Room At The Top

More 1957 Baseball Paper Proof news today campers!  Before we were jolted into the realization that Topps sometimes used these proofs to create mockups of proposed future sets, we made an effort here at the Main Topps Archives Research Center to checklist known proofs from the 1957 high numbers.  We were stuck at 32 proofs but recently Friend o'the Archive Keith Olbermann sent along a couple more names and it's time to update things. There is, of course, a twist as well.

Here is where things stand today.  The entire high number run of 55 cards is shown and for each one with a known proof, either from the original Card Collectors Company ad offering many for sale or Olbermann's collection, that is noted as well.

353	Cal Neeman	Proof
354	Rip Coleman	Proof
355	Frank Malzone
356	Faye Throneberry	Proof
357	Earl Torgeson
358	Jerry Lynch	Proof
359	Tom Cheney	Proof
360	Johnny Groth	Proof
361	Curt Barclay	Proof
362	Roman Mejias
363	Eddie Kasko	Proof
364	Cal McLish
365	Ozzie Virgil
366	Ken Lehman	Proof
367	Ed Fitz Gerald	Proof
368	Bob Purkey	Proof
369	Milt Graff
370	Warren Hacker	Proof
371	Bob Lennon	Proof
372	Norm Zauchin	Proof
373	Pete Whisenant	Proof
374	Don Cardwell	Proof
375	Jim Landis
376	Don Elston	Proof
377	Andre Rodgers
378	Elmer Singleton	Proof
379	Don Lee
380	Walker Cooper	Proof
381	Dean Stone
382	Jim Brideweser
383	Juan Pizarro	Proof
384	Bobby Gene Smith	Proof
385	Art Houtteman
386	Lyle Luttrell	Proof
387	Jack Sanford	Proof
388	Pete Daley
389	Dave Jolly	Proof
390	Reno Bertoia
391	Ralph Terry
392	Chuck Tanner	Proof
393	Raul Sanchez	Proof
394	Luis Arroyo	Proof
395	Bubba Phillips
396	Casey Wise	Proof
397	Roy Smalley	Proof
398	Al Cicotte	Proof
399	Billy Consolo	Proof
400	Dodgers' Sluggers	Proof
401	Earl Battey	Proof
402	Jim Pisoni
403	Dick Hyde
404	Harry Anderson	Proof
405	Duke Maas
406	Bob Hale
407	Yankees Power Hitters

New additions bring the count to 34: #384 Bobby Gene Smith and #400 Dodgers Sluggers.  Here is #400, which is my favorite card in the set:

Bobby Gene Smith, another newbie to the list, is the bearer of our first twist, a ginormous top border:

The proofs must have included all the borders and gutters.  What's not clear is whether or not there were full, 264 card proof sheets run off in paper.  

One more twist, here is Ken Lehman, another "topper" and his scrawl:

I am reasonably certain that is Woody Gelman's handwriting there. I can make out "BB" and then "GENE" so he may have been next to Bobby Gene Smith atop the press sheet.

There are two other big top border cards are, one of which is also marked up:

#359 Cheney (both)

#378 Singleton (top border)

It would be pretty cool if we could confirm all 55 high numbers in paper.  The Yankees Power Hitters card that concludes the set has Mickey Mantle on it so finding that one would be sweet (and even sweeter for the owner).

Playing Hookey

Continuing our look at Topps' own products parodied in Wacky Packages...

Feel like playing Hookey?  Then series 9 is for you:

Has anyone ever actually run into a truant officer?

Gotta love the 1973 Hockey wrapper color scheme.  Ah, the 70's:

Series 10 shows the effects of time. Topps was well into their second year of Wacky Packages and was starting to repeat their own products.  Fortunately, they had different price points to work with:

Some inadvertent truth in advertising there kids. Here is the spoofed product, in all of its glory:

(courtesy www.collectingcandy.com)

Series 11 marks the last one issued in 1974.  Think about that, there were ten prior series issued over about 18-20 months, or one every seven weeks or so. Wackys were quite dominant in 1973-74, helped by the fact slightly older kids were buying them as well as the smaller fry but the luster was beginning to fade a little. The same could be said for the Planet of the Apes movie franchise at this time, which was rebooting as a TV series:

I think things were getting a little thin in the idea department....the TV show was no great shakes either:

Series 12 brings back a Football parody, one not nearly as well executed as Foolball:

After Topps sifted through the process of going public in 1972, a lot of the design work on the wrappers (and cards) became standardized.  The 1974 Football issue was one of the earlier wrappers to belie this:

On we go, to previously plumbed depths twice over in series 13, namely Beastball:

You can see how the indicia flips to a 1975 copyright, putting us into year three of Wacky Packages-holy cow! The 1975 Baseball wrapper did have a little bit of panache actually:

In series 14, Topps got away from the trading card parodies but not ethnic stereotypes:

I kind of recall the original; I may have thought they were a knockoff of Razzles, which I loved:

Series 15 saw Fear Out Iron-Ons:

I dunno, the ideas seem to be getting played out.....the parodied product was a bit of a success though and consisted of a large  (4" x 6" or so) iron ons:

We are finally at the end. Series 16 of Wacky Packages did not sell well and the stickers are hard to find today. Note the 1976 copyright as well:

The 1976 date is intriguing as it puts us in year four of the issue.  I note some sources say the 16th series was actually issued in 1977 so the series may have been delayed or maybe the last four or five series were spread out a bit more.  No matter, excepting various short printed stickers from other series, it's the toughest series of the 16 to complete.

The original Garbage Can-dy was not sold in a pack though; it was housed in a container, as this image from Lost Wackys shows:

Series 16 is tough, man-good luck if you try to put it together!

The use of these Topps parody products was integral to Topp's legal strategy in issuing Wacky Packages and while it assisted them in lawsuits brought by offended manufacturers, Topps would pull stickers if they received a cease and desist letter.  The profits would have to have been enormous for the amount of hassle involve.

I'm just scratching the surface of all the intricacies of the myriad Wacky Packages issues but don't plan to dive in deeper any time soon as there are other resources out there, particularly the above-linked Lost Wackys site.

Wacked Out

I went on a little bit of a non-sports type card buying frenzy at the National, primarily fueled by the immense stacks of notebooks at my buddy Kevin Marcy's booth.  Kevin sells under the Scottsdale Cards name and the mountains of non-sports cards he offers actually belong to his father, Bob but no matter whose cards are displayed, they have a seemingly endless supply.

One of the more OCD things I did at Brian's booth was to try and find a stricker and checklist card from each of the sixteen different 1973-74 Wacky Packages series (told you it was and OCD thing!). I didn't get 'em all but came very, very close.  In many instances I picked out a sticker of a parodied Topps product.  As you probably know, Topps issued a parody of one of their products in each series for legal reasons.  This allowed them to assert they were poking fun at their own wares as well as those of dozens of national brands. The checklists all have puzzles on their fronts and those are all "Topps" products as well, for obvious reasons. So I thought it would be fun to look at the Topps products that were subjected to lampooning.  We'll kick off with the first eight series this week and then finish up next time.

Series 1 takes on the Bazooka, the bubblegum that really made the company. Unless you missed out on the originals and myriad reissues, you likely know this resulted in the wonderfully named Gadzooka:

That's not the first time Gadzooka showed up in a Wacky Packages pack though. The first issue of Wackys was in 1967 and they were die cut:

You had to moisten the back of the 67's to stick them anywhere-no peel off backing then!

For reference, here is the 1973 Bazooka wrapper graphic that was being mocked:

(courtesy www.collecingcandy.com)

Series 2 brought us a real Sugarmess:

That's actually not all that great of a design but the original left little to work with:

Did you know Sugarmess is the only repeated design in the entire 16 series?!

