Does anyone know...

iamarock

I'm curious as to why some players aren't pictured on certain company's cards. Is it up to each player individually if he wants to be on a baseball card?
Case in point: Maury Wills..an integral part of the Dodgers since the late 50's, yet he does not have a Topps card until 1967. I understand that if the player is a rookie he might not have a card for that year, but that doesn't apply in this case.
I'd appreciate any input. Thanks.

Russell

onlyanumber

I think a lot of it has to do with contracts. In the 80's, Danny Jackson, Neal Heaton and Kevin McReynolds did not appear on Topps cards because they did not sign a contract with Topps. They finally appeared in the 1988 set because of a five year rule or something...

Same came be said for Earl Campbell and I think Lynn Swann, who refused to sign their Topps contracts and ultimately only had a few cards with Topps.

pebblyjack

Here is my understanding of why Wills did not have a Topps card until 1967:

Topps had a policy that if a pro team would give a player a uniform, then it would give the player a contract (approximately $500 now (I don't know what it was in the '50s)). In any event, Wills was poorly regarded as a minor leaguer. The Dodgers thought so little of him that, at one point, they loaned him to the Tigers who, in turn thought so little of him, that they gave him back. In any event, Topps' scouts and the Tigers' scouts were convinced that Wills was never going to make it. So, he wasn't offered a contract. Wills then signed a contract with Fleer. I guess that contract kept Wills from signing with Topps until 1967. I do think he appears on a 1960 Topps World Series card taking a throw as Luis Aparicio steals second. And, for their 25-year anniversary MVP subset in 1975 which showed the Topps card of each year's MVPS from 1951-74, Topps had to specially create a card for Wills in '62 because he didn't have a card in that set.

Thanks

Randy

MorrellMan

PJ has it mostly right, with the exception that it wasn't contractual obligations that kept Wills off Topps cards. His justifiable attitude toward Topps was fuggum. It was Topps alone who decided Wills was not a player worthy of their cardboard. Big goof.

That is Wills on the WS card with Aparicio sliding. Unfortunately, Aparicio did not steal a base in that game. I wouldn't be surprised if the title of that card wasn't another slap in Wills' face.

bishop

Many of the missing cards in early 50s Topps and Bowman sets , and the battle in the 60s between Topps and Fleer revolved around exclusive contracts. After Topps bought Bowman they tried for exclusive contracts with as many players as possible, and for very little money ....until Marvin Miller arrrived on the scene years later.

To avoid anti trust issues Topps tied the exclusivity to the production of player cards packaged with candy or gum, thereby theoretically letting the players sign contracts in which their pictures would be packed without those items. Hence the 63 Fleer cookies and 60 Leaf marbles.