Basestealer's Countdown: The Most Beautiful Topps Baseball Card Sets of All-Time

The 1953 Topps Baseball Set

History:

Having taken the industry by storm the previous year, Topps followed thier debut set with the beautiful, highly-regarded 1953 issue.  The competition with Bowman, who previously had a monopoly on the baseball card market, was fierce.  Not to be outdone, Bowman released an all-color set this year, featuring full color photographs (a first), which is regarded by many collectors to be the most beautiful baseball card set of all-time.  But, this is about the Topps issue, and while it might come in second place asthetically (debatable), few can argue about the pivotal place in history this set has earned.  Many believe the 1953 Topps issue to be even more spectacular than the '52 set, but it suffers a bit in that Topps lost a few player contacts to Bowman this year, and so 6 cards were never issued (Duke Snider & Stan Musial, to name a few).  Also of note is that Topps reduced the size of their set this year to a more conservative 274 cards (although the set is numbered to 280) from the enormous 407 cards in the previous year. 

Set Description:

Cards in this set once again measure 2 5/8" x 3 3/4", and borrow some of the more pleasing asthetics from the '52 set.  A carryover from the previous year, the '53 set features a color team logo adjacent to the player's name and position.  Topps deviated a bit this year with the color portraits of the players, utilizing hand-painted player photographs versus the artifically colored photos used the previous year.  As noted earlier, the set is numbered to 280, but only 274 cards were actually released (Card #253, 261, 267, 268, 271, & 275 were never issued).  The panels in which the player's names are printed come in vivid red or black: red for American league players and black for National league players.  New to 1953, Topps put trivia questions on the card backs, along with the player's complete statistical data.  Also on the card reverse, Topps moved the player's fascimile autograph (featured on the front of the card in 1952).  Card backs come with two varieties: The red panel on the reverse where the player's personal data is printed can be found with either black or white text.  While no obvious scarcity exists with either version, the black text versions command a slight premium. 

Key Cards:

Key cards in this set include Mickey Mantle's second year Topps card #82 (he was once again absent from Bowman's release), Willie Mays second Topps card #244, the highly sought-after Jackie Robinson #1, and Satchel Paige #220.  There is a noticable absence of key rookie cards from this beautiful set, which may be responsible for its failure to "match up" to Topps' previous issue.  Nevertheless, the rookie class of 1953 is not entirely lacking, as Roy Face #246, Jim Gilliam #258, and Johnny Podres #263 each make their debut here (who are these guys?).  As with the '52 set, the Mickey Mantle card comprises 20% of this set's total value, at $3,000 a pop. 

Scarcity:

The good news: There are more 1953 Topps baseball cards in existance today than there are of the 1952 issue.  The bad news: There still aren't that many.  As usual, Topps did not release production figures for this year, but we do know that sales increased from the previous season as the Topps product had made a name for itself and established itself as a major player in the industry.  It is unknown whether Topps ordered the destruction of unsold product at the end of the year as they did in 1952, but because these cards were issued with gum (a perishable food product), it is assumed that unsold product left in the warehouses at the end of the year were likely given away to employees or discarded.  As is true with all cards from the 50's and 60's, collectors at the time did not preserve them with any due dilligence, and mint condition examples are extremely rare finds.  Adding to the condition sensitivity are the vividly colored panels on the front of these cards, which easily chip and fray (this would be seen again in the 1963 and 1971 issues). 

1953 Topps on eBay:

eBay is a veritable gold mine for a collector who quickly wants to assemble a set of these vintage gems.  The only drawback to purchasing such cards sight unseen is that you cannot visually inspect the cards prior to purchase, and often have little recourse once the sale is complete.  For this reason (and I'm sure you are aware of this), buyers should stick to tried and true sellers with a good reputation, and try to locate sellers with a lengthy brick and mortar history in the business (ie Kruk Cards or other card shops with an eBay annex).  As this hobby has grown over the past 2 decades, it is simply a fantasy that a collector would stumble upon a truly naive seller and aquire thousands of dollars of vintage product for pennies--if it sounds too good to be true, it doesn't matter if it is or isn't, just walk away.  For low and mid grade collectors, eBay is a great place to load up on these cards at a fairly reasonable price.  If strictly near mint and better examples are your cup of tea, I recommend you purchase only graded examples from reputable grading services (PSA and BGS only).  As always, avoid GEM MINT grading, PRO, USA, and all the other fly-by-night knockoffs--you will get burned, as vintage cards in those holders are almost always counterfiets, or tampered with to some degree (ie trimmed, recolorized, misgraded, or all three). 

Beware of Mantle counterfiets!  Prior to huge run-up in prices for all 1950's sets, counterfieters generally stuck to printing up the holy grail '52 Topps Mantle to make their bundles.  In recent years, noting the intense scrutiny over the '52 issue, counterfieters have settled for duping collectors out of money for nearly every Topps Mantle issue, especially the '53.  There have been numerous reports of counterfiet Satchel Paige, Willie Mays, Eddie Mathews, and Jackie Robinson cards as well.  If these aren't slabbed in a PSA or BGS holder and offered by a reputable dealer, it's best to avoid these cards altogether on eