Well, it did not take long.  Last night, I received an e-mail from Joe S, who discovered that Topps used at least a 13-year old photo on 1952 Topps #101 Max Lanier.  Very Well Done!

There is no way of knowing this, unless you see the old photograph of Lanier in a Cardinals uniform.  In the photo, Lanier is wearing a Cardinals cap that they last wore in 1939.  In 1940, the Cardinals began wearing blue caps with red bills.

Joe, I hope you enjoy your DeansCards.com Gift Certificate.

Title: Is the photo on the 1969 Topps Tommie Aaron card the most out-dated that Topps ever used?

Below is the a copy of my letter that was published in the July 9, 2010 ‘Feedback” section of Sport’s Collectors Digest.  Since writing the letter, I was able to find a 1969 Topps Autographed Tommie Aaron card and add it to my collection.  I also noticed that Topps used a closer crop of the same photo on the 1963 card as they used on the 1969 card.  Tommies’ 1963 Topps cards  verifies my theory that the picture was taken in 1962.

I really enjoyed reading Keith Olbermann’s comments in the June 18^th edition of SCD on the 1969 Topps article written by T.S. O’Connell and contributed to by yours truly.  Keith was able to date the photo on Chris Short’s 1969 Topps Baseball Card to either 1962 or 1963 because of the Polo Grounds scoreboard in the background.  Very well done, Keith.

1963 Topps Card

As a life long fan of the 1969 Topps set, it made me wonder what is the oldest photograph used on a card in the 1969 Topps set?  Although Short’s photo may have been taken during the 1962 season, the earliest photo that I could identify with absolute certainty in the 1969 Topps set was card #128 of Tommie Aaron. 1962 was Tommie Aaron’s rookie year and also the last year that the Braves wore the uniform with the ‘Tomahawk” across the chest.

This means that Topps definitely used a seven year old photo for this card! To my knowledge, this is a record for any card in any Topps vintage set.  Topps seems to have sunk to their lowest point of using out-dated photos in the 1969 set.

What makes this even more interesting to me is that the oldest photo is on Tommie Aaron’s card.  I truly felt sorry for Hank’s kid brother.  This poor guy just could not seem to catch a break.

If I am correct about this 7 year old picture being a record for Topps, Tommie is now the dubious answer to a second obscure trivia question.  (The other being, “What brothers hold the major league record for the most combined career Home Runs with 768?”)

Tommie was top prospect and very good minor league player.  He was the International League MVP and led the Richmond Braves to a league pennant in 1967. In the majors, Tommie could not escape the shadow of his brother.  In 7 major league seasons, he hit only 13 home runs with a .229 batting average.  Much worse, Tommie died of leukemia in 1984 at the very young age of 45.

1969 Topps Card. Same picture as the 1963.

As an unthinking 5 year old kid, I can remember looking at the stats on the back of Tommie’s card and asking my father, “How can this guy’s brother be such a great player and this guy be so bad?”  Evidently, I was not the only person to ask this question.  Nor was my Dad the only person that could not answer it.

Hank Aaron was quoted in The Sporting News (April 8, 1999) as saying, “He (Tommie) meant a lot to me. I think if he played with another ball club, I think he probably would have had a better major league career. The media was always comparing us. I’m sure, by me being successful, it put a lot of pressure on him. He couldn’t play up to his potential.”

I am fairly confident that Tommie’s is the oldest photo used in the 1969 set.  Topps may have used an older photo in some other vintage set, but no other card comes to mind.

To make this interesting, I will give a $50 DeansCards.com Gift Certificate to the first person who can show convincing evidence that Topps used an older picture (for a regular player card) in any of their vintage (pre-1974) sets.

If you are interested in more information on my 1969 Topps Autographed set, I have posted a You Tube Video and a slideshow of each of the scans of the cards in my autographed set at http://blog.deanscards.com/ Enjoy.

Thanks

Dean

Owner of DeansCards.com

The mailman just delivered the June 4th copy of the Sports Collectors Digest. The cover story and featured set is this issue is my personal favorite – the 1969 Topps Set. T.S O’Connell was kind enough to ask me to help contribute to his 1969 Topps baseball card article.

SCD also published a short article my me about my 1969 Topps autographed set. It was a total surprise to me. Please feel free to check it out.

