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Originally Posted by rats60
I believe Yeko got the 1963 highs too. I know he was out of 591 and 598 from the 1966 set by 1973-74. Larry Fritsch got the 1972 high number football cards. CCC got the 1967 high numbers. It seems strange that German would let competitors get some close outs.
I believe that more 1966 high numbers ended up at retail than 1967, but that may have just my perception from what was available locally. CCC had lots of 1967 high numbers so that made it easier for collectors to have access to them. 1961 highs, 1963 semi highs and 1966 highs were the cards that I had difficulty with in the mid-seventies.
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I think it makes sense when looking at Woody as a Topps employee, with several side gigs (and not just cards-he was a magazine and book publisher as well, plus he wrote/illustrated some risque smaller books like "Sam, the Ceiling Needs Painting"-google it for a good laugh). Topps may have wanted multiple outlets for this stuff-you never know when an employee might bolt, even one as unique as Woody. Or, maybe just friendship-Woody was apparently one of the mellowest and nicest dudes on the planet and was friends with everybody and anybody.
There was an issue with 1967 high number distribution west of the Mississippi and that is one thing that makes me think Woody dealt with unsold warehouse overstock vs. returns (which was more Fritsch territory-Bill Haber even worked for Fristch briefly in the mid-70's which sort of led me to that side of the equation and also knowing the origin of some Fritsch stock was items already out of the Topps warehouse), since he had so much.
It could have even broken down by the type of buyer-Topps had different unions send out to different buyers (jobbers, consolidators and direct retail at least and some of that was divided by day, evening and night shifts) and possibly also by packaging type (wax, cello, rak and vending). Then more I look at it the more complex yet interlocking everything seems. So many moving parts at Topps.