518. 1978-2004 Topps Baseball Achievement Awards Program Complete Run (25)
Despite ceasing publication of programs and the associated expenses of hosting an annual luncheon with several hundred people in attendance, Topps kept the awards going. It’s not clear what form, if any, the ceremonies took after 1966, but the annual winners were eventually memorialized as part of the more encompassing Baseball Achievement Awards (BAA). After a roughly ten- year gap following the demise of the banquets, Topps started producing programs for the BAA in a different and larger four-page folder style that seems more like a public-relations release than anything else. The earliest BAA program seen is 1978’s but they eventually ended this practice too, with 2005 the latest known year one was prepared; it’s possible the range extends a little in both directions, but these were not the keepsakes as the Banquet programs. Continuing the trend they had established in the Sixties, with increasing corporate attention being paid to the minor leagues and the scouts that filled the rosters of their teams, Topps publicized far more awards in these publications than they ever had in the annual banquet programs; they just hadn’t highlighted most of them previously. Recognition of Minor League Players of the Month was made, each classification of minor league baseball had an All-Star Team listed, and Scout of the Month Award winners were all part of this change in approach, even as these more utilitarian programs are often chock filled with photos of Hall of Fame players. Despite this, the BAA programs remain relatively unknown and seem in short supply; this may say something about the importance of personal contact as it relates to treasured keepsakes. The annual numbering of the awards continues to tick up by one each year and now stands at a whopping sixty-seven, with the little trophy icon still included on the winner’s baseball cards after all these years. Topps is not the company it once was of course, but to their credit they have managed to keep one old tradition alive well into the Twenty First Century.
MINIMUM BID: $250
91
CLOSES OCTOBER 31, 2026
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