The Five Essential Baseball Cards of 1957 Topps
The 1957 Topps Baseball set remains an absolute classic in the Hobby, quite literally setting the standard for the baseball cards of today. Among the set's innovations were complete season-by-season statistics on card backs and the 2-1/2" by 3-1/2" card size collectors now take for granted. Additionally, the set marked the first use of color photography by Topps, even as the chewing gum giant trailed Signal Gasoline by nine years in this regard!
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All innovation aside, the 1957 Topps set also boasts an absolutely electric checklist of Hall of Fame talent, the result being a set with potentially dozens of essentials or at the very least some genuinely impossible choices. Either way, here are the Five Essential Baseball Cards of 1957 Topps, but don't be surprised if a "Five More" list follows shortly on their heels.
1957 Topps Ted Williams
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It may be that no other baseball card will ever top the sheer majesty of this one. After all, how could it? Has there ever been a more perfect hitter than Ted Williams and a more perfect setting than the House that Ruth Built? True, the 38-year-old Splinter is well past his prime, so another .400 season is no longer in the cards. Instead, fans had to settle for a .388 average with 38 home runs and an on-base percentage that can only be a typo: .528.
1957 Topps Frank Robinson
There are six Hall of Fame rookie cards in the 1957 Topps set, so clearly they can't all make the Five Essentials list. However, when one of them is not only the best player of the bunch but also has the best looking card, that makes for an automatic in. Such is the case with the Frank Robinson card, an absolute masterpiece of Cooperstown's most underrated player.
1957 Topps Roberto Clemente
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Readers of this series might rightly ask if the Great One makes every list of Five Essentials, so here's the answer: Only if he's in the set. Plus, it helps that the Mantle card in 1957 is a bit of an eyesore and Topps managed to reverse the Aaron photo.
1957 Topps Ted Kluszewski
Though the player depicted might well lose an arm wrestling match to any of today's utility infielders or middle relievers, Ted Kluszewski was absolutely yoked by 1950s standards. If the pop reports are a bit high on this card, let's just say the sleeveless Klu may well have been the one card moms weren't looking to toss when their kids moved on to other interests.
1957 Topps Dodgers' Sluggers
Yankee fans may protest here and wonder why this multiplayer Dodger card was selected over the set's Mantle/Berra card. Apart from three Hall of Famers being more than two, it may well come down to the ultimate baseball card tiebreaker: outfield ads. There is also some bittersweet history to the "Dodgers' Sluggers" card. Though Topps wouldn't have known it at the time, this card, which featured the four Boys of Summer who swatted 20+ home runs the year before and was the final Brooklyn card on the 1957 checklist, marked the very end of the line for Brooklyn Dodger cards. Come 1958, all Dodgers cards, real or airbrushed, were of the Los Angeles variety.
BONUS: 1957 Topps Hal Smith
When most collectors hear the name Hal Smith, they ask, "Who's that?" But when 1957 Topps set collectors hear the name, they ask, "Which one?" After all there were two different Hal Smiths, both catchers, on the Topps checklist that year. Namesakes aside, consider this Smith pick (the Cardinals one, to be clear) a stand-in for any "uncommon common" in the set. Not all collectors have the budget for legends, but anyone with a couple dollars can easily scoop up a no-name (or double-named) player whose card showcases the set's rich and vivid photography that practically transports collectors onto the field. Andy Carey and Joe Collins of the Yankees are two other low-cost exemplars.
Jason A. Schwartz is a collectibles expert whose work can be found regularly at SABR Baseball Cards, Hobby News Daily, and 1939Bruins.com. His collection of Hank Aaron baseball cards and memorabilia is currently on exhibit at the Atlanta History Center, and his collectibles-themed artwork is on display at the Honus Wagner Museum and PNC Park.