist means he must have been mistaken for Dick Groat along the way (by moi). This leaves four players, all rumored to be in the set but never seen as Captains and all of whom appear in lineups: Brooks Robinson, clearly a 3rd baseman, Bob Gibson, obviously a pitcher, Bert Campaneris, a full time shortstop by 1966 and Roy McMillan, also a shortstop. Four holes filled perfectly, even down the the AL and NL split (2 of each)! Let's call these guys the Phantoms for real now.

The omission of McMillan is the easiest one of the 66'ers to explain as he was released by the Mets on October 17th, 1966. This also helps with the timeline as does the November 18th retirement of Sandy Koufax, who is a two-lineup Captain. Other than McMillan, who retired early enough to have his picture pulled from the set but not his lineup spot, and Koufax, who retired late enough to still be included as a Captain, the other four 66'ers were traded from the AL to the NL. In order: Clete Boyer went from the Yankees to the Braves on November 29th, Don Lock from the Senators to the Phillies the next day, Floyd Robinson went for the White Sox to the Reds on December 15th and John Romano also was dealt by the Pale Hose and joined the Cardinals the day before his ex-teammate.

There is no real correlation, save one explained below, between lineup appearances and the 66'ers as the traded players were on 3,2,1 and 4 respectively. Where I think the congruity occurs is with the four players having pose variations and the four missing Phantoms. Clearly the four Phantoms were meant to be in the set if they appeared in various lineups but when the 66'ers who retired or were traded after McMillan did had to be dealt with by Topps they were partially wiped out of existence in the set and replaced by the four pose variants, all of whom had significant fame at the time (Matty Alou won the 1966 NL batting crown if you were wondering).

This suggests to me a second print run, with the four pose variants and without three of the four remaining 66'ers; Romano being the exception. I suspect the 66'ers are Phantoms entwined in the complex mechanics of order created by Topps and one affected the other production wise among a small group of Captains. Why these contortions were necessary are a mystery; it's not like Topps included a checklist with the set or a chart detailing the intricate logic of its construction.

Topps likely did not plan for any player to be on more than three lineups but instead of filling holes in a very complicated ordering of the subjects and positions, I think the six players with four lineups were merely run off an extra time to replace the 66'ers. Romano was probably too locked in to too many lineups to be pulled so he was given an extra print. I may be running around in circles but I think this means one more pose variation is yet to be uncovered as one of the Phantoms is also a 66'er and it seems like one hole would remain otherwise. Perhaps alleged cropping differences are also due to a second print run.

This rejiggering also led to some production problems I think. This Groat card has Matty appearing twice in the lineup:



I'm sure that was supposed to be Felipe-too bad Jesus wasn't around! Actually, the Frank Robinson Orioles cap variation has Brooks and Floyd in the lineup; all three Robinson's on one card. Check it out.

I am going to leave off with team checklists for the set. Even though teams are not given on the cards, a player's team at the end of 1966 clearly controlled content so you can consider this list definitive for the 86 known subjects (No Prints are not shown):

