Renewed call for help - 1978 wiffle ball

[steve B]

Licensing at the time was a lot less organized than it is now. The MLB license if I recall it right was only for the team names and the player likenesses in general, the team logos had to be licensed through the teams and the individual players had control over their own images.

Licensing then was also a lot less expensive and less controlled.

Steve B

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by steve B

Licensing at the time was a lot less organized than it is now. The MLB license if I recall it right was only for the team names and the player likenesses in general, the team logos had to be licensed through the teams and the individual players had control over their own images.

Licensing then was also a lot less expensive and less controlled.

Steve B

I have to disagree with part of this. MLB was licensing the team logos in 1978. From 1968-86 , all national licensing contracts were handled by MLBPC through the Licensing Corporation of America (LCA), a division of Warner Communications, Inc. During this period, Clubs licensed their own trademarks to companies authorized to sell in the Clubs' respective local markets and MLBPC handled the National contracts.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by toppcat

I have to disagree with part of this. MLB was licensing the team logos in 1978. From 1968-86 , all national licensing contracts were handled by MLBPC through the Licensing Corporation of America (LCA), a division of Warner Communications, Inc. During this period, Clubs licensed their own trademarks to companies authorized to sell in the Clubs' respective local markets and MLBPC handled the National contracts.

Ok, That makes sense.

I can't imagine Whiffle being local, although they were in RI I think, so I'm in their local area.

Maybe MSA didn't license the logos?
Or didn't use them to keep consistent with older art they already had?

Steve B

[Cliff Bowman]

Another one has popped up on eBay, a 1978 bat and ball holder with Rusty Staub and Randy Jones. The only two unaccounted for now are Bobby Bonds and Al Hrabosky, which will undoubtedly show up on one of these bat and ball sleeves.

[bswhiten]

Why does PSA slab the wiffle ball as 1976 but have them listed under 1978?

[Cliff Bowman]

Originally Posted by bswhiten

Why does PSA slab the wiffle ball as 1976 but have them listed under 1978?

That Al Hrabosky wiffle disc is almost certainly a 1977, not a 1978. 1977's are die cut and were inserted in the boxes, 1978's were on the box itself and were meant to be cut out. ETA, all wiffle discs are either from 1977 (die cut) or from 1978 (printed on the box or the bat and ball sleeve), but they all have a 1976 copyright which is why they are sometimes referred to mistakenly as being from 1976.

[ArmourPhil]

Cliff - that is not correct...read my reply to the previous message

[ArmourPhil]

Hello...I am responsible for PSA changing their listings from 1976 and 1977 to 1978. I have been in touch with Wiffle (in Conn not RI) and the son of the inventor sent me product releases from those days which confirmed that the die cut discs (80) were inserted into boxes only in 1978 and the discs printed on the box sides (12 boxes with 5 discs per box) and on the so called "header sleeves" (14 sleeves of 2 players each for total of 28) were from 1979. SO the wiffles that PSA had labeled in the past 1976 and 1977 are really from 1978. I have sent the info to SCD and they will be correcting both in the next issue of the Std catalog. .

[steve B]

Originally Posted by ArmourPhil

Hello...I am responsible for PSA changing their listings from 1976 and 1977 to 1978. I have been in touch with Wiffle (in Conn not RI) and the son of the inventor sent me product releases from those days which confirmed that the die cut discs (80) were inserted into boxes only in 1978 and the discs printed on the box sides (12 boxes with 5 discs per box) and on the so called "header sleeves" (14 sleeves of 2 players each for total of 28) were from 1979. SO the wiffles that PSA had labeled in the past 1976 and 1977 are really from 1978. I have sent the info to SCD and they will be correcting both in the next issue of the Std catalog. .

If they're ok with it I'd love to see those product releases. It's crazy, but I really like that stuff and it's almost impossible to find.

Steve B

[bswhiten]

Originally Posted by ArmourPhil

Hello...I am responsible for PSA changing their listings from 1976 and 1977 to 1978. I have been in touch with Wiffle (in Conn not RI) and the son of the inventor sent me product releases from those days which confirmed that the die cut discs (80) were inserted into boxes only in 1978 and the discs printed on the box sides (12 boxes with 5 discs per box) and on the so called "header sleeves" (14 sleeves of 2 players each for total of 28) were from 1979. SO the wiffles that PSA had labeled in the past 1976 and 1977 are really from 1978. I have sent the info to SCD and they will be correcting both in the next issue of the Std catalog. .

So will PSA be slabbing this one to 1978 soon? The flip with 76 actually shows up in the registry as 78 and the 77 flip (just got back from PSA) shows as 77. And both are in the Master Set.

[PANAMABASEBALL]

Originally Posted by ArmourPhil

Hello...I am responsible for PSA changing their listings from 1976 and 1977 to 1978. I have been in touch with Wiffle (in Conn not RI) and the son of the inventor sent me product releases from those days which confirmed that the die cut discs (80) were inserted into boxes only in 1978 and the discs printed on the box sides (12 boxes with 5 discs per box) and on the so called "header sleeves" (14 sleeves of 2 players each for total of 28) were from 1979. SO the wiffles that PSA had labeled in the past 1976 and 1977 are really from 1978. I have sent the info to SCD and they will be correcting both in the next issue of the Std catalog. .

Thats awesome, i get it now, and how did you get Cosetta to listen to you .. lol

[Gr8Beldini]

Originally Posted by ArmourPhil

Hello...I am responsible for PSA changing their listings from 1976 and 1977 to 1978. I have been in touch with Wiffle (in Conn not RI) and the son of the inventor sent me product releases from those days which confirmed that the die cut discs (80) were inserted into boxes only in 1978 and the discs printed on the box sides (12 boxes with 5 discs per box) and on the so called "header sleeves" (14 sleeves of 2 players each for total of 28) were from 1979. SO the wiffles that PSA had labeled in the past 1976 and 1977 are really from 1978. I have sent the info to SCD and they will be correcting both in the next issue of the Std catalog. .

I think this is wrong. The box-side cutout disks include Bill North as a member of the A's (he played with the Dodgers in '78 and would be listed with them if cards were indeed issued in '79). Same thing with Jim Spencer. Box cut out shows him with White Sox. He played with Yankees in '78 and a 1979 issued card would have showed him with NY. John Mayberry also. He played with Toronto in '78 and as such, his cards would show Blue Jays if it were a 1979 card (but it doesn't; it shows him on the Royals).