General Forum

I noticed that Stan Musial Bowman cards from 48 to 53 and no Topps cards until 58.  Are there any other stars throughout the years that had missing runs in the major card releases?  Could a player today refuse to sign off on a card issuance?  Just wondering,

Mark

Not a star at nearly the level of Stan Musial, but LaVar Arrington wouldn't join the union for his first few years, so Topps didn't make any football cards of him for a while.  He may have even sued the companies that did make early cards of him.  I don't remember the exact story.

The usual answer when you don't see a star in a set of cards, he didn't want to sign a contract with Topps.

https://retrosimba.com/2012/02/14/how-topps-finally-got-stan-musial-on-its-baseball-cards/

ARod is a recent example of this. His first Topps card wasn't until 1998 though his first major release issues were in 1994. Contract.... 

Thanks for article C2C!  

jimetal7212 - As I was in college from 94-98 I think I can find a decent reason as to why I might have missed that....

First star name that comes to mind is Matt Wieters, who frustrated me for a few years as part of collecting year-by-year sets of every All-Star game (4-time All-Star with his most recent being his first time in Topps sets, and after I stepped away from active collecting) and postseason rosters (2012 with the Orioles, had I gotten around to organizing that years' team sets).

Barry Bonds had a few years when the card companies had to purchase his rights seperate from the other players in the league and Topps wouldn't pay what he wanted so there is a few years he didn't show up on Topps cards .

Try being an NBA collector. Panini's largest set is only 300 cards in a 525 man league.

Earl Campbell's rookie card was in the 1979 Topps set, but after that he was not featured on another card until 1991 with the exception of those oversized 1980-82 Marketcom poster cards and a Fleer Team Action card in 1984.

Mickey Mantle is not in the 54 or 55 Topps sets.