FREGOSI	JIM	ANGELS
KNOOP	BOBBY	ANGELS
REICHARDT	RICK	ANGELS
JACKSON	SONNY	ASTROS
MORGAN	JOE	ASTROS
WYNN	JIM	ASTROS
CHARLES	ED	ATHLETICS
GREEN	DICK	ATHLETICS
HERSHBERGER	MIKE	ATHLETICS
AARON	HANK	BRAVES
ALOU	FELIPE	BRAVES
CARTY	RICO	BRAVES
MENKE	DENIS	BRAVES
TORRE	JOE	BRAVES
BROCK	LOU	CARDINALS
CEPEDA	ORLANDO	CARDINALS
FLOOD	CURT	CARDINALS
McCARVER	TIM	CARDINALS
SANTO	RON	CUBS
WILLIAMS	BILLY	CUBS
DAVIS	WILLIE	DODGERS
KOUFAX	SANDY	DODGERS
LEFEBVRE	JIM	DODGERS
ROSEBORO	JOHN	DODGERS
HALLER	TOM	GIANTS
HART	JIM RAY	GIANTS
MARICHAL	JUAN	GIANTS
MAYS	WILLIE	GIANTS
MCCOVEY	WILLIE	GIANTS
PERRY	GAYLORD	GIANTS
ALVIS	MAX	INDIANS
COLAVITO	ROCKY	INDIANS
SALMON	CHICO	INDIANS
SIEBERT	SONNY	INDIANS
WAGNER	LEON	INDIANS
WHITFIELD	FRED	INDIANS
BOYER	KEN	METS
HUNT	RON	METS
JONES	CLEON	METS
KRANEPOOL	ED	METS
APARICIO	LUIS	ORIOLES
BARBER	STEVE	ORIOLES
ETCHEBARREN	ANDY	ORIOLES
POWELL	BOOG	ORIOLES
ROBINSON	FRANK (2)	ORIOLES
SNYDER	RUSS	ORIOLES
ALLEN	RICHIE	PHILLIES
BUNNING	JIM	PHILLIES
CALLISON	JOHNNY	PHILLIES
GROAT	DICK	PHILLIES
WHITE	BILL	PHILLIES
ALLEY	GENE	PIRATES
ALOU	MATTY (2)	PIRATES
CLEMENTE	ROBERTO (2)	PIRATES
CLENDENON	DONN	PIRATES
MAZEROSKI	BILL	PIRATES
STARGELL	WILLIE	PIRATES
CONIGLIARO	TONY	RED SOX
SCOTT	GEORGE	RED SOX
YASTRZEMSKI	CARL	RED SOX
CARDENAS	LEO	REDS
EDWARDS	JOHNNY	REDS
PINSON	VADA	REDS
ROSE	PETE	REDS
HOWARD	FRANK	SENATORS
LOCK	DON	SENATORS
CASH	NORM	TIGERS
FREEHAN	BILL	TIGERS
KALINE	AL	TIGERS
LUMPE	JERRY	TIGERS
McAULIFFE	DICK	TIGERS
McLAIN	DENNY	TIGERS
BATTEY	EARL	TWINS
KAAT	JIM	TWINS
KILLEBREW	HARMON	TWINS
OLIVA	TONY	TWINS
TOVAR	CESAR	TWINS
VERSALLES	ZOILO	TWINS
ROBINSON	FLOYD	WHITE SOX
ROMANO	JOHN	WHITE SOX
BOYER	CLETE	YANKEES
HOWARD	ELSTON	YANKEES
MANTLE	MICKEY (2)	YANKEES
PEPITONE	JOE	YANKEES
STOTTLEMYRE	MEL	YANKEES
TRESH	TOM	YANKEES

I will probably have a little more to say on this set-still thinking things through a bit but we'll see!

New New Developments (Blue Sky Version)

Oh it has been an eventful 2011 already on the Topps front. Not only has Friend o'the Archive Al Richter set us straight on the five cent Magic Photo nickel packs featured in the previous post, but he has also righted the Standard Catalog listing for the 1967 Punch-Outs.

The latest 1967 Punch-Out story revolves around a variation of the Mickey Mantle card. I'll not vulture the scans or main narrative, you can see what's what over at Bob Lemke's blog as Al is a friend O'that blog too but it turns out the Mick either has a view of Yankee Stadium behind his head or a bit of sky instead.

As expected the lineups on each differ as well, so we have to update the huge count of players and different lineups like so, noting that Mantle becoming a three lineup player is not a surprise to me at all as it matches all the other pose variations in count:

LAST	FIRST	LINEUPS	NOTE
AARON	HANK	2
ALLEN	RICHIE	3
ALLEY	GENE	2
ALOU	FELIPE	2
ALOU	MATTY	3	2 POSES
ALVIS	MAX	3
APARICIO	LUIS	4
BARBER	STEVE	2
BATTEY	EARL	3
BOYER	CLETE	3
BOYER	KEN	3
BROCK	LOU	2
BUNNING	JIM	1
CALLISON	JOHNNY	2
CAMPANERIS	BERT	DELETED
CARDENAS	LEO	3
CARTY	RICO	2
CASH	NORM	3
CEPEDA	ORLANDO	4
CHARLES	ED	1
CLEMENTE	ROBERTO	3	2 POSES
CLENDENON	DONN	2
COLAVITO	ROCKY	1
CONIGLIARO	TONY	2
DAVIS	WILLIE	2
EDWARDS	JOHNNY	2
ETCHEBARREN	ANDY	2
FLOOD	CURT	2
FREEHAN	BILL	1
FREGOSI	JIM	2
GIBSON	BOB	DELETED
GREEN	DICK	3
GROAT	DICK	3
GROTE	JERRY	DELETED
HALLER	TOM	2
HART	JIM RAY	2
HERSHBERGER	MIKE	4
HOWARD	ELSTON	3
HOWARD	FRANK	4
HUNT	RON	3
JACKSON	SONNY	1
JONES	CLEON	2
KAAT	JIM	2
KALINE	AL	2
KILLEBREW	HARMON	3
KNOOP	BOBBY	3
KOUFAX	SANDY	2
KRANEPOOL	ED	2
LEFEBVRE	JIM	2
LOCK	DON	2
LUMPE	JERRY	1
MANTLE	MICKEY	3	2 POSES
MARICHAL	JUAN	2
MAYS	WILLIE	3
MAZEROSKI	BILL	2
McAULIFFE	DICK	1
McCARVER	TIM	3
MCCOVEY	WILLIE	1
McLAIN	DENNY	2
McMILLAN	ROY	DELETED
MENKE	DENIS	2
MORGAN	JOE	2
OLIVA	TONY	2
PEPITONE	JOE	2
PERRY	GAYLORD	1
PINSON	VADA	2
POWELL	BOOG	4
REICHARDT	RICK	1
ROBINSON	BROOKS	DELETED
ROBINSON	FLOYD	1
ROBINSON	FRANK	3	2 POSES
ROMANO	JOHN	4
ROSE	PETE	2
ROSEBORO	JOHN	1
SALMON	CHICO	2
SANTO	RON	2
SCOTT	GEORGE	3
SIEBERT	SONNY	1
SNYDER	RUSS	3
STARGELL	WILLIE	3
STOTTLEMYRE	MEL	2
TORRE	JOE	2
TOVAR	CESAR	2
TRESH	TOM	2
VERSALLES	ZOILO	1
WAGNER	LEON	2
WHITE	BILL	3
WHITFIELD	FRED	3
WILLIAMS	BILLY	2
WYNN	JIM	3
YASTRZEMSKI	CARL	3
	TOTAL	196

