1972 T0PPS test set of 1953 reprints

[ALR-bishop]

1973 may have made sense as a 20th anniversary tribute of some kind. Dave Hornish has speculated the annual Rookie Banquet and they did apparently have one that year, in fact every year starting in 1959 until at least 2004. Not sure after that.

And in a way, Vic Janowicz was better known than McCullough, albeit as a professional football player and former Heisman Trophy winner

And, if it was released even on a limited basis in 1973 it raises a similar question raised by the 1971 Greatest Moments, why not any wrappers, packs or boxes ( I realize a wrapper and box have surfaced for The Greatest Moments, but not enough to indicate a general or even limited retail release to me)

[moeson]

My pleasure to post the article/ad. As I had previously mentioned in the other thread, Bill Haber had these cards spread out on his table at the 1973 Spring ASCCA Show in NYC. There were no wrappers and I believe that was likely when these cards were first introduced to the hobby. The Card Collectors Company ads followed shortly thereafter.

[DBesse27]

Newbie question: what are you guys talking about with misidentified players? Are there backs that don't match the fronts or something?

[moeson]

Originally Posted by DBesse27

Newbie question: what are you guys talking about with misidentified players? Are there backs that don't match the fronts or something?

The Player named on the front, and discussed on the back, doesn't always match-up with the player depicted. See Post 3 for PSA graded examples.

[ALR-bishop]

Rosen is really Fridley
McCullough is really Janowicz
Furlllo is really Antonello

It is not unusual to have a wrongly identified player or two in the older Topps base sets, but 3 of 8 must be the record

[egri]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Rosen is really Fridley
McCullough is really Janowicz
Furlllo is really Antonello

It is not unusual to have a wrongly identified player or two in the older Topps base sets, but 3 of 8 must be the record

What surprises me is those three are correctly identified in the original 1953 set. There was one mistake in the original set (Pete Runnels' card features a portrait of Don Johnson).

[mrmopar]

I have the Furillo/Antonello only. Would have liked to add Jackie and maybe Paige, but never got around to it and now it will cost me dearly.

[Volod]

Originally Posted by egri

What surprises me is those three are correctly identified in the original 1953 set. There was one mistake in the original set (Pete Runnels' card features a portrait of Don Johnson).

What doesn't surprise me about this mini-puzzle is that Furillo and McCullough were actually not on cards in the 1953 Topps set.
If we are speculating about the reason for the three misidentifications, how about: Topps lined up eight former players to make a public appearance in conjunction with the anniversary of the '53 set's publication, and assigned some flunky to find their cards in the set to use as ad material. That guy finally realized that Furillo and McCullough were not in the set and he could not, for some reason, come up with a Rosen card, so he simply substituted cards of other players in the same uniforms, hoping no one would notice. Slipshod indifference seems like a more plausible cause to me than a bumbling attempt to upgrade.