What are the greatest cards of all time?
November 8, 2010Thanks to longtime reader of the site SB1902, I just learned that Topps is holding an election to determine the ten greatest Topps cards of all time. The company nominated 100 cards from its archives and is inviting one and all to chime in. Unfortunately (at least in my eyes) the majority of this list of 100 cards is made up of rookie cards. I understand that rookie cards are generally the most coveted cards among collectors, but just because something can be sold for a high price doesn’t mean it automatically deserves inclusion in a group that Topps claims is “the 100 best cards we’ve ever produced.” Where’s Oscar Gamble and Don Mossi and the Reuschel brothers? Johnny Bench is there, in rookie card version, but not in his much more striking and iconic 1976 incarnation. Same with Nolan Ryan, who gets the rookie card treatment, while the card that to me most vividly communicated his electrifying essence is ignored.
So I’m hoping that we can get another vote going here. Scan the archives here or better yet scan through your own collection. Bust out your copies of The Great American Baseball Card Flipping Trading and Bubble Gum Book. Roam the net. And then please let me know in the comments section below what you think are the best Topps cards of all time. I’m interested to see what we can come up with.
Cardboard Gods 
Sweet contests on both ends. I’m confident Gods readers will come up with a better list. As Josh noted the Topps list is filled with uninspired rookie cards. It’ll result in a list for collectors in it for money, not for those of us who love the cards.
I’m all for this. I hate the selection Topps decided on too, and I have yet to read any baseball card blogger who liked it even a little, which suggests Topps is way out of touch with the reality of what makes a great card.
That ’76 Bench card is awesome.
I was very surprised they didn’t include the 1982 Carlton Fisk in action card. Doesn’t that card just make you want to go play baseball right now? It’s the best card in the whole ’82 set IMHO…. not the most valuable, but definitely one of the best cards I’ve ever seen anyway.
I’ll nominate the 1974 Juan Marichal card. That distinctive windup, framed perfectly, with the ball peeking between his legs. Classic.
Always loved the World Series game-by-game highlight cards (action photos with context!), and the 1974 style horizontals. Combining them was like porno for me.
Game 3 of the ’73 World Series shows a play at 2nd base, dust, an ump with his hands splayed. Game 4: Staub’s just hammered one; Game 5: Grote welcomes Jones at home plate.
The 72 postseason highlights in the ’73 set came with intriguing short headlines: TENACE THE MANACE. ODOM OUT AT HOME. L-o-v-e em.
Looking forward to the other nominations!
I like the 1991 Clemens that has him posing in front of the scoreboard. I also like the 1971 Munson, an in action shot that has the big Topps Rookie trophy on it. The 1974 Rusty Staub is classic to me, because it’s the one with his hand on his hip, showing his frustration with a blown strike call by the umpire. Extra points for being the first Topps card with Staub in a Mets uniform. I also like the 1964 Tops in NL, the card which featured Willie Mays and Hank Aaron on it.
I’ve long been fond of the 1972 Clemente, where he’s tossing the ball to himself.
It’s out of scope for this project, another I love is the 1986 Wendel Clark, capturing Wendel in full glower during the national anthem.
Yep, Topps has an abyssmal list. Also, did they say “best Topps cards” or “best Topps baseball cards”? If it’s Topps overall, I’d have to give votes to Garbage Pail Kids Series 1 “Adam Bomb”, ’81 Topps Joe Montana, the ’65 Namath rookie, and probably a few others (for some reason, the Junkyard Dog vs. Mr. Fuji “Scalp ‘Em!” card from their first WWF pops out in my head; no idea why…). There’s definitely some hockey and basketball in there, but I’m blanking beyond Gretzky’s first 2 cards, and the ’82 basketball stuff like Magic and Bird. ’51 Topps Ringside is a gorgeous set all the way through, too, saw a near-complete set recently and was blown away by how good they were. Anyway…
As for my purely baseball list…ah hell, I didn’t have anything else to do tonight. Not going in favorites order, though…that’d be madness. I was able to keep it to 50 cards total, 1 card per player, too, though there are definitely other cards I like by a lot of these guys (’69 Mantle, ’74, ’76 and ’89 Rose, ’54 Ted Williams, ’83 and ’86 Boggs, ’84 Mattingly, ’80 Yaz, ’80 and ’81 Murray, ’86 Rickey, ’87 Bo…man, I could write a book).
Here goes:
’53 Eddie Mathews #37
’55 Harry Agganis #152
’56 Jackie Robinson #30
’59 Frank Robinson #435
’60 Carl Yastrzemski #148
’61 Roger Maris #2
’64 Giant Mickey Mantle #25
’71 Dock Ellis #2
’71 Ted Williams #380
’74 Dave Winfield #456
’74 Bucky Dent #582
’76 Hank Aaron #550
’76 Traded Oscar Gamble #74T
’76 Traded Willie Randolph #592T
’77 Mark Fidrych #265
’77 Jim Hunter #280
’78 Eddie Murray #36
’78 Thurman Munson #60
’79 Bob Horner #596
’80 Dave Stieb #77
’80 Dwight Evans #405
’80 Rickey Henderson #482
’80 Reggie Jackson #600
’81 Andre Dawson #125
’81 Mets Rookies (Mookie!) #259
’81 Dodgers Rookies (Fernando!) #302
’81 Rick Cerone #335
’81 Stickers Mike Norris #4
’82 J.R. Richard #190
’82 Lee Smith #452
’82 Gary Carter #730
’83 Cal Ripken #163
’83 Traded Ron Kittle #55T
’84 Darryl Strawberry #182
’84 Traded Pete Rose #103T
’85 Rusty Kuntz #73
’86 Len Dykstra #53
’86 Don Mattingly #180
’86 Dwight Gooden #250
’86 Jim Rice #320
’86 Traded Bo Jackson #50T
’87 Wade Boggs #150
’87 Bo Jackson #170
’87 B.J. Surhoff #216
’87 Barry Bonds #320
’87 Eric Davis #412
’87 Tom Seaver #425
’87 Jose Canseco #620
’99 Brian Hunter #274
’10 Heritage Pablo Sandoval #55
OK, that’s quite enough! If I type anymore, I’m going to start explaining why I like each card, and then I’m just going to end up breaking the Internet.
Is Topps’ list a practical joke or something—“ooh I can’t decided between Mickey Mantle holding a bat and Mickey Mantle holding a bat and Mickey Mantle holding a bat….” There are SIXTEEN Mantles in a list of a hundred cards!
(The big de-lurk continues…)
This brings us to something I’ve been curious about for a while now. While Josh, the other folks who read this site and other card sites and I may not be into EVERY PHOTO OF MANTLE EVER TAKEN (and don’t get me wrong, Mantle fascinates me, though I think that sometimes it’s totally for the wrong reasons), I think there’s a chance that the public at large is very happy with that kinda thing.
I don’t know, folks, help me out here if you can, because I’m actually percolating a piece on this for my little corner of the ‘net. Over the past however many years, as we’ve all been reading sites like this one and Ben Henry’s site and all the others, some of us writing sites in the same vein, others just Bipping each other because of Cardboard Junkie, have you noticed any real shift at all in the mainstream card hobby toward the sorts of things that we love?
I’m not just talking about what’s being manufactured (because all types like retro-flavored stuff like Heritage, Ginter, etc. and even Obak is selling pretty well at my local card shop), but more of a hobbywide shift, where you overhear people talking about Herb Washington at card shows or your local shop, talk to people who aren’t running a card blog and really are collecting just because they love Sixto Lezcano rather than because they’re a fan of a certain team or a speculator, that sorta thing.
I’ve seen a phenomenon a bunch with Internet subcultures, where a very vocal, but very small community talks a bunch about the things they love, creates a buzz somehow, and at the end of the day, it turns out that the world at large just isn’t as excited about what the community was excited about. (I call it the “Snakes On A Plane” phenomenon, but it applies in a bunch of other places I’ve been…) I honestly have no idea if that’s happening among the card blogs or not, and I haven’t seen that much evidence that anyone else is even thinking about it.
From what I can tell on Amazon and at my local bookstores, the “Cardboard Gods” book is selling well (and not to kiss ass, but it should be, because it’s a terrific story), but are folks reading the book and thinking “Hey, I need these cards!” (Or, for those of you who pre-date the book, did you come here and think this very same thought, like I did and do here and there?), or are they coming to the site by way of the book and finding the other card blogs in the sidebar? I’d love to hear about this, either from Josh or from anyone else who has some insight on the subject.
Granted, “crossover appeal” is something for the marketing suits of the world to concern themselves with. If an idea’s good and only a few people enjoy it, that doesn’t make it stop being good by any means (and to be honest here, while it’s great that some of our childhood heroes are getting more attention than they were for a while there, I think it’d kinda suck if it became impossible to get cards of Bip Roberts or Don Mossi or Oscar Gamble, to name but a few, for a reasonable price because the entire hobby latched onto a trend and speculated like crazy), but as I’ve said above, I’m definitely curious as to whether any of what we talk about on these sites (and now, in some cases, these books) is escaping our little world.
Maybe the people who are most likely to vote on that Topps list don’t think too much about the Oscar Gambles of the world, and are really just interested in the Mantles and the rookies and the 1/1 superfractors. I’m sad that they’re missing out on a lot of the wonder of cards if so, but ultimately, I’m glad that Josh has opened the floor here so that maybe we can enjoy ourselves coming up with a list of our own that celebrates that wonder.
P.S. Ken’s comment above about the ’74 Marichal made me realize that I should really have an Orlando Hernandez card on my list. I’d just need to decide which one he has the best leg kick on.
1976 Bench looks like he should be ariving out of the mist at the end of High Plains Drifter . . . or walking out of the smoke at the end of the Wild Bunch. Pure badass.
For posed cards I’m going with the 1972 Billy Martin. If he’d been in a Yankee Uniform they could have made a 4 foot tall version for his tombstone.
Speaking of tombstones…if you ever go to the site http://www.findagrave.com, it has photos of the final resting places of thousands of famous people. Norm Cash’s tombstone has a beautiful engraving of him chasing a pop up on a sunny day. A few years later I saw an autographed copy of the photo they’d based it on. Pretty creepy.
Here are a few of my favorites:
1971 Chris Short (with Pete Rose dancing off 2nd base)
1971 Thurman Munson (even though I loathe the Yankees)
1967 Dick Radatz
1964 AL Bombers (Maris-Cash-Mantle-Kaline) I just loved those combo cards
The 1971 is full of great in action shots and continues to be one of my favorite sets of all time.
I love the 1975 Brooks Robinson card – from the mid 70s garish borders, to Brooks’ intent stare at the pitcher – his trademark shortened helmet visor clinches it!
Many of my faves have been mentioned, ’72 Clemente, ’75 Brooks Robinson.
Two that should be included are:
1974 Dave Concepcion – http://daveconcepcion.com/images/cards/1974_Topps.jpg
1973 Rich Hand – http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VbZXTgtIEhU/S-CtYWR2t6I/AAAAAAAABYM/lGvPc8UfnhM/s1600/1973+Topps+%23398.jpg
Love the ’74 Concepcion too. I also nominate the ’74 Pete Rose (#300), the ’74 Steve Garvey (#575); and the ’73 Johnny Bench (#380) is pretty cool too. I guess I’m an ‘action shot’ guy?
All-time favorite card: 1956 Herb Score. The pathos!
“Best Card” is kind of an odd question and their list is kind of odd as well.