Since I also write about vintage sets, I look forward to T.S.’s set articles. No one does a better job writing about vintage sets than T.S. If you do not subscribe to SCD, you may want to check out T.S.’s 1969 Topps Article online.

I am not sure that I will ever get the set completed, but it sure has been fun. I have posted scans of the partially completed 1969 Topps Baseball Card set online for everyone’s enjoyment.

Six of my favorite 1969 Topps autographed cards include:

#95 Johnny Bench’s Topps All-Star Rookie Card signed in pen. This is my personal favorite of all of Bench’s cards. Take notice of the #55 on his jersey. The uniform that Bench is wearing is the home jersey that the Reds wore up through the 1966 season. This photograph was most likely taken in spring training of 1966 when Bench was 18 years old.

#147 Leo Durocher – I admire the time and care that Leo took in signing the card. Leo was once described as the “most hated man in baseball”. Although “Leo the Lip” looks fairly tame on his 1969 card, he was known for his combative nature. As a player, Leo would constantly get into fist fights with players, umpires and fans.  (To Leo’s credit, he never came to blows with the peanut vendor.)  In 1969, his Cubs were in 1st place by 5 games on Sept 1st. The Cubs went 8-17 during the month and finished 8 games behind the Mets. Someday, after everyone that knew him personally is dead and gone, Leo may make it into the Hall-of-Fame.

# 215 Rico Petrocelli – A nice pen signature. Rico had his career in 1969 and set an AL record with most HR’s by a Shortstop with 40. His fielding average that year was a .981, so he could not have been that bad of a fielder.  The poor guy only finished 7th in voting for the MVP. Great year Rico!

#260 Reggie Jackson – Look at this signature! I love (hate) this card, because it seems to go with everything that we read and hear about this guy. Who else (Willie Mays excluded) would have the guts to deface his expensive rookie card with a signature like this? I guess that they were not paying Reggie enough money at this particular show. That said, Jackson did have a great year in 1969. The 23 year old Jackson hit 47 HR’s and had 118 RBI’s.

#601 Tug McGraw – You can’t talk about 1969, without including at least one of the 1969 Amazing Mets. The 24 year old McGraw had a break out year in 1969 and helped the Mets pull off a major upset. Up to that point, the Mets would not let him throw the screwball. I am missing quite a few of the Mets 1969 Topps autographed cards from my set. It is not that they are hard to find. They are not. There have been many cards shows featuring this team. They are expensive!

#573 Jim Palmer -  This was my favorite card as a kid. I always wore my index finger outside my glove because of this card. Most fans do not realize that Palmer’s carreer was considered finished. Jim hurt his arm in 1967 and did not pitch in the majors in 1968. He was left unprotected for the first two rounds of the 1969 expansion draft, but even these start-up teams were afraid to take a chance on him. Palmer bounced back and went 16-4 with a 2.34 ERA in 1969 and was on his way to the Hall-of-Fame.

I currently have 546 cards autographed by different players, with 134 more to obtain. 42 of the players that appear in the 1969 Topps set are currently in the Baseball Hall-of-Fame and 116 are now deceased.  Click Here to view the whole 1969 Topps autographed set.

