Which Topps issue has the worst centering?

[JollyElm]

Is "Every single last set of cards put out by Topps" an acceptable response?

If not, then it's 19-frickin'-72 for me.

[Beercan collector]

For me it’s 1979 , i’m from Missouri - Everyone’s pretty much aware of the Ozzie being off centered but Brett is just as bad - and Rose
- personally 1954 has been tough for me (#1 Williams , Banks )
1971 ? I think you could mentioned almost any set
I wonder if there’s Even a set that comes to mind that is generally centered .

[ALBB]

Yea,
things got sloppy in the early- mid 70s..no doubt

[G1911]

1975 Mini

[Cliff Bowman]

1962 Stamps and 1966 Rub Offs come to mind.

[bobsbbcards]

1952 Topps

[ALBB]

Those 73 Candy Lids always seemed way off center

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by Beercan collector

For me it’s 1979 , i’m from Missouri - Everyone’s pretty much aware of the Ozzie being off centered but Brett is just as bad - and Rose .

100% agreed. Absolute mess, majority of cards have 1-5 10s or often zero. Quantity of centered makes looking for a hen's tooth in a four-leaf clover seem easy.

My second choice is technically not Topps officially. However, if just one 1981 OPC card has perfect centering, I have never heard or seen it.

[irv]

Originally Posted by skelly423

Speaking as a collector trying to build a centered set, the answer is hands down 1952. Even on the best cards, you'd be lucky to have 20% of the population of a given card with 45/55 centering or better. The worst cards may only have a dozen examples across the entire set run (Eddie Mathews comes to mind).

In my very unscientific opinion, maybe 10% of all 1952 cards printed were well centered. Even when you find centered examples, many of them are diamond cut.

Originally Posted by Bigdaddy

And even more often than that, when you do find a centered example, it seems to have been so 'well loved' that the the wrinkles, creases and rounded corners weigh it down.

I was going to say the same thing. It is sometimes heartbreaking when one finally does come across a very well centered card only to see that it has been previously well loved.
I've tried to upgrade numerous of my 52's to more well centered, better conditioned cards, but sometimes I'm not sure if it is worth the disappointment?

[perezfan]

1968 is pretty awful for centering. How many Nolan Ryan Rookies have you seen with just a sliver of that grainy border L to R (or no border at all?)

[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by perezfan

1968 is pretty awful for centering. How many Nolan Ryan Rookies have you seen with just a sliver of that grainy border L to R (or no border at all?)

Most of the late 60s are tough. I think 69s are the worst.

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[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by irv

I was going to say the same thing. It is sometimes heartbreaking when one finally does come across a very well centered card only to see that it has been previously well loved.

I've tried to upgrade numerous of my 52's to more well centered, better conditioned cards, but sometimes I'm not sure if it is worth the disappointment?

52T set is a tough one for sure, but I believe 54T is much worse.

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[irv]

Originally Posted by Gorditadogg

52T set is a tough one for sure, but I believe 54T is much worse.

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Very well could be, Al?
My main focus has been 52's, as you know, so take my comments with a grain of salt if you will?

[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by Beercan collector

For me it’s 1979 , i’m from Missouri - Everyone’s pretty much aware of the Ozzie being off centered but Brett is just as bad - and Rose

- personally 1954 has been tough for me (#1 Williams , Banks )

1971 ? I think you could mentioned almost any set

I wonder if there’s Even a set that comes to mind that is generally centered .

79T, for sure! It's much harder to find anything centered on the 79s than any other late 70s set.

I don't collect the 71s because of the black borders, but well-centered, high-grade examples sure look nice.

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[Snowman]

1954 Topps is the worst. Dead-centered copies in that set make up less than 1% of the print run.

1952 Topps isn't far behind with around 2-5% centered copies, although this set varies more by card.

1975 Topps is a mess. I'd probably put this set 3rd, but there are enough of them that you can still find centered copies if you're patient. The worst part about this set though is the tilt and miscuts.

1955 & 1956 are pretty tough as well. 1953 is surprisingly not that bad.

Here's one of my favorite 1975 examples I've come across lately... Way to go PSA!

[mq711]

1968 are not only OC but pack fresh cards are often below minimum size standards. But worse of all is the 1969 deckle edge cut inserts, those folks with the sewing shires were murder on those cards.

[GasHouseGang]

I have to agree with the 1975's and the 1979's having many miscuts. Also, the 1978's were often misprinted (ink blobs, blue streaking) and sometimes entire packs of the 1978's had veins running across the card surface as though the top layer of the paper wasn't properly glued down to the paper stock. Maybe I'm the only one that saw that failure in packs of the 1978's.

[insidethewrapper]

I used to sort thru cases of Topps from the Mid-'70's to about 1990. Almost every year was bad. I threw out 1,000's of cards when trying to make nice sets for my customers from wax and vending. I remember the 1978 Murray, 1979 Ozzie Smith and 1985 Gooden were especially hard to get centered.