Here’s my top ten from the 50’s,60’s,70’s, and 80’s:
1950’s:
J. Podres #263, 1953
J. Robinson #244, 1953
W. Mays #244, 1953
J. Gilliam #35, 1954
J. Robinson #50, 1955
H. Aaron #31, 1956
W. Mays #10 1957
D. Snider #170, 1957
P. Reese #30, 1957
G. Hodges #80, 1957
1960’s:
R. Clemente #540, 1963
M. Mantle #50, 1964
P. Rose #125, 1964
W. Mays #250, 1965
S. Koufax #300, 1965
D. Allen #460, 1965
T. Perez #72, 1966
J. Morgan #195, 1966
N. Ryan & J. Koosman #177, 1968
J. Bench #95, 1969
1970’s:
J. Bench #250, 1971
B. Robinson #300, 1971
R. Clemente #302, 1972
W. Mays #49, 1972
D. Concepcion, #554, 1973
N. Ryan #330, 1976
J. Bench #300, 1976
Yaz, #230, 1976
C. Fisk #365, 1976
A. Dawson, 179, 1979
Fisk, Bench and Ryan could make up the entire top 10.
1980’s:
G. Brett #450, 1980
Yaz #720, 1980
N. Ryan #380, 1980
C. Fisk #40, 1980
J. Palmer #210, 1981
W. Stargell #380, 1981
D. Strawberry #182, 1984
D. Gooden #42t, 1984
G. Brett #700, 1988
B. Jackson #750, 1988
I saw this Topps contest on Chad Finn’s excellent Boston-based page (http://www.boston.com/sports/touching_all_the_bases/) and I was also disappointed in the Topps list. How many freaking Mickey Mantles do we need? Put me down for the ’76 Johnny Bench, too.
Personally, I’d love to see Andy Etchenbarren and Don Mossi make an appearance.
’73 Peter Edward Rose – quintessential Charlie Hustle in the generic, clinical ’73 set. He’s still in the batter’s box staring intently at a fly ball (probably a pop-up analyzing the trajectory of his head but I always envisioned it as a double off the wall).
It’s gotta be 1975 Herb Washington! (Of course the year is meaningless because there is only one.)
I agree with the Johnny Bench. It is an awesome card. I would like to nominate the 1972 Billy Martin In Action card and the 1971 Lowell Palmer. The shades on Palmer are just spectacular.
So yeah, “greatest” baseball card is a tricky concept. And as I looked online for ideas, I found myself willing to nominate way too many cards featuring action shots, especially from 1974, especially when those action shots are horizontal. So are horizontal action shot cards truly great, or do I have a horizontal action shot card fetish?
Either way, some nominations, which will focus mostly on the 1970’s, my era:
71 Munson. My favorite all-time card. A favorite player, great action shot, nice set design, and the All-Star Rookie trophy (another card-fetish of mine). Nice to see that the Topps people nominated this one, too.
74 Garvey. Horizontal, a star player, well composed and centered. The photo seems to capture another side of the oft-photographed Garvey. Less cleft-chin and Popeye forearms, more young ballplayer.
64 Staub. A fun player, the Rookie Trophy, and the Colt .45’s uniform all on one card.
76 Gamble. His regular card with the Indians is pretty great, too. Nice bright red jersey, good action, afro popping out of the non-earflap side of the helmet.
76 Gamble traded goes without saying.
77 Fidrych. One of my all-time favorite cards. I think the only occasion of a card having both the all-star designation and the rookie trophy at the same time, which is oddly appropriate for such a unique phenom.
69 Bench. Again, I prefer the cards with the rookie trophy to the actual rookie cards. A well composed shot, a great view of his mitt, a great Reds uniform. If I were Johnny Bench, this is the card I’d want to show my daughters: young, innocent, trim. I’d save the gritty action shots where I’m a little paunchy for my sons.
78 Fisk. Fisk always seemed to photograph well, be it in action or posed. Something about Fisk in this card, though, stands out for me. His pose — mouth open, pissed off, tongue or chew in cheek — perfectly blends a 1950’s method actor cool with a 1970’s jock’s douchebaginess, which seemed like something to aspire to as a young boy.
I loved many of the cards mentioned above (71 Munson,76 Bench, 74 Marichal, 72 Clemente, 76 Gamble traded), for a lot of the same reasons others mentioned (and the 70s cards were in my wheelhouse, so those hold a special place in my memory/heart. The action shots of the 70s were awesome, because they were different at the time, much like the posed shots now stand out because most of the shots are action…
A few additions which always stood out to me:
1972 Billy Cowan – I assume the Angels scoreboard halo was shot over his head like that on purpose… which is funny AND awesome!
1970 Denny McLain – this guy looked 70 years old to me with those horn-rims and that Leno-esque chin (and actually as an adult now, he still looks 70!)… couldn’t believe he had won 30 games just a few short years before this… I like that he is studying the on-field action from the dugout steps… maybe, he had money riding on the game? doh!
1971 – Vida Blue – awesome action? shot… Is he flashing a peace sign (appropriate for the time)? Just saying “hey” to Charlie Finley (probably would be flashing a different finger for that)? Or is that a fake pitch without the ball? Great smile! This was also the year he was unhittable, which adds to its appeal…
1974 Tito Fuentes – Great name, for one… I was always equally drawn to, and confused by, the headband over the hat (which he wore like that in several other cards, too… One even says “TITO” on it, waaaay before Jim McMahon thought of it).
1976 Reggie Jackson – as discussed by you in the book, Josh, a warrior choosing his weapon… my favorite player ever… had to pick a card of his! But, frankly, most of his cards were not that interesting… the 74 card is nice, too, in his “One Man Wild Bunch” and “Superduper Star” days…
sas129,
Excellent choices. I totally forgot about the ’74 Garvey but that one is a classic with the crowd out of focus in the background.
The ’64 Staub is excellent with the “Colts” on the top of the Card.
The ’71 Munson is fantastic. Some of the best cards of the ’70’s were catchers’ cards. Fisk or Bench could make up the entire top of the 70’s.
I think you’re right about the Fidrych ’77 with the Rookie trophy and the all star tag. I think the problem is that Topps only used that All Star tag from 1975-1981. I think most of the other sets that mention “All Stars” have separate all star cards all together. And I don’t think Topps used the rookie trophy on every set. Case in point Fernando Valenzuela’s 1982 Topps Card has no rookie trophy or all star banner. He does have a separate all star card in the set and I think he has a “In Action” card as well.
Fred Lynn was an all star in 1975 but I think Topps only put the All Star tag on starters so there is no mention of his 1975 all star game appearance.
Ohnoonan,
Excellent choices. I never saw the Cowan “Halo” thanks for bringing it up. The ’71 Blue is another great one that I forgot about. 1971 is Blue’s MVP/Cy Young year so that adds some more impact to his card.
The ’74 Fuentes is pretty good but the ‘1976 version with “TITO” printed on the headband takes the cake. Only in the 70’s could you have something as ridiculous as a guy putting a headband on the OUTSIDE of his hat on a photograph.
I kind of wish there was a 1976 or 1977 Jackson card with him in an ORIOLES uniform. I think there is a “Proof” version of the ’77 Orioles Reggie Jackson card in limited circulation.
Johnq,
The best examples of him in O’s gear on a card, unfortunately, aren’t in the Topps line. I just got the Renata Galasso Reggie set, which has a card with the ’77 proof picture on it (apparently Renata had friends at Topps) and another Oriole Reggie card, and I’ve had the ’88 Score card with him in his O’s gear since it came out. I found out about the Renata Galasso cards from this great post at the Fleer Sticker Project on Reggie-as-an-Oriole:
http://fleersticker.blogspot.com/2009/05/reggie-jackson-baltimore-orioles.html
I kinda wish Topps had done a card of Oriole Reggie for the Vintage Legends line this year. Perfect opportunity/excuse for it, and they could’ve done it without that confusing “Yankees” written above the pic of him as an Oriole that the ’77 proof card has.
I enthusiastically add the 1989 Topps Jody Davis (#115) as the laziest card in Topps’ history. Despite the fact that Jody had been traded from the Cubs to the Braves in the final week of the 1988 season and Davis actually appeared in an Atlanta uniform in 1988, Topps not only showed him in a Cubs uniform on the 1989 card, but also listed his team as “Cubs” and for some unknown reason, put the text “Now with Braves” in bold on the photo. Let’s recap: Davis was traded in 1988 to Atlanta. Even if the Topps artists didn’t have time to airbrush a Braves cap, wouldn’t it have been easier to just list his team as the Braves on the front and forego the added text?
