r/u_Cards-Mania

I went back through the famous story about Sy Berger and the unwanted 1952 Topps high numbers, expecting it to be either clearly documented or basically hobby folklore.

It's neither.

Berger gave a pretty detailed first-person account: roughly 300-500 cases, three garbage trucks, a friend's garbage scow, and a disposal several miles off New Jersey.

But some of the details get strange.

An older PSA article stated that the cards were dumped into the Atlantic in 1960. A newer PSA history uses much more cautious language and calls it “hobby lore,” saying the cards were allegedly dumped.

The famous two-million-card number can apparently be traced back to Berger himself, but I couldn't find surviving Topps inventory records independently establishing that exact quantity.

There's also a funny numerical detail: #311-407 is 97 cards, while one early Berger account reportedly referred to 96 late cards.

And Willie Mays #261 sometimes gets folded into retellings even though he isn't part of the final #311-407 high-number run.

The Rosen Find creates another rabbit hole because major sources don't even agree cleanly on the year/location.

I put the sources and contradictions together here if anyone wants the full rabbit hole: Did Topps Really Dump Millions of 1952 Baseball Cards Into the Ocean?

I'd be especially interested if anyone here knows of contemporary Topps paperwork, newspaper coverage or other primary evidence that isn't usually cited in versions of this story.

I went pretty far down the Nap Lajoie #106 rabbit hole while researching a piece for Cards Mania, and the actual history is better than the simplified version I'd heard for years.

Collectors trying to complete the 1933 Goudey set couldn't pull #106 because it wasn't part of the 1933 printing.

Surviving production-sheet evidence shows Babe Ruth #144 occupying a duplicate position instead.

Collectors eventually wrote to Goudey about the missing number. In 1934, the company produced Nap Lajoie #106 and mailed copies to people who had contacted them.

One detail I hadn't really appreciated before researching it: PSA describes #106 as having a 1934-style front paired with a 1933-style back. The strange 1933/1934 chronology is basically built into the card.

Then there is the modern version of the same confusion.

Search marketplaces and you'll find "1933 Goudey Nap Lajoie #106" cards for a few dollars because later Galasso, Hygrade and other reprints still reference the original 1933 set.

I put the production-sheet evidence, mailing story, paper-clip marks, recent auction results and original-vs-reprint issue together here: 1933 Goudey Nap Lajoie #106: The Card Nobody Could Pull

I'm curious how vintage collectors here feel about reprints of cards like this. Would you happily keep a $3 copy for the history and design, or is original-or-nothing more your thing?