June Vintage Card Show Loot: Part 3 - Mid Series Page Filler

More card show stuff. Now that the big huge stuff is out of the way I can start showing off the normal ordinary stuff. Fifty-something year old stuff but ordinary fifty-something year old stuff. Short printed ordinary fifty-something year old stuff. Ok it's awesome fifty-something year old stuff and I'm a slackass for not posting this stuff sooner. Here, have a card.

Oh look a 1957 Topps Danny O'Connell card. This was in the bargain box and it got snatched up pretty quick. I'm not a huge fan of the '57 set even though it's Iconic and stuff. It's kinda like the 1952 set in that it's simultaneously hard to find and pretty drab. This is a pretty nice looking '57s though since there's a style to the drab. Lotsa greens and grays and earth tones in the set. There is a definite 1957 Topps color palette. Just check out the grass in that infield and the way the red and blue on the uniform complements it. Looks pretty nice! Beats the super close up portraits with a gray background.  

Like most oldy moldy sets, the 1957 set has a scarce series that is tough to find. That series for some reason is the middle series in this set. No idea why no one liked the 4th series of this set, Topps must have gimmicked it up or something. Like all good scarce series, it's chock full of nice rookies that now are much harder to find period, let alone cheap. Bobby Richardson, Jim Bunning and Brooks Robinson hold down the short printed rookie fort in this set. As for Danny, the back of the card says it all. Good defender, light bat. O'Connell played for the Braves for three and a half years before getting shipped off to the Giants in midseason for Red Schoendienst. Missed the World Series by that much. This card was an essential purchase for one reason though:

Completed '57 team page, aaaaaaaaw yiss.

(see what I mean about the '57 color palette? Looks like a '70s independent art film in here)

OBEY '57

ANDRE THE GIANT

HAS A POSSE

I have no idea why I'm so fixated on Shepard Fairey right now.

When in doubt, blame ponies.

1957 Topps Wantlist

1957 Topps is much like the 1952 Topps set in that it was the first set of its kind. The only real difference is that the 1957 set looks good.

Series 1 -- 15/88
1 Ted Williams -- Boston Red Sox
2 Yogi Berra -- New York Yankees
3 Dale Long -- Pittsburgh Pirates
4 Johnny Logan -- Milwaukee Braves
5 Sal Maglie -- Brooklyn Dodgers
7 Luis Aparicio -- Chicago White Sox
8 Don Mossi -- Cleveland Indians
10 Willie Mays -- New York Giants11 George Zuverink -- Baltimore Orioles
12 Dick Groat -- Pittsburgh Pirates
14 Bob Nieman -- Baltimore Orioles
15 Robin Roberts -- Philadelphia Phillies
16 Walt Moryn -- Chicago Cubs
19 Bob Wilson -- Detroit Tigers
20 Hank Aaron -- Milwaukee Braves
21 Frank Sullivan -- Boston Red Sox
22 Jerry Snyder (photo actually Ed Fitz Gerald) -- Washington Senators
23 Sherm Lollar -- Chicago White Sox
24 Bill Mazeroski -- Pittsburgh Pirates
25 Whitney Ford -- New York Yankees
27 Ted Kazanski -- Philadelphia Phillies
28 Gene Conley -- Milwaukee Braves
30 Pee Wee Reese -- Brooklyn Dodgers
31 Ron Northey -- Chicago White Sox
32 Hershell Freeman -- Cincinnati Reds
33 Jim Small -- Detroit Tigers
34 Tom Sturdivant -- New York Yankees
35 Frank Robinson -- Cincinnati Reds
36 Bob Grim -- New York Yankees
37 Frank Torre -- Milwaukee Braves
38 Nellie Fox -- Chicago White Sox
39 Al Worthington -- New York Giants
40 Early Wynn -- Cleveland Indians
41 Hal Smith -- Kansas City Athletics
42 Dee Fondy -- Chicago Cubs
43 Connie Johnson -- Baltimore Orioles
44 Joe DeMaestri -- Kansas City Athletics
45 Carl Furillo -- Brooklyn Dodgers
46 Bob Miller -- Philadelphia Phillies
48 Bill Bruton -- Milwaukee Braves
50 Herb Score -- Cleveland Indians
51 Clint Courtney -- Washington Senators
53 Clem Labine -- Brooklyn Dodgers
55 Ernie Banks -- Chicago Cubs
57 Jim Lemon -- Washington Senators
58 Ruben Gomez -- New York Giants
59 Dick Williams -- Baltimore Orioles
62 Billy Martin -- New York Yankees
63 Ike Delock -- Boston Red Sox
64 Pete Runnels -- Washington Senators
65 Wally Moon -- St. Louis Cardinals
66 Brooks Lawrence -- Cincinnati Reds
67 Chico Carrasquel -- Cleveland Indians
68 Ray Crone -- Milwaukee Braves
69 Roy McMillan -- Cincinnati Reds
70 Richie Ashburn -- Philadelphia Phillies
71 Murry Dickson -- St. Louis Cardinals
72 Bill Tuttle -- Detroit Tigers
73 George Crowe -- Cincinnati Reds
74 Vito Valentinetti -- Chicago Cubs
75 Jim Piersall -- Boston Red Sox
76 Bob Clemente -- Pittsburgh Pirates
77 Paul Foytack -- Detroit Tigers
78 Vic Wertz -- Cleveland Indians
79 Lindy McDaniel -- St. Louis Cardinals
80 Gil Hodges -- Brooklyn Dodgers
81 Herm Wehmeier -- St. Louis Cardinals
82 Elston Howard -- New York Yankees
84 Moe Drabowsky -- Chicago Cubs
86 Bill Sarni -- New York Giants
87 Rom Gorman -- Kansas City Athletics
88 Harvey Kuenn -- Detroit Tigers

