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Merkle923 · 10-24-2015, 02:44 PM

1. This is how to identify somebody like the missing Expo. First, get the exact parameters of when the photo could've been taken based on the uniform style. Then, since the photographers' backdrop in this image suggests photo day (spring training), search the Baseball-Reference affiliations lists for players in the entire organization of the team for each year. Here's Montreal's: Washington Nationals Minor League Affiliations | Baseball-Reference.com

1a. Remember that the alphabetical sequencing of posted images is just as often a red herring. The other players in the identified sequence suggest mid to late '80s. Why is a mid 90s Expo in there - without other mid 90s images - and why would you assume it wasn't in the pile by accident? It certainly doesn't belong in there.

2. The disproportionate scarcity of "star" player images is explained in large part by the fact that a lot of images 'walked out' of Topps over the years, to the point that eventually all baseball Hall of Famers and other popular figures were sequestered in their own filing cabinets, which were the only ones that were locked.

3. If MLB was a filing mess (with cardboard boxes full of images not opened since the '50s - I found the later-auctioned Koufax/Brooklyn negatives in there one morning), NFL was a disaster. I recall no filing at all, just a thick cardboard box, half the height of a movers' Wardrobe box, filled with loose packets of NFL negatives like so many fish in a barrel. Never saw any NFL folders or file cabinets. There were some for the NBA but they seemed to cover only about 1971-75. Didn't see a single hockey image, reinforcing the theory Topps got their NHL images directly from the teams.

4. No, Topps did not shoot Replacement Ball 1995. Nor (to my knowledge anyway) did any team stage an official photo day. Nor, as observed above, would Topps have been permitted by the MLBPA to use any photos of those players since even the ones who later reached the majors were not included in the division of merchandising income by the union (although I believe MLBPA eventually relented and gave some of the strikebreakers a smaller figure).

5. Obviously Topps has been using that auction image upload site for awhile. I wasn't made aware of it until 2013, so I have no information on that.

10-24-2015, 02:44 PM	#26449
Merkle923 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2013 Posts: 2,225	ID'ing and Topps Non-Baseball Negatives 1. This is how to identify somebody like the missing Expo. First, get the exact parameters of when the photo could've been taken based on the uniform style. Then, since the photographers' backdrop in this image suggests photo day (spring training), search the Baseball-Reference affiliations lists for players in the entire organization of the team for each year. Here's Montreal's: Washington Nationals Minor League Affiliations \| Baseball-Reference.com 1a. Remember that the alphabetical sequencing of posted images is just as often a red herring. The other players in the identified sequence suggest mid to late '80s. Why is a mid 90s Expo in there - without other mid 90s images - and why would you assume it wasn't in the pile by accident? It certainly doesn't belong in there. 2. The disproportionate scarcity of "star" player images is explained in large part by the fact that a lot of images 'walked out' of Topps over the years, to the point that eventually all baseball Hall of Famers and other popular figures were sequestered in their own filing cabinets, which were the only ones that were locked. 3. If MLB was a filing mess (with cardboard boxes full of images not opened since the '50s - I found the later-auctioned Koufax/Brooklyn negatives in there one morning), NFL was a disaster. I recall no filing at all, just a thick cardboard box, half the height of a movers' Wardrobe box, filled with loose packets of NFL negatives like so many fish in a barrel. Never saw any NFL folders or file cabinets. There were some for the NBA but they seemed to cover only about 1971-75. Didn't see a single hockey image, reinforcing the theory Topps got their NHL images directly from the teams. 4. No, Topps did not shoot Replacement Ball 1995. Nor (to my knowledge anyway) did any team stage an official photo day. Nor, as observed above, would Topps have been permitted by the MLBPA to use any photos of those players since even the ones who later reached the majors were not included in the division of merchandising income by the union (although I believe MLBPA eventually relented and gave some of the strikebreakers a smaller figure). 5. Obviously Topps has been using that auction image upload site for awhile. I wasn't made aware of it until 2013, so I have no information on that.