If you are keeping track there are 14 Team Captains known with a single lineup, 40 with two, 26 with three and 6 with four. 86 players and 90 poses in all.

There are now four pose variations known: Frank Robinson with airbrushed cap or Orioles chapeau, Matty Alou facing left or right, Mickey Mantle with Stadium or Sky in the background and Roberto Clemente with a slice of stadium behind him, or not. These all are three lineup players which is reflected in the lineup counts above. There are also allegedly cropping differences in some of the Team Captain photos, good look analyzing those out there in Punch-Out land!

Cards shown above as DELETED are being pulled from the Standard Catalog checklist as they are seemingly non-issued but interestingly, Brooks Robinson appears in the lineup of the Frank Robinson variation (Orioles cap version) and from what I have seen if you are in the lineup you are in the game (applies in the real world too). Bert Campaneris and Bob Gibson also show up in lineups.

From what I can determine, five players would have been pulled due their circumstances changing after the 1966 season ended, let's call them the 66'ers. One was lost to retirement (Koufax, a NL Captain) and four (Clete Boyer, Don Lock, Floyd Robinson and John Romano, all AL Captains) changed leagues. The fact that there are five deleted players and five 66'ers is quite interesting. Three of them match on positions with the 66'ers, deleted player shown last: Catcher: John Romano/Jerry Grote; Third Base: Clete Boyer/Brooks Robinson and Pitcher: Sandy Koufax/Bob Gibson. Grote is the only one of these three I have not seen in a lineup but I really wonder why he was not in the set since he was a regular, unless a team oriented structure was in effect.

Deleted players Campaneris and McMillan were shortstops though I have only seen Campy in a lineup. Don Lock and Floyd Robinson were outfielders and yes, I am going to do a position and team analysis next time out. So assuming lineup appearance equals Captaincy, Brooks Robinson, Bob Gibson and Bert Campaneris should all have their mugs atop one of these bad boys.

I am thinking though, that whatever the final count of lineups is, it should be divisible by 9. 196 is not but 198 is (22 x 9). Additionally, since a strip of three has three lineups not shared with any other strips of three, the total of all lineups should be divisible by three. Once again, 196 is not but 198 is.

Also, it takes three groups of 66, likely formed in iterations of 22, to make it to 198 and it has bothered me that we were getting 65 with some previous calculations since when you run 65 out to 195 lineups, that figure is not divisible by 9. Finally, it seems there should be an equal division of AL and NL cards, so 66 is better that 65 in that regard and if you add two players to the overall count of 86 known, you get 88, a number that works with iterations of 22.

If you add Campaneris, Gibson and Brooks Robinson as Captains then I think we are still missing one or two Captains (one or both likely a pitcher) and two lineups when all is said an done but I may correct myself by the weekend.

With this staring me in the face and since I'm obsessed with this type of thing, I decided to start counting groupings. The single lineup players in the set did not neatly sort into obvious groups and the four lineup players did not either but then I started counting pitchers and found there are only nine confirmed in the set: Barber, Bunning, Kaat, Koufax, Marichal, McLain, Gaylord Perry, Siebert and Stottlemyre plus a tenth, Gibson, who appears as a pitcher on at least one lineup.

There should be an equal distribution of pitchers across leagues but there are five known from the AL and four from the NL. So one mystery pitcher that comes to mind is Bob Gibson. If we assume he is in the set, we are at 5/5 on pitchers across both leagues but Gibby would replace Koufax in this scenario, leaving us unbalanced. Steve Barber was essentially injured the latter half of 1966 and I wonder if he was added for the second run of the set.

That would however, match my guesstimate that there were originally supposed to be five position players per position per league (15 outfielders per circuit) yielding a planned total of 45 subjects in each league, or 90 Captains. If we assume instead there were only four pitchers per league planned, we get 88 total Captaincy's and we divide by 3, 9 and 22 if you work it out.

I am going to breathe deeply, run the position and team analyses and revert back on this mess. I may have to allow for World Series participation bias to boot. Dang!

Here is an attached strip of three blurry Punch-Outs for your viewing pleasure, which reflects how I feel at this point:

Oh Captain, My Captain!

I am telling you, the more you look at the Topps Punchboards, the more confusing things get! Just when it looked like the 66's were sussed out, along comes a mystery man who expands the set count by 40-some-odd-percent. Then you get a ton of details on the 67's (much more on this below) and think you have that particular set figured out when in comes even more information. Egads!

Well, enough kvetching......let's talk 1967-ish Topps Baseball Punch-outs!

After what looks like a full production ramp up that was killed just before test marketing in 1966, Topps revamped and greatly (understatement of the year) expanded the offering for 1967. Whereas we have 14 cards featuring 28 players in '66, the 1967 Topps Punchboards (or Punch-Outs, the wrapper and card backs differ) were sent off into the Summer of Love with a possible 86 players and just under 200 permutations presented in crisp, elongated cellos and mysteriously distributed wax packs.

I have shown 67's here before but always like showing off my Cleon Jones:



American League players had red backgrounds while all of the Senior Circuit players were draped in black like Cleon. Here is one I used to own, taped on one side which made me think it may have been a Topps file copy at some point:



We'll get to the perforations in a minute. The back tells you how to play the game (greatly simplified and made more cost effective than it was the year before) but also gives us a clue about the size of the set:



"Nearly 200" different lineup cards is the veritable truth. Veteran Topps test collector Larry Serota has been tracking this set for years and has some significant observations. He has found there are 86 Team Captains and 195 different lineups. Good grief!

When you consider this is a set that is only a step up from a typical Topps test issue in scarcity (it was likely issued in a few, select locales), Larry' s collection of 192 out of 195 possible cards is one of the more amazing hobby feats I can recall.

Let's start by examining the most commonly issued format. Still occasionally found in their aboriginal state of three vertically connected cards, these babies were gumless, ten cent cello packs with two full panels, or six cards; likely a foray by Topps into the world beyond the corner candy store. Here's a few now, apologies for not having the source:



We'll get back to the cellos later.

Now, our man Larry has observed over 1000 panels (oh, yes he has) and found that each three card strip has lineups unique to that particular grouping. Here is a shot of a still-unopened pack that shows a three card strip:



That would be a red AL card under the middle of the wrapper and presumably the other strip below it would reverse the pattern. What Larry is getting at is that the lineups do not repeat on different panels, which is a remarkable feat of design by Topps when you get down to it.

Now Larry has not stopped there; he has determined that if you are a Team Captain in this set, you almost always appear more than once, albeit with a different lineup. Larry figured out that each Captain appears on from 1-4 different cards, as follows:

