Cello, I Must Be Going

Not too long ago I took a look at the 1969 Baseball Cello packaging.  Well, Friend o'the Archive John Moran turned up another version of the display box that has a splash panel for the 1969 Deckles to complement the Magic Rub-Offs version already on file, so here ya go:

That scan was found at 4192cards.com, no surprise given the Pete Rose image on the front panel.  The Deckle wrapper looked like this in wax form:

That makes me wonder if the cello wrappers followed suit. Maybe, maybe not as I can't find an example but given how tough the blues  are, it's possible I'm just unable to find a scan at present.

Additionally, I assume (dangerous, I know) it's possible a cello wrapper version exists for the Magic Rub-Offs. Note that the wax wrapper variant which had instructions on them:

The graphics on applying the rub-off decals took the place of an ad:

I'm not sure what a display box would look like without an insert splash as the Magic Rub-Off version is blue-themed.

Don't Cello Me Short

Friend o'the Archive David Danberg posed a question to me recently about which specific packs could be found in which specific boxes of 1969 Topps Baseball cards. It's an interesting question because this is the year Topps sold both five and ten cent packs of cards; the former in traditional wax livery, the latter in a printed cello that was offered in seemingly in some kind of fairly widespread and lengthy test (at least as far as their test issues go).

To refresh our collective memories, these were those, wax first:

You can see this nickel pack which I believe is from the first series, was produced in Brooklyn.  This would change with the fifth series as the origin switched to Duryea. 

But Topps also issued 10 cent printed cello's, which are extremely hard to find today, all through the baseball season:

Note the see-through quality of the front, especially within the white circle, where you can see the gum, and on the back, where a clear, little window shows off the bottom card which shows above and below as well. The yellow panel used on the wax pack to describe the Magic Magnet Set is white and semi-transparent here, then the art for it is rotated ninety degrees for some reason.  As I said, they are tough packs to find and wrappers are even tougher as these tended to self-destruct upon opening.  And just like the wax packs, these were also released series-by-series; this pack too is from the first.  All printed cello's, no matter which series they held, show they were produced in Duryea.  It's an interesting divide and it makes me think a lot of the testing of this pack (and new ten cent price point, albeit still at a penny per card) could have mostly occurred around the Topps complex there. 

Topps being Topps though, they still issued a traditional clear (and gumless) cello pack in 1969. Here's some more first series action:

There were at least three other distribution methods used as well, two of which I will get to shortly (there was also the self-explanatory vending release). 1969 was an immensely interesting year for Topps, as they had major league expansion to navigate, with the MLBPA's boycott of Topps photographers ending as well. There were also two miniaturized sets which used the card design, one standalone and one an insert, plus Supers, Stamps and Deckle Photos available at various points to tempt the tykes. Topps was flooding the market after making nice with the MLBPA, whew!

Right, so Mr, Danberg's question was related to the cello "wax" packs.  One of the great things about Topps (and also quite frustrating at times) was their use of Commodity Codes for their products. This provided a way for them to track all the costs and profits associated with a particular project (usually a specific set, allowing that was not always the case) through its sales cycle, although some inside knowledge to navigate the system over several years sometimes (more on this below) was surely required. Friend o'the Archive Lonnie Cummins has been researching these codes for years and is still trying to decipher the part of the string that comes after the stock number.

The five cent wax packs had a first series commodity code of: 0-401, where the three digit stock number is 401. This ties to the five cent box's stock number of 1-401, so they are a match, of course:

Isn't that a great looking box?

The ten cent printed cello's code starts off as 0-301 but there's two possible boxes as this guy also was produced:

It starts off with a 1-401 commodity code and while the clear cello's have no printed code, they tie in at 401 due to the lack of gum.

The last digit of the code is a 7 (for 1967), meaning Topps had been using this box for the two years prior to selling clear cello Baseball packs. This is one of the anomalies with the codes and I'm not sure if Topps just wrote the entire production of these boxes off to a specific 1967 budget or if they somehow amortized the cost. One thing is for sure, leftovers never got tossed, just re-used.

