Contractually obligated to share these items (scan heavy) Topps Contracts/Checks through the years
mcholke
Posts: 1,000 ✭✭
As many of you know my collecting focus is Tony Perez . Perez collection link
It has gotten increasingly challenging to find new and exciting items to add to my collection. The hunt for something new and exciting paid off this week and the mail arrived tonight and it is time to share. Just a quick back story on Tony Perez's journey to the United States from Cuba. An excerpt from an article online highlights his story: , Tony left Cuba in 1960 to join the Reds' farm club at Geneva, N.Y. He returned home after his first three years in the minors. But as the United States' relationship with Fidel Castro's Cuba grew more icy, Tony's father, Jose, told him it was too dangerous to come back. If baseball was to be Tony's life, he would have to leave Cuba behind. He did in '63. It would be nine years -- 1972 -- before Perez returned to his homeland. And then it was to bid his dying father goodbye."
As the article points out he came to the U.S. in 1960 and was just 17 years old when he did. With that as a backdrop, that date, age and reference to his father are important in sharing this item.
This is the contract Tony signed with Topps when he arrived in the U.S. in 1960. He was not of legal age so his father had to also sign the contract. He was paid $5 from Topps in connection with signing that contract and the cancelled check is with the original contract. Here is the group.
As Tony progressed in his minor league career he eventually made his big league debut in 1965 and signed an contract renewal. Here is the contract and cancelled check
The contract with Topps is good for 2 years so in 1967 he had to sign another extension
While my luck of this lot including cancelled checks with the contracts ran out, the series of 2 year contract renewals continues on into the 1980s
I enjoyed seeing the changing letterhead with Topps contracts and that Sy Berger signed many of the contracts.
It has gotten increasingly challenging to find new and exciting items to add to my collection. The hunt for something new and exciting paid off this week and the mail arrived tonight and it is time to share. Just a quick back story on Tony Perez's journey to the United States from Cuba. An excerpt from an article online highlights his story: , Tony left Cuba in 1960 to join the Reds' farm club at Geneva, N.Y. He returned home after his first three years in the minors. But as the United States' relationship with Fidel Castro's Cuba grew more icy, Tony's father, Jose, told him it was too dangerous to come back. If baseball was to be Tony's life, he would have to leave Cuba behind. He did in '63. It would be nine years -- 1972 -- before Perez returned to his homeland. And then it was to bid his dying father goodbye."
As the article points out he came to the U.S. in 1960 and was just 17 years old when he did. With that as a backdrop, that date, age and reference to his father are important in sharing this item.
This is the contract Tony signed with Topps when he arrived in the U.S. in 1960. He was not of legal age so his father had to also sign the contract. He was paid $5 from Topps in connection with signing that contract and the cancelled check is with the original contract. Here is the group.
As Tony progressed in his minor league career he eventually made his big league debut in 1965 and signed an contract renewal. Here is the contract and cancelled check
The contract with Topps is good for 2 years so in 1967 he had to sign another extension
While my luck of this lot including cancelled checks with the contracts ran out, the series of 2 year contract renewals continues on into the 1980s
I enjoyed seeing the changing letterhead with Topps contracts and that Sy Berger signed many of the contracts.
Collecting Tony Perez PSA and Rookie Baseball PSA
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Comments
Talk about some major league player collection additions, these are pretty hard to beat... congrats!
Having the canceled licensing checks, endorsed by Tony on the back, just makes these additions unreal.
Like you, I too get a kick out of seeing how the Topps letterhead changed over the years. One of the things I enjoy about collecting unopened is to see how the hobby evolved over the years... the graphics, the players selected for the boxes, the prices, etc... and the evolving Topps logos are an interesting extension of this.
Congratulations again!
Snorto~
How were you able to get all of these Topps contracts / memorabilia in one fell swoop? Extra ordinarily impressive and certainly unique.
Congrats
<< <i>Wow, amazing run!
How were you able to get all of these Topps contracts / memorabilia in one fell swoop? Extra ordinarily impressive and certainly unique.
Congrats >>
Thank you. I was just fortunate to be at the right place (ebay) at the right time (late one night). The seller located the contracts in a group of books purchased. The original source of those books is unknown to me. He found the group of contracts/checks in a folder in those books. He had them for a month or so while he checked out values and then ultimately listed the entire group on Ebay. I was able to grab them shortly after he listed them. I guess it was my reward for not being able to go the to National and was instead in front of my computer. In my research about the contracts I did find out that Topps still sells contracts on its website
Topps Website
And an article about Topps contracts
Cardboard Connection article
Collecting Tony Perez PSA and Rookie Baseball PSA
Congrats
collecting RAW Topps baseball cards 1952 Highs to 1972. looking for collector grade (somewhere between psa 4-7 condition). let me know what you have, I'll take it, I want to finish sets, I must have something you can use for trade.
looking for Topps 71-72 hi's-62-53-54-55-59, I have these sets started