Ron
Hmmm . . . from what I've been able to dig up, Musial refused to sign
the basic Topps contract.
He has Bowman cards from 1948 through 1953 (a very nice '53 card).
He also has a 1953 Red Man.
But he doesn't seem to have any '54 or '55 Bowman cards. I don't see
him in the checklists, and can't locate these cards for sale anywhere.
In 1958 he evidently came to terms with Topps. He has a high numbered
All-Star card. Then he had regular Topps cards from 1959 until 1963
(the ones I'm most familiar with).
So no major Musial cards from 1954 through 1957.
Did he have a contract dispute with Bowman in '54 and '55?
Ron
Yup. That would have made a nice card. Same with the DiMaggio and
Williams.
So Stan Musial and Maury Wills both refused to sign contracts with
Topps. Have there been any other notable hold outs?
Was Musial under an exclusive contract that prevented him from having
Bowman cards in '54 and '55, or was he a hold out from them also?
Ron
Young kid named Alex Rodriguez. Some have heard of him.
Ron B. <rbj...@attbi.com> wrote in message news:<hr9juuc2tr6krgf14...@4ax.com>...
either way, he was bribed back into the topps fold in 58 after Topps
told the cardinals they'd give them a charity donation if they could get
musial to sign their damn contract. and he did...
-crunch
1946 - 1964 (78 items by 35 companies)
1965 - 1998 (107 items by 48 compaines)
1999 - 2002 (174 items by 4 companies)
more numbers showing saturation of product...wee.
-crunch
T206to1992 wrote:
> Stan Musial
>
> 1946 Sears-East St. Louis PC783 #46 Stan Musial...
1946-1964 (playing years including possible last-year card)
1965-1998 (post-career, pre-vintage boom)
1999-2002 (the glossy burn-out and vintage boom era...so far)
-crunch
There are a few guys who I have a complete career run of their topps base
cards. That doesn't seem as impressive anymore
You'd have to only collect scrubs to get all the cards from any one player
anymore.
In that respect the whole Pete Rose thing is sorta appealing.
Take into consideration the fact that Musial never showed up on Bowman cards
in 1950 (the only year they were a monopoly) and 1951. Since Topps wasn't
going after player contracts full-time until '52, that still doesn't explain
why Muisal sat out those seasons.
Musial wasn't in Topps sets until '58 and never showed up on Bowman cards
after '53. In that five-year span, his only major card appeared in the 1954
Red Heart set.
When Topps bought out Bowman in '56, all the player contracts maintained in
Philadelphia were voided, thereby eliminating the possibility that Musial
had to sit out his Bowman contract (despite the fact that he wasn't on a
card in either of Bowman's last two sets). I'm guessing that Stan Musial
wasn't really excited about having his picture on cards.
Since we're on the subject, what about Joe D.? He was one of the best-known
players in the game, but except for the 48/49 Leaf set (which had Musial as
well) and Berk Ross, he was absent from major card sets. Even though he
played until 1951, DiMaggio never showed up on a card from Topps or Bowman.
Thanks for posting the list. Looks like the only year he skipped
doing cards altogether was 1957 (and possibly '56, if Yellow Basepath
was actually a pin). But he avoided both Bowman and Topps from '54
through '57, and nobody seems to know why. I've read various
descriptions on web sites that mentioned contracts, but they're all so
brief and generalized it could mean just about anything. My hunch is
that they don't know any more about it than we do right now.
If I get more curious about it, I'll try his autobiography or one of
his biographies. They might have some clues. But it's more than I
care to tackle at the moment.
Ron
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