Touring (backwards) through the sets of the '50s

[ALR-bishop]

Many variations and recurring print defects in the 59 set. Here are some oddball stuff

[cardsagain74]

Al, those kinda extras are coming soon for one of the other sets. Usually I just have base cards, but it's always good for a collection to have a unique exception.

Everyone is welcome to share their own along the way as well

[cardsagain74]

1957

Doing '57 before '58 because, well, that's what's in front of me at the moment!

I did not expect this set to turn out like it did. When it was in its infancy, I had already picked up a Mantle, Frank Robinson, and some of the other big cards in around grade 3, and was undecided about how to continue.

That was when a collector from this forum sold me his (almost) set from his childhood.

It was very "loved". Missing only eight commons, and almost half of the cards are 1s. You've got your punch holes, paper loss, and so on. Though there are about 50 cards that are 4s or 5s too. Not sure how those survived

There were two things that made me interested at first though: the fact that the Brooks Robinson was a clean 3 or so (my collection was missing that card). Then there was this:

Included were all the contest cards, the lucky penny, all checklists (including number 4/5, much prized even when marked). Plus a 1 cent wax pack wrapper in great shape, which is another very tough set accessory and I think one of the rarest Topps wrappers (Al?)

I'm rarely one for anything beyond a base set, but this seemed like a good time to make an exception to that.

Anyway, I was going to combine this with my other '57 HOFers to make the best set I could overall. But I've decided not to.

Because there is a charm to keeping this as is. It's like a direct pipeline to a kid collecting his cards during a time when baseball was life. Slightly before "The Sandlot", but pretty close. And given my love for the sport (playing, watching, and learning about it) back when I was a kid myself in the '80s, that makes me quite nostalgic.

So maybe I'll do something else with my other '57s sometime. But this set is going to stay together. Call it an homage to those times!

399/407

Avg condition: 1.97

Top 10 cards w/ grade:

95 Mickey Mantle: 1
328 Brooks Robinson (R): 3
35 Frank Robinson (R): 1
1 Ted Williams: 1
407 Yankee Power Hitters (Mantle,Berra): 1
302 Sandy Koufax: 1
10 Willie Mays: 1
20 Hank Aaron: 2.5
18 Don Drysdale (R): 3
76 Roberto Clemente: 1

Other highlights:

Checklist 4/5: 3 (marked)
1 cent wrapper: great shape

[G1911]

Of the 3 photographic 50's Topps sets, 1957 > 1959 > 1958. Love the 57 design, clean and unobtrusive. I don't like the lower type case and the amount of the card taken away from the photo and given to the design on the 1959's, but it's a nice one still. 1958 I have almost completed as well, but solid backdrops are not as nice as the full photos on Topps other vintage sets. The All-Stars are awesome, as is the lack of a tougher SP series.

1953 and 1956 are the best of the decade overall, in my book.

The 1958 Brooks Robinson is probably the ugliest 1950's card by any manufacturer.

[cardsagain74]

Originally Posted by G1911

1953 and 1956 are the best of the decade overall, in my book.

The colors of the '53 are my favorite (still love the contrast between their brightness and the somewhat darker feel of the '52).

And the backgrounds of the '56s are some of very favorite parts of any cards (of any era)

[cardsagain74]

1958

This is probably the most forgotten set of the '50s. Nothing stands out too much, though the Mantle/Aaron WS batting foes is one of the most coveted combo cards of the era.

My version has no backstory this time. But the noticeable factor is how it's about the most VG-EX set you'll ever find. Mantle is a 4. The avg grade is 3.99. The top 10 cards are all close to that, and 90% of the total set is between a 3 and 5 (with 5% above and 5% below).

Even the only PSA graded card is a 4

But hey, who doesn't love seeing the famous Brooks face here?

494/494

Avg condition: 3.99

Top 10 cards w/ grade:

150 Mickey Mantle: 4
1 Ted Williams: 3
47 Roger Maris: 3
52 Roberto Clemente: 4
418 World Series Batting Foes (Mantle, Aaron): 5
5 Willie Mays: 4
30 Hank Aaron: 4.5
187 Sandy Koufax: 3.5
487 Mickey Mantle All Star: 3.5
310 Ernie Banks: 5.5

[BillP]

My biggest challenge in collecting this set was finding the combo mantle/aaron card focused, the williams #1 focused and the team card variations. I ended up liking the set a lot more. In particular against the scd black background. At least most of the star cards are head shots, so that's consistent.

[Volod]

Originally Posted by cardsagain74

Al, those kinda extras are coming soon for one of the other sets. Usually I just have base cards, but it's always good for a collection to have a unique exception.

