1952 Topps - The Missing 3
 

As Topps was winding down its 2nd year of cards they were scrambling to complete the 6th and final series of cards. Berger intended the last series to be the grand finale for the set. Afterall, the 3 major New York teams - Dodgers, Yankees and Giants - were playing well and New York was the largest market for bubble gum. Of the 48 Giants and Dogers included in the set, Topps saved 28 of them for the final series.

In previous interviews Sy Berger said he completely misjudged how long it took to print, package and release the last series of cards, resulting in a release after the World Series concluded. The contract with Mantle, purportedly wasn't even signed until late in the summer. Topps reps scrambled to get the final stars under contract and included in the set - but failed on a number of players and 3 cards had to be replaced. In previous interviews, Berger did not reveal which 3 players were pulled from the last series. However, we know Mantle, Robinson and Thompson were hastily created and double printed. Although we may never know for sure - Sy hinted one player/card was his favorite.

Who were those 3 players pulled from the set?

Thank you for the fascinating post, Zach Wheat. Hopefully, someone will chime in with some definite info. Oh if we only had Sy Berger back, to hit him with 20 questions, including this one-----at what point in time, Sy, did you begin to regret dumping all those cases of the '52 Topps last series into the Atlantic Ocean? --- Brian Powell

Ted Williams would be an obvious choice, right?
Kiner was in Bowman but not Topps. Nellie Fox.

Is this a trivia question where you know the answer or just want some pontificating?

I'll guess and say Ted Williams, Stan Musial and Whitey Ford.

Surprisingly Rogers Hornsby was a coach in 1952 as well.

Len Brown, one of the original Topps employees from that era, having started somewhere around 1959ish, is still alive and living in TX. I reached out to contacts that originally interviewed him for articles in SCD, but he has not responded yet.

He has lived an interesting life to date. Well worth reading his interviews

I would think Joe D is a good candidate, no? I realize 1951 was his final season but he did get a card in the 1952 Berk Ross set and it would have been his only opportunity for a Topps card.

Maybe not Ted Williams. He spent most of 1952 flying planes in the Korean War/Conflict.

Williams would have to sign that Topps contract from the cockpit of a F9F Panther.

I think we’re looking at this wrong. The same thing happened in 1953, with six players missing from the set. After several years of speculation, they were revealed to be six benchwarmers, not stars, and that’s most likely who Topps missed on in 1952. It makes sense to me that if they were stars, Sy Berger would have gone all out to get them under contract, but for commons, he went with who he already had.

Not conclusive as maybe Sy was just friends with him but I doubt Sy would say he was a favorite if he was just a bench warmer?

"Sy hinted one player/card was his favorite"

Some more speculation...and free replicards.
 

For what it's worth, on his ESPN show in 2014, Keith Olbermann presented a letter from a long-time Topps employee dated 1973 that was discovered by hobby historian Bob Lemke. In it, the former employee stated, "the following players were taken out of the [1953] set...as follows: #253 Joe Tipton; #261 Ken Wood: #267 Hoot Evers; #268 Harry Brecheen; #271 Billy Cox; #275 Pete Castiglione.":)

Ted was called up from the Reserves on May 1, 1952. Afterwards he was in Korea. Could still be Ted.

Someone suggested that Honus Wagner was a coach on the pirates until feb of 1952 and since other pirates coaches were in the high series maybe he was supposed to be in the series.

It does make sense that they could be people in the military and that’s why the phrase “it took longer that expected to get the contracts signed”

It's times like this where I wish Ted Z was still with us, to regale us of some tale concerning collecting the 1952 Topps back in the day.

I think Williams and Joe D are plausible. Maybe Casey Stengel? He did get a card in the Bowman issue. Satchel Paige is another possibility as he did get a card in the 1953 Set.

Agree, I miss Ted Z and the insight he brought to the forum.

Ford was in the military in 1951 and 1952. I would say Ralph Kiner was the third player. Topps had him in their 1951 and 1953 sets.

No way to tell but I'm curious if cards of the coaches and managers that started with the semi-highs represent slots where Topps was still waiting for a signed contract?

I have doubts Williams was to have appeared in the set as he went on the NDS list (I think that means either Non-Disabled Suspended or Non-Disabled Service) effective 5/2/52. And with DiMaggio retiring on 12/11/51 and being on the Voluntarily Retired List from that date he doesn't seem to fit the contractual parameters for Topps in 1952. I also doubt Musial was a possibility either.

Kiner, on the other hand, very much seems like a candidate.

It's possible some Berk-Ross contracts were exclusive. All four players above were 1952 B-R subjects.

I thought the consensus was that the Berk Ross cards were unauthorized, so nobody would have been under an exclusive Berk Ross contract.

I've not heard that before but unauthorized over a two year period seems kind of weird. However, I just did a quick search and found this from an early August 1952 Sporting News article:

"SEVEN GIANTS POP POPCORN

Two popcorn firms have been asked by Supreme Court justice Samuel Gold of New York to show cause why they should not be stopped from placing pasteboard photographs of seven members of the Giants inside bags of their product. Larry Jansen, Bobby Thomson, Sal Maglie, Wes Westrum, Montia Kennedy, Dave Koslo and Bill Rigney also instituted action to recover $50,000 each from the companies on the ground that their pictures were used without their consent."

Which led to a Bob Lemke blog post: https://boblemke.blogspot.com/2012/0...nlicensed.html

Why only NY Giants players were involved in the suit was not revealed. Lemke also intimates 1952 B-R was sold with gum, which is interesting in context.

Good theory and not sure of the correct answer. Several well respected collectors who are very familiar with the set believe the 3 stars were double printed intentionally.

In a separate interview before his passing, Sy Berger mentioned that the double prints were due to players that were unsigned. As I work out how series were printed, the more I realize there are a lot of interconnected issues and some of the original assumptions on the printing and packaging of cards in each series has exceptions. More on this later.

Musial doesn't get onto a Topps card until 1958, so I highly doubt he would be a serious contender for the 52 Set.

Same for Ted Williams. He doesn't appear on a Topps card until 1954.

I still think Joe D is a likely candidate. Yes, his career was over after the 1951 season but he also gave plenty of hints of his impending retirement and this would have been the only opportunity to feature him on a card.