Series 2 -- 19/88
89 Roy Sievers -- Washington Senators
90 Warren Spahn -- Milwaukee Braves
91 Mack Burk -- Philadelphia Phillies
93 Hal Jeffcoat -- Cincinnati Reds
94 Bobby Del Greco -- St. Louis Cardinals
95 Mickey Mantle -- New York Yankees
97 Yankees Team -- New York Yankees
99 Bob Keegan -- Chicago White Sox
101 Chuck Stobbs -- Washington Senators
102 Ray Boone -- Detroit Tigers
103 Joe Nuxhall -- Cincinnati Reds
104 Hank Foiles -- Pittsburgh Pirates
106 Ray Moore -- Baltimore Orioles
107 Jim Rivera -- Chicago White Sox
108 Tommy Byrne -- New York Yankees
109 Hank Thompson -- New York Giants
110 Bill Virdon -- Pittsburgh Pirates
111 Hal Smith -- St. Louis Cardinals
114 Braves Team -- Milwaukee Braves
115 Jim Gilliam -- Brooklyn Dodgers
116 Mike Fornieles -- Baltimore Orioles
117 Joe Adcock -- Milwaukee Braves
119 Stan Lopata -- Philadelphia Phillies
120 Bob Lemon -- Cleveland Indians
121 Cletis Boyer -- Kansas City Athletics
122 Ken Boyer -- St. Louis Cardinals
123 Steve Ridzik -- New York Giants
124 Dave Philley -- Chicago White Sox
125 Al Kaline -- Detroit Tigers
127 Bob Buhl -- Milwaukee Braves
128 Ed Bailey -- Cincinnati Reds
129 Saul Rogovin -- Philadelphia Phillies
131 Milt Bolling -- Boston Red Sox
132 Art Ditmar -- New York Yankees
133 Del Crandall -- Milwaukee Braves
134 Don Kaiser -- Chicago Cubs
135 Bill Skowron -- New York Yankees
136 Jim Hegan -- Cleveland Indians
137 Bob Rush -- Chicago Cubs
138 Minnie Minoso -- Chicago White Sox
139 Lou Kretlow -- Kansas City Athletics
140 Frank Thomas -- Pittsburgh Pirates
141 Al Aber -- Detroit Tigers
143 Andy Pafko -- Milwaukee Braves
144 Ray Narleski -- Cleveland Indians
146 Don Ferrarese -- Baltimore Orioles
148 Don Mueller -- New York Giants
150 Bob Friend -- Pittsburgh Pirates
152 Jack Harshman -- Chicago White Sox
153 Karl Olson -- Washington Senators
155 Jim Brosnan -- Chicago Cubs 156 Gus Triandos -- Baltimore Orioles
157 Wally Post -- Cincinnati Reds
158 Curt Simmons -- Philadelphia Phillies
159 Solly Drake -- Chicago Cubs
160 Billy Pierce -- Chicago White Sox
161 Pirates Team -- Pittsburgh Pirates
164 Tommy Carroll -- New York Yankees
165 Ted Kluszewski -- Cincinnati Reds
166 Roy Face -- Pittsburgh Pirates
167 Vic Power -- Kansas City Athletics
169 Herb Plews -- Washington Senators
170 Duke Snider -- Brooklyn Dodgers
171 Red Sox Team -- Boston Red Sox
172 Gene Woodling -- Cleveland Indians
173 Roger Craig -- Brooklyn Dodgers
175 Don Larsen -- New York Yankees
176A Gene Baker -- Chicago Cubs
176B Gene Baker (misspelled on back - "Bakep") -- Chicago Cubs

