1950s Topps

All you want to know about 1950s Topps

Topps joined the sports cards market in the 1950s becoming a rival to Bowman. After competing with each other for five years Topps bought out Bowman in 1956. Competition still remained however, in the form of Parkhurst hockey cards. Topps produced cards of the United States based National Hockey League teams while Parkhurst covered the Canadian teams. Topps had produced multi-sport photo cards prior to 1950, namely the 1948 Topps Magic Photos but each set was very small and not considered a major set [1]. This trend was consistent with their first baseball and college football issues: the 1950 Feltbacks resembled college pennants; 1951 Magic football included a scratch-off game on the reverse; Red/Blue Backs intended to be a card game; Connie Mack/Current All-Stars are foldable stand-ups. It was in 1952 that Topps released their first truly major card set. Below is a list with brief descriptions of Topps sports card products for the 1950s.

Contents

Baseball

Year Set Description Cards in Set Size Notes Image
1951 Blue Backs 52 2 x 2.625 inches
Red Backs 52 2 x 2.625 inches
Connie Mack All-Stars 11 2.0625 x 5.25 inches
Current All-Stars 8 2.0625 x 5.25 inches
Team Cards 9 2.0625 x 5.25 inches
1952 Base set 407 2.625 x 3.75 inches
Master set 487 2.625 x 3.75 inches
1953 Base set 274 2.625 x 3.75 inches
1954 Base set 250 2.625 x 3.75 inches
Canadian 50 2.625 x 3.75 inches
1955 Base set 206 2.625 x 3.75 inches
Double Header 66 2.0625 x 4.875 inches
1956 Base set 340 2.625 x 3.75 inches
Pins 60 1.1875 diameter
1957 Base set 407 2.5 x 3.5 inches
1958 Base set 494 2.5 x 3.5 inches
Master set 534 2.5 x 3.5 inches
1959 Base set 572 2.5 x 3.5 inches
Bazooka 23 2.8125 x 4.9375 inches

[1]

Licensed Sets

From 1959, Topps started distributing cards in Venezuela on account of it being a viable baseball market. The only significant difference from the U.S. issue was the print quality namely a duller finish on the front. Some of the card backs include a print line stating 'Impreso en Venezuela por Benco CA.'

Year Set Quantity Size (in.) Notes
1959 Topps Venezuelan 196 2-1/2 x 3-1/2

Football

Year Set Quantity Size (in.) Notes
1950 Felt Backs 100 7/8 x 1-7/16 College football
1951 Magic 75 2-1/16 x 2-15/16 College football
1955 All-American 100 2-5/8 x 3-5/8 College football
1956 Topps 120 2-5/8 x 3-3/4 NFL
1957 Topps 154 2-1/2 x 3-1/2 NFL
1958 Topps 132 2-1/2 x 3-1/2 NFL
Topps CFL 88 2-1/2 x 3-1/2 CFL
1959 Topps 176 2-1/2 x 3-1/2 NFL
Topps CFL 88 2-1/2 x 3-1/2 CFL
Bazooka 18 2-13/16 x 4-15/16 NFL

Basketball

Year Set Quantity Size (in.) Notes
1957-58 Topps 80 2-1/2 x 3-1/2 NBA

Hockey

The following sets each total 66 color cards and measure the standard 2-1/2 X 3-1/2. The players in these sets are from the four U.S. based teams of the NHL. Bilingual backs(English/French) feature previous season statistics, a short player biography and a cartoon question and answer section.

  • 1957-58 Topps
  • 1958-59 Topps
  • 1959-60 Topps

Boxing

1951 Topps Ringside

Topps' only boxing issue came out in 1951 and was called 'Ringside'. The set featured current and former boxing stars as well as wrestlers. The set totals 96 color cards with biographical information on the back. Some of the cards depicted a championship belt above the athlete's name indicating their weight class and year(s) they held the title.

Multi-sport

1948 Topps Magic Photos (R714-27)

This set contains 252 small individual cards featuring sport and non-sport subjects. They were issued in 19 lettered series with cards numbered within each series. The numbers of just the major sports subsets are as follows: A1-A24 All-American Basketball, B1-B6 All-American Football, J1-J19 Baseball Hall of Fame, P1-P2 Basketball Thrills, Q1-Q5 Football Thrills, T1-T7 Sports. Size: 7/8 X 1-7/16

External links

References

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