My Top 10 Reason I like '50s BB Cards.... Care to add?

[mintacular]

1. Harkens back to a golden era
2. Cards were collectibles then, a fun thing to own for a kid
3. A couple main brands but not too many (Bowman, Topps, a few oddball)
4. Simple designs. Team Logos, mugshots, a little artistry, cartoon on back. Rinse and repeat.
5. Fun and relatively easy to build a full set
6. High #'s and short prints make them challenging to find (and "investable" too I suppose)
7. Full of HOF stars that emerged post-war and had companies like Topps to display them on cards for the first time
8. Due to centering and other common defects REAL CONDITION SCARCITY can make it fun to find diamonds in the rough
9. Easy to identify a true "rookie"
10. Did I mention simplicity? Oh yeah, that attribute basically pulses through the other nine above!

Feel free to add yours!

[Seven]

To keep with the number theme:

11. Early 50's sets had dedicated rookie cards for each players. There was no split cards as we see in the 60's
12. Screams Americana. 50's were a time of hope and renewal, I think the cards do a good job of capturing that
13. The art style. While controversial I love the 52 Topps art style. 51 and 52 Bowman are Beautiful as well. 53 Topps was a great set too.

[Butch7999]

14. They feel like baseball cards, not like paper-thin glossy bits of ephemera that all seem like bonus inserts from a pack of real cards
15. They smell like baseball cards, the scent of the stick of awful gum still lingering on well-kept examples
16. Better typography -- easily legible bold lettering in the backside text, not microscopic 4-point fonts

and we'll say "hear hear" to 4 and 13 above -- frank, simple portraits and the occasional unembellished action shot,
not a psychedelic miasma of image-distorting swirls and swooshes and artificial colours

[John1941]

The Yankees ruled the world.

[ALR-bishop]

The Topps v Bowman card war from 51 to 55 was epic

[mortimer brewster]

Nothing excites me more than the moldy smell of a finely aged baseball card, especially from my favorite year 1957.

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by John1941

The Yankees ruled the world.

+1!

Everyone who bashes them is ate-up jealous.

[Lucas00]

The 50s regional releases and oddball cards are absolutely the best of any era imo. So many players best looking cards come from these releases and sets that I just love them that much more.

[thatkidfromjerrymaguire]

As others here have mentioned, for me it's all about the artwork. ESPECIALLY 1950, 1951, and 1952 Bowman. Masterpieces!