Series 3 -- 12/88
177 Eddie Yost -- Washington Senators
178 Don Bessent -- Brooklyn Dodgers
179 Ernie Oravetz -- Washington Senators
180 Gus Bell -- Cincinnati Reds
183 Cubs Team -- Chicago Cubs
184 Tito Francona -- Baltimore Orioles
185 Johnny Kucks -- New York Yankees
186 Jim King -- Chicago Cubs
187 Virgil Trucks -- Kansas City Athletics
188 Felix Mantilla -- Milwaukee Braves
189 Willard Nixon -- Boston Red Sox
190 Randy Jackson -- Brooklyn Dodgers
191 Joe Margoneri -- New York Giants
192 Jerry Coleman -- New York Yankees
193 Del Rice -- Milwaukee Braves
194 Hal Brown -- Baltimore Orioles
195 Bobby Avila -- Cleveland Indians
196 Larry Jackson -- St. Louis Cardinals
197 Hank Sauer -- New York Giants
198 Tigers Team -- Detroit Tigers
199 Vernon Law -- Pittsburgh Pirates
200 Gil McDougald -- New York Yankees
201 Sandy Amoros -- Brooklyn Dodgers
202 Dick Gernert -- Boston Red Sox
203 Hoyt Wilhelm -- St. Louis Cardinals
204 Athletics Team -- Kansas City Athletics
205 Charley Maxwell -- Detroit Tigers
206 Willard Schmidt -- St. Louis Cardinals
207 Billy Hunter -- Kansas City Athletics
208 Lew Burdette -- Milwaukee Braves
209 Bob Skinner -- Pittsburgh Pirates
210 Roy Campanella -- Brooklyn Dodgers
212 Rocky Colavito -- Cleveland Indians
213 Les Moss -- Chicago White Sox
214 Phillies Team -- Philadelphia Phillies
215 Enos Slaughter -- New York Yankees
216 Marv Grissom -- New York Giants
217 Gene Stephens -- Boston Red Sox
218 Ray Jablonski -- Chicago Cubs
219 Tom Acker -- Cincinnati Reds
220 Jackie Jensen -- Boston Red Sox
221 Dixie Howell -- Chicago White Sox
222 Alex Grammas -- Cincinnati Reds
223 Frank House -- Detroit Tigers
224 Marv Blaylock -- Philadelphia Phillies
225 Harry Simpson -- Kansas City Athletics
227 Jerry Staley -- Chicago White Sox
229 George Susce -- Boston Red Sox
230 George Kell -- Baltimore Orioles
231 Solly Hemus -- Philadelphia Phillies
232 Whitey Lockman -- New York Giants
233 Art Fowler -- Cincinnati Reds
234 Dick Cole -- Pittsburgh Pirates
236 Joe Ginsberg -- Baltimore Orioles
237 Foster Castleman -- New York Giants
238 Eddie Robinson -- Detroit Tigers
240 Hank Bauer -- New York Yankees242 Charley Neal -- Brooklyn Dodgers
244 Billy Loes -- Baltimore Orioles
245 Rip Repulski -- Philadelphia Phillies
246 Jose Valdivielso -- Washington Senators
247 Turk Lown -- Chicago Cubs
248 Jim Finigan -- Detroit Tigers
249 Dave Pope -- Cleveland Indians
250 Ed Mathews -- Milwaukee Braves
251 Orioles Team -- Baltimore Orioles
253 Gus Zernial -- Kansas City Athletics
254 Ron Negray -- Philadelphia Phillies
255 Charlie Silvera -- Chicago Cubs
256 Ronnie Kline -- Pittsburgh Pirates
258 Steve Gromek -- Detroit Tigers
259 Eddie O'Brien -- Pittsburgh Pirates
260 Del Ennis -- St. Louis Cardinals
262 Bobby Thomson -- Milwaukee Braves
263 George Strickland -- Cleveland Indians

