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Most attractive Topps cards 1952-1979
What card do you consider the best-looking pre-1980 Topps single? I’m trying to zero in on something different (for me) to pick up at the Philly Show. Leaning towards a 1971 Topps Thurman Munson; however, want to see if something else may strike a chord. Pictures highly encouraged.
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53 Mantle 56 Clemente 64 Rose 73 Clemente |
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One of my favs
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I always liked this card, but it blew me away the first time I saw it in hand.
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Not that there's much value here...you could probably get all of these for $5 or less. I always loved the "living the dream" joy on the faces of Rice and Simmons faces in the 1978 set; the gritty determination of Pocoroba; and the almost perfect composition of the '78 Jackson (possibly one of the best looking cards ever). I zeroed in on 1978 because it's my favorite/first set.
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I'm partial to this one.
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53 Campy
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Likely as many opinions as answers!
1952 Mays
1971 Clemente 1956 Mantle |
I ve always been partial to these 5:
1962 mays 1965 mantle 1966 gaylord perry 1967 yaz 1967 colavito |
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Some fantastic (and affordable) options in this set. I particularly like this one.
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56 Mantle is an absolute Beauty, but I'm biased.
I love Ted Williams card from 56 as well. The colors really pop on the card. |
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A couple people have mentioned the '56 Topps Mantle. I agree, it's a great-looking card. I picked one up about 7 years ago for much less than it goes for these days. :)
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53T Satchell Paige for sure. That one is the Mona Lisa of baseball cards.
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The painted 1953 action shots only in the last two series. Cal Hogue stands out for me.
I don't think aesthetic value has anything to do with a favored superstar being on it, not all the best looking, or even most of them, just happen to be the ~30 biggest names. |
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[IMG]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9a9345ea95.jpg [/IMG]
And some of the 1957 Topps, though I wish the photographer had asked Ted Williams to step into the sunlight. |
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best looking Topps card?
Cool topic! I'll go with these 3, although there many possibilities:
1) 57 Roberto Clemente- perfect card 2) 57 Ted Klu- captures him to a "t" "when it was a game" 3) 64 Topps Hank Aaron- pure class Trent King |
Most attractive card
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Back when I was opening wax packs, I loved seeing this Clemente card. Then a few years later, action shots such as these, appealed to me.
Attachment 486704 Attachment 486705 Attachment 486706 |
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Here's another Clemente vote.
someone posted this a few years ago and pointed out the great action shots in this set. it nudged me to purchase the Clemente. When I received it, decided to put together the set raw in "good/vg" condition. 38 lots later, then selling 1381 duplicates in one fell swoop, I had the complete set for net about $320. took me about 5 months total. sold the dups on 2-6-10 . That was probably the most fun I've had collecting. opening all those lots every few days, continually replacing cards with the slightly better condition ones that came in new lots. I just bought lots till the set was complete. Biggest lot was 346 cards for $20. fond memories :) p.s. the card pictured isn't the one in my set |
Some very good picks above. One I haven't seen mentioned yet is the 1976 John Bench:
https://dyn1.heritagestatic.com/lf?s...oduct.chain%5D |
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Card number 400 (of 407) in the 1957 Topps set. The final card of the great Brooklyn Dodgers. Even without Robinson, who retired the year before, this card will feature 3 Hall of Famers once Hodges gets in.
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One of Topps' best IMO.
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52 Feller and Mays
53 pee wee Reese (topps not bowman) 54 Aaron 57 Brooksie 58 Maris 69 Mantle WL 71 Clemente and Yaz 72 Alex Johnson 76 Brett 78 Reggie Jackson Basically any Nolan Ryan card (the guy loved posing for cards) |
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1952's are pretty sweet.
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And to go along with it, a great photo of a ballplayer preparing for work on the grass of Ebbets Field- dirty uniform, no batting gloves, multiple bats in hand: https://img.beckett.com/images/items...4298/front.jpg The only thing missing is a lunch pail. |
And some of the 1957 Topps, though I wish the photographer had asked Ted Williams to step into the sunlight.[/QUOTE]
...and the Mantle, Mays, and Aaron cards are all dark and drab as well. I always thought the Duke Snider card from the '57 set was as nice a card as Topps ever produced. Vibrant color. No obstructing card design (i.e. 1959 Topps)... just Ebbetts Field and the Duke. Fairly reasonably priced also. |
Agree the 57 Snider is a beautiful card.
I have always appreciated the Mick card as well. It has a certain mystique. The Bobby Richardson RC is also quite divine with the courthouse and setting sun in the background. |
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I just recently picked up the 1957 Topps Bobby Richardson from a board member.
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Given the ratio of scrubs to stars in MLB, it would be very surprising if the most aesthetically pleasing card was a card of a star player.
I don't have a particular card to nominate at the moment, but there are tons of really interesting action shots in 73. As for "stepping into the light", I read an interview with a Topps photographer who said that Topps liked cards with lots of shadows (IIRC, especially under the brim of the hat) because it made the cards look more dramatic. And the photographers hated this, because it made them look like bad photographers. |
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Among a few that come to mind:
1971 Thurman Munson 1952 Johnny Mize 1964 World Series Game 1 ---Sandy Koufax 1964 Topps Giant -- Dean Chance 1970 Topps Giant -- Frank Howard 1956 Topps Mantle and Clemente, already mentioned, but I'll second the motion 1960 Mickey Mantle --- Brian Powell |
https://i.imgur.com/0MYKfcZ.png
I chose a favorite image from each decade. Nearly all the '57 Dodgers cards taken at Ebbets Field are pretty special. I love the Neal card with the scoreboard and wall signage behind him. I remember the '61 Covington from when I was a beginning collector. The unique pose and wonderful Braves uni stood out. The Aaron is terrific as well but there's something about Covington at the bat rack ith fans behind him in the stands that just makes this card extra special in my eyes. My Orioles bias may be in play with the third card but I have always felt it's the coolest card of the 70s and it's really my favorite for several reasons, the pose, his expression, the rookie award bowl, Just a very attractive card. |
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I like the All Star cards, especially the American League ones with the red backgrounds. The 58 Mantle All Star is my favorite Mantle card.
Too new and technically many many cards but I really like this Topps All Star card. Just put it in the frame this morning and now need to figure out a place to put it. |
Picking just one is going to be a subjective task by its nature, and you could be all over the place with different eras. I won't post pics because most of them have been shown already - but from the decades I collect - here are are some quick top of my head choices. There could be many more...
'56 Mantle '65 Koufax '72 Clemente '82 Traded Ripken |
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Slightly OT, but I'll never understand how Topps could knock it out of the park on Brooks Robinson's rookie card, but then whiff completely with him the following year.
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Two of the greatest Topps cards ever made
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And the best thing about the 1956 Aaron is you get Willie Mays too. ;)
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Just to sprinkle on some others:
1952 Topps Mickey Mantle -- mesmerizing 1959 Bazooka Mantle -- same 1960 Bazooka Mantle -- same 1961 Bazooka Mantle -- fabulous portrait 1961 Topps Dice Game, actually 1963, as was proved to us all on Net54baseball Postwar (Pre-1980) What a great-looking card, even in glorious black 'n white. Had they colorized them with the process done at the time, the card would be worth a good 50% more than its' already zooming price!;) Good hot stove league discussion. Cheers! ---Brian Powell |
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1957 Topps Mantle
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https://i.ibb.co/cyQ58QJ/C9-C89-E6-D...5-C9395-BF.jpg But my favorite overall is the 56 Koufax, just love this card…. https://i.ibb.co/xhWwJjR/5-A1-FA61-E...-CAA741448.jpg |
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If you're talking about pure joy, you can't go wrong with this Yaz...
Attachment 488210 How can anyone not smile while viewing it??? |
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I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for their suggestions/comments. My schedule that weekend has filled up a bit, so I may only be able to stop by the show for an hour or two. At least I can plan ahead and go on a "targeted" mission.
Of course, there's always the BST if I don't make the show. Some of you sell cards there every now and then. :D |
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If you are not fortunate enough to have all of the actual cards at your disposal, you can search for them and likely find someone has posted an image online. however, if you are not aware of a certain card, you'd have to stumble upon it accidentally to even know.
This book is amazing. I got it for Christmas in 1985 and still say to this day, it was the best gift I have ever received. https://www.abebooks.com/Topps-Baseb...xoCbAUQAvD_BwE Once you have all the images in one place, it comes down to beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I am one of those that likes action shots of the 70s (71 Munson & Ryan, 76 Bench, 78 Jackson already shown - ALL EPIC cards). not everyone agrees though. The 60s to me are some of the most boring looking cards, simply because most are head and posed shots. 56 Topps is my favorite vintage card design and just about any of the cards look great, but clearly it comes down to the star power for most to make a card appealing and memorable (Mantle, Mays, Robinson, Aaron, Williams, etc). They all have the same head shot and a small painted action shot, so what makes one better than the rest? I also like cards like and similar to the 61 Covington, not an action shot, but an interesting non-head shot or boring pose. I think Elmer Valo has a similar shot in the 57 set and Jose Laboy has a cool one in the 70 Topps set too. These cards stand out because they are not like most of the others. Unfortunately they are not HOF players, so those cards get lost in people's memories. I can rattle off a bunch of great 70s action shots that are on common cards, which makes them less appealing to most. One of my favorites combines one of my favorite sets (1978, my first year collecting), an action shot, a Topps all-rookie team trophy and a star cameo. it is the Doug Ault card. Sadly, Doug didn't have the career that his fellow ART member Eddie Murray had. To me, this is what card collecting is all about. He is not the best card in the set, but certainly one of the most, if not the most interesting and visually appealing cards of the set. I could only imagine that same card with Murray at the plate would probably be discussed as one of the greatest card images of all time. A few other real cool action shots that strand out to me are included as well. |
My favorites, aesthetically speaking, for each decade:
1950s: https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...20Williams.jpg Perfect combo of elements: classic portrait, full action swing, fun team logo. 1960s: https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...%20PSA%206.jpg Gotta go with this one too. Another perfect image of Koufax doing what he did best. 1970s: Now, this is my childhood collecting decade, so picking the most attractive card of the era is not an easy call for me but this one has always caught my eye: https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...ron%20num1.jpg |
‘61 Covington
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I agree with several other posters in this thread — that the 1961 Wes Covington (#296) card presents an outstanding image.
Look at all that creamy white lumber in the rack - maybe belonging to Aaron, Matthews, or Adcock. Look at that huge black forearm and bicep as Wes pulls a couple war clubs out before proceeding to the on-deck circle. He knows the camera is on him - so he gives a little smile. Thanks Wes. Lastly, that kid in the stands wearing the red shirt looks to be about my age in 1961. When examining the card as a child, I used to envy him and his view of the game - and maybe a leaning peak into the dugout! |
The most beautiful card ever produced
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I loved the '78's when I was a kid. Loved opening those packs. Liked them a little bit more then the '77's (which I also liked a lot), and a ton more then the '76's. Great, clean design. I also remember the '79's coming out and thinking Topps really sh*t the bed on that one, outside of the "All-Time Record Holders" cards. I mean how else was I supposed to get a Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb or Cy Young card without spending more then 2 bucks on it (which I didn't have at the time). :D Pretty sure, the Reggie card and this one were the ones I was hoping to pull every time I opened a pack up during the '78 season. https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/OfIAA...mx/s-l1600.jpg |
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I love that Eddie Murray looks like a 15 year veteran, on his Rookie card. :) |
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