Next up in series 3 is my all time favorite Wacky Package:

It makes sense, since my favorite baseball wrappers are from 1973 as well:

Might as well show all four.  I'm not sure but the batter looks roughly based upon Rod Carew.  The catcher image is clearly meant to be Thurman Munson:

Steve Carlton for sizzle:

But who is our manager.  Possibly Dick Williams, which would make sense given that the A's won the World Series in 1972 and he looks to be wearing a vest but I'm not 100% certain. If that was a definite 23 on his back it would nail the source as Williams.

Ah, but we're not done with series 3 yet. Behold the mighty Foolball:

Pretty spot on for a 1973 Football parody:

The series 3 puzzle showed Beanball-sorry Foolball!

Series 4 Wackys brought us a parody of itself: Wormy Packages:

I'm kind of wondering if this was the inspiration for Gummy Worms, first marketed in 1981 if Wikipedia can be believed. Here is the real deal:

Series 5 brought us more gum in Big Baddy:

I got that from www.lostwackys.com.  There is a ridiculous amount of Wacky Packages stuff over there, go check it out!

Big Buddy was something I remember getting from the ice cream truck:

(courtesy www.collecingcandy.com)

And who can forget the series 6 Topps product, Mold Rush?

I used to love the real thing, also purchased from the ice cream truck:

Series 7 brings a parody of a very old Topps product and one that was a Hallowe'en staple in my neighborhood; wrap your mind around this bad boy:

You can pick up the year change to 1974 from the indicia. Bozo was a major cash cow for Topps starting in the late 40's and it was originally sold in bulk to jobbers for their gumball machine clients. As this shot from the Lost Wackys site shows, that marketing plan evolved over the years:

Series 8 brought a TV parody:

Much like Beanball and Foolball, Kong Fu was a pretty spot on imitation:

More fun next week grasshoppers!

Puck Buddies

Moving on from baseball today we close out an amazing run of Topps mockups presented by Friend o'the Archive Keith Olbermann. The general theme is hockey but we'll work in a little football and basketball (sorta) as well.

I'm a little out of my element on hockey card graphics and photos so bear with me...

Marcel Pronovost was a Hall of Fame Defenseman for many years with the Red Wings and Maple Leafs.  Most of his 1964-65 tall boy image is used here which seems odd until you realize a large portion of those cards consisted of the team name atop the player image:

That color scheme did not see the light of day until the 1971 All Star Football cards subset came out:

More 1964 Tall Boy action on this Ed Westfall mockup:

I see more in common with 1969 Topps baseball than I do with an issued hockey design there. By now you're probably thinking that the hockey mockups are a lot more accurate than the baseball ones, which almost never depicted the correct combination of player, team or logo. Well, you would be wrong:

OK, Red Kelly was a definitely a Defenseman for the Red Wings and like Marcel Pronovost was also a Hall of Famer but he was traded to the Maple Leafs in the middle of the 1959-60 season.  Then there is the matter of that not being Kelly and, in fact, not even being a hockey player at all but rather Vince Promuto, a football player for the Redskins and whose 1961 Football image is used above. The design looks like it was progressing toward the 1962-63 Hockey cards though.  Here, check it out:

I chose Murray Oliver's issued card as that image pops up on the next mockup, although it's cropped a bit tighter, which is interesting, so the source is likely a photograph and not a paper proof:

That's more like a stab at the 1964 Baseball cards I think, although obviously those are a lot blander.

Now we will close with something that is the opposite of bland, much like the 1964/72 Pete Ward psychedelic freakout we saw last time out.  These are some bold, bold graphics, although there is a twist:

OK, I know that's a basketball dominating the background but it's clearly meant to be a football.  This looks like 1968-ish graphics that were adapted for use here (the logo and player name are correct for 1968).  I think this is from 1969, which is the last year that team logo was used.  Sorry but I am whiffing on the Chargers player shown here. (Note: As per the comments, it's Jim Warren, shown on his 1968 card in a Chargers uni but as a member of the Dolphins).

Hope you have enjoyed this peek inside the vintage Topps design process as much as I have.  Many thanks to Keith Olbermann for all the fantastic scans!