1939 Playball Gehrig, 1934 Goudey Ruth, and other cards that never were

[ChrisStufflestreet]

Originally Posted by PolarBear

This is true. Also, Williams was in Korea and missed the 52 and 53 issues.

Still annoying though that all the stars aren't in a single issue until Topps bought out Bowman, and even then Musial is missing until 59.

Musial's absence wasn't entirely a Topps/Bowman issue. While Musial was in Bowman sets through '53, he didn't appear in another Bowman set ('54 or '55) and didn't finally come to Topps until late in 1958. Aside from Red Heart and Red Man, Musial was largely gone from the major baseball sets for 5 years.

Williams was out of sets when he entered the service...but both companies were selective about that. While Whitey Ford was out of the 1952 sets due to his Army service...yet Willie Mays missed most of '52 and all of '53 to the Army but was in both Topps and Bowman sets in '52, as well as a 1953 Topps card.