What was the best 1952 Topps card ..... in 1952?
 

We all know the Mantle card is the crown jewel of the set. But back in 1952 the Mantle card was probably viewed as a common card.

What card(s) did collectors way back in 1952 want when they opened up their pack?

Interesting question. The top ten in MVP voting for 1951:

AL: Yogi Berra, Ned Garver, Allie Reynolds, Minnie Minoso, Bob Feller, Ferris Fain, Ellis Kinder, Vic Raschi, Gil McDougald, and Bobby Avila

NL: Roy Campanella, Stan Musial, Monte Irvin, Sal Maglie, Preacher Roe, Jackie Robinson, Richie Ashburn, Bobby Thomson, Murry Dickson, and Ralph Kiner

There weren't cards of Vic Raschi, Stan Musial, Sal Maglie, or Ralph Kiner, so they're out. I'd go with Yogi, Roy, and Jackie, but you might have to ask someone MUCH older than me. Al?

Us old guys, back in the day, liked the Gus Zernial cards because of the way he could make all those balls stick to his bat

That's not a euphemism is it? :eek:

That is a great question! I think TedZ might have an answer as he remembers purchasing these cards back in 52 but with no Williams, Musial, etc, like Bob mentioned, maybe, because they were new(er) to the market, collectors just had to have them?

I am guessing Bob's picks/choices were likely the main reasons, but it will be interesting to hear what TedZ has to say?

What was the best 1952 Topps card ..... in 1952?
 

Bob Feller led the league in wins the year before, and was probably considered a reasonably likely Hall of Fame candidate at that point, so would think he would’ve been desirable in 52.

It’s amazing how cheap Feller cards are these days though.


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i doubt mantle was viewed as a common in 1952..being on the yankees and he was a top prospect

3,781 posts but finally one I agree with you on :).

well i guess you are entitled to be right one time in life..

This set coming on the heels of the Shot Heard Round The World probably made the Bobby Thomson a good card; but I would bet most people looked forward to the Jackie Robinson. If any of the baseball names were household at that point, it was Jackie.
And so many of the luminaries (at least the ones we consider today) are all in the high series or semi-high series. I bet a lot of the purchasers were like, "where are all the stars?" Did the kids know they'd never get a Musial or Ted Williams in a pack?

Whoever was double printed....including the mantle would also be logical to assume they were more popular

You make a nice point John.

There was no checklist, and the back of the 52's do not indicate how many cards are in the set nor does the wrapper.

I guess we'll consult the experts.

Was there a way to know how many cards were in the 52 set or who was in the set when you were buying packs in 52?

Here is an advertisement for the high number series. Some of the same names we still look out for today!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...21154c9925.jpg

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I suspect Kiner would have been sought after if he had a card in the set. Had led the league in HRs every year he'd played and was leading in 1952 as well. He was on a ton of magazine covers and a contemporary article I read talked about him as the new Babe Ruth.

Another guy I think was a big star at the time was Dom DiMaggio. But my guess is the most sought after were Berra, Campy, Jackie, Pee Wee, Scooter, and the Mick.

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Nice post, which need not be edited!

I was not around till long after 1952 but I would think kids would have wanted the best real rookie card in the pack, Eddie Mathews.

From everything I’ve read Mantle was always the card. Maybe not on the way to the five and dime but once kids got a look at it they knew. It just looks important. No other card in that set came close.

Mantle finished 3rd in MVP voting in 1952. People would have been hot after his card.

I can speak definitively on this question for the West Los Angeles area in 1978...

1. Steve Garvey
2-726: Nobody else even close!

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:)

Interesting advertisement as it relates to Chuck's question, Jason.

I was wondering where Willie Mays would fit into the mix here, but after looking at his stats it appears he didn't really break out until 1954.

1951 was 121 games, 20 HR and .274 avg. 1952 was only 34 games played, and 1953 was off due to military service. 1954 -- 151 GP, 41 HRs, and led league with .345 avg.

I imagine most kids would be looking for the players on the Yankees, Dodgers, Giants. All of the NY teams. Insightful comments about Mantle as he took over for DiMaggio. Radio was king and Yankee baseball was broadcast throughout the NE. Mantle certainly would have been highly sought after.

Interesting counterpoint: if everyone was clamoring for the high series cards, then they would have sold out. And the leftovers wouldn't have been dumped in the ocean, because they couldn't sell in bulk for years before they were sunk.

So maybe we're all wrong.

Chuck, let me set you straight. The 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle was NEVER viewed as a common card, for a very plausible reason. As is widely known, Topps did not get their "famous" last series printed, and then distributed, until very late in the 1952 season. By that time, Mickey was beginning to live up to the immense bally-hoo that began to be placed upon him in the spring of 1951. Mick did very well in the pressure cooker pennant charge month of September 1952. Hence, when Topps designed their placards to introduce their last series, and entice both distributors and children (sellers and buyers), Mickey Mantle's name is right after Jackie Robinson at the top of their advertising placard.

