These Classic Baseball Card Sets Would Look Very Different Today
Baseball cards have changed a lot over the years, and this is hardly surprising. What is surprising, perhaps, is just how much they've also stayed the same. Pick up a card from 1910s (or even the 1880s if you're lucky enough to find one) and there's a good chance, just like the cards of today, you'll be holding a rectangular piece of cardboard featuring an image of a ballplayer and identifying information such as name, team, or position. That may not seem like much, but how many other things in life have changed so little in more than a century?
Still, while the fundamental attributes of the baseball card have remained largely intact, the stories they tell and how they tell them have changed quite a bit. Here are three examples of classic Topps sets that would look very different today.
1969 Topps World Series
RELATED: The Five Essential Baseball Cards of 1979 Topps
Like most of the Topps World Series subsets of the decade, the 1969 version included a card for each game along with a "champs celebrate" card to close out the subset. Nearly always, the card's headline provided a straightforward summary of the game's outcome or most significant events. Today, of course, headlines are rarely so straightforward. These days, headlines are less about summarizing the story and more about enticing the reader. Put this same Bob Gibson card out today and the headline would more likely be "Cards Pitcher Accomplishes Something Never Seen Before," or, even more tantalizingly, "You Won't Believe What Bob Gibson Did Last Night!"
1976 Topps Sporting News All-Time All-Stars
RELATED: The Five Essential Baseball Cards of 1976 Topps
The 1976 Topps set featured ten cards of All-Time All-Stars as selected by the Sporting News. Collectors might argue there's no need to reimagine this set for the present day since Topps already provided an update courtesy of 2025 Topps Heritage.
RELATED: The Missing Superstars of 2025 Topps Heritage
Still, the fact that the Topps lineup featured 7 outfielders, a catcher, a pitcher, and a shortstop suggests otherwise. Here's at least one fan's version of what today's All-Time All-Stars might look like. Whatever quibbles one might have with some of the selections, it seems inevitable that at least half the players from the 1976 effort would no longer make the cut today.
1979 Topps All-Time Record Holders
The 1979 Topps set included an All-Time Record Holders subset, which focused on the single season and career leaders in eight different statistical categories. Never mind that today the categories themselves might change to include more modern measures like WAR and OPS...how about the players themselves? Here, there are three categories of changes.
- First, certain longstanding records have simply been broken, as is the case with the Lou Brock stolen base records now held by Rickey Henderson.
- Second, Major League Baseball earlier this year completed its integration of Negro League records into its official record book, resulting in even more changes.
- Finally, methodological changes have upended various rate stats like batting average and ERA.
The result is that a reboot of this classic set would now (or perhaps in 2028 Topps Heritage) feature Josh Gibson on both halves of the Batting Average card, Rickey Henderson on both halves of the Stolen Bases card, Barry Bonds on both halves of the home run card, and a handful of other new faces such as Pete Rose, Ichiro, Tim Keefe, and Ed Walsh.
Perhaps curiously, the only two cards that would see no changes at all are the cards for pitching wins and runs batted in, the two stats today's baseball intelligentsia insist don't matter anyway! Nonetheless, at least for fans of Jack Chesbro, Cy Young, Hack Wilson, and Hank Aaron, there is the solace of knowing certain records are as eternal as the stale stick of gum inside every wax pack. (Wait, hold on. They don't do gum anymore?! Seriously? When did this happen?!)
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.