That leaves us with the ten cent box, which should follow the 301 stock number found on the printed cello wrappers:

(Courtesy John Moran)

David checked his collection for this box's stock number and it is, no surprise, 1-301.  Game, set, match.  Also, this six-pack of sorts was marketed in 1969, continuing a configuration that debuted in 1967:

The back is quite busy and the commodity code is small and hard to see but it reads 1-401-30-01-8, so we have a cardboard tray that was also used for the 1968 marketing:

There were also rak-paks:

OK, now it gets a little weird.  While Topps used to sell rak paks that contained three overwrapped cello packs and only changed that procedure in 1968, when the cards were bagged loose in each "cell" of the rak. The rak header card seen above, with a code of 1-081-93-03-7 debuted in 1968, while they were debuting cello pack-free raks!  In 1967 it looked like this:

While the code on that also ended with a 7, although the stock number was different.  Se we'll call the "New Trading Cards" pack the "new" header  and the one with the batter the "old"one. The 1967 Football raks used the "new" header" so they didn't carryover from Baseball that year. And the codes had only debuted in 1966 in general, as did the famous curved-t Topps logo. 

So what gives? Durned if I know.  All I can tell you is after 1967, I consider this the best-looking regular-issue Topps set of the decade, which I realize may not reflect the hobby's opinion at large. Beyond that, in order: 1965, 1960, 1963, 1966, 1962, 1961, 1968 and 1964. Your experience may vary!

P.S.-WTH, let's do the Fifties and Seventies as well, ranked best to worst by yours truly:

1957, 1952, 1954, 1953, 1955, 1959, 1956, 1958.

1971, 1972, 1970 (best reverse ever BTW), 1975, 1973, 1979, 1974,  three way tie for last.

Wax On, Wax Off

It's funny what's turned up in Topps packs over the years: plain white gum separators through the mid-50's, cello wrapped caramel in 1951 and a string of contest and premium offer cards in the late 50's into 1960.  Topps then moved into more familiar inserts starting with the 1960 Football cards, which for the most part ended in 1971 for Baseball and Football. In retrospect these were clearly sales stimulators so long as costs allowed. In 1967-69 though, something else made an appearance that not too many folks know about.

Ads, specifically in-house ads for upcoming inserts and sets, are what came in certain wax packs these three years. The first one I'm aware of is this little bit of wax paper from 1967, roughly the size of the era's penny Bazooka comics:

Love the Tigers player and his knowing look!  My research, which is admittedly a bit limited as I am just in the training wheels stage when it comes to the series-by series specifics of vintage Topps wax packs, shows the Pin-Ups were issued throughout the season (they are known in 2nd, 5th, 6th and 7th series cello packs for sure), so I'd imagine these were found in 1st series packs.

QUICK SAME DAY UPDATE:  I found this commencing with the Classified Ads in the March 1972 Issue of The Trader Speaks.  Same pitcher, slightly altered facially and on the uniform and I suspect Woody Gelman had a hand. He appeared, along with his battery mate, in TTS until the last Dan Dischley published issue came out in September 1983, save one or two occasions):

1968 brought an ad for the Game cards, complete with cursory instructions:

From Mantle, Mays and Aaron to Campy, who was a helluva player but not in the same zip code as those guys, and I suspect at least one other player, if not more, was named (see batter's ankles and feet at the top). The Game cards seem to have started showing up in 4th series packs, so these would be from the 3rd series. However, that wasn't all. The 6th and 7th series wax packs carried two tones of Football preview:

These are noticeably larger (much taller) than the Baseball waxy inserts and according to Darren Prince's 1993 Wrapper and Pack Guide, came in 6th and 7th series packs. Dig the commodity codes and fold lines - were these printed and actually folded in with the wrappers?! 1968 was the first combined NFL/AFL set issued by Topps and they clearly intended to make a big splash.

