Topps HQ in NY

robbiegiggs

Has anyone visited the Topps headquarters in New York? I'm headed to NY at the end of the month and I am curious if there is anything to see there, if they give tours, maybe a small museum...?

If anyone has any recommendations to any card shops and/or baseball museums that are worth checking out, please let me know.

Dboneesq

Although I have heard about it many times, I have never seen it (even though I live on Long Island). I am told it is amazing.

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the largest and most famous art galleries in the world. Inside, visitors can find paintings, sculptures, clothing, musical instruments and... baseball cards?

It's true. Unbeknownst to many hobby enthusiasts, the Met is home to a large and significant collection of about 30,000 early baseball cards, which were donated decades ago by Jefferson Burdick.

Vintage collectors know Burdick as the creator of The American Card Catalog, a guide for classifying sports cards printed prior to 1951. Over 50 years later, the hobby still uses Burdick's designations for identifying older sets, especially for ones like the T-206 tobacco series that gave the world the famous Honus Wagner card.

The vast majority of cards at the Met reside in the museum's Department of Drawings and Prints. Because Burdick was more interested in cataloging the cards and keeping whole sets or runs together, he glued many of them into albums, a fact that would no doubt horrify most modern collectors.

Access to the Department of Drawings and Prints is by appointment only and restricted to those conducting research. That flies in the face of Burdick's original intent, which was to share the cards with as many people who cared to see them.

"Burdick gave them to the museum thinking they'd put them on display," security guard Joe Giardina said to the Palm Beach Post. "As soon as he died, they put them away."

Officially, the Met's reason for having most of the collection out of the public eye is a practical one: there just isn't enough space to display all of those cards. Visitors can see a portion of Burdick's stash at all times, though, as a group of about 200 cards is kept in frames in the American Wing and rotated twice a year. The museum also occasionally uses specific themes for the cards in the frames, as it did in 1999 for the celebration of Joe DiMaggio Day at Yankee Stadium.

The Met is open year-round (except for Mondays and holidays) and costs $20 or less for admission. For anyone interested in the history of baseball cards, it's worth a visit for the rare opportunity to get some culture and gain more appreciation for the hobby, all under one roof.

mikeschmidt

Doug-

To be fair, one of the other reasons that Burdick's collection is no longer on Display is that there was RAMPANT theft of many of his cards in the years that it was made available to the public.

dmurphy3mvp

I was fortunate enough to visit the Topps corporate offices two years ago as a consultant on behalf of my previous employer, Dave & Adam's Card World. They have a room, about 8'x10', that constitutes their non-sport archives - files and notes on product spanning over thirty years, archived sets posted in albums, excess product, test issues, proofs, etc., and it was my job to size up the inventory and try to make an offer to purchase it. We were unable to make a deal, and as far as I know, the product is still there. It was awesome; I felt so privileged to be there. In fact, of all the dealers I know in the industry, I only know of one other who has been invited to their offices. I even kept my Topps visitor's pass as a souvenir from my visit. I've been lucky enough to have visited Fleer, Donruss/Playoff, and Upper Deck's offices as well.

EchoCanyon

If you're going to be here the Weekend of March 25-27, you're in luck.
One of the largest area shows is the White Plains show -- about a 30 minute train ride from Grand Central in NYC.

White Plains Show info

Dboneesq

<< <i>White Plains Show info >>



Boog Powell and Steve Garvey = $30.00 each for an auto. Don't they still sign for free TTM???

EchoCanyon

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If anyone has any recommendations to any baseball museums that are worth checking out, please let me know. >>



Cooperstown! It's less than 200 miles from Manhattan/NYC -- maybe a 4 hour drive.

robbiegiggs

Would love to hit Coop Town but can't make that happen...

The Metropolitan Museum sounds very interesting and I'll probably hit that up.