Sy Berger (1923-2014)

Baseball card collectors everywhere, myself included, lost a little piece of us on Sunday when Topps Cards pioneer and baseball card legend Sy Berger passed away at the age of 91.

There have been many tributes the past couple of days, and I'm late in writing this post since I first saw the news on Twitter on Sunday.


The best tribute?


To me it's from baseball card collector Keith Olbermann...

Growing up collecting baseball cards in the 1960s and 1970s meant one thing...Topps Baseball Cards...Series 1, and Series 2.





It took all year to collect the entire set, if you could, because Topps released the first series during Spring Training, and then waited until the fall to release the second series.



It was a labor of love for me, and from 1968-1980 I acquired one complete Topps set every year, collecting many doubles and triples of cards through the years.



I would always separate my Detroit Tigers cards from the set, waiting on those doubles and triples to complete the 660-762 card sets that Sy Berger put together.


And, of course, my first priority every year was to open a Topps pack containing a Bill Freehan card.

Sy Berger arrived at Topps in the late 1940s, and sitting at his kitchen table created the iconic 1952 Topps Baseball card set.

Today's collecting for me is picking up a pack of Topps at Walmart, and maybe a trip to the local card store if I can afford to.



I'm already very excited for 2015 Topps, and I've made it know to my better half that I want an entire box of cards for my 55th birthday in February.



I'm sure the folks at Topps will have a special Sy Berger card for us to collect in the set.


God Bless you Sy, we love you and will see you at the big card store in Heaven one day.