seeking knowledge re: 1955 Topps baseball sheets

[ClementeFanOh]

Hi all- I'm putting out the bat signal for anyone with knowledge about
player placement in 1955 Topps baseball sheets. A friend of mine (truly, it's
not me) obtained a 55 Topps Sandy Koufax in which a partial border of the
player "above" Sandy on the sheet, can be seen. My friend wondered who
that player is. I am weak in this area and am asking net54 for some help.
Were players placed in the same spot on those sheets, time after time? Does
anyone know who the player above Sandy was? Feel free to PM, and thank
you for your subject matter knowledge. Trent King

[Cliff Bowman]

Can you show a scan of the miscut 55 Koufax? If there’s enough showing of the other player we may be able to figure it out that way.

[ClementeFanOh]

Hi Cliff- thanks for replying. I don't own the card so I can't send a scan.
The only thing visible is maybe 1/16 inch of yellow border on the top part
of Sandy's card. There's no other coloring or any hint about player ID. That's
why I was hoping the sheets were uniform. Trent King

[Cliff Bowman]

That knocks it down to 18 possible cards in the 1955 Topps 2nd Series, cards that have a yellow name/position/team band. Even if there is only a sliver of the career stat line visible on the back it might be possible to pinpoint which of the 18 cards it is. I am not aware of any pics of 1955 Topps 2nd Series sheets.

[ClementeFanOh]

Cliff- thank you! I'll have my friend check the back then, that's very helpful.

Trent King

[ClementeFanOh]

Ok gang- I have embarked on a very (!) amateur sleuthing quest for the
sheet question on 55 Topps. On ebay, I found a severely miscut Warren
Spahn card #31 (first series). It was easily possible to see the stat line for
the "unknown" player on the back top of Spahn's card. There is no question
it's another Spahn...ebay seller is "sc-tarheelvintage" and ebay item
number is 174709094130. Also, my friend found a miscut 55 Topps Gil
Hodges where you can see the tip of a ballcap at the bottom of the whole
Hodges. The color and physical location of that additional cap are a match
for Gil's cap in the whole card, so it looks like it's another Hodges.

Given this result, it is reasonable to conclude that 55 Topps sheets were
single player sheets? Again, this is NOT my area of expertise by any stretch
of the imagination. In the case of my friend whose 55 Koufax miscut led to
this thread, the color visible for the partial card is the Koufax yellow. It
seems he got a Koufax and and more Koufax, on his purchase of the SGC 1
miscut

I'd enjoy reading more input. Thank you, Trent King

[GasHouseGang]

Here's a picture of a sheet that was auctioned that has Spahn.

[G1911]

Only a first series sheet, above, is known. Absolutely not single player sheets.
Series 2 (probably 90-99, 111-150 or 160) and 3 sheets I do not believe are known to have surfaced.

[ClementeFanOh]

Gashouse Gang- Thank you! Incredible. Interesting that Spahn is the only
player on that Series 1 to be printed in the same place in two rows, so that he
is sequentially in the same spot. So, the ebay Spahn miscut absolutely is
his card Regarding the final series Gil Hodges miscut I mentioned, but
cannot depict, it absolutely is him as well. I guess my friend won't know
re: his Koufax unless or until a corresponding sheet is discovered/revealed.,,

I did find a June 2022 post from Toppcat (Dave Hornish) on 55 Topps uncut
sheets, as well as an article online from 2019 "Topps Archives" that were
detailed for lower numbered cards. These were interesting reads for sure.

Trent King

[Cliff Bowman]

Originally Posted by ClementeFanOh

Regarding the final series Gil Hodges miscut I mentioned, but
cannot depict, it absolutely is him as well.

Trent King

I think this is the 55 Topps Gil Hodges miscut you are referring to, it is #180 Clem Labine under Hodges not another Hodges. If you have a different miscut I apologize.