Does anyone else know why Topps may have done this other than oversight and last minute correction?
Gotta second tzig9’s Herb Washington nomination. Most of the chatter here has been about the fronts of cards, but Herb’s one and only card had absurd timeless weirdness on front AND back. And on the subject of the backs of cards, let us not forget Pat Perry.
That ’89 Jody Davis card is pretty funny. It’s like a cereal box or something (“Now with Niacin!”).
I just want to nominate the entire 1975 Topps set as the greatest card or cards of alltime. Plus you can’t go wrong with Oscar Gamble in 75, 76, or traded.
The first place my mind goes on this topic is Carl Yastrzemski’s 1981 Topps card:
I know the author isn’t crazy about the ’81 set, but if that doesn’t convey a love of the game, I don’t know what does.
@boxsox8 .. here’s a link to that ’71 Chris Short you mentioned. Love it. In fact, I love all of the 1971 series, and was disappointed that it was not represented more in the Topps list. http://baseballisms.com/chris-short-1971-topps.html
I think my all-time favorite has become the 1978 Ron Guidry (even though I was born and raised a Red Sox fan) .. I left my thoughts in the comments. http://baseballisms.com/ron-guidry-1978-topps.html
We can do much better than the Topps selections.
For a couple of ’71s, how about Cookie Rojas turning two, and Joe Morgan st the plate?
I would like to nominate a few from ’73. It’s a pretty generic and boring set, but some of the cards have great photography, which is what I think of when I hear “Greatest of All-Time”. The list Topps provided to vote on is pretty lame. I would agree with all of them if it was “Most Valuable of All-Time”. The selctions form the 50’s can be justified. I could argue that any cards from the 1953-1956 could be included. The ’53 set is beautiful with the artistic portraits (including the only Topps Satchel Paige), the ’54 set is awesome with the portraits along with an action shot of each player in one of the corners. That duality (portrait plus action shot) continues throughout the ’55 and ’56 sets. Those are all iconic sets.
Back to the ’73 set. I really appreciate the photography in some of the Pitcher cards especially Vida Blue #430 and Ken Forsch #589. I love how there is a slightly out of focus batter in the forground and an in-foucs action shot of the pitcher in the background. I’m sure there are more examples of this type of photography scattered throughout the set, but those two stick out for me. Another awesome pitcher card (for a different reason) from ’73 is Fred Norman #32. He is in that sweet all yellow Padres uniform with a totally empty section of seats in the background, cracks me up everytime I see it. Also, I would like to nominate the ’73 Clemente. It was his last card, and on the back, it contains his career total of exactly 3,000 hits. RIP.
Oh yeah, I forgot ’73 John Ellis #656. I’m not sure if there are any other “action shot” cards that show arguing with the ump.
ScottCrawford,
That was a great link about Jackson and the Orioles. Jackson on the Orioles kind of exists in a kind of surreal world that was baseball around 1976-1977. I didn’t realize it at the time because I was kid but baseball was really changing dramatically during that time period. The big change of coarse was Free Agency which forever changed the way baseball would be operated.
Jackson was traded to the Orioles basically because he was going to be a free agent. A trade that a few years before would have been unthinkable. Then you had a bunch of big name players that were switching teams like Grich, Carew, and Jackson. Seaver would be traded because of Free Agency etc.
I remember reading that Jackson wanted a 3 year $666,000 contract which was turned down by the O’s. Later he signed with the Yankees for 5 year $3 million dollar contract.
bakemcbride,
Good one on the Rojas & Morgan cards. Rojas is turning two at the old Yankee stadium with #9 pre-Nettles, outfielder Ron Woods sliding into second. Morgan is at Shea with Jerry Grote behind the plate.
My mix up that was 1967ers with the Rojas & Morgan cards.
Bakemcbride,
good one on the John Ellis card, I was thinking about that one. Good call on the Blue & Forsch cards. I think the ’73 set is kind of underrated. There are some really great shots from that set. Such as:
1973 Johnny Bench, where Bench is catching a pop up heading for the dugout and we only see his back.
1973 Chris Speier, where Speier is photographed sliding into home plate.
1973 Bill Hands, where Hands is pitching at Wrigley and we see a great shot of the Ivy.
1973 Steve Garvey, where Garvey is actually in the background of his card behind Wes Parker. The irony of coarse is that Garvey would take Parker’s position at First Base.
I also like the 1971 Joe Rudi card where he’s dressed in Oakland’s sleeveless gold uniform and playing First Base??
Although it is an older card, the 1956 Minnie Minoso card is a beauty. Reason being is that you can see in the whole card his love for the game of baseball. That smile on his face and that feet first slide starting at about a foot and a half off of the ground showed he was hustling. His 1977 Record Breaker card is a favorite too.
Some others:
1973 Gerry Moses. He’s got a look on his face like “Don’t you guys trust me”?
1973 & 1976 Johnny Bench
1973 Dave Roberts
1977 Tony Perez
Any Mario Mendoza card.
1978 Mike Paxton, Greg Minton & Len Randle
A couple that come to mind that haven’t been mentioned:
I’m partial to the ’78 Topps Yaz myself. I love the profile shot with the shot of gray in his temple. One of the most distinguished looking cards ever.
I also like the ’76 Topps Steve Ontiveros. I always dug him rounding third base with Mike Schmidt in the background looking for the ball. Not even wearing a helmet. A classic action photo.
I’m not an expert, but I think that ’56 set is the best Topps ever did. I’ve never seen a ’56 card that didn’t look great. ’76 is probably #2. The 1960s sets were awful, IMHO.
I too think the76 Bench is one of the best. I am also fond of the 77 Kingman where he looks like he hit a moonshot, with the crowd in the background and the all-star banner on the bottom. My favorite though is the 78 Reggie Jackson card. Twisted into a knot, 100% Reggie swing. Could have hit it 450 feet or whiffed it.
There’s something about 1973 Harmon Killebrew, he’s about to blast that thing…
Oh yeah, pilotsfan,
I support your inclusion of 1978 Greg Minton as it is the nerdiest headshot EVER. It’s awesome.
Here are some cards that are my favourites:
-1974 Joe Morgan peeling off to first
-1971 Thurman Munson tagging out the Athletic with dust
-1971 Joe Torre lashing a hit to left field
1971 Jerry Grote chugging up first
-1971 Cookie Rojas turning a double play over a sliding player
-1971 Ted Williams laughing as Senators manager. Weird not to see him in a Red Sox uniform and being so happy.
-1978 Mickey Rivers looking like he just hit a towering home run to right field
-1978 Len Randle sliding in to third with a Padre laying a tag and dust sprouting.
-1978 Reggie Jackson, Most Homers, One World Series. ’77 Record Breaker.
1974 Ken Reitz blowing a bubble on third base waiting for a grounder
-1972 Chris Speier in Action firing a double play ball by a Pirate to first.
-1973 Walter Johnson, The All-Time Shutout Leader
-1975 Luis Tiant in full wind up
-1975 card of 1974 A.L. Championships with B. Robinson sliding underneath Athletic.
-1969 AL Pitching Leaders that have DennyMcLain, Dave McNally, Luis Tiant and Mel Stottelmyre
-1970 Sporting News, black and white of Nolan Ryan Saves the Day, Game 3 of 1969 NL Playoffs
-1970 Sporting News, black and white photo of Agee’s Catch Saves the Day, Game 3 of 1969 World Series
-1971 B. Robinson commits Robbery! in Game #5 of the 1970 World Series
-1971 Buford Goes 2-FOR-4! Bench is pictured waiting for the pitch that never reaches his mitt as the ball is launched.
-1972, Game No. 4 of the 1971 World Series with Clemente ready to steal
-1972 Game No. 6 of the 1971 World Series as Oriole slides underneath Sanguillen.
-1969 The Sporting News Game #3 of the 1968 World Series that says McCarver’s Homer Puts St. Louis Ahead. Has Roger Maris, Mike Shannon and Curt Flood on it too.
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