1997 Topps was the first year in which Topps confused a lot of collectors. Topps decided to honor Mickey Mantle, not by producing a card of him, but by omitting card #7 from its flagship set. That’s right, for those collectors who were trying to put together a set and for those who didn’t know, card #7 simply did not exist. I will never understand why Topps chose to honor The Mick in this way but in my opinion this was simply ridiculous. Topps continued to do this until 2006. In 2006, Topps decided to produced inserts of Mickey Mantle designed after each missing year (1997-2005) to fill in the gaps that they caused with their decision to omit #7. Some collectors liked these and put them in their yearly Topps sets. I did not mainly because the backs of the cards were numbered MM1997, MM1998, etc. Had they numbered them #7, I probably would have. I thought that the reason Topps produced the insert cards was a response to the backlash from all of the collectors out there who did not like the idea of omitting card #7. In fact, from 2006-2012, Topps did produce a card #7 of Mickey Mantle. I believe that the reason why they did this was because they had the rights to produce Mickey Mantle cards during this time period. However, in 2013, guess what Topps has decided to do? They decided once again to omit card #7 again! Really Topps? It’s like déjà vu all over again!
What I would like to see Topps do in some form or fashion is to create a small set of cards to serve as fillers for all collectors who want to make their sets complete with zero gaps. If they would do this, I would like to see the checklist include these numbers:
1953 Topps: 253-261-267-268-271-275
1955 Topps: 175-186-203-209
1958 Topps: 145
1997 Topps: 7
1998 Topps: 7
1999 Topps: 7
2000 Topps: 7
2001 Topps: 7
2002 Topps: 7
2003 Topps: 7
2004 Topps: 7
2005 Topps: 7
2013 Topps: 7
Am I missing any? I know there was a 2006 #297 Alex Gordon so I did not include that since they are available. They could hand out these 21 card packs to hobby stores to help promote Topps set collectors.
Well, do you like my idea? I know that Topps has produced “Cards That Never Were” before at the National Card Convention for a few years but they are just not the same as the originals. Most of them have a glossy finish to them and don't look or feel very vintage to me.
By the way, I have a title for my insert set – “Cards That Should Have Been!” :0)
Craig:
Topps did create a 10-card insert set featuring “Cards That Never Were” featuring players that were not a part of the original set. With the exception of the cards from 1954 (which were “numbered” 251 and 252), the cards were numbered with the missing numbers from the sets they could have been a part of:
60YOTLC1 Stan Musial 1953
60YOTLC2 Duke Snider 1953
60YOTLC3 Mickey Mantle 1954
60YOTLC4 Roy Campanella 1954
60YOTLC5 Stan Musial 1955
60YOTLC6 Whitey Ford 1955
60YOTLC7 Bob Feller 1955
60YOTLC8 Mickey Mantle 1955
60YOTLC9 Stan Musial 1956
60YOTLC10 Stan Musial 1957
Actually, there were two sets. The first set, the basic one, had a brief bio on the back explaining why the card was supposedly missing from the set.
The second set, which was short printed, were “reprints” of what these cards would have looked like, including original back designs.
Sincerely,
JayBee Anama
bdj610
Oh yes, the original backs from 2010. I guess I could have filled my gaps with those but the idea of putting glossy cards in my vintage sets makes me a little queasy.
They fell one per box so it is a difficult set to put together. Thank you for the information JayBee — much appreciated!!
Craig from Texas
I guess you could include cards 587 and 588 from ’61 Topps
Anthony,
Yes, I can’t believe I forgot about those two. They should have been included. Thank you for pointing that out!
Craig from Texas
I was disappointed to see that Mantle is not in 2013 Topps. I wonder if he will be including in other products this year? Since 2006, he had been in the base set (with inserts) each year.
Looking back, he was also left out of the 2012 Topps Chrome set.
I’m sure it had to do with licensing rights but I have to agree with you. I don’t care who Topps makes as #7, just make a #7!
Craig from Texas