Thus, during the 1952 World Series, the last time when baseball would be on the minds of boys, their customers, Topps was banking that Mick's precence would draw boys to buy. It worked for a short time, 'cause Mick really blossomed in the World Series, and Jackie Robinson himself told the press that it was Mickey that killed the Dodgers.

Unfortunately, as we all know, Topps was 3-4 weeks too late with their vaunted last series of their special Giant-sized baseball cards. Lots of leftover cases, that were sadly dumped in the deep eight years later.

Every time I think of their fate, and all those few dealers of the time that were obviously NOT contacted by Sy Berger et al, all I see is RED!:mad::mad::mad:

Back to the original question, I am rather certain that a lot of boys in 1952 would have wanted the card of Giant slugger Bobby Thomson, for obvious reasons.......

As for Willie Mays, forget it. Say Hey did not play a single game in 1952, as he spent all of his time in the military service, with no end in sight, since we were in the middle of fighting The Korean War. Both Topps and Bowman printed cards of Willie, since he was a key rookie in 1951. The Bowman looks swell, but the Topps card of Mr. Mays looks wretched, with only the 1961 entry looking worse, IMO.

---Brian Powell

Not tooting my own horn here but this article holds some water with what I was thinking.
https://www.psacard.com/articles/art...-ever-produced

Also, like they mention in this piece, these players were likely highly sought after as well.
This sheet featured all-time greats: Phil Rizzuto, Warren Spahn, Gil Hodges, Duke Snider and Robin Roberts.

This is also a great piece/site, if you will. Tons of great info which I have used repeatedly for various reasons.
http://www.1952toppsbaseballcards.com/

Here is the very Mantle card I acquired in the Fall of 1952. I paid a nickel at our neighborhood candy store, and opened
up a Topps waxpack expecting to get Mickey. I will never forget that day, as I very carefully shuffled thru the cards and
Mickey was in the middle of the stack.

Regular season was nearly ended and by then most baseball fans had become quite excited over this 20 year old rookie.
He had a great season with 171 Hits....23 HR's....scored 94 Runs....87 RBI's....and, batted .311.......what a coincidence,
Mickey's BB card number, how did TOPPS know that ? :)

http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...wrapper100.jpg

http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...mmantle52t.jpg

http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...TMantleRTx.jpg



Whoever here said that Mickey's card was probably a "common TOPPS card" in the Fall of 1952 when the High # series
cards were available is forgiven.


TED Z
.

cool story.....cool you kept that card all those years.

X2, Thanks for sharing, Ted.

I believe I mentioned this before, but I still find it odd that your card has roughly the same mark in almost the same spot as my Mickey.

I know it's going back a ways, but do you remember the card coming from the pack with that mark/crease on it?

To be sure, great story, Ted. Also to be sure about forgiving the chap who thought Mickey's Topps card was probably a "common" player. Now, having said that, I imagine that his Bowman counterpart would have initially been viewed as a common.

When Mantle went to spring training in 1952, his future was a question mark, since his terrible leg injury suffered during the second game of the 1951 World Series had not healed as yet. Moreover, weighing heavily on Mickey was the reality that his beloved father was dying. Extremely rough time for Mick. Shortly after the funeral, Casey put Mickey in center field, as he originally planned. The Bowman of Mantle is numbered 101, which off the top of my head would be a series two card, appearing in Bowman packs in May to early June.

--- Brian Powell

Hi Brian

You are correct....the 1952 BOWMAN MANTLE was issued in BOWMAN's 2nd series cards which were available circa late Spring/early Summer of 1952.

When the 1952 Baseball season started at the Stadium, there was a fair number of fans who would often boo Mickey, especially when he Struck Out or mis-played a ball in the Outfield.
To be fair to Mickey, a lot of this booing was also due to Joe DiMaggio's absence from the game. But, by the Summer of 1952, Mickey's excellent performance at bat and in the field had
turned around those boos into cheers. Indeed, Mickey was a very important factor in the Yankees winning the AL pennant that season. The Sporting News and the New York newspapers
really got on the "Mantle bandwagon".

I recall quite well when the 1952 TOPPS series of Hi #'s became available..mid-September 1952. And, by then Sports fans, and especially BB card collectors, were all very excited about acquiring anything associated with Mickey. Therefore, timing here has a lot to do with his TOPPS BB card being "hot", while his BOWMAN BB card not getting much respect.


TED Z
.

Info I didn't know about.

Thanks for sharing guys! :)

NYT 12-28-52


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http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7b1a602a.jpg

My Father-in-Law VERY actively collected the 1952 Topps set. To the point where 50 years later - I could show him a small part of a card and he could identify the card.

He was from NY and he traded as many cards as he could to get Mantle.

I won't even tell you how many he had in "pack fresh" condition.

When he first learned they had become valuable ... he called his mom. You all know the story of what had become of them.

Cheers,
Patrick

My Uncle could tell a similar story about the call to his Mom regarding his collection.....makes you wonder WHO dumped more 52 Mantles over the years, Sy Berger OR the Moms of the 1950s?