Everyone is welcome to share their own along the way as well

John: Enjoyed reading the anecdote about the '53 Topps set. I too was just nine years old when I pulled some of those cards from waxpacks. I have to say that I did not care much for them at that time, however, because I really loved the Bowman issue from that year and thought the Topps cards were kind of cheesy in comparison. In fact, when I restarted my collection in my second childhood in the early '80's, I disdained Topps and went after the Bowman sets. Odd memory I have of that came at a card show in '83. As I was leaving late at night, I stopped to flip through an open binder of '50's cards on the last table and was strangely mesmerized by two '53 Topps commons: Jim Waugh and Charlie Bishop. Apparently, a couple of long buried brain cells that were imprinted with those two names and images suddenly fired and I had a deja vu recall of pulling those specific cards from a pack thirty years earlier. Feeling like a nine-year-old suddenly flush with resources, I gave the dealer a ten spot for about fifty commons as a starter lot and eventually put together a reasonably priced EX condition set.

[cardsagain74]

Originally Posted by Volod

Odd memory I have of that came at a card show in '83. As I was leaving late at night, I stopped to flip through an open binder of '50's cards on the last table and was strangely mesmerized by two '53 Topps commons: Jim Waugh and Charlie Bishop. Apparently, a couple of long buried brain cells that were imprinted with those two names and images suddenly fired and I had a deja vu recall of pulling those specific cards from a pack thirty years earlier.

I opened plenty of packs from the early-mid '80s as a kid (both baseball and football), but I don't remember pulling any specific cards. But I do remember seeing specific cards when I was sorting them, or what I still needed.

And I bet there were plenty of '86 Fleer basketball packs at the mall back then. Even though people were using those cards for wallpaper at the time, I can't remember if I ever bought any, and I didn't have a single one of them in my stored away stuff from those days

[cesarcap]

Hi John and others,

A belated Merry Christmas. I've been away from this and other sites in the last few months as work got super hectic (a good thing) and have been helping out more at home which I didn't do in the early part of the fall as the fishing was fantastic in NY.

Anyhow, I loved your journeys/recaps on the 50's sets. I've had similar feelings about the sets universally loved and unloved. Have grown to love 58's and 56's which I thought were over rated aside from the Mantle, Clemente and Jackie Robinson cards which I thought and still think are works of art.

But I wasn't as "emotionally" invested in the 56's--I won a set in an auction surprisingly as I was into 57's which I built up lot by lot /card by card. It wasn't too painful as I had some of the major cards for decades.

The set I'm least into is 53 Topps. I have a nice Mantle and a presentable Jackie with tape all over it and a Paige which I got in a trade when one didn't look up values on the internet or in a Becketts. hahahaha! Eventually I will get into it since the other years are basically done, pending USPS delivery which has been painfully slow....

Well, time to go for a hike!

[cardsagain74]

1955 Topps

This set was my main introduction into the modern card marketplace (after being away since the junk wax era). Around a year ago, it went up for auction on ebay as "low-mid grade". There was little interest because it was a jewelry dealer who mentioned that horrid "estate sale", and while most of the huge cards were graded, the Clemente was not.

Run for the hills, especially for someone who's fairly green to the new card world. Right? But I wasn't able to dismiss it so quickly.

Not only did the PSA HOFers have amazing eye appeal for their grade, but I could not see any major damage on the Clemente, which looked like a grade 4-5. The modest L/R centering shift (and everything else I'd learned at that point about diagnosing fakes) appeared legit to my relatively untrained eye. So I looked into the jewelry shop selling it. Wrote them and asked why the Clemente was one of the few HOFers not graded.

Finally, I decided it was worth the risk. The '55 T was a set I'd always wanted anyway, because I value its elite level top 10 cards more than the missing Mantle and second-tier HOFers like Campanella, Feller, and Reese bother me. Could just cheaply(well, at the time) add a low grade '56 T Mantle to it. And if something went wrong, I could always return it.

When the package got here, I could hear the phrases "no creases and measure correctly" repeat in my mind about the Clemente, as if willing them to be true. Thankfully, that was the case. There are a few very minor pock marks near the bottom left corner, but I doubt they'd push the grade below a 4. Even if they do, it's still a nice card and the set was a great deal.

Included a closeup of the pocks (if anyone wants to speculate). They look worse in the pic than in hand.

Guess I should get off my lazy ass about submitting and find out

206/206

Avg grade: 4.12

Top 10 cards w/ grade:

164 Roberto Clemente (R): 4
123 Sandy Koufax (R): 3
194 Willie Mays: 2
2 Ted Williams: 3
210 Duke Snider: 3
47 Hank Aaron: 4
50 Jackie Robinson: 2
124 Harmon Killebrew: 5
198 Yogi Berra: 5
28 Ernie Banks: 4

[ASF123]

Those are some beautiful '55s, John. And sorry to hear about your dad upthread. Cheers to him and the good times you shared.