Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Top Five Interesting Things About 1958 Topps

1958 marks a point of significant transition for modern set design. Here are five things that distinguish this one for baseball fans and collectors.

1. California adds first MLB franchises at New York's expense

Brooklyn Dodgers in LA...
...and New York Giants in SF

2. A little too much yellow ink

Thirty-three of the first 108 cards have yellow player or team names, giving variation fans some extra work. Best-known is #30, Hank Aaron.


3. First All-Star cards (#474-495) & the return of Stan Musial

This Topps set debuted All-Star Game lineups (from 1958's game in Baltimore) and its late-season series featured the first mass-produced Stan Musial card since Bowman's 1953 photo set. It's even possible Topps added this All-Star subset thanks to Musial's return; they made it a regular feature soon after.


TRIVIA: Given the 1958 All-Star Game's proximity to Washington, D.C., MLB invited Vice President Richard Nixon to throw out its first pitch, a task he repeated many times as President.

4. Ed Bouchee, You're Outta Here (no #145)

Major League Baseball suspended Ed Bouchee for most of 1958, so Topps did the same.


While Ed appears on this checklist at #145, no card of Bouchee exists outside of hobby creations like the one by SCD editor Bob Lemke.

5. Team Card are Checklists and Checklists are Team Cards

#44 above is also the Washington Senators team card, as Topps first integrated set tracking into the "regular" series.


Topps left 1956 & 1957 checklists unnumbered, assuming kids would discard them after filling all the boxes. Customers might've requested this change, or at least responded well to it, because Topps made it a part of numbered sets going forward.

The Hall of Thanks

OldBaseball.com friends Wes Shepard, Mark Zentkovich, Lynn Miller, Sal Domino, Kevin Martens, and Don Rice all aided my upgrade quest; several hits shown below.


Jan 22: four-pack of upgrades from Mr. Haverkamp!


For posterity, here's the Walt "Moron" card he upgraded. Ouch.


Aug 4: Upgraded #227 Vern Stephens at the 2014 National!

July 30: Five six upgrades from OldBaseball.com brothers at the 2015 National!

2 comments:

mr haverkamp said...

I've got 4 for you, send me a msg with your mailing address, will send 'em out. Have enjoyed your blog for years, glad to find something I can help you with!
jfred20ATgmail.com

Matthew Glidden said...

Updated with a scan of your cards, thanks again!