RIP Sy Berger

TNP777

I received an email from a friend just now. It reads:

"Butch Jacobs, former director of photography for Topps, called me this morning. He had just received a call from Gloria Berger, Sy's wife, Sy Berger, 91, passed away in his sleep last night."

Nothing comes up on a Google search, but that's not surprising given that the most of the planet couldn't care less about sports cards.

edit: article from Sports Collectors Daily

dennis07

Just think of the card knowledge that just went away with his passing. He served in WWII as my Dad did.
Greatest generation indeed. RIP.

bobsbbcards

RIP

itzagoner

bless your soul Mr. Berger. we wouldn't be here without you.

lawnmowerman

Sad news. RIP

Dboneesq

RIP to a fellow Long Islander. Thanks for all you did for us card collectors.

MyDaughtersNameIsMattingly

Rest in peace Mr. Berger. Thanks for everything!

bishop

yankeeno7

RIP to our Godfather of Baseball Cards!

Stooge

Undoubtedly one of the most underrated people on the "Influences on the 20th Century" list. Not having Sy Berger develop Topps Trading cards would be like Hugh Hefner not publishing Playboy. It literally changed the world.

The world wouldn't have been the same w/o you.

May you rest in peace...and God bless you and your Family.

heritage

RIP Mr Berger, thank you.

Stingray

That is sad news!! I would love to read his side of the story on the cases of 52 Topps that were dumped in the ocean!!

mikelowell25

<< <i>That is sad news!! I would love to read his side of the story on the cases of 52 Topps that were dumped in the ocean!! >>



stole this from across the street on net54:


But back to those 1952 high numbers. Faced with a bulging warehouse of cards now almost 10 years old, Berger, the preeminent card designer, licensing agent and contract hound, now switched hats and tried his hand at actually selling baseball cards. Wholesale. Really, really wholesale. 

“Around 1959 or so, I went around to carnivals and offered them for a penny a piece, and it got so bad I offered them at 10 for a penny. They would say, ‘We don’t want them.’ 

“I couldn’t give them away. So we said let’s get rid of them. We decided to dump them in the ocean.” Topps had stored those 1952 Topps for eight or nine years. According to Berger, these were all cut cards.

“They were put in boxes. It took three garbage trucks. I would say 300-500 cases. All high series of 1952 Topps. “I found a friend of mine who had a garbage scow and we loaded the three trucks-worth on the barge.” It was tugged out by a tugboat, with Berger on board to supervise the undertaking, such as it was. “I was out there with it. Opposite Atlantic Highlands, a few miles out.”

The cases were stacked on the center of the barge, and a switch was thrown and those (now) precious cards were consigned to the deep. “And that was the end of it,” said Berger. “Whoever thought that they would have the kind of value that they would have?”

Attaching a dollar number is essentially impossible, or at least unwieldy, but one could make a good argument that our pile of cardboard on the ocean floor would now be worth tens of millions of dollars. The exercise runs afoul of hypothetical quicksand, because if the cards hadn’t been dumped, the high series wouldn’t be so valuable 50 years later. You get the idea.

__________________

Dpeck100

<< <i>

<< <i>That is sad news!! I would love to read his side of the story on the cases of 52 Topps that were dumped in the ocean!! >>



stole this from across the street on net54:


But back to those 1952 high numbers. Faced with a bulging warehouse of cards now almost 10 years old, Berger, the preeminent card designer, licensing agent and contract hound, now switched hats and tried his hand at actually selling baseball cards. Wholesale. Really, really wholesale. 

“Around 1959 or so, I went around to carnivals and offered them for a penny a piece, and it got so bad I offered them at 10 for a penny. They would say, ‘We don’t want them.’ 

“I couldn’t give them away. So we said let’s get rid of them. We decided to dump them in the ocean.” Topps had stored those 1952 Topps for eight or nine years. According to Berger, these were all cut cards.

“They were put in boxes. It took three garbage trucks. I would say 300-500 cases. All high series of 1952 Topps. “I found a friend of mine who had a garbage scow and we loaded the three trucks-worth on the barge.” It was tugged out by a tugboat, with Berger on board to supervise the undertaking, such as it was. “I was out there with it. Opposite Atlantic Highlands, a few miles out.”

