1954 Topps Complete Set

[Harliduck]

Some fun facts on the 54s...

* I have or am working on just about every Topps vintage set, and this is the only time I have notice they have three cards from the same team IN A ROW.

#115 Rip Repulski - St. Louis Cardinals
#116 Steve Bilko - St. Louis Cardinals
#117 Solly Hemus - St. Louis Cardinals

*Only time twins have been pictured on the same card -
Ed & John O'Brie
This card is also considered Topps first multi-player card of them all

*First and Last card, same person - TWO base cards of the same player -
#1 Ted Williams
#250 Ted Williams

*Only time a card and player represents Four different teams -
#19 Johnny Lipon
- Pictured in Red Sox Uniform
- Listed on front as a Baltimore Oriole
- Listed on back as a Chicago White Sox
- Mentioned in the dialogue on back as a St. Louis Brown
Whats really funny is they misspelled his name, it's actually Johnny Lipton

* Rookie card of one the coolest trivia questions..."Who is the only player in sports history to win a World Series AND an NBA Championship? Also, the only player with multiple major sport Championships??"

- Gene Conley - Milwaukee Braves, Boston Celtics

*Last base card of a 1927 Murder's Row NY Yankee (Phillies Coach) -
- Earle Combs - HOF

* 20 HOFer's (21 HOF Cards)

*Topps paid $125 per contract, beating Bowmans $100. Ted Williams got $400!

* #204 Angel Scull NEVER made it too the big leagues

* There are 7 different color schemes -
- yellow, light blue, green, red, orange, dark orange, and white

* There are 60 Rookies in this set!!

* During the Bowman vs. Topps war, 82 players still appeared for both companies in 1954

* Who led the entire 1950's in hits?? Richie Ashburn...a 1995 HOFer...

* With RC of Hank Aaron, Al Kaline, and Ernie Banks, who were the AL & NL Rookies of the year in 1953??

AL - Harvey Kuenn
NL - Jim Gilliam

- Both had cards in 1954, although Gilliams RC is 1953

Sorry, I get obsessed with this sort of stuff! I could go on...

[brick]

Congratulations. Love that set. If I didn't already have one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel I would also do this set in mid grade.

[ALR-bishop]

60 rookies and 25 coaches/managers.

Congrats on the set

[t206blogcom]

Congrats! Job well done.

[cubsfan-budman]

Originally Posted by Harliduck

Some fun facts on the 54s...

* I have or am working on just about every Topps vintage set, and this is the only time I have notice they have three cards from the same team IN A ROW.

#115 Rip Repulski - St. Louis Cardinals
#116 Steve Bilko - St. Louis Cardinals
#117 Solly Hemus - St. Louis Cardinals

Sorry, I get obsessed with this sort of stuff! I could go on...

Awesome Trivia!

[sox1903wschamp]

Congrats John. Thank you for sharing.

[Harliduck]

Thanks all!

Nice cards Andy, thanks for posting. That Al is NICE...great card.

Al...25 coaches/managers...shows you how hard up they were! Still hard to think about all the players they couldn't get contracts for....imagining Mantle, Musial, Feller, ect on a 54 Topps card is crazy...of course those would have been PRICEY and I would't be done right now, haha.

[Cardboard Junkie]

Johnny Lipon is really Lipton?? Never heard that before. U sure?

[Harliduck]

Good catch CJ....Haha...

When I go for a set I google everything I can for info and read as much and learn as much as I can (how I found this site) and remember reading that in an article somewhere...and not knowing Johnny Lipon very well I took how PSA spelled it as gospel, when I should have known to check that...here is the article I read a while back -

http://www.psacard.com/Articles/Arti...eball-card-set

"There were a few uncorrected error cards but none that added any value to the standard price. Card # 14 of Preacher Roe has February misspelled on the back; and card #19 of Johnny Lipton has the Orioles team name on the front, White Sox team on the back with Lipton wearing a Red Sox cap. Card #178 of Bill Glynn has his name spelled Gylnn on the front. One very popular card is #139 of the O'Briens, brothers Johnny and Eddie on the same card. Another card of interest was # 226 of the Baltimore Orioles Jehosie Heard, who on the back of his card is listed as "Little Jehosie" standing 5 feet 7 ½ inches tall and weighing only 147 lbs."

[PowderedH2O]

I am right with you on that 54 set. I am down to the three rookies to complete it. I would call my set Vg-Ex overall. My 250 Williams is probably g/vg, as is my Willie Mays. My Jackie Robinson and 1 Williams are both VG. Most of the others are Vg-Ex or Ex. I should probably slow down on working on other sets and put together the money it takes to get the last three. Hopefully in the next few months I can chip away at them. But, having 247 out of 250 in an almost 60 year old set ain't too bad.

[Zach Wheat]

[QUOTE=Harliduck;1113333]Some fun facts on the 54s...

*Only time a card and player represents Four different teams -
#19 Johnny Lipon
- Pictured in Red Sox Uniform
- Listed on front as a Baltimore Oriole
- Listed on back as a Chicago White Sox
- Mentioned in the dialogue on back as a St. Louis Brown
Whats really funny is they misspelled his name, it's actually Johnny Lipton

* Rookie card of one the coolest trivia questions..."Who is the only player in sports history to win a World Series AND an NBA Championship? Also, the only player with multiple major sport Championships??"

Congrats! And thanks for the fun bit of trivia...

[GoldenAge50s]

Whats really funny is they misspelled his name, it's actually Johnny Lipton


Not true Zack---Lipon is his correct name & spelling.

[brob28]

Congrats John! Anytime a vintage set is completed is time to celebrate. I completed a '56 set a few months ago and felt like a million bucks afterward. Good luck on your '61 set, I'm about 85% done with mine - another great set.

BTW - I'll guess a 6 on the Wilhelm due to the lower right corner looking a tad soft. Bottom line on it though, is it's a great looking card