Series 4 -- 1/88
265 Harvey Haddix -- Philadelphia Phillies
266 Ken Kuhn -- Cleveland Indians
267 Danny Kravitz -- Pittsburgh Pirates
268 Jackie Colalum -- Chicago Cubs
269 Bob Cerv -- Kansas City Athletics
270 Senators Team -- Washington Senators
271 Danny O'Connell -- Milwaukee Braves
272 Bobby Shantz -- New York Yankees
273 Jim Davis -- St. Louis Cardinals
274 Don Hoak -- Cincinnati Reds
275 Indians Team -- Cleveland Indians
276 Jim Pyburn -- Baltimore Orioles
277 Johnny Podres -- Brooklyn Dodgers
278 Fred Hatfield -- Chicago White Sox
279 Bob Thurman -- Cincinnati Reds
280 Alex Kellner -- Kansas City Athletics
281 Gail Harris -- New York Giants
283 Wes Covington -- Milwaukee Braves
284 Don Zimmer -- Brooklyn Dodgers
285 Ned Garver -- Kansas City Athletics
286 Bobby Richardson -- New York Yankees
287 Sam Jones -- St. Louis Cardinals
288 Ted Lepcio -- Boston Red Sox
289 Jim Bolger -- Chicago Cubs
290 Andy Carey -- New York Yankees
291 Windy McCall -- New York Giants
292 Billy Klaus -- Boston Red Sox
293 Ted Abernathy -- Washington Senators
294 Rocky Bridges -- Cincinnati Reds
295 Joe Collins -- New York Yankees
296 Johnny Klippstein -- Cincinnati Reds
297 Jack Crimian -- Detroit Tigers
298 Irv Noren -- Kansas City Athletics
299 Chuck Harmon -- St. Louis Cardinals
300 Mike Garcia -- Cleveland Indians
301 Sam Esposito -- Chicago White Sox
302 Sandy Koufax -- Brooklyn Dodgers
303 Billy Goodman -- Boston Red Sox
304 Joe Cunningham -- St. Louis Cardinals
305 Chico Fernandez -- Philadelphia Phillies
306 Darrell Johnson -- New York Yankees
307 Jack Phillips -- Detroit Tigers
308 Dick Hall -- Pittsburgh Pirates
309 Jim Busby -- Cleveland Indians
310 Max Surkont -- New York Giants
311 Al Pilarcik -- Baltimore Orioles
312 Tony Kubek -- New York Yankees
313 Mel Parnell -- Boston Red Sox
314 Ed Bouchee -- Philadelphia Phillies
315 Lou Berberet -- Washington Senators
316 Billy O'Dell -- Baltimore Orioles
317 Giants Team -- New York Giants
318 Mickey McDermott -- Kansas City Athletics
319 Gino Cimoli -- Brooklyn Dodgers
320 Neil Chraisley -- Washington Senators
321 Red Murff -- Milwaukee Braves
322 Redlegs Team -- Cincinnati Reds
323 Wes Westrum -- New York Giants
324 Dodgers Team -- Brooklyn Dodgers
325 Frank Bolling -- Detroit Tigers
326 Pedro Ramos -- Washington Senators
327 Jim Pendleton -- Pittsburgh Pirates
328 Brooks Robinson -- Baltimore Orioles
329 White Sox Team -- Chicago White Sox
330 Jim Wilson -- Chicago White Sox
331 Ray Katt -- New York Giants
333 Ernie Johnson -- Milwaukee Braves334 Jerry Schoonmaker -- Washington Senators
335 Granny Hamner -- Philadelphia Phillies
336 Haywood Sullivan -- Boston Red Sox
337 Rene Valdes -- Brooklyn Dodgers
338 Jim Bunning -- Detroit Tigers
339 Bob Speake -- Chicago Cubs
340 Bill Wight -- Baltimore Orioles
341 Don Gross -- Cincinnati Reds
342 Gene Mauch -- Boston Red Sox
343 Taylor Phillips -- Milwaukee Braves
344 Paul LaPalme -- Chicago White Sox
345 Paul Smith -- Pittsburgh Pirates
346 Dick Littlefield -- Chicago Cubs
347 Hal Naragon -- Cleveland Indians
348 Jim Hearn -- Philadelphia Phillies
349 Nelson King -- Pittsburgh Pirates
350 Eddie Miksis -- St. Louis Cardinals
351 Dave Hillman -- Chicago Cubs
352 Ellis Kinder -- Chicago White Sox

