TOPPS’ TOASTER TANKS
BY MARK A. LARSON
Editor & Publisher
In 1989, a major event was held in New York – the auctioning off of 25,000 items from Topps’ archives.
After 40 years, the company claimed it was “opening up its vault” … But my guess would be the so-called “vault” was most likely boxes and boxes crammed full of stuff from previous decades piled haphazardly in the musty basement of its Brooklyn headquarters.
In any case, the auction did not consist of cards, but anything else Topps accumulated throughout the years related to the card business. This would include paintings; photographs; original artwork used for the cartoons on card backs; player contracts with the company; canceled checks that players signed, etc.
Included among the massive amount of material was a letter written by Willie Mays to Topps in the 1950s. But before we get ahead of ourselves. A little background …
For many years, Topps’ protocol was to sign players to a very cheap contract (as low as $5 per year) and also allow them to choose small items from a catalog to sweeten the deal.
Now, back to Willie Mays.
Willie’s letter to Topps described how the toaster he obtained from their catalog was defective and kept burning his toast. And, he asked, could he return it to the company to have it fixed?
Five-buck contracts. Toasters as premiums. Having a small appliance fixed instead of replaced. Stars writing personal letters about relatively small matters – Boy, have times changed.
Willie’s letter went for $2,000 in the auction.
No word on whether the toaster got fixed.
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