Quote:
Originally Posted by Merkle923
Kind of a mystery that this is only the second color image released publicly of the long-time National League outfielder, and progenitor of a three-generation MLB family, in a Mets' uniform.
Bell started 24 of the first 31 games in franchise history before being dished off to the Braves on May 21. Topps, for instance, shot at least once at the Polo Grounds in late April or early May, capturing no fewer than six Mets (Demerit, Hillman, Marshall, Moford, Smith, Zimmer) who left the team before Bell did - yet clearly the company did not photograph Gus Bell.
So here he is from an early spring training game:
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Stupid question. As you have more knowledge of such things than the rest of us put together... I've heard that Sy Berger, back in the day, used to give some of these transparencies to the players, themselves. You know, some former player and he would meet at some function or other and the player would lament that he'd kept no images of himself from his playing days. And then, zingo, Sy would send them one or more of the Topps transparencies. Could this be the case with some of the more "mysteriously" missing players, such as Bell? I realize the simpler likelihood is that the player(s) just didn't feel like posing on whatever day the Topps photogs were there. But it was Sy's candy store at the time and I doubt he was thinking about selling the pictures as memorabilia on eBay 50 years in the future (other than your Mantle and Mays type players).