LAST	FIRST	LINEUPS	NOTE
AARON	HANK	2
ALLEN	RICHIE	3
ALLEY	GENE	2
ALOU	FELIPE	2
ALOU	MATTY	3	2 POSES
ALVIS	MAX	3
APARICIO	LUIS	4
BARBER	STEVE	2
BATTEY	EARL	3
BOYER	CLETE	3
BOYER	KEN	3
BROCK	LOU	2
BUNNING	JIM	1
CALLISON	JOHNNY	2
CAMPANERIS	BERT	N/A
CARDENAS	LEO	3
CARTY	RICO	2
CASH	NORM	3
CEPEDA	ORLANDO	4
CHARLES	ED	1
CLEMENTE	ROBERTO	3	2 POSES
CLENDENON	DONN	2
COLAVITO	ROCKY	1
CONIGLIARO	TONY	2
DAVIS	WILLIE	2
EDWARDS	JOHNNY	2
ETCHEBARREN	ANDY	2
FLOOD	CURT	2
FREEHAN	BILL	1
FREGOSI	JIM	2
GIBSON	BOB	N/A
GREEN	DICK	3
GROAT	DICK	3
GROTE	JERRY	N/A*
HALLER	TOM	2
HART	JIM RAY	2
HERSHBERGER	MIKE	4
HOWARD	ELSTON	3
HOWARD	FRANK	4
HUNT	RON	3
JACKSON	SONNY	1
JONES	CLEON	2
KAAT	JIM	2
KALINE	AL	2
KILLEBREW	HARMON	3
KNOOP	BOBBY	3
KOUFAX	SANDY	2
KRANEPOOL	ED	2
LEFEBVRE	JIM	2
LOCK	DON	2
LUMPE	JERRY	1
MANTLE	MICKEY	2
MARICHAL	JUAN	2
MAYS	WILLIE	3
MAZEROSKI	BILL	2
McAULIFFE	DICK	1
McCARVER	TIM	3
MCCOVEY	WILLIE	1
McLAIN	DENNY	2
McMILLAN	ROY	N/A
MENKE	DENIS	2
MORGAN	JOE	2
OLIVA	TONY	2
PEPITONE	JOE	2
PERRY	GAYLORD	1
PINSON	VADA	2
POWELL	BOOG	4
REICHARDT	RICK	1
ROBINSON	BROOKS	N/A
ROBINSON	FLOYD	1
ROBINSON	FRANK	3	2 POSES
ROMANO	JOHN	4
ROSE	PETE	2
ROSEBORO	JOHN	1
SALMON	CHICO	2
SANTO	RON	2
SCOTT	GEORGE	3
SIEBERT	SONNY	1
SNYDER	RUSS	3
STARGELL	WILLIE	3
STOTTLEMYRE	MEL	2
TORRE	JOE	2
TOVAR	CESAR	2
TRESH	TOM	2
VERSALLES	ZOILO	1
WAGNER	LEON	2
WHITE	BILL	3
WHITFIELD	FRED	3
WILLIAMS	BILLY	2
WYNN	JIM	3
YASTRZEMSKI	CARL	3
	TOTAL	195

Yes, there are three pose variations: Frank Robinson as a Red (almost certainly an honest mistake) or Oriole, Matty Alou facing left or right and Roberto Clemente with a slice of stadium behind him, or not. These all are three lineup players. There are also cropping differences in some of the Team Captain photos. All of this is reflected in the lineup counts. If you are keeping score at home there are 14 Team Captains with a single lineup, 41 with two, 25 with three and 6 with four.

The five cards shown as N/A are bonafide red herrings according to Larry. Grote's asterisk indicates he never should have been on the Standard Catalog checklist (my bad, I actually caused that error) which leaves the thorny issue of Brooks Robinson, Campy Campaneris, Bob Gibson and Roy McMillan. I am warning you now, I am making some serious guesses on the manner of distribution from this point forward.

Gibson in particular has vexed collectors for years but appears to be chimerical, as do the other missing Captains. If you discount McMillan, who appears in the '66 set and could be a mistake on an old checklist, that leaves B. Robby, Campy and ol' Gibby as orphans on the list. Larry feels they do not exist, as do other advanced collectors. He does concede they could all be part of a single panel, which fits the observed lineup phenomena as it would appear they are not on any other lineups. It would also give us 66 three card panels, which would be a righteous number in the Topps universe, but I merely speculate. Each of these three would be a single lineup Captain if actually printed, I have to think.

Prior posts have shown a reconstructed box but our correspondent John Moran, reporting from the wilds of the internet, culled out a wax wrapper from 1967 (it is likely an OPC version) in an old Mastro auction:



That is a rare wrapper friends. Rumor surrounding this set is they were issued in the Baltimore area. I have long thought certain odd-sized Topps test issues were printed in Bawlmer; I lean towards the Punchboards in that regard.

The kicker to all this is that John found evidence the ten cent cello packs were marketed in 1968. This could explain the persistence of hobby wisdom that this was a '68 issue. This flat though, clearly shows a March 1967 proofing process for wax. Looks like a multi-year issue is a distinct possibility, which could account for our three pose variations and cropping differences. I also wonder if Team Captains with three and four lineups beneath them were reprinted for the '68 season. No real way to tell at this point but it's an intriguing idea.

Topps must have had huge plans for this set but it most certainly did not sell well. While it may have satisfied Sy Berger and Woody Gelman's nostalgic impulses, it does not seem it caught on in '67 or '68. You can find these cards with some digging, although major stars and single-lineup captains will run you quite a bit of dough. Punched out cards can also be had, for a fraction for the cost of intact boards. Personally, I think this is a great set!

UPDATE 1: John Moran was kind enough to send a scan of the 68 long box, just wider than a three card cello: