1950s Topps

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Topps joined the sports cards market in the 1950s becoming a rival to Bowman. After competing with each other for five years Topps bought out Bowman in 1956. Competition still remained however, in the form of Parkhurst hockey cards. Topps produced cards of the United States based National Hockey League teams while Parkhurst covered the Canadian teams. Topps had produced multi-sport photo cards prior to 1950, namely the 1948 Topps Magic Photos but each set was very small and not considered a major set [1]. This trend was consistent with their first baseball and college football issues: the 1950 Feltbacks resembled college pennants; 1951 Magic football included a scratch-off game on the reverse; Red/Blue Backs intended to be a card game; Connie Mack/Current All-Stars are foldable stand-ups. It was in 1952 that Topps released their first truly major card set. Below is a list with brief descriptions of Topps sports card products for the 1950s.

[edit] Baseball

Year	Set	Description	Cards in Set	Size	Notes	Image
1951	Blue Backs		52	2 x 2.625 inches
	Red Backs		52	2 x 2.625 inches
	Connie Mack All-Stars		11	2.0625 x 5.25 inches
	Current All-Stars		8	2.0625 x 5.25 inches
	Team Cards		9	2.0625 x 5.25 inches
1952	Base set		407	2.625 x 3.75 inches
	Master set		487	2.625 x 3.75 inches
1953	Base set		274	2.625 x 3.75 inches
1954	Base set		250	2.625 x 3.75 inches
	Canadian		50	2.625 x 3.75 inches
1955	Base set		206	2.625 x 3.75 inches
	Double Header		66	2.0625 x 4.875 inches
1956	Base set		340	2.625 x 3.75 inches
	Pins		60	1.1875 diameter
1957	Base set		407	2.5 x 3.5 inches
1958	Base set		494	2.5 x 3.5 inches
	Master set		534	2.5 x 3.5 inches
1959	Base set		572	2.5 x 3.5 inches
	Bazooka		23	2.8125 x 4.9375 inches

^[1]

[edit] Parallel Sets

[edit] Football

[edit] Basketball

[edit] Hockey

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (April 2008)

[edit] References

• Beckett, Dr. James et al (2002). "Beckett Baseball Card Price Guide". Beckett Publications-Dallas, Texas ISBN 1-930692-17-X
• Churilla, Jim (2007-08-29), The Battle for Football Card Supremacy Begins, <http://www.psacard.com/articles/article_view.chtml?artid=5071&universeid=314&type=1>. Retrieved on 13 December 2007