16 Rookie Stars
Cesar Gutierrez RC
Rich Robertson RC
17 Mike Marshall
31 Rookie Stars
Gary Gentry RC
40 Mayo Smith MG
46 Fritz Peterson
48 Brant Alyea
49 Rookie Stars
Steve Jones
Ellie Rodriquez
50 Roberto Clemente
62 Chico Salmon
65 Willie Davis
66 Rookie Stars
Mike Adamson RC
80 Norm Cash
82 Rookie Stars
93 Joe Foy
99 Rookie Stars
Danny Morris RC
Graig Nettles RC
100 Hank Aaron
106 Jim Hannan
114 Rookie Stars
119 Doug Rader
128 Tommie Aaron
130 Carl Yastrzemski
131 Chris Cannizzaro
136 Rookie Stars
138 John Bateman
144 Bob Hendley
156 Rookie Stars
Leon McFadden RC
159 Jerry Adair
173 Rookie Stars
Bob Christian RC
178 Ray Oyler
184 Roberto Pena
189 Rookie Stars
John Thibodeau RC
197 Dick Selma
200 Bob Gibson
202 Don Wilson
206 Rookie Stars
Barry Lersch RC
222 Duane Josephson
223 Tom Dukes
224 Rookie Stars
Bill Harrelson RC
240 Ken Harrelson
244 Rookie Stars
George Woodson RC
257 Jim Ray
262 Mike Kekich
263 Jerry May
266 Rookie Stars
273 Ron Willis
284 Rookie Stars
Jerry Robertson RC
297 Deron Johnson
299 Mark Belanger
300 Felipe Alou
304 Rookie Stars
Bill Davis
Clarence Gaston RC
305 Dick McAuliffe
308 Wade Blasingame
311 Sparky Lyle RC
324 Rookie Stars
329 Rick Joseph
331 Rookie Stars
339 Rookie Stars
Steve Mingori RC
Jose Pena RC
340 Dave McNally
341 Dave Adlesh
342 Bubba Morton
343 Dan Frisella
350 Richie Allen
358 Rookie Stars
George Lauzerique RC
Roberto Rodriquez
367 Lou Johnson
372 Adolfo Phillips
373 Fred Lasher
376 Rookie Stars
379 Ken Boyer
386 Jim McGlothlin
389 Dan Coombs
392 Bob Burda RC
393 Gene Brabender
394 Rookie Stars
Lou Piniella
403 Bob Miller
404 Rookie Stars
409 Bob Moose
439 Rookie Stars
448 Bob Tolan
452 Al Ferrara
454 Rookie Stars
458 Curt Blefary
461 Mike Epstein
468 Rookie Stars
469 Chico Ruiz
476 Rookie Stars
477 Jeff James RC
480 Tom Seaver
484 Joe Gordon MG
488 Joe Sparma
491 Rookie Stars
Jerry Crider RC
492 Tony Cloninger
499 Rookie Stars
500 Mickey Mantle
502 Minnie Rojas
512 Cleon Jones
519 Rookie Stars
524 Rookie Stars
530 Cesar Tovar
531 Dick Farrell
533 Nolan Ryan
536 Rookie Stars
Danny Breeden RC
Dave Roberts RC
538 Charlie Smith
540 Curt Flood
541 Joe Verbanic
543 Fred Newman
544 Rookie Stars
Ron Woods RC
545 Willie Stargell
552 Rookie Stars
Bill Sudakis RC
553 Ron Davis
556 A’s Stars
Bert Campaneris
557 Frank Fernandez
559 Rookie Stars
Joe Hague RC
564 Gil Hodges MG
567 Rookie Stars
571 Cap Peterson
572 Giants Heroes
575 Bill Singer
576 Rookie Stars
584 Don Mason
585 Ron Swoboda
588 Bill White
589 Joe Pepitone
592 Rookie Stars
Rafael Robles RC
597 Rookie Stars
Bob Floyd RC
Larry Burchart RC
599 John Boozer
602 Rookie Stars
Alec Distaso RC
604 Bobby Etheridge
610 Jim Hardin
611 Rookie Stars
Bob Didier RC
Gary Neibauer RC
614 Rookie Stars
618 Ramon Webster
619 Rookie Stars
Juan Rios RC
623 Hank Allen
624 Rookie Stars
628 Rookie Stars
Fred Wenz RC
630 Bobby Bonds RC
637 Rookie Stars
Jerry DaVanon RC
639 Barry Moore
641 Rookie Stars
Bobby Darwin RC
John Miller
Tommy Dean RC
645 George Brunet
646 Rookie Stars
650 Ted Williams MG
651 Gus Gil
654 Rookie Stars
Carlos May RC
Don Secrist RC
658 Rookie Stars
659 Johnny Podres
660 Reggie Smith
662 Rookie Stars

The cards are great by themselves, but what makes this collection so cool is that the actual collector brought in the cards (with a little help from his family).  Even though Dean’s Cards buys close to 1,000 collections a year, all but just a few are sent to us through the mail.

An older gentleman came in with the cards and told us stories from his childhood of buying the cards to get the gum.  He described how big and thick the chunks of gum were and how great it tasted as a kid.  The whole Dean’s Cards gang stopped what they were doing to listen in on the stories. This gentleman walked with the help of a cane and must have been close to ninety, but he almost looked like a kid again as we discussed boyhood heroes, bubble gum and baseball cards.

He then went into stories about Dizzy Dean and the Gashouse Gang. The Cardinals were definitely the most popular team of the era.  His team was the Cleveland Indians and I heard stories about Bob Feller and Lou Boudreau, too.  I can listen to stories like this all day long and into the night!

Days like these are why I got into this hobby.  This is pure Americana! I feel really lucky and blessed to be fortunate enough to play with sports cards every day.  Please check out the video for a look at the cards.

Dean’s Cards goal is to have one million cards posted online by the end of the year.  In order to accomplish this goal, we aggressively buy vintage sports cards: nearly 1000 collections a year.  No one pays more and no one is more trustworthy.  The word on how much Dean’s Cards pays for collections is getting out!

Evaluating A Collection

At Dean’s Cards, we pride ourselves on both our accuracy and our speediness when bidding on collections.  Our goal is to submit an offer to the seller within two business days after the package arrives at the office.

Please click here for more information about what we buy or to watch Dean’s video on selling your sports card collection.

T.S. O’Connell has featured a different vintage set in every publication of SCD over the past year. I never miss his articles.

Last week, T.S. emailed me to ask if I would like to contribute to his upcoming article on the 1957 Topps Football Card set. I was truly honored by the invitation, so I typed up a few thoughts and e-mailed them to him. Evidently, he was searching the internet for resources when he stumbled upon Dean’s Cards and one of my collecting blogs.

T.S. called a few days later and we had a great conversation over the phone. I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with such a knowledgeable guy about our hobby.

The 1957 Topps Football article came out in this week’s issue of SCD.  I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did contributing to it.

Click Here to check out SCD’s article!

Thanks,

Dean

The 1956 Topps baseball cards were the last of the larger-sized vintage cards and the last to use hand-colored black & white photos.  These were the same old photos of most of the players that Topps used in the 1954 and 1955 sets.  At least they were decent photos, but the disadvantage of using old photos was that only 10 players had rookie cards.  The only player with a 1956 Topps Rookie card to make the Hall of Fame was #292 Luis Aparicio.

During the 1956 season Topps sent a photographer to take actual color photos of the players that would first appear on the 1957 Topps cards.  That is the reason the 1957 Topps baseball card set contains so many great rookie cards.

The visual backgrounds on the 1956 Topps cards are a beautiful complement to the large portrait in the foreground.  The most stunning part of the cards (and my favorite innovation ever) is the action shots of the players running and sliding in the background surrounded by lots of green, green grass and dirt with chalk lines.

1956 Topps baseball card set was the best horizontal set that Topps ever produced. Some of my favorite 1956 Topps cards include: Willie Mays sliding into home, Ted Williams watching his dinger sail into the right field bleachers and Ernie Banks crossing the plate and shaking hands after a Home Run.  What makes 1956 Topps even more incredible is when you realize that these were probably the only color pictures that the kids of the day would see of their heroes.

The 1956 Topps baseball card set was the first to feature checklist cards.  Unfortunately, there was not enough printed. To make matters worse for collectors many of the 1956 Topps checklist cards were written on or discarded.

Today the checklist cards are very expensive and hard to find.   So much so, that the 1956 Topps set is considered “complete” without the checklists.  Most collectors can rationalize paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a superstar player, but not a checklist.  Topps would further evolve the idea of checklist in future years and eventually solve the problem.

The best innovation of 1956 was the team cards.  The team card idea was a keeper and has been used in every vintage Topps set since – except for 1969.  All 16 teams were represented in the 1956 Topps set, but the six team cards that were printed in the first series each have three common variations.

Another oddity with the 1956 Topps baseball cards set is that the cards numbered #1 to #`180 were printed on both white and grey card stock.  Collectors generally ignore this difference and it is not officially considered a variation.  In the years that Dean’s Cards has been around, I can only recall one guy who was collecting those 180 cards in both the white and grey backs.

Please step back in time with me for a just moment.  It is the spring of 1956.  You are are a kid.  You ride your trusty bike several miles to the dime store and park it on the sidewalk in front of the store.  You patiently wait in line while some lady buys shampoo.  When it is your turn, you eagerly hand the cashier your last copper coin and ask for a Topps baseball card penny pack.

You pull the wrapper open at the seam of the back of the pack and cram the big piece of pink gum in your mouth, you take a big bite and begin to chew.  The anticipation grows.  The gum is hard, so you continue to chew until it moistens a bit.  You wonder, “What card will I get?  Will it be Mantle, Banks, Mays or maybe Ted Williams?”   You put the rest of the gum in your mouth.

The gum is starting to get soft.  You get the sweet taste of the sugar in your mouth.  You pull the wrapper back just a bit more.  You can now see the back of the card. Wait for it.  Here it comes!  It’s the BIG moment.  It is a card of … of … of …  “Who is this old geezer with grey hair?” That’s not Mantle…  it’s Warren Giles???….  #@*^%!

I am not quite sure what Topps was thinking when they devoted the first two cards of the set to William Harridge and Warren Giles.  Topps must have been kissing up for future favors from the commissioners.   Topps even double printed the Giles card!  What a waste of good cardboard.

A few years ago, a 1956 Topps uncut sheet from the first series was discovered.  We now know that at least 10 of the 1956 Topps cards were “double printed”.  These DP’s included Hall-of-Fame players Ernie Banks, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron and the wonderful Warren Giles.

Click here to buy 1956 Topps Baseball Cards

Click here to sell your cards

1956 Topps Baseball Card Set facts:

• Issued by: Topps Gum Company
• Pack Size:  Issued in 1 card penny packs or 6 card nickel packs.  Each pack had a stick of gum.
• ACC#: R414-11
• Size: 2 5/8” x  3 3/4”
• 340 cards.  Issued in 4 series.
• Best Innovation: Team Cards
• Mediocre Innovation:  Checklist Cards
• Worst Innovation: League President Cards
• # of Rookie Cards: 10
• Most Expensive Card: #135 Mickey Mantle
• Dumbest #1 Card Ever: #1 Will Harridge
• Rookie Cards of Hall-of-Famers: #292 Luis Aparicio, #8 Walter Alston, #1 Will Harridge and #2 Warren Giles.
• Hall-of-Fame Players: 34
• HOF Player’s best card: #130 Willie Mays
• Missing Player: Stan Musial…. again.

Topps packed the 1^st series with a lot of star power, as the set contains 7 Hall of Famers in the first 20 cards and 23 HOFers in the first 100 cards.  With 407 cards, the 1957 Topps Baseball Card set was the largest set that Topps produced up until that time.  That said, that number would be bested the following year and again in 1959.

There is still no Stan Musial card in the set. Stan had a $100,000 a year salary and felt that he was worth more than the $125 that Topps paid each of the players.  Stan would finally consent to having his images put back on cards in 1958.

Dean’s Cards builds over 100 vintage sets each year and the1957 Topps Baseball Card set is definitely one of the tougher sets to put together.  Not only does the 1957 Topps set have eight great rookie cards, but also the 4^th series is so scarce that it is tough to complete – especially in higher conditions.

The 1957 Topps set contained two multi-player cards of the Dodgers Sluggers #400 and Yankees Power Hitters #407.  Topps would continue the trend of the Multi-player star cards for another dozen years.  It is was great way to get the stars of the day on one more card.

Topps also inserted 4 contest cards, an ad card and 4 contest cards into the set.  The checklist cards are near impossible to find in nice condition, as many were either marked up or discarded by the kids.  Because of the cost of the checklists and ad cards, most collectors consider the set complete without any of these special cards or the Baker Error Card.

The 1957 Topps Baseball card set facts:

• 407 cards, issued in 5 series
• Card Size: 2 ½” x 3 1/2”
• Innovations: Color photographs, smaller card size, complete player stats on back of the card & largest # of cards in a set to date.
• Rookie Cards: 18 (including Rocky Colavito & Bobby Richardson)
• 7 Hall-of-Famer Rookie cards: #338 Jim Bunning, #18 Don Drysdale, #29Whitey Herzog, #312 Tony Kubek, #24 Bill Mazeroski, #328 Brooks Robinson & #35 Frank Robinson.
• Toughest Series: The 4^th Series (Cards #265-352)
• 33 Cards of Hall-of-Famer Players
• Coolest Card:  #165 Ted Kluzewski
• Most Expensive Card: #95 Mickey Mantle
• Rare Error Card: #176 Gene Baker (spelled Bakep on back)
• Hardest to card find: The checklist cards in nice condition
• Most Interesting card:  #20 Hank Aaron with the reversed image
• HOF Player’s Best Card: #210 Roy Campanella
• Missing in Action: Stan Musial

Click Here to buy 1957 Topps Baseball Cards

Click Here to Sell your cards

The cards are as follows: