First, the card....
....this is Billy Williams' card from 1969. Like the Ernie Banks card, it too was cut from the bottom of the figurine's box. However, in 1969, the players were sold separately instead of in groups of three. I couldn't find any Billy Williams players available on ebay....
....but I did find this Hank Aaron. I must admit that the player looks nothing like Aaron.
Now the interesting fact about Transogram, well, its interesting to me, at least! I was reading my local newspaper, the Sturgis Journal, and an obituary caught my eye. I didn't know the person, but I recognized the name of one of the companies she had worked at....Transogram. Was that the same Transogram?
I scoured the internet and found out that yes, Transogram did have a factory right here in little 'ol Sturgis, Michigan. Transogram had a few factories around the US and the one in Sturgis was known as Transogram, Midwest. The company went bankrupt in the early 1970s, so the factory has been long gone. I haven't been able to figure out where in town it was located.
But the big question I'd like to answer is were these baseball figures made in Sturgis. I'd love to get my hands on one of the boxes to see if it says where they were made. Anyone out there got one?
I've seen Transogram cards on some player & team checklists, but I never knew what they (or the figures) looked like.
ReplyDeleteFor the time, they were probably pretty cool. They sort of remind me of Starting Lineup (with all of the associated resemblance problems.)
- Paul
The old Transogram building is where International Paper was. They were installing a machine when they unearthed a couple Dr kits.
ReplyDelete