The cases were stacked on the center of the barge, and a switch was thrown and those (now) precious cards were consigned to the deep. “And that was the end of it,” said Berger. “Whoever thought that they would have the kind of value that they would have?”

Attaching a dollar number is essentially impossible, or at least unwieldy, but one could make a good argument that our pile of cardboard on the ocean floor would now be worth tens of millions of dollars. The exercise runs afoul of hypothetical quicksand, because if the cards hadn’t been dumped, the high series wouldn’t be so valuable 50 years later. You get the idea.

__________________ >>








Does anyone know why there was an abundance of 1952? Were there other years that had the same issue of over production for the time?

EchoCanyon

I think it's beyond fitting that people are writing RIP (for baseball cards).

Thanks, Sy.

Dboneesq

<< <i>Does anyone know why there was an abundance of 1952? Were there other years that had the same issue of over production for the time? >>


Topps issued its high series so late in the summer of 1952 that sales were horrible. This was mostly due to kids turning their attention from baseball to football season.

Dpeck100

<< <i>

<< <i>Does anyone know why there was an abundance of 1952? Were there other years that had the same issue of over production for the time? >>


Topps issued its high series so late in the summer of 1952 that sales were horrible. This was mostly due to kids turning their attention from baseball to football season. >>




Thanks Doug.


I love learning new things about the history of cards.

gemint

<< <i>

<< <i>Does anyone know why there was an abundance of 1952? Were there other years that had the same issue of over production for the time? >>


Topps issued its high series so late in the summer of 1952 that sales were horrible. This was mostly due to kids turning their attention from baseball to football season. >>



Also, being their first year of producing a major set, they probably didn't know how many to produce. The age old business dilemma of producing enough to meet demand while not over producing to the point of leaving unsold inventory.

grote15

Sad news.

He lived a long and interesting life.

Would have loved to just listen to him talk for hours about Topps production from back in the day..

Dboneesq

<< <i>Also, being their first year of producing a major set, they probably didn't know how many to produce. The age old business dilemma of producing enough to meet demand while not over producing to the point of leaving unsold inventory. >>


I believe that had something to do with it as well. Their first series sold out, so they produced more of the HI #'d series. However, as stated before, they waited too long to distribute the new series.

But let's not forget what Sy said ... if they would have distributed them early enough and they all sold out, the Hi#s would not be as valuable as they are today! Of course all HI #s from the 50s and 60s are going to be worth more than the other series, because they sold less than the other series as football usually was already in season by the time the Hi series came out.

Brick

RIP

baseballfan

sad news. there was actually an article in my local paper today regarding his death.

there was a topps factory in the area for a long time.

RIP

dytch2220

There are a few articles out there on the web now G.

ESPN
NY Times

FirstBeard

He was the signing party on behalf of Topps on a lot of the old player contracts. I have a few (including Hank Aaron's last year as a player with Topps - i.e. not the later HOF and "greatest" issues, etc). There were at one time lots of really affordable contracts floating around if you want an auto from Mr. Berger.

pdub1819

People Magazine

mlbfan2

Keith Olbermann did a tribute to Sy on his show today (while wearing a "bubble gum" suit).
video

mikelowell25

<< <i>Keith Olbermann did a tribute to Sy on his show today (while wearing a "bubble gum" suit).
video >>



thanks for the link!

vladguerrero

You can pick up Topps Baseball card player contracts signed by him on Ebay for $20 if anyone was interested.

bishop

A bit harder to pick up is the card posted in #3 above by Bob. It is from the Topps 1964 Rookie Banquet program

mikelowell25

Below is a pseudo-link to a video of botox costas waxing poetic about sy on hot stove on mlb network today; if someone could please make it clickable for me and everyone else it would be greatly appreciated!!


http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/7417714/v37058529/costas-joins-hot-stove-to-remember-sy-berger

elsnorto

<< <i>Below is a pseudo-link to a video of botox costas waxing poetic about sy on hot stove on mlb network today; if someone could please make it clickable for me and everyone else it would be greatly appreciated!!


http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/7417714/v37058529/costas-joins-hot-stove-to-remember-sy-berger >>




Das Link!

Snorto~

mikelowell25

Thanks snorto!!