How come Willie Mays didn't get a Donruss Hall of Fame Diamond Kings puzzle?

Estil

While we're on the subject of Willie Mays' passing, I've always been curious how come he never got a Donruss Hall of Fame Diamond Kings puzzle?

GroceryRackPack

That's a Great question...

I would Love to have back my Willie Mays poster from Tastee Freeze...

that's the best that I could do with that image...my same poster like that just deteroted over time...

Estil

Trisha Yearwood forever immortalized the Tastee Freeze!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUFObCZtGWQ

brad31

We can ask Dick Perez at The National. He is there every year and he would know.

ElMagoStrikeZone

Willie wasn't a puzzle. He was all the pieces fit together in one monumentally talented human being.

Estil

@ElMagoStrikeZone said:
Willie wasn't a puzzle. He was all the pieces fit together in one monumentally talented human being.

That's not what I mean.

RonSportscards

Probably had to do with licensing.
Out of the major companies, it looks like he was exclusive to Topps (Bowman, Stadium Club).
He wasn't on a Upper Deck 'Heroes' card for the first few years of Upper Deck either. I would think Upper Deck tried.
Then in 1993, Upper Deck must have agreed to terms with Mays as he suddenly got 15-20 UD cards that year: Heroes set, a Then and Now, All time heroes Tri-Fold.

Estil

@RonSportscards said:
Probably had to do with licensing.
Out of the major companies, it looks like he was exclusive to Topps (Bowman, Stadium Club).
He wasn't on a Upper Deck 'Heroes' card for the first few years of Upper Deck either. I would think Upper Deck tried.
Then in 1993, Upper Deck must have agreed to terms with Mays as he suddenly got 15-20 UD cards that year: Heroes set, a Then and Now, All time heroes Tri-Fold.

And yet somehow that didn't stop none of the other HOF Diamond Kings? The only other really glairing omissions I can think of would be Jackie Robinson and Walter Johnson. Pete Rose would've undoubtedly been the final Donruss puzzle in 1992 which would've been the year he got into the HOF had he remained eligible and got over 75%.

DBesse27

@Estil said:

@RonSportscards said:
Probably had to do with licensing.
Out of the major companies, it looks like he was exclusive to Topps (Bowman, Stadium Club).
He wasn't on a Upper Deck 'Heroes' card for the first few years of Upper Deck either. I would think Upper Deck tried.
Then in 1993, Upper Deck must have agreed to terms with Mays as he suddenly got 15-20 UD cards that year: Heroes set, a Then and Now, All time heroes Tri-Fold.

And yet somehow that didn't stop none of the other HOF Diamond Kings? The only other really glairing omissions I can think of would be Jackie Robinson and Walter Johnson. Pete Rose would've undoubtedly been the final Donruss puzzle in 1992 which would've been the year he got into the HOF had he remained eligible and got over 75%.

You’re missing the point. If Mays had an exclusive deal with another manufacturer, and none of the others did, that would explain everything.

Why are you so sure they would have picked Rose over Carew in 1992?

waxman2745

It's too bad that Donruss didn't come up with the puzzle idea in time for their 1981 release. Mays on the 1981 puzzle would have been cool, especially because he was elected to the HOF 2 years earlier in 1979.

Estil

@DBesse27 said:

You’re missing the point. If Mays had an exclusive deal with another manufacturer, and none of the others did, that would explain everything.

Why are you so sure they would have picked Rose over Carew in 1992?

Is there anyway we can find out for sure if Willie did have an exclusive deal with Topps or Fleer back in the 80s when none of the other players in the puzzles obviously did? And I do think Rose getting the nod over Carew (remember they did puzzles for Leaf and Studio as well) makes sense as he broke a major career record (hits, along with games played and at-bats) and he was the first of five (I think) Donruss "King of Kings" (which kinda sounds a bit blasphemous but I digress)

Estil

@waxman2745 said:
It's too bad that Donruss didn't come up with the puzzle idea in time for their 1981 release. Mays on the 1981 puzzle would have been cool, especially because he was elected to the HOF 2 years earlier in 1979.

They would've done the Babe for the first puzzle no matter what. It was kind of a bit odd they did Mantle and Williams on those really weird obscure sets but it's better than no puzzle at all.

countdouglas

Willie Mays was banned from baseball for his association with an Atlantic City casino from 1979-1985, so that may have had something to do with why he didn't have an early Donruss puzzle.

Mantle was honored with a puzzle in 1983, and then he too was banned later in 1983 for a couple of years for the same reason as Mays, until Ueberroth reversed the ban for both in 1985.