Vote! Worst Topps produced set of the 50's
 

As mentioned in the previous threads on the favorite Topps sets of their decades I thought it might be fun to do the same thing, in the same format except tally everyone's idea of the worst set Topps produced in each decade.

We will vote and discuss the 50's, 60's then 70's worst offerings then pit the top vote getter from each decade against each other to get the grand champion of yuck.

Pick them based on appearance, design, originality or whatever criteria you desire.

Like in the last we will start the 50's with the 52 Topps through 59 Topps. After that 60 through 69 then 70 through 79. Remember, Topps main baseball sets are the only ones being voted on.

Please vote and all opinions and thoughts are welcome. Each set from 52 through 79 got at least one vote for the best. I wonder if the same will happen for the worst.

Will there be a clear favorite set to hate or will it be a close count in the end?

Voting will go through Sunday July 12th then each subsequent vote will get a week until we have a winner, or rather loser.

Have fun!

Drew

I chose the 1953 set simply because the art work Topps did was far from appealing to me in most cases. 1957 would be second, because I felt Topps copped out by going with the smaller size with Bowman out of the picture and the simple front design. I also hate the toughness of the checklist cards.

1958 for me. The look of that set has never appealed to me at all.


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1951
 

Hey, you left out a whole year :)

Sort of. I figured without the 51 set every other had a chance to at least get a vote.;)
Drew

I'm currently putting together a '57 set and love it....though the checklists are ridiculous and I will not include those as part of MY set.

1957
 

No, no Andrew, you have to have the checklists, and both versions of each one:)

Awwwww, man! Really? :D

Gotta be 1958 with 1959 right on its heels.

1958! The color backgrounds often have a dirty look even when in good shape.

Agree 100%!!

59 for me, not a big fan.

+1 Lousy card stock. Makes me think these were the forerunners to the Vennies. Far too many head shots. Unimaginative pics, but one is a classic: Red Wilson's boob shot. :D

1959. I feel like the graphics overwhelm the pictures, which aren't that great to begin with.

I'm probably in the minority, but I love '59.

The '57's seem comparatively boring to the rest of the decade.

1959 & 1957
 

Michael-- how can you be so right about 1959 and so wrong about 1957 :)

1959 was the first set I completed so it is a sentimental favorite of mine.

I have all the 50s sets, and I really like them all, but since 1951 is out, 1958 is my least favorite

I like 'em all...
 

Can't vote on this one... I like 'em all!

If I was made to pick I'd go pre '57 since Brooksie wasn't included in any of those sets ;)

Well I voted right away but thought I would wait to comment. I'm obviously in the minority here but I picked the 52 set. I feel that Topps got progressively better each year in two different eras. The first era is what I call the drawn at a which includes artwork based on drawn pictures as opposed to actual photos.

The leap in overall design both front and back from 52 to 53 is huge in my opinion. I understand the history about 52 and the importance it has in the hobby but compared to 53 through 56 is is by far my least favorite design.

As far as the photographic cards, 57 through 59, I feel the same way. They started something new and revolutionary then got better in each year. I understand the dislike for the 58 set but it has two redeeming factors in my opinion. First the All Star cards are some of my favorites and second Stan Musial was finally used on a Topps card.

All just my take from a collector who was even born for more than a decade later but it's how I look at it.

Great discussions. Let keep it going. Also I'm sorry Al for the 51s being left out. Maybe the next poll should be the best set of any type from post War through 51 exert that means Bowmans. Never mind. Carry on.

Drew

I love the 1959 Topps set as well. It was the very first vintage set I ever completed in 1993. I love the round photo design. It is a very colorful set as well. It is a pity it isn't getting the love it deserves.

1959
 

Drew-- I was joking. No one takes 1951 seriously, and actually I like all 5 of those sets

Tom-- you are a good man, no matter what the others are saying :-)

I voted for the 1958 set, although it is the 2nd 50's set I completed.

I will say that I used to love the 1957 set and I now view it as the 2nd worst of the 50's. Photos are bad, design is simple but I have noticed that I can't read the words on the front on a bunch of cards. They could have done better.

Lots of hate towards 58. It's actually my favorite. There isn't a real clunker in the 50's in my opinion, but I voted 57 as it seems quite bland to me.

Just for you.;)

[https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8580/1...7aca3986_z.jpg

I was torn between 1958 and 1959 in my choice and chose 1959 because of the very small photos. Good to see that 1958 has more votes than 1952-57 combined

IMHO of course...

I liked ALL of them! Every set has its bad cards, but, overall, they were really appealing - to me anyway. For every bad card, there were several really good ones.

With all the technical improvements, this years Topps base set design is inferior to any of those prior to 1986 (which was a bad product).
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How can you know love a set that includes cards such as this?

Attachment 196584

My late father's birth year, mainly. But I also love the color, the All-Star subset, the World Series Batting Foes, and some of the portraits are amazing (Aaron, Mathews, etc.). Yeah the Mantle is crud, but he what ?? three decent looking Topps issues? Anyways, it could be 490 closeup shots of Wally Moon's eye brows and it would still be special...

57 is bland in comparison IMO and many of the cards have writing that's hard to read. Stunned at the opinions of 59 they are perfect in the eyes of this beholder

It came down to 1958 or 1959 for me, and in the end 1959 "won" out. The 58 backgrounds are kind of dull, but at least there's some variety in the pictures. With the 59s it's "have a head shot...and another head shot...and another..." And I'm not big on facsimile signatures; it doesn't look good once the card gets signed.

I've also never really warmed up to the 1952 set. Like one of the above posters mentioned, I understand the significance of that set to the hobby, but IMHO I just don't think the artwork was generally that great. There are a few where I have difficulty telling the players apart, and I'm not crazy about how some were horizontal and others vertical.

