No Box Left Behind

After last week's look at the obverse surprise photo some Bazooka boxes carried in the mid 60's (and 1971), I thought it best to close the circle and also show boxes from the years with package design cards of players from various sports but with no secondary photo on the box front (or end flap); I'll tackle non-sports boxes (and some with sports-related content) at some later date but they are really hard to pin down. This installment covers the years 1959 to 1971 not addressed last week in my post on the "extra" images used.  As a reminder, these bonus "front of the box" photos were as follows:

1963 - Babe Ruth

1964 - Sandy Koufax & Mickey Mantle (both on end flap)

1965 - Mickey Mantle

1966 - Sandy Koufax

1967 - Mickey Mantle

1969 - Babe Ruth

1970 - Babe Ruth (reissued box design)

1971 - Johnny Bench

The Koufax and Mantle photos never changed from year to year, while the Ruth did, aging in reverse!

I also included the 1968 box last time out despite no additional photo appearing thereon.  It had a "Special Feature" splash hawking "Tips From Baseball Stars on How to Play Better Baseball" instead. These tips are known as Tipps from the Topps and featured a small, inset photo on each "Tipp" which I have covered previously as well.

When we go back to the aboriginal Bazooka set, it was a one subject affair, with a gorgeous card taking up most of the box back.  These were issued for both baseball and football and might be the nicest things Topps ever produced.  This is the first run 1959 Baseball box, front and back. You can see how the original Bazooka Joe is shown blowing a bubble that turns into a window on the contents, which was protected by see-thru cello, both courtesy of Robert Edward Auctions:

So the splash for the set was actually located below the card! Note how it mentions "9 All-Star Player Cards" as the first release had, yup, 9 subjects. The little illustrations on the splash are generic.

A second wave of cards followed, with 14 players added.  It's possible Hank Aaron was printed with both runs as his name can be found in yellow or white but it's not clear if he was a reissue or if a correction was made to the first run of 9 cards (the name in yellow matches the rest of the set). It's worth noting too that Bazooka usually issued both 20 and 25 count boxes, as you can see above and below. This might explain the white/yellow Aaron variations, or it might not.

For the second batch of 14, Topps changed the box colors and the splash.  This example of Jensen shows the white to yellow switcheroo and a subtle change to the back splash, i.e. "nein on the 9":

Topps then went for a Football set in the fall, with equally stunning results.  The box front is the same as that used for Baseball while the reverse splash is changed to reflect the new sport:

18 subjects were included and Chuck Conerly is shown with either the Colts (an error, he never played for them) or the Giants, indicating at least two press runs, possibly split between the 20 and 25 counts but these are among the rarest boxes imaginable so it may never be determined. More on Conerly can be found over at Post War Cards, which is a really wonderful site, kinda like here but covering a wider range of producers.

Topps killed off the Bazooka Football cards after 1959 and they would not reappear until 1971. Baseball on the other glove, settled into a nice three-players-per-panel groove thereafter.  Here's the 1960 box front, with the cards finally getting some attention:

(courtesy Sports Collectors Daily)

You will note the old bubble blowing Bazooka Joe is gone, as Topps went for the Moms with the Parents Magazine seal, which they used on and off over the years on many products, likely dependent upon their annual advertising budget.

1961 brought white back to the design, which was unchanged otherwise.  It was also used in 1962:

This now brings us to the 1971 Football set. Those all-American kids from the Baseball boxes have  been supplanted by a small but enthusiastic marching band, perhaps meant to conjure up an image of halftime (I'm old enough to remember halftime marching bands at NFL games) since no bonus player was shown on the splash:

(courtesy Sports Collectors Daily)

There was a 1971 O-Pee-Chee Canadian Football release but's ultra-rare and may not have seen the retail light of day.  No box front has been seen but it probably doesn't resemble this only-somewhat-less-difficult OPC Hockey box from '71, courtesy of Bobby Burrell:

Have fun trying to find one of those!

You can still find boxes of Bazooka but it just isn't the same anymore.

Gadzooka!

As hinted at last time, there is a bit of a mystery surrounding the 1969/70 and 1971 Bazooka Baseball sets.  The 1969 All Time Greats set makes sense as the professional baseball centennial was being celebrated but the idea of it being reissued in 1970 always struck me as being strange.  Stranger still is the numbered  Bazooka set, not because of a return to the traditional three player panel but because it has been depicted for forty years as having been issued in 1971 but after the regular release, which was unnumbered.  The 71's are also referred to as proofs.  To further mystify us four decades later, the Topps brain trust also issued four extra panels in the numbered format, yielding a run of 48 cards on 16 panels instead of the 36 cards appearing on 12 panels in the unnumbered format.

My own take on it is that the numbered set was probably intended for distribution in 1970 and then pulled back for some reason.  A possible causative action may have been related to the players and teams depicted on the cards.  If we look closely at the four extra panels in the numbered set, we can almost see a pattern develop.

The #1-3 panel with Tim McCarver, Frank Robinson and Bill Mazeroski is up first. McCarver broke a finger in early May of 1970 and was out for a long stretch.  Robinson seems like he was reasonably healthy and intact in 1969 and 1970 but Mazeroski was slowing down and only played 67 games in '69 and lost his starting job at second to Dave Cash.  Depending upon the timing, the McCarver injury could have caused Topps to yank this panel or combined with Maz's decline it may have been deemed too unappealing to market this trio in 1971.  Here is McCarver:

Cards #13-15, depicting Ferguson Jenkins, Al Kaline and Ken Harrelson would seem to be no-brainers to keep in the 1971 set.  Jenkins and Kaline had no issues that would preclude their being in a 1970 set but the Hawk broke a leg in spring training that year and missed all but the end of the season.  His 1970 season saw him play in only 13 games even though he would play one more year. Solution?  Pull the entire panel!  Here's what coulda been:

 

#34-36 displays Maury Wills, Tom Seaver and Tony Oliva.  Seaver was the hottest pitcher in the game from 1969-71 and Oliva had solid seasons all three years as well.  This leaves Wills as our likely culprit but no, he is properly shown as a Dodger:

and had productive seasons in the 69-71 tranche as well.  Why this panel was pulled is a mystery, perhaps Tom Teriffic had another endorsement deal that kept him from being in too many Topps sets but really it's just bizarre this panel was excised.

Finally, we have #43-45 with Jim Wynn, Richie Allen and Tony Conigliaro.  Tony C of course was fighting his way back from a horrific beaning but it's Allen that caused the problem here.  He is shown as a Cardinal, even though I can't find a scan to show it right now,which was all well and good in 1970  but for 1971 he was a member of the Dodgers. The trade to LA happened in October of 1969 and as we already know, Topps was fond of starting Bazooka production in the year prior to issue, so '69 teams for a 1970 release makes sense. 

Other than the Wills/Seaver/Oliva anomaly it all makes sense but since this is Topps, there is always something that skews things!  Was the numbered set to be a 1970 issue?  Based upon the Richie Allen Cardinals cards, I would have to say yes.  What caused the entire set to be shelved is something I cannot explain.  If they are truly proofs in numbered form, then they probably came to market through the Card Collector's Company.
 
More 1971 Bazooka action next time out kids!