Series 5 -- 10/55
353 Cal Neeman -- Chicago Cubs
354 Rip Coleman -- Kansas City Athletics
355 Frank Malzone -- Boston Red Sox
357 Earl Torgeson -- Detroit Tigers
358 Jerry Lynch -- Cincinnati Reds
359 Tom Cheney -- St. Louis Cardinals
360 Johnny Groth -- Kansas City Athletics
361 Curt Barclay -- New York Giants
363 Eddie Kasko -- St. Louis Cardinals
364 Cal McLish -- Cleveland Indians
367 Ed FitzGerald -- Washington Senators
368 Bob Purkey -- Pittsburgh Pirates
369 Milt Graff -- Kansas City Athletics
370 Warren Hacker -- Cincinnati Reds
371 Bob Lennon -- Chicago Cubs
372 Norm Zauchin -- Boston Red Sox
374 Don Cardwell -- Philadelphia Phillies
375 Jim Landis -- Chicago White Sox
378 Elmer Singleton -- Chicago Cubs
379 Don Lee -- Detroit Tigers
381 Dean Stone -- Boston Red Sox
382 Jim Brideweser -- Baltimore Orioles
383 Juan Pizarro -- Milwaukee Braves
384 Bobby Gene Smith -- St. Louis Cardinals
385 Art Houtteman -- Cleveland Indians
386 Lyle Luttrell -- Washington Senators
387 Jack Sanford -- Philadelphia Phillies
388 Pete Daley -- Boston Red Sox
389 Dave Jolly -- Milwaukee Braves
390 Reno Bertoia -- Detroit Tigers
391 Ralph Terry -- New York Yankees
392 Chuck Tanner -- Milwaukee Braves
393 Raul Sanchez -- Cincinnati Reds
394 Luis Arroyo -- Pittsburgh Pirates
395 Bubba Phillips -- Chicago White Sox
396 Casey Wise -- Chicago Cubs
397 Roy Smalley -- Philadelphia Phillies
398 Al Cicotte -- New York Yankees
399 Billy Consolo -- Boston Red Sox
400 Dodgers Sluggers (Campanella, Furillo, Hodges, Snider) -- Brooklyn Dodgers
401 Earl Battey -- Chicago White Sox
403 Dick Hyde -- Washington Senators
404 Harry Anderson -- Philadelphia Phillies
405 Duke Maas -- Detroit Tigers
407 Yankees Power Hitters (Berra, Mantle) -- New York Yankees
Checklist Series 1/2 -- Big Blony ad on back
Checklist Series 1/2 -- Bazooka ad on back
Checklist Series 2/3 -- Big Blony ad on back
Checklist Series 2/3 -- Bazooka ad on back
Checklist Series 3/4 -- Big Blony ad on back
Checklist Series 3/4 -- Bazooka ad on back
Checklist Series 4/5 -- Big Blony ad on back
Checklist Series 4/5 -- Bazooka ad on back
Contest May 4.
Contest May 25.
Contest June 22.
Contest July 19.
Lucky Penny Insert Card.