I'm going to get labeled a heretic but I think the 52 set is Topps worst looking set of the 50's. The 59 would be a close second.

Also, I'm not sure why everyone hates the 58 set, it's one of my favorites. It has something of a 1914-15 Cracker Jack feel to it.

Back to the 52's. I realize it was a ground breaking set in 1952 but compared to the designs, artwork, and photography that followed, it just doesn't hold up. I think there's a lot of 52 bias and can't help but think if the 58 design was used in 1952, everyone would still be saying how great the 52's are.

I don't really care for the 1957 set, but none truly awful.

55 set
 

I feel the 56 set is a nice sophisticated upgrade to the '55 and so I feel the '55 is just too basic and boring with too many headshots....

57' for me no question, just a tad boring.

I can see people's thoughts on the 59', however the combo and sporting news cards are amazing and make the whole set. I have only a handful of star cards from the set, but collected every one of the combos and Sporting News.

Just for those, the 59's are in my top 4.

1959 is unique. I like the concept of the circle around them. I could probably do without the lowercase names, but so be it.

50s vote
 

Thought about it and couldn't vote for one of the 50s sets... Just love them all!

As a set collector, I was leaning toward 52 due to the fact that collecting that set in near impossible without a winning lottery ticket...

Finished with 54, 55, 56, 58, 59 and 90% done with 53 and 57. Haven't even started 52 yet, maybe next year

I know the 1958 set does not get a lot of love, but I like it mostly because I think they had the nicest All Star cards of any Topps set.

As far as the worst set, I am not a huge fan of the 1953 set.

1957 1958
 

It's a tie for me but I guess I give a vote to 1957 . There no color , I find a lot of cards are blurry or off center . It also began the white borders for topps which is the worst now . The over did it and now it feels tired . It does have more star power then 58 on the upside of things

I will join those in the minority and say that I feel '58 gets far less love than it should. I can see it getting the votes for worst simply because the competition was so stiff with so many good sets in the '50's, but I for one really like '58. Even though it was 30 years later, I apparently had a lot of them as a kid, including a white letter Aaron that is one of my all-time favorite cards. They may have been unimaginative, but they were colorful and in most cases pretty cards. (Most imaginative set of the '50s goes to 1955 Bowman, if my vote counts...) As for the condition issues, take your pick. The backgrounds on some '58's may look "dirty", but for as much praise as the '57's get on their color photography - their backgrounds are so often riddled with print issues and the "snow" problem - far more than the '58's are. While collecting today, I often appreciate that I can pickup '58 stars in some cases for far less than a '56 or '57 card of the same player would go for. Let's hear it for 1958 Topps!!! :)

It always felt like the late 50's were an evolution. 57 had photos, 58 had solid color, so 59 is s hybrid. It is like a 58 background with a circle cut out a 57 through the circle. These are the things that I think about as I am turning pages in the binders...


Similarly, 69 is like a hybrid of 67&68

I guess I just noticed that since I enjoy the 1968 and 1969 sets while 1967 is far and away my least favorite set design of the decade. The one thing I'll always find intriguing is the mirror card of Larry Haney in the 1968/1969 sets.

I am partial to the 57 set as being the best and the 58 probably my least favorite but like most who have posted here, I really like all the 50 designs. I love the pure photo design of the 57s and I am not extremely fond of the 58 color backgrounds mainly because I have always liked to see photo backgrounds to see the stadiums, other players or fans in the background and the 57 (also the 67 and 73) set is great for that, it's just a better experience for me personally. I often times wonder if older collectors say, "Hey, that is me in the background, I was at that game!" The 57 Mantle "ghost card" where you can see the person Topps tried to airbrush out is a super cool card as is the reverse negative of Hank Aaron. The 58 basically had nothing but a solid color background. That's just my opinion but that is why we collect, right? We all have different likes!

it's 1951 but that's not in the poll
 

so i wouldnt really vote for any of the others.

I actually like all the sets from the 50's except 1958. I have no interest in looking at most of the cards in that set. My favorites from the 50's are probably 1956 and 1957.

Eye of the beholder
 

I'll second that - in fact, those '51's were so ugly that when a kid took advantage of my naivete and fobbed off a bunch of them on me back in '51, I got even by sticking them in my bike spokes. Man, i showed him...:mad:

1952 the most over rated of all time.

the lower case lettering was a prediction of the future for the upcoming txt message series cards in the works at etopps

1951 Kostanty, Roberts and Stanky
 

Steve-- I would take those cards in that condition if you still have them. I fact, would pay a tidy sum :)

And Glyn-- which of the 5 51 sets ?

1952
 

[QUOTE=BearBailey;1481756]1952 the most over rated of all time.[/

It is hard to believe how many silly folks collect it, isn't it ?

Looks-wise I agree. I feel like the name box with the little yellow stars around it is cheesy. Never liked the looks of those.

Favorite is 56, 54 second

[quote=ALR-bishop;1482077]Steve-- I would take those cards in that condition if you still have them. I fact, would pay a tidy sum :)

Nah, Al - the general consensus being that the '51 sets are not only plug ugly, but too insignificant to enter into a discussion of Topps history, I would be embarrassed to offer them to you for actual legal tender. Besides, if i recall correctly, they all fell out of my bike spokes real fast - thin cardstock and die-cut, as they were.:rolleyes:

[QUOTE=ALR-bishop;1482079]I'm going with 1955. It's bland and plain.

I have 54,57-59. I like sets with color. Although I think that the photos on the 57 drew me to that set more than the colors.

54 is the best.