Vote: Favorite Topps Set ! 1956, 1965, 1971
 

Over the past few weeks we have voted for our favorite Topps sets from each decade. The winners 1956, 1965 and 1971 will now square off to get us a very unscientific overall winner. The sets should be your favorite for whatever reason you determine, obviously the 1952 Topps is the most expensive but based on the voters own criteria it lost out to the 1956 set.

hands down 56

1957

Out of those 3, I chose 56. By decade my vote would have been 53, 60, and 75.

All great sets but between the three 56 has got too much going for it. Classic 50's look, all the great stars with overlap of legends careers (Campy, Jackie R., Feller, Williams still in and Koufax, Clemente, Aaron, Banks just starting).
Also 10% of cards are HOFers. Only down side in no Musial.

Once the tally is done on this one we should do the same thing except the most ugly set from each decade then go head to head to see how far 1968, I mean, which ever set is looked upon the least by collectors.

Drew

A glance at each years Clemente.... some nice looking cards.

Good idea Drew... I'll let you take the lead on the worst. I'm not a big fan of '58 or '59 so add those to your 68's

I love the 71 set. I started collecting in 70 and have about half the 70 set and only need about 25 commons to finish the 71s.

Is the Topps " winner " going to be pitted against the 1953 Bowman set, which I believe a lot of us consider the best looking set produced.

settle it once and for all...
 

Bicycle spoke death match, no slabs allowed, winner takes all!:D

Only if you are talking about post war. T3, T206 and T205 are ahead of any post war set in my opinion.

Sorry rats60, I should have been more clear. For those of you who are confused about the post I made in the Post War forum about the Topps voting between the 56, 65, and 71 set as the best Post War Topps set, I ( at the time, not so sure now ) thought it might be interesting to pit the winner of the Post War Topps set against the Post War 53 Bowman set. Many of us, I believe, consider the 53 Bowman one of the best sets produced, Post War. And I will stand by my belief that it is one of the best sets produced period, regardless of year. But to each their own....Pre War, Post War- we all have our passions and own opinions.

Have a good day.

Best set among 56, 65, 71
 

I voted '56.

That said, to me the 1971 set is the most aesthetically pleasing set ever from Topps. It's got an amazing mix of action shots (Vada Pinson, Thurman Munson, Nolan Ryan) and great poses (Clemente, Rose). It also has a majority of the '60s hall of famers (Aaron, Mays, Clemente, F. Robinson, B. Robinson, B. Gibson) and a ton of the new blood players (Rose, Ryan, Reggie Jackson, Seaver)

But for a collector, I think you have to go with the '56 set as the most iconic because of the colors, the last year of the larger card size, the mix of actions and pose on the same card, and the great player examples. Easily the best Mantle and the best Clemente cards every from Topps, and maybe the best Mays and the best Aaron (not in value, obviously with the '52 Mantle and the Mays/Clemente/Aaron rookies, but on pure aesthetics)

Of the three, 1956. The best set of cards ever made.

Trivia - Re Poll
 

Name the 2 guys that were in all 3 sets (1956, 1965, 1971), each with a different team (there might be more than 2 but through exhaustive research, I found only 2 guys). Name them.

Hoyt Wilhelm and Gil Hodges.

yup.

Correct... but I just thought of a 3rd guy. Anyone?

Luis Aparicio.

'56
'71
'65 in that order for me.

56 then 71. 65 does nothing for me

What about Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, Al Kaline who are also featured in all three sets.

His question was looking for the players who were not only in each set, but appearing in 3 different uniforms.

56. love. love. love. from a historical perspective, love 54. that was an awesome year for baseball and the USA more broadly.

With the name of Wheels56, I would of never guessed your favorite set! We're you able to complete this set? It is incredible!

:-) yep, it was the first thing I did when I got back into the hobby a few years ago. since then, I have been steadily upgrading the HOFers. my first '56 was a total beater Ted Williams that my Dad gave me before he died. so, the set has deep sentimental value me as well.

Interesting Trivia Part II
 

This one is pretty cool. See if you can figure out the guy that was in both 1956 and 1971 - both sets as a player (not manager)... but wasn't in the 1965 Topps set.

Dick Hall

Please tell me you took some time trying to figure that one out. "Dick Hall" doesn't just pop into someone's head.

Just viewed the virtual '56 Gallery and saw his card. I knew he had a 1971 card--I liked his '70 and '71 cards-- so I had my answer.

Actually though I did this yesterday when searching for additional guys responsive to your question about the 56/65/71 sets. I was surprised and did not remember that Hall had no card in the 1965 Topps set, as I knew he had cards both before and after. He should have been included, coming off a 9-1 season with several saves and a sub-2.00 ERA.

Was also surprised that Al Dark missed the 1965 set, as he was all around it and in both '56 and '71 sets. I did not know he had been fired after 1964's 90-72 season because of what were wrongfully perceived as racist remarks about his players.

I went with 1956, although it was a real tough choice between that and 1971. If we do the worst set for each decade, my votes would probably be 1959, 1962, and 1970.

Looks like we are going to have a clear cut winner here. I'm going to go ahead and call it!! The 1956 is the favorite Topps set of all time!! :) :) :)

I think I'll go out and build the set now.

Could you wait a few months? I'm starting to make a good run at it and I don't need the extra competition.:D
Drew

'56 - not even close!

I have been saying this long before this pole!

I was just going through my '56 set and, like many others in this poll, think it is the best Topps set ever. The action shots are they key. Sure, there are a lot of pitchers following through on the sidelines, but then you get game-action follow through shots like Koufax and Ford. Lots of home plate collisions and double play breakups. Imagine if Topps had featured the action shot on each card and relegated the bust shot to the background. '53 Bowman . . . please move over.

What's your favorite card in the set? I like the Jackie Robinson with a steal of home in the background.

The 1956 set is my all time favorite probably because it was the first allmost full set I collected as a kid. Love the captions on the back and the action photos on the front. Anyone ever notice that on card #143 Jim Piersall you get a free Yogi Berra action photo on the front plus Willie Mays on the front of a Hank Aaron card..

My 2 favorites are Mantle and Newcombe. Collecting cards in 1975, I thought these 2 cards were so cool when I first saw them on the 1956 MVPs card.