This Classic Baseball Card Set Turns 75 This Year
Open any pack of 2026 Topps Series 1, and the anniversary logo is hard to miss. Right there in the corner is a special foil stamp proclaiming "Topps 75," a reference to the company's 75th anniversary as a producer of baseball cards. In truth, the very first Topps baseball cards were issued in 1948, as part of a broader set that went far beyond baseball, but it was in 1951 that Topps released its first baseball-only sets.
While there were minor issues as well, such as the Connie Mack All-Stars, the main Topps baseball sets of 1951 took the form of game cards, available with either red or blue backs. For obvious reasons, the two sets are known as Topps Red Backs and Topps Blue Backs.
While the 1951 Topps sets are extremely significant historically, they are largely met with yawns among today's collectors. Their primary status as game cards, their lack of star power, and their meh design are all factors in their less-than-stellar popularity. The good news for collectors, then and now, is that there was another baseball set that season that had everything Topps didn't: 1951 Bowman.
GOAT Rookie Card Class
The 324-card 1951 Bowman checklist included nearly all of the game's top stars and would hold its own as one of the decade's greatest sets even if it didn't have a single rookie card. Instead, its rookies included Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Whitey Ford, Monte Irvin, and Nellie Fox. Though the definition of rookie cards is fluid enough for older players that designations are often subjective, collectors could certainly make a strong case for the 1951 Bowman set as having the top rookie card class of all time.
Great Design
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Every card in the 1951 Bowman set (save one!) is an absolute beauty. Most card images were sourced from team photographers as black-and-whites and re-created in glorious color by the George Moll advertising agency, neighbors of Philadelphia-based Bowman. If there is any knock on the design, it is only that more than 100 images were recycled from the 1950 issue. Unlike their 1950 counterparts, however, the 1951 versions included player names on the front, a design element increasingly favored by collectors.
Griffey Parallel
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There's no Ken Griffey, Jr., card in the 1951 Bowman set, which is of course obvious. Heck, there's not even a 1951 Bowman card of Ken Griffey, Sr! However, the 1951 Bowman set does have an under-the-radar parallel with the famous Upper Deck rookie card of Junior. If the trees on the Bowman Pete Castiglione card (or other Pirates cards) look familiar, there's a reason. The images were shot at the same San Bernardino, California, locale where V. J. Lovero famously took his rookie card photograph of the Kid for the 1989 Upper Deck set.
Fighting Irish Connection
Thanks to some sleuthing by cardboard detective Roy Carlson, the ugliest card in the 1951 Bowman set now has a well established connection to the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. The set's lone caricature, that of White Sox skipper Paul Richards, was drawn by artist Ted Drake. HIs more famous work of art? The Notre Dame leprechaun!
These days, Topps owns the Bowman name. However, 75 years ago, Bowman and Topps were anything but tight. In fact, the years 1952-1955 marked a series of cut-throat battles, at the candy counter and in the courtroom, sometimes known as the "Card Wars". While the 75th anniversary of Topps Baseball provides a great opportunity to look back on the company's storied history, it also provides a reminder that the greatest set of 1951 didn't come from Topps at all but from its archrival.
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.