1957 Topps Football

Set size: 154 plus one unnumbered checklist
Short printed High Series: Cards #89-154
Card Size: Standard 2 1/2" x 3 1/2"
Corrected Errors and Variations: #58 Willard Sherman no team name on front
Best card: Bart Starr RC
Key Rookies: Starr, Johnny Unitas (!!!), Paul Hornung, Raymond Berry, Earl Morrall, Dick "Night Train" Lane
Subsets: None
Gimmick: Cartoon on back
Back ink colors:Red & black
League: NFL
Team Logos? No
Night Owl Style Nickname: The Split Screen set
Teams included in the set: Baltimore Colts, Chicago Bears, Chicago Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Washington Redskins
Why I chose this card: Torgy! Also.

Topps followed up their first NFL set with one that had a fairly unusual design. The card is horizontal, but is split into two halves - the left half has a portrait of the player and there is an 'action' shot on the right. The split card somewhat resembles the 1941 Double Play baseball set, only with the same player on both halves of the card. It's almost as if Topps saw the set as two mini cards in one, as the back of the card is also split perfectly down the middle, with stats on the left and a large cartoon on the right. I know for a fact that had I been collecting cards in the '50s, there would be no way I could resist cutting at least a few of these things in half and making little 1950 Bowman sized cards. Other than the odd bifurcation of the card the actual design is extremely similar to the 1956 Topps set. The front is still essentially a picture of the player in front of a solid color background with a box at the bottom with the name. The backs are still red and black with a bio paragraph, stats and a cartoon. Even the card number is on the same top left corner inside a little football.

The first standard sized football card set from Topps also has some of the first really iconic NFL cards. Rookie cards of Johnny Unitas, Bart Starr and Paul Hornung can be found in the '57 Topps high series. I'm sort of assuming that the cards were released in two series, it could simply be that the higher numbers were printed in lesser quantities. At any rate, cards #89-154 will cost you about twice as much as the lower numbers, and of course the three most desirable rookies are in the high numbers. The two keys in the set are Starr and Unitas. Both are rookies, both are legends. Unitas probably has the bigger 'wow' factor of the two cards, but due to a printing quirk Johnny U's card was double printed making the Starr more scarce.

So what do I mean by 'double printed'? Trading cards are printed on large sheets, at least they used to be. I'm not sure what witchcraft goes into printing these newfangled cards nowadays. You may have seen an uncut sheet of cards from a Topps set from the '80s or '90s before. Here's one from 1997. The sheets for the 1957 Topps football set had 88 cards to a sheet. Since there are 66 cards from #89-154 and 88 to a sheet, 22 of the high numbered cards were printed twice on the sheet. Johnny Unitas was one of those 22, making his card a little easier to find than Bart's. Here is the complete list of double printed card numbers:

91 92 93 98 100 103 107 110 111 113 120 122 124 127 129 138 139 140 143 148 149 153

Why those cards were picked, who knows? Johnny U fans were blessed while Packer fans curse Topps to this very day. Topps mostly stuck to set sizes that were some combination of 132 and 88 cards, but they did get a little short print happy in the mid-'60s. More on that later. There are two insanely difficult cards in this set other than the big rookies. The first is one of the very few corrected error cards in an early Topps football set. Card number 58 of Willard Sherman can be found with or without a team name on the front. The variation missing the team name is extremely scarce, although the insane action photo makes the corrected version very desirable as well! The other impossible card is the unnumbered checklist. Like the 1956 set, the checklist is nearly impossible to find in good condition and is easily the most expensive card in the set. Yes, you heard me right, the checklist is more expensive than the Starr and Unitas rookies. A LOT more expensive. To add insult to injury to all the completists out there, the checklist can also be found with a yellow color variation.

1957 Topps Football Card Gallery from www.footballcardgallery.com.

Topps Card Numbers - 1955-1959

We'll do the numbers in groups of five years from now on. Topps was very consistent with their numbering in the early years. They found a winning formula and they mostly stuck with it for a couple of decades.

1955 Topps

This here is the standard card number Topps used in the early days. A baseball with the Topps logo on the top of the ball and the card number in between the seams. 1955 has a black number inside red seams. The green TOPPS logo is in an italic font instead of the old timey logo they used in '53 and '54. This is a pretty awesome number, it's large and very easy to read.

Topps also was very consistent about putting the number on the top left corner. Normally it is exactly in the corner but Topps put it underneath the player name in this set.

1956 Topps

Not much to say, baseball, old time Topps logo, number between the seams. The black number between the red seams is very readable.

Card numbers are almost always easier to read on the lighter card stock, but you can still see the number fine on the gray stock.

The card number is slightly smaller than the 1955 numbers but is all the way up in that left corner.

1956 is the first set that had specialty cards including the two league president cards. The back design is vertical instead of horizontal, but the number is exactly the same and in the same left corner.


Team cards also make their debut and they are noted as such just in case you couldn't tell.

1957 Topps

1957 has red numbers inside a blue ball. The entire set is on gray card stock, so the red pops out a little better than black numbers would. The ball is as large as the 1955 set's numbers to make it that much easier to read.

Top left corner again (you'll get sick of me saying this after a while) and the number caps the end of the bar with all the biographical information for the player.

Team cards are marked again, a practice that would unfortunately not be brought back in 1958.

1958 Topps

This probably isn't the best number Topps came up with - the number is kind of small and gets lost inside the busy logo - but it sure is the most fun number they ever made. The smilin' Charlie Brown baseball head numbering system made 1958 Topps one of my favorites ever since I was a little kid.

I thought about saving some typing and just shortening the number location to TLC, but most people would think that was either a female R&B pop group or a formerly educational channel that has devolved into fluff.

'58 Topps also changed the numbering for several of their specialty subsets. The combo cards are essentially the same except the background is solid and the cap's bill is half tone which is opposite the base cards.


All Star cards make their debut and get a star for their numbers. you can't get better contrast than white numbers on a black background.

The team cards don't get similar treatment. Topps used a black number on a red background which is a little tough to read. Dark number on dark background is bad. Since the team cards doubles as checklists, there wasn't a lot of room for a big number but Topps could have done better. Luckily there's only 16 of them to deal with.

1959 Topps

For the first time, Topps completely abandons the baseball motif and goes with a bold white number inside a green box right up in that corner. This is a great number for blind bats like me.

The number is still easily seen on the gray stock. It might actually have more contrast since the green looks darker.

Topps used the tiny number on red again for the team cards. It's actually green ink on red, not black. Of course green and red ink pretty much makes black.

The high numbered cards used actual black ink. You can't get any more readable this side of '53 Topps.

The high series All-Star cards got an elaborate police badge for their card numbers.

Since they are also on the top left corner of the vertically oriented card, they end up being on the bottom left corner when you shuffle through them. Since it's a subset with an extremely different design as the base cards (and is in the scarce high series as well) it's not a big deal.

I'm not sure which one of these I'd consider to be the best. 1958 is my favorite. The '59's are stout. The 1955 number is an archetype. The '59 All-Star number is a work of art. I know one thing though, the '58 and '59 team card numbers are the pits.

Up next: 1960-1964. Bold, boring, and blinding.