I am very fortunate my Father was able to keep his 52 Topps cards as I know my Mother threw out a pile of stuff I had collected since the late 60's early 70's.

I'll have to ask him how he did it but my guess is he hid them from her amongst his other man stuff.

Heck my grandfather had a shop in westchestor new york and sold those cards...i keep hearing how he has unopened stuff from 1952-55 that my mom inherited along with business related furniture and the like and she keeps delaying going to the storage when items were put there in the mid 1980s. We planning going there for the holidays..if find anything will let you know but assume nothing of value remains though she recognized the design of those cards from putting them in her bicycle etc...

Sometimes I think "MOMS" get an unfair blame for trashing BB card collections.

I'd say "MOVES" are more to blame than MOMS (for trashed collections).

I was lucky since my Sister and her husband purchased our folks house from my MOM.....after my Dad passed away.

When I was in the AIR FORCE, my Mom placed all my goodies from my youth in a large box which she stored in our attic.
There this stuff stayed for 12 years....Lionel trains, stamp collection albums, 1947 BOND BREAD BB cards, 1948 LEAF FB
and Boxing cards, 1949 LEAF BB cards, 1948 - 1952 BOWMAN BB & FB cards, and 100's of 1952 TOPPS BB cards.


TED Z
.

Jake - GOOD LUCK! That would be a heck of a valuable find if it comes true.

Ted - in this case, Mom fessed up that she threw them away. In her defense, who knew that the Mantle baseball card would become so valuable?

Superstition Mtn..
 

I dunno, Ted - when I joined the AF in '61, was still a teenager, but knowing that my mom was a compulsive house-cleaner, i tried to hide my stash of BB cards and comics in an old trunk in my dad's domain - the garage, where mom seemed never to venture. The dreaded letter arrived at Lackland several weeks in, with mom snarkily informing that she had finally nagged dad into cleaning out the garage, and, lo and behold, they found an old trunk full of useless ephemera from my youth and did me the great kindness of disposing of it before i came home from basic. There were no '52 Topps discarded, though, as the stores in my small town in upstate NY carried only Bowman that year, as far as i could tell. The closest i came to a '52 Bowman Mantle was a half dozen dupes of Peanuts Lowery.;)

Hi Steve

I was in Lackland AFB in late August 1960. The Texas heat was brutal.... 95-100 degrees and 95% humidity everyday. I had to tolerate it for 5 weeks,
then I was on my way to RADAR Specialist Tech School.

My Mom was also a "Mrs. Clean". My stuff was actually saved by my Dear Aunt. My Uncle had passed away in 1953, and I persuaded my Mom to have
Aunty move in with us. My Aunt saved everything. So, when my Mom started cleaning my room, my Aunt grabbed my "goodies", and carefully stored
them in a large box. Years later, when I recovered my stuff, my Aunt told me how she had to argue with my Mom to save my Trains, Stamps, Sports
cards, etc.
She told my Mom......" Sister, when Ted returns home from the Air Force and this stuff is gone, he will never-ever talk to us again ! "


TED Z
.

Great Aunt! :)

Like that aunt
 

Yeah, i had all the Bowman sets from '51 on in nr mt condition and '51 and '53 Topps sets that would have been saved had i been lucky enough to have an aunt like yours, Ted. Had to spend almost two decades getting them all back in later life, but that was perhaps more enjoyable than ripping open waxpacks, eh?
Can't believe i was swift enough to wait until November to take off for Lackland - climate was pretty comfortable there in winter. I think there was a little frost a couple of days in January. Had to cool my heels in a casual barracks for two months waiting for an opening at IU LTS.

I'll pretend that I'm my Father for this one, even though he never collected cards. He was nine years old and living in Cleveland in 1952.

I think he would have been looking for:

Dale Mitchell (his favorite player)
Bob Lemon (his favorite pitcher)
Al Rosen
Ted Williams

I don't think he would have been interested in any of the New York or Brooklyn players.

Cool question ! Not being old enough to be around for that era in history. I would guest Roy Campanella. He was the mvp the year before and still a rising star. Big market player with power. At least Maybe it would have been the card I wanted .

Yeah, I think certain simple things get foggy over time, and your post hits the nail on the head. Whereas Mantles are always desired big-time because their value goes up, up, up, we can't forget that back in the day a kid's home team trumped all. As a tyke in 1972, for example, I would've given anything for a Jerry Grote or Cleon Jones card and couldn't have cared less about Aaron, Ryan, etc. Wasn't even close. Value never entered the picture when it came to my hometown Mets.

A little before my time but I was under the impression the term rookie card didn't exist back then, and they weren't really a big deal. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I was only 2 in 1952 but seem to have a vague memory of wishing and hoping my Dad would get me a Eddie Mathews rookie card:) and wondering why the heck He could not find me a Musial card.

My money's on Berra. Biggest market player, reigning MVP and a Yankee.

To amplify that last point, I'm not sure of the year it began but by 1958 Topps was paying Yankees players double what they paid everyone else for their rights.

$ 100 ?... :)

Someday, I'm going to have that Mantle and the Mays. And the Matthews.