1969 seems to be the end year for the waxy inserts, possibly due to rising costs; remember, ten cent "cello" packs debuted this year to mimic the Baseball wax in a large scale pricing experiment and the dime wax pack debuted for real with the '69 Football release (and some Non-Sports issues).  Friend o'the Archive Dave Schmidt sent me a scan of the installment from '69 as I have not yet found one of these (the others are from my collection):

The Deckles debuted in Series 3 but there were also the Decal inserts in 1969 so it's possible another  ad insert exists for those.  Prince has the Decals ("Magic Rub-Offs" actually) as appearing in 2nd and 5th series packs so I'm not sure what's going on with that.

I've also just gotten this one in from across the pond, it's from Topps UK:

That little, oddly-fonted ID number off to the right says "UK 24" which didn't help with dating but I found a Footballer wrapper from 1979-80 over at the awesome Nigel's Webspace that helped zero in on it:

Sorry for the murk, I found a better scan of the offer, which is not an exact match to the insert but fairly close:

While being fairly non-conversant with the ins-and-outs-of the English First Division teams of the time, I did know Celtic & Rangers were both from the Scottish League so I had to do a little research. The last season Topps issued Scottish League cards was 1979-80 (in their own set) and the English League teams (first and second division) were in the set this wrapper enclosed. so the timing fit. I then found 21 of the 22 first division teams that played that season on the insert, missing only Bolton, which was by far the worst team in the league and ended up relegated (and likely just ignored by Topps UK) along with Bristol City and Stoke, both of which made the scarf cut as a booby prize I guess. This waxy insert must have part of the Bazooka Joe comic series over in the UK in either 1979-80 then, or the next season if they were burning off excess premiums.

White Letter Day

1969 saw a 20% increase in the number of major league baseball teams with the addition of the Seattle pilots and Kansas City Royals in the American League and the Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres in the Senior Circuit, all of which siphoned players from other rosters in their respective leagues. The entire sport probably seemed like it was on the move when that season's Baseball set was being planned at Brooklyn HQ. Coupled with this, Topps had been embroiled in a dispute with the Major League Baseball Players Association, who were boycotting Topps after Arthur Shorin told Marvin Miller he didn't see his "muscle" in negotiations of licensing fees. That little problem didn't resolve until a large portion of the cards had already been composed.  It was a tough year to get everything straight (a challenge even in quiet ones) and Topps ended up up with a very interesting set, definitely shored up by a solid design.

In the area of challenges, 23 cards from the 5th series (#426-512) ended up with the player name entirely in white letters, where either the given name or surname was supposed to be yellow. Here is the list, courtesy of Friend o'the Archive Bob Fisk; anything else was intended to look the way it did, white letter-wise at least. For the corrected version, substitute yellow for white.

440a Willie McCovey (last name in white)
441a Dennis Higgins (last name in white)
444a Joe Moeller (last name in white)
447a Ralph Houk (last name in white)
451a Rich Rollins (first name in white)
452a Al Ferrera (first name in white)
454a Phillies Rookies (names in white)
461a Mike Epstein (last name in white)
464a Dave Marshall (last name in white)
468a Pirates Rookies (names in white)
470a Mel Stottlemyre (last name in white)
471a Ted Savage (last name in white)
473a Jose Arcia (first name in white)
476a Red Sox Rookies (names in white)
482a Jim Gosger (first name in white)
485a Gaylord Perry (last name in white)
486a Paul Casanova (last name in white)
491a Twins Rookies (names in white)
493a Wes Parker (last name in white)
500a Mickey Mantle (last name in white)
501a Tony Gonzalez (first name in white)
505a Bobby Bolin (last name in white)
511a Diego Segui (first name in white)

Huggins & Scott have come up with a partial 5th series sheet (and a very informative partial proof) that contains the entirety of the issued white letter subjects and it's a neat little bit of Topps visual history. See the Mick in slot 5 five of row 2 for white-on-white confirmation.

REA had a repaired version with the correct yellow letters awhile back for comparison, although it's a bit fuzzy (sorry):

The white letter variant partial does not show the 4 repeating rows (replicating the top four rows) so it's unclear if the white letters were on both impressions of the duplicated subjects (the other half sheet would have the middle four rows from the one sheet at the top of the other then the 88 card iteration below) from H&S.

Also of note are the ten All-Star cards--not because they have variants but because the back of them has the Pete Rose puzzle on this proof:

However, the blank front of this proof is where the good stuff is.  Check out this extract:

There's your press run green light date: April 11, 1969, with 85,200 sheets run (I presume 264 card full sheets) or about 22,250,000 cards -  about a quarter million of each subject.  But of course there were other press runs so the actual number printed would be much higher.

1969 Is Fine - Part Two

Following last weeks' peek at the 1969 Decals,  today I'll be looking at the 1969 Topps Baseball Mini Stickers, more commonly known as 4 on 1 Stickers. 

Topps was pretty big on putting a "quad" of stickers on a card back in the 60's and early 70's, especially on the non-sports side. For some reason they decided to test a baseball themed mini sticker set in 1969, taking images from the 2nd series press sheet used for the regular issue. Perhaps Woody Gelman just liked the card design for '69! As an aside, the Football stamp stickers Topps issued in 1969, which had to be moistened to put into a mini album, are referred to as 4 in 1 Stickers. This makes me think it was more expensive to use true sticker stock but I digress....

In addition to the old standby of capless photos, Topps really broke out the airbrush in '69.  Kosco had come over to the Dodgers from the Yankees and Ollie Brown was, of course, selected in the expansion draft by the Padres (from the Giants) and had the honor of being the first player selected in MLB's third such crapshoot. Jim Bunning came over after the 1967 season from the Phillies to the Pirates and given his Philly duds, I would say Topps just didn't have a current picture of him. 

As Friend o'the Archive Keith Olbermann recently pointed out to me, Topps was facing a Major League Baseball Players Association boycott in 1967-68 and only a handful of new pictures were taken during that time.  Dexter Press and few other issuers tried to take advantage of this interregnum but the MLBPA worked out their differences with Topps after increased royalties were obtained for the players. They did start taking a lot of new photos in spring training in 1969 as a lot of tired old shots had been rehashed ad nauseum over the previous years.

Ron Reed was happily ensconced in Atlanta at the time, although he had been a player with the Detroit Pistons in the NBA  a couple of years prior. In addition to being one of a dozen MLB players who also played in the NBA/NBL, he played alongside former White Sox pitcher Dave DeBusschere while in Detroit and, in fact, was also coached by Double D, who was Pistons head coach from 1964-67!  In addition to dying on my 15th wedding anniversary, DeBusschere was also having a drink with an acquaintance of mine on the day he passed.  Anyhoo...

Topps indicia adorns the lower right card sticker of each quad, so 25 of these babies have such markings. The back is just a shade off true white:

Looks like the horizontal score line had a bit more oomph behind it during manufacture as you can't see the vertical companion.

I'll get into the teams and composition of the set momentarily, but one interesting variation from the regular issue Baseball set surfaces and gives us a window into the production timeline.

Clayton Dalrymple, shown with the Phillies in this set, while he has a team variation in the main set, having been traded from the Phillies to the Orioles on January 20, 1969. Here's the progression:

So at what point did Topps make him an Oriole?  We saw last time out that the Decals were composed sometime between 12/12/68 and 1/22/69 and the Mini Stickers fall into the same rough time frame. Once again Donn Clendenon helps with the dating. Remember he went through a crazy period where, as Wikipedia tells us:

"With first base prospect Al Oliver waiting in the wings, the Pirates left Clendenon unprotected for the 1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft, and he was selected by the Montreal Expos. On January 22, 1969, the Expos traded Clendenon and Jesús Alou to the Houston Astros for Rusty Staub. The Astros had recently hired Clendenon's former Pirates manager, Harry Walker, with whom Clendenon had a personality clash, to steer their club. Clendenon refused to report to his new team.

The Expos and Astros worked out a new deal, and Clendenon joined the Expos on April 19, 1969."

He's an Expo in the 4 on 1's It's easy to pinpoint the bookend dates for the Mini Stickers then. They couldn't have been approved for final design before October 14, 1968 (the day Clendenon was selected by the Expos from Pittsburgh) or after January 20, 1969 when Clay Dalrymple became an Oriole. Clendenon's regular issue card with the Expos shown also goes for about ten times the Houston version, while Dalrymple has many more Orioles cards available so the first regular issue print run was altered and subsequent runs had the majority of both player's cards with their new teams. I think it's good bet then that the Mini Stickers were printed just after the first run of the second series was composed.

A color process proof of the Mini Stickers exists and was auctioned for a song by REA a little while back:

These were taken from the "A" sheet, or left side of a 264 master uncut series 2 sheet, as iPhoned by Friend o'the Archive Anthony Nex; Clendenon as an Expo is third card in on rows 1 and 9, while Dalrymple is eight cards over on the 6th row:

You can clearly see how the top two rows of the regular press sheet are double printed and reappear near the bottom.  The rightmost column was excised for the Mini Stickers, which saved Topps from having checklists appear in the set but truncated the World Series subset by one subject in sticker form.  In fact, where else can you find a checklist of the cards NOT replicated as stickers?  Witness:

107  2nd Series Checklist

155  Pete Ward (White Sox)

167  World Series Game 6

172  Jerry Stephenson (Red Sox)

182  Bill Rigney (Angels)

183  Don Shaw (Expos)

211  Galen Cisco (Royals)

212  Tom Tresh (Yankees)

214  3rd Series Checklist

217  John Donaldson (Athletics)

Here's the "B" Sheet, from an old Huggins & Scott auction:

You can see how Topps sliced and diced the rows when compared to the "A" sheet.  That's how they rolled back then! If you count from the top down, the 8th and 9th rows, which are replicated as the 11th and 12th rows, are all extra prints, appearing three times over the two half sheets.

As with the 1969 Decals, I'll give you a checklist ordered by team.  Note all the of the designated rookie cards have two players apiece but I've shown each player individually:

LAST		FIRST		TEAM		REG #
REICHARDT		RICK		ANGELS		205
RODGERS		BOB		ANGELS		157
WEAVER		JIM		ANGELS		134
BAUER		HANK		ATHLETICS		124
NOSSEK		JOE		ATHLETICS		143
ODOM		JOHN		ATHLETICS		195
AARON		TOMMIE		BRAVES		128
BRITTON		JIM		BRAVES		154
HARRIS		LUMAN		BRAVES		196
MILLAN		FELIX		BRAVES		210
REED		RON		BRAVES		177
GIBSON		BOB		CARDINALS		200
HUNTZ		STEVE		CARDINALS		136
NELSON		MEL		CARDINALS		181
PINSON		VADA		CARDINALS		160
SHANNON		MIKE		CARDINALS		110
TORREZ		MIKE		CARDINALS		136
BECKERT		GLENN		CUBS		171
DUROCHER		LEO		CUBS		147
HANDS		BILL		CUBS		115
SMITH		WILLIE		CUBS		198
FAIRLY		RON		DODGERS		122
KOSCO		ANDY		DODGERS		139
LEFEBVRE		JIM		DODGERS		140
PURDIN		JOHN		DODGERS		161
SUTTON		DON		DODGERS		216
BATEMAN		JOHN		EXPOS		138
CLENDENON		DONN		EXPOS		208
FAIREY		JIM		EXPOS		117
GIBBON		JOE		GIANTS		158
HIATT		JACK		GIANTS		204
MAYS		WILLIE		GIANTS		190
SADECKI		RAY		GIANTS		125
EDWARDS		JOHNNY		HOUSTON		186
GILSON		HAL		HOUSTON		156
McFADDEN		LEON		HOUSTON		156
RADER		DOUG		HOUSTON		119
WILSON		DON		HOUSTON		202
ALVIS		MAX		INDIANS		145
AZCUE		JOE		INDIANS		176
SNYDER		RUSS		INDIANS		201
WILLIAMS		STAN		INDIANS		118
CARDWELL		DON		METS		193
COLLINS		KEVIN		METS		127
HENDLEY		BOB		METS		144
MARTIN		J.C.		METS		112
DILLMAN		BILL		ORIOLES		141
JOHNSON		DAVEY		ORIOLES		203
MAY		DAVE		ORIOLES		113
PHOEBUS		TOM		ORIOLES		185
BROWN		OLLIE		PADRES		149
McCOOL		BILL		PADRES		129
PENA		ROBERTO		PADRES		184
SELMA		DICK		PADRES		197
CALLISON		JOHNNY		PHILLIES		133
DALRYMPLE		CLAY		PHILLIES		151
HISLE		LARRY		PHILLIES		206
JACKSON		GRANT		PHILLIES		174
LERSCH		BARRY		PHILLIES		206
WISE		RICK		PHILLIES		188
DAVIS		TOMMY		PILOTS		135
HANEY		LARRY		PILOTS		209
MORRIS		JOHNNY		PILOTS		111
OYLER		RAY		PILOTS		178
BUNNING		JIM		PIRATES		175
CANNIZZARO		CHRIS		PIRATES		131
PAGAN		JOSE		PIRATES		192
SISK		TOMMIE		PIRATES		152
LAHOUD		JOE		RED SOX		189
PETROCELLI		RICO		RED SOX		215
STANGE		LEE		RED SOX		148
THIBDEAU		JOHN		RED SOX		189
YASTRZEMSKI		CARL		RED SOX		130
ARRIGO		GERRY		REDS		213
ROSE		PETE		REDS		120
WAGNER		LEON		REDS		187
WOODWARD		WOODY		REDS		142
ADAIR		JERRY		ROYALS		159
BUNKER		WALLY		ROYALS		137
HARRISON		CHUCK		ROYALS		116
BALDWIN		DAVE		SENATORS		132
BRINKMAN		ED		SENATORS		153
FRENCH		JIM		SENATORS		199
HOWARD		FRANK		SENATORS		170
WORLD SERIES		GAME 4		SPECIAL-WS		165
WORLD SERIES		GAME 3		SPECIAL-WS		164
WORLD SERIES		GAME 7		SPECIAL-WS		168
WORLD SERIES		GAME 2		SPECIAL-WS		163
WORLD SERIES		GAME 1		SPECIAL-WS		162
WORLD SERIES		SUMMARY		SPECIAL-WS		169
WORLD SERIES		GAME 5		SPECIAL-WS		166
FACE		ROY		TIGERS		207
HORTON		WILLIE		TIGERS		180
McLAIN		DENNY		TIGERS		150
TRACEWSKI		DICK		TIGERS		126
GRZENDA		JOE		TWINS		121
PERRY		JIM		TWINS		146
ROSEBORO		JOHN		TWINS		218
UHLAENDER		TED		TWINS		194
CHRISTIAN		BOB		WHITE SOX		173
NYMAN		GERRY		WHITE SOX		173
PAVLETICH		DON		WHITE SOX		179
WOOD		WILBUR		WHITE SOX		123
CLOSTER		ALAN		YANKEES		114
CUMBERLAND		JOHN		YANKEES		114
McDANIEL		LINDY		YANKEES		191

EDIT 4/17/16: A further tip of the cap to Keith Olbermann, who pointed put the first version of this post had Dalrymple shown with the wrong team on the Mini Stickers. His catch has helped tighten up this post considerably.

1969 Is Fine - Part One

1969 brought a world of changes to Major League Baseball. A second wave of expansion swelled the number of teams to 24 and gave us the beginnings of divisional alignments and multi-tiered playoffs. Topps was forced to change too, with new photography being ordered for veterans and a massive set that, at 664 cards, was their largest to date. 1969 also marked the last year of things such as multi-player cards and five cent wax packs, so as one era ended another began.

Topps created a simple design for the 1969 Baseball cards and gave them backs with a pinkish/salmon color that was prevalent in many of their late 60's non-sports sets. I guess when Topps bought ink they bought it by the tanker truck full! The result was an easy to read reverse that expanded on the slimmer, vertically oriented landscape of the past two years and incorporated the curved lower case "t" Topps logo-its only appearance on a vintage baseball card.

Topps so liked the design of the cards in 1969 that they used it in two additional sets: a 48 subject decal insert with the regular issue and a 25 "card"/100 Mini Stickers set that was sold on its own. Today we'll take a look at the Decals.

They are quite colorful and measure about 1 3/4" x 2 1/8", although there is some slight variance in the cutting; as per below, some of this cutting may have occurred well after the last out of the 1969 World Series was caught by Cleon Jones.

The colored circles usually differ vs. the regular issue and the text is all black here whereas the cards used a two tone scheme. Actually, all of the colored circles may be different but I didn't really check those carefully.  What I did check was all of the poses. Almost of the images used for the Decals differ from those on the regular issue cards.

There are three types of photos used on the Decals when compared to the regular issue and I counted each type:

1) Different picture (35)

2) Same picture (5)

3) More tightly cropped picture (8)

A couple of crops were so close I counted them as being the same.  The 8 tight crops I noted were obvious ones.  Here is an example of a cropped Decal photo:

You can see how they used a tighter crop of the photo from the card:

What the heck, here's the aforementioned Topps logo on the card back.  Sweet, huh?

Now take a look at Tony Oliva's regular card vs. his Decal:

Two different photos were used obviously. I'll get into the reasons for this momentarily. It also worth noting Topps did manage to recycle his Decal image on a 1969 Super Baseball card though, just with a slightly bigger crop:

The Decals sport two team changes (sort of): Rusty Staub is shown with Houston on his Decal but is with Montreal in the regular issue. Donn Clendenon had a card variation in 1969 and can be found with Montreal or Houston but he's with Montreal on his Decal.

This makes a lot of sense as he was traded for Staub on January 22, 1969 (although Donn refused to report to the Astros) and this transaction allows us to pinpoint a date for the printing of at least one-half of the Decals. I'm trying to sort out which series' packs had the Decals (or, more properly Magic Rub-Offs) as the wrapper on the wax packs stated but the second series had them for sure, based upon PSA Registry details and Darren Prince's 1993 pamphlet Unopened Baseball Wax Packs, Boxes & Wrappers Price Guide. Prince goes on to add Series 5 to to the mix for the Decals, whereas series 3 and 4 had the Deckle inserts. Cello packs also held inserts, but not Rak Paks. 

It certainly seems like they could have been issued in two series of 24 then and they are taken from all seven series of Topps Baseball, like so (print runs and series match in 1969):

Series One - 8 (six cropping differences, two photos that are the same)

Series Two - 12 (11 use different pictures, one is the same)

Series Three - 8 (all but two are different, one is a crop, one is the same)

Series Four - 7 (one is the same, the rest are different)

Series Five  - 7 (one is a crop, the others are different)

Series Six - 4 (all different)

Series Seven - 2 (all different)

Topps clearly did not have the higher series cards composed when the Decals were designed, which looks to have been right after the First Series cards were composed and printed. This timing led to so many different photos being used after the first series was mined for the Decals. Given the date of the Staub/Clendenon trade, Rusty being with Houston on his Decal, plus the fact Hoyt Wilhelm is shown as an Angel on his (he was traded to the Angels on December 12, 1968 from Kansas City, who had taken him in the AL expansion draft two months prior), we know the design was locked in between 12/12/68 and 1/22/69. Topps had more time between composition and printing than they were used to though, as you will note they were printed in the U.K.  

Topps used a London company called Letraset, who specialized in this style of ruboff decal, to print these, and you can see how sharp their work was. That's because Letraset was well ahead of anybody with this technology at the time. Nigel has the scoop on them, at least on the Football side. Topps licensed from or used Letraset to produce a couple of non-sports sets as well in the early 1970's.

The decal image was printed on the reverse of the clear, thick, cello top layer.  A bottom layer of very slightly waxed paper had to be peeled off before the decal could be applied.  Take a look at the back of one for goodness sake:

A number of finds, both of cut and uncut decals (on long rolls) have surfaced over the last 15 for so years and finding high grade examples is not difficult. Many of these rolls have now been cut up and graded (don't get me started on "sheet-cutting" and TPG's!)

Here is the Decal checklist, ordered by team, showing the Baseball series each player was in. All teams have two subjects, except the Angels (3) and Royals (1), thanks to the Wilhelm trade. The table also shows poses and card series:

FIRST NAME	LAST NAME	TEAM	CARD		POSE		SERIES
JIM	FREGOSI	ANGELS	365		DIFF		4
RICK	REICHARDT	ANGELS	205		DIFF		2
HOYT	WILHELM	ANGELS	565		DIFF		6
REGGIE	JACKSON	ATHLETICS	260		CROP		3
RICK	MONDAY	ATHLETICS	105		CROP		1
HANK	AARON	BRAVES	100		CROP		1
FELIPE	ALOU	BRAVES	300		DIFF		3
BOB	GIBSON	CARDS	200		DIFF		2
TIM	McCARVER	CARDS	475		DIFF		5
FERGIE	JENKINS	CUBS	640		DIFF		7
RON	SANTO	CUBS	570		DIFF		6
DON	DRYSDALE	DODGERS	400		DIFF		4
TOM	HALLER	DODGERS	310		DIFF		3
DONN	CLENDENON	EXPOS	208		DIFF		2
MAURY	WILLS	EXPOS	45		CROP		1
WILLIE	MAYS	GIANTS	190		DIFF		2
WILLIE	McCOVEY	GIANTS	440		DIFF		5
RUSTY	STAUB	HOUSTON	230		DIFF		3
JIM	WYNN	HOUSTON	360		SAME		4
SAM	McDOWELL	INDIANS	220		SAME		3
LUIS	TIANT	INDIANS	560		DIFF		6
JERRY	KOOSMAN	METS	90		CROP		1
TOM	SEAVER	METS	480		CROP		5
DAVE	McNALLY	ORIOLES	340		DIFF		4
FRANK	ROBINSON	ORIOLES	250		DIFF		3
TONY	GONZALEZ	PADRES	501		DIFF		5
DICK	SELMA	PADRES	197		DIFF		2
RICHIE	ALLEN	PHILLIES	350		DIFF		4
CHRIS	SHORT	PHILLIES	395		DIFF		4
TOMMY	DAVIS	PILOTS	135		DIFF		2
DON	MINCHER	PILOTS	285		DIFF		3
MATTY	ALOU	PIRATES	490		DIFF		5
ROBERTO	CLEMENTE	PIRATES	50		SAME		1
KEN	HARRELSON	RED SOX	240		DIFF		3
CARL	YASTRZEMSKI	RED SOX	130		DIFF		2
TOMMY	HELMS	REDS	70		CROP		1
PETE	ROSE	REDS	120		DIFF		2
JOE	FOY	ROYALS	93		CROP		1
FRANK	HOWARD	SENATORS	170		DIFF		2
CAMILO	PASCUAL	SENATORS	513		DIFF		6
WILLIE	HORTON	TIGERS	180		SAME		2
DENNY	McLAIN	TIGERS	150		DIFF		2
HARMON	KILLEBREW	TWINS	375		DIFF		4
TONY	OLIVA	TWINS	600		DIFF		7
LUIS	APARICIO	WHITE SOX	75		SAME		1
PETE	WARD	WHITE SOX	155		DIFF		2
MICKEY	MANTLE	YANKEES	500		DIFF		5
MEL	STOTTLEMYRE	YANKEES	470		DIFF		5

I love these little inserts-they are among my favorites of this era.