[ClementeFanOh]

Cliff- thank you, looks like you are correct. I guess this is why I was never
intrigued by sheet placement Looks like my friend may never know the
identity of whose card was intruding on his Sandy! Trent King

[toppcat]

Love of the Game offered what appears to be the other first series slit awhile back.

https://bid.loveofthegameauctions.co...e?itemid=18569

[toppcat]

I toted up the number of impresisons for each player across both slits. Topps clearly included a bunch in the "series two" sheets that came after:

FIVE IMPRESSIONS (1)
70 ROSEN

FOUR IMPRESSIONS (15)
14 FINIGAN
23 PARKS
29 WEHMEIER
31 SPAHN
58 RIVERA
59 ALLIE
61 JACOBS
62 KIPPER
67 MOON
80 GRIM
81 CONLEY
84 PASCUAL
86 WILSON

THREE IMPRESSIONS (30)
2 WILLIAMS
3 FOWLER
7 HEGAN
8 SMITH
10 KEEGAN
16 SIEVERS
18 KEMMERER
19 HERMAN
24 NEWHOUSER
26 GROAT
30 POWER
32 McGHEE
33 QUALTERS
34 TERWILLIGER
36 KIELY
39 GLYNN
45 SAUER
49 PORTER
57 O'DELL
63 COLLINS
64 TRIANDOS
66 JACKSON
72 OLSON
77 PORTOCARRERO
78 JONES
82 HARMON
83 BREWER
89 FRAZIER
100 IRVIN
106 SULLIVAN

TWO IMPRESSIONS (15)
5 GILLIAM
11 FAIN
13 MARSH
20 CAREY
25 PODRES
40 HOAK
41 STOBBS
47 AARON
50 ROBINSON
54 LIMMER
55 REPULSKI
74 BORKOWSKI
90 SPOONER
103 WHITE
105 DIERING

ONE IMPRESSION (35)
1 RHODES
4 KALINE
6 HACK
9 MILLER
12 THEIS
17 HOFMAN
21 GRAMMAS
22 SKOWRON
27 GRADNER
28 BANKS
37 CUNNINGHAM
38 TURLEY
42 McCALL
43 HADDIX
44 VALENTINE
46 KAZANSKI
48 KENENDY
52 TREMEL
53 TAYLOR
56 JABLONSKI
60 STONE
65 BOONE
68 DAVIS
69 BAILEY
71 GOMEZ
73 SHEPARD
76 POLLET
79 SCHELL
85 MOSSI
87 HOUSE
88 SKINNER
102 WESTLAKE
104 HARSHMAN
107 ROBERTS
108 WALKER

ZERO IMPRESSIONS (14)
15 PENDLETON
35 JOLLY
51 HUGHES
75 AMOROS
91 BOLLING
92 ZIMMER
93 BILKO
94 BERTOIA
95 WARD
96 BISHOP
97 PAULA
98 RIDDLE
99 LEJA
110 ZERNIAL

[stevepoland]

Do you happen to know the card numbers for Series 2 and Series 3, respectively?

Per your mention below, is Series 2: 111-150 (or 111-160)
And Series 3: 151-210 (or 161-210)
?

Thanks!

Originally Posted by G1911

Only a first series sheet, above, is known. Absolutely not single player sheets.
Series 2 (probably 90-99, 111-150 or 160) and 3 sheets I do not believe are known to have surfaced.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by stevepoland

Do you happen to know the card numbers for Series 2 and Series 3, respectively?

Per your mention below, is Series 2: 111-150 (or 111-160)
And Series 3: 151-210 (or 161-210)
?

Thanks!

I don't know for certain; most of series 1 is known (beyond the sheets above in this thread) because there are 2 different stock backs, one whiter than the more creamy one. Some cards were held back, like 90-99, which we knew because you only find them with 1 stock only. Kind of a 1953 Topps style situation.

Series 2 presumably has these hold backs, as they don't seem to be more difficult to find like the final series. It seems to me series 2 probably catches us up to 160, as 161+ do seem to me to be a little bit tougher to find. So series 2 I expect will have 50 cards + the holdbacks - possibly a handful of numbers held back again that were pushed into series 3, making for another odd sheet any way we slice it. Series 3 I expect to have the 50 cards 161-210 printed twice each (4 for the DP's that replaced the missing card numbers). It's possible 151-160 were included in series 3, these 10 cards are sometimes bucketed as a different group and something unique may have happened there, possibly mirroring 90-99. I suspect, contrary to the hobby opinion, that it wasn't really contractual issues with 4 players that led to the no prints, but numbers just being held back as they were in earlier series to issue later, like Topps did throughout 1953. I suspect this set may not have been intended originally to end at 210.

I hope a sheet will surface and we might be able to do more than make reasonable deductions. This is a really fun set.