My 1956 Topps Project

[Eric72]

I picked up a few more cards for the set and will touch briefly upon them when posting images.

Card #257, Bobby Thomson, was part of a graded lot eBay pickup. Interestingly, the seller shipped the cards twice. Initially, they were lost in transit for 11 days. Then the package arrived...back at the seller's mailbox. Fortunately, the seller was super easy to deal with and the cards made their way to me quickly the second time around.

Thomson, of course, took part in one of the most famous moments in 20th Century baseball. His dramatic pennant-winning home run has been called, "the shot heard 'round the world" by more than a few fans throughout the years. Additionally, Russ Hodges' iconic (if somewhat redundant) call of, "the Giants win the pennant" has become almost as well-known as the Thomson homer itself.

The card front features Thomson grinning rather defiantly, almost smirking. Perhaps even five years wasn't quite enough time to wipe the smile off his face from the end of the '51 regular season. Topps paired his portrait with an image of Thomson unleashing a powerful swing. Giving the customer a view from above the batter's box was likely a deliberate choice. For me, this makes it easy to imagine being at the ballpark, perhaps even on that memorable day.

The card back has a trio of cartoon panels, as is typical for the 1956 Topps set. The first of those panels references Thomson's memorable 9th inning blast. As we approach the 65th anniversary of this set, that homer is (sadly) the only thing most people know about him. While being remembered primarily for a single at-bat may not be an ideal legacy, one thing is certain.

Bobby Thomson made damn sure we wouldn't forget him.