Lest we forget: Sy Berger

The baseball card scion died yesterday at the age of 91.

If you were a red-blooded American boy, you probably collected some form of “sports cards” as a kid. Most likely, they were the offspring of Berger, who created Topps back in the early 1950s.

Although trading cards have been around for more than 100 years, Berger turned into a major industry. Surprisingly, when they first came out, it was the cards that was the bonus when you purchased gum. Late it switched and boomers recall fondly those pink slabs that lasted forever, link Twinkies. I’m sure you can still buy unopened packs from those years and the gum is still “usable,” for lack of a better word. In my opinion, the end of childhood, regardless of your age, when they stopped including the gum in the packs.

The cliche goes that just about everyone’s mother threw out the cards at some point, thereby depriving the collectors and their progeny the thousands of dollars that the pieces of cardboard became in the 1980s and 90s, before the collectible market dropped. Me, I was my own worst enemy, gluing the cards to posters, writing on them when the players moved from one team to another.

Marty Appel, baseball PR guru, posted this to Facebook yesterday:

Sorry to announce the passing early this morning of Sy Berger, 91, in Rockville Centre NY. Sy is considered the “father of the modern baseball card,” having gone to work for Topps after graduating from Bucknell and then service in World War II, and designing the first Topps set of baseball cards at his kitchen table. He came to personally sign all the Major League players over the next 40 years, establishing the cards as an important part of American culture – and for many, the gateway to America’s pastime. His greatest friend may have been Willie Mays, but he had beloved friendships with thousands of players. Getting one’s picture on a Topps baseball card meant you had “made it.” Football followed, based on a handshake with NFL Commissioner Bert Bell – and then basketball and hockey. Sy handled entertainment products too, including the Beatles. He flew to London to meet with Brian Epstein, greeted him in Yiddish, and made a deal. There was Elvis, Michael Jackson, and much more. Death came peacefully in his sleep of natural causes. Survivors include his wife of 68 years Gloria, a daughter, Maxine Berger, her husband Mark Bienstock and their daughter Amelia…..a son, Glenn and his wife Jeannie, and their children Jonathan, Sarah and Maxwell, and a son Gary and his wife Tipayawan, and their son Jeremy, plus two great grandchildren. Funeral services are pending.

Here’s the NY Times obituary, written by Richard Goldstein.