1967 TOPPS TOM REYNOLDS
Did you ever wonder about the force that drove apart the “Tom” and “Reynolds” at the top of this Tommie Reynolds card?
The 1967 Topps set is in general a clean, well-designed issue, and this odd gap seems out of character. So what strange, supernal powers were at work here?
A few years back, Keith Olbermann published a great series of articles in Sports Collectors Digest concerning the history of Topps proof cards, which solved the Reynolds mystery.
Olbermann related that he had seen an uncut 1967 proof sheet for sale at the famed Topps Guernsey’s auction back in 1989, and that the sheet contained a version of this card with the name rendered as “Tommy Reynolds.”
Well, if you flip this card over, you’ll see that Reynolds’ preferred spelling of his first name was “Tommie.” So someone made the executive decision at proof stage to mask out the “MY” on the card front– lost to time is the logic that argued “Tom” is better than “Tommy” to a “Tommie”…
You can still see residue of the second “M” on my copy of the card here, and I’d suggest that you can spot a bit of the raised arm of the “Y” as well.
Among the wide range of proof variations that Olbermann discussed, a few other Mets-related items stood out:
• A 1962 Don Zimmer that lists his team as the Mets, instead of the Reds as issued.
• A 1968 Tom Seaver that pictures him as a practical-joking lefty.
• A 1971 Ron Swoboda Mets card, which utilizes the same pose as the published card, minus the garish Expos airbrushing.
The signature on the card always threw me off. It didn’t seem weird to have just Tom on the front when his signature was Tom, too. Topps didn’t airbrush that, too, did they? He’s listed at Baseball-Reference as Tommie. Now I wonder if this is a Dick/Richie situation, although less publicized because Reynolds was never a star player…
Good point re the signature.
Here’s what I can put together on the fly concerning Mr Reynolds history on Topps cards:
1965- Tommie Reynolds, no facsimile sig
1967- see above
1969- Tom Reynolds, no facsimile sig
1970- Tommie Reynolds, no facsimile sig
1971- Tommie Reynolds, facsimile sig reads “Tommie Reynolds”
That 1971 signature is not stacked like the one on the 1967 card– it’s a straight landscape presentation. And from what I’ve seen of the Topps Vaults, the signature sheets that were used to reproduce the facsimiles on card were all in landscape format. Which does seem to suggest that the 1967 signature might have been manipulated in some way.
We’re through the looking glass here, people…
Check out this scan, which is an autographed 1969 card that Reynolds signed as “Tom.”
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sportsmemorabilia.com/image_php_785903.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.signedautographed.com/Tommie-Reynolds-Autographs.php&usg=__rBucBpFiSoQl-3Pdm_YEc1GjSU4=&h=300&w=400&sz=16&hl=en&start=0&sig2=c0DFLvb_Uqe_Z1ioM4oOBg&zoom=1&tbnid=By2i2rdX5pb1NM:&tbnh=109&tbnw=143&ei=VhAnTqSkGsvngQeJmdBc&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dtopps%2Btommie%2Breynolds%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DrBw%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D599%26tbm%3Disch%26prmd%3Divnso&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=363&vpy=298&dur=3894&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=135&ty=104&page=1&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:0
Now, this may be due to the fact that the card has his name as Tom or it may be because that’s what Reynolds preferred. We have to remember that Topps referred to Dick Allen as “Richie” through his 1969 card, even though he hated that name. Topps also gave us “Bob” Clemente and “Bert” Campaneris. I believe on all of the facsimile signatures, that Campy signed his first name as “Dagoberto.”
Brian Joura I take offense to your statement that Tommie Reynolds was never a star player. My father was and will always be a star he always gave 110% of himself when he played. What player do you know went to work when he had pnemonia? I do. Tommie did!
It’s always nice to have a relative visit. Thanks for stopping by, Tanya. Can you shed any light on the Tom/Tommie issue for us?