Topps Rookie Banquets

[ALR-bishop]

Thanks for posting Dave, we have discussed these before. I sure would like to run down one of the 64 paper inserts and one of the post 66 paper programs. Have not seen one. And since many players at some point sell their stuff I am surprised the trophies have not shown up on the market, maybe some have.

Dave-- do you know when the Banquets ended ?

[frankhardy]

Great thread. I love these test issue and oddball threads. I actually have the cards that feature Julian Javier and Fred Whitfield for my Cardinals team sets. They were not easy to come by. I looked for a very long time. I didn't know about the programs. Those are neat.

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Thanks for posting Dave, we have discussed these before. I sure would like to run down one of the 64 paper inserts and one of the post 66 paper programs. Have not seen one. And since many players at some point sell their stuff I am surprised the trophies have not shown up on the market, maybe some have.

Dave-- do you know when the Banquets ended ?

I think the later programs are tougher since they were not as special and not really intended as keepsakes so many must have been tossed. I think they went with this 4 page format at least into the 1980's; I used to have a scan of a program from 1984 but can't locate it-it may have died with a hard drive crash many years ago. I am not even sure they kept the banquet format going forward from 1967 or where to programs were issued then on but locating a later program would help answer that obviously.

It seems like it's just a press release now when they name the rookie team.

[ALR-bishop]

In prior posts I showed the Rookie Banquet programs I have from 59 ( the first one) through 1966. I have not seen one for 67 or any other year until 1981, shown below. I then have them through 2004 ( except for 1982, 1983 and 2003)

But the numbers on the ones below indicates they had Banquets or Awards between 1967 and 1980. Anyone have anything from those years...or post 2004






By the way, here are some cards that never were from the 59 Program ( unless maybe they do exist somewhere )

[JustinD]

I am positive I saw one of the trophies come up before as I remember being outlandishly upset I could not afford it at the time.

I think Topps had several different awards that were given out at these banquets that are not well documented. I have a a watch from 69' that was a presentation piece that I have never seen another of. I believe it was for football, but still unable to track down who it was presented to.

Even though I posted years ago about it, there are still photos in this thread. It's post #35. If anyone can offer more info on it, I would be very happy. I think I have never been to a show and not had someone ask about it as I love to wear it.

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...900#post930900

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by JustinD

I am positive I saw one of the trophies come up before as I remember being outlandishly upset I could not afford it at the time.

I think Topps had several different awards that were given out at these banquets that are not well documented. I have a a watch from 69' that was a presentation piece that I have never seen another of. I believe it was for football, but still unable to track down who it was presented to.

Even though I posted years ago about it, there are still photos in this thread. It's post #35. If anyone can offer more info on it, I would be very happy. I think I have never been to a show and not had someone ask about it as I love to wear it.

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...900#post930900

I missed that thread originally. Never seen the watch-wow!

There used to be college All American Baseball Players. I assume one of these ten first teamers received that watch at some point:
P Larry Gura
P Burt Hooton
C Bob Williams
1B Mike Walseth
2B Dick Gold
3B Les Rogers
SS Bill Stein
OF Bob Long
OF Paul Powell
OF Larry Pyle

[RayBShotz]

Beyond amazing historicals.
Al - Thanks for starting this one.
RayB

[perezfan]

Finally captured one of these amazing Topps "Top Hat" Trophies. This one was awarded to Joe Garagiola, who was the perennial host/emcee of the event.

This was presented to Joe at the 1967 Banquet..... at 25" tall, it's much larger than the Players' 9" version (which was much like a Little League Trophy). It is crafted with a bit more fine detail as well.

The 9" players' Trophies never come up for sale, and the only two I've ever seen are Willie McCovey and Tommy Harper. So I was thrilled to snag this one from Heritage.

[perezfan]

And here's a cool photo of the 1963 Banquet, with Pete Rose hamming it up. The photo demonstrates the size difference between the large and the small trophies. Not sure who was awarded the large version pictured here.

Also, a close-up shot of Tommy Harper's Trophy and his corresponding Topps Card...

[perezfan]

The large trophy sits behind the riser/platform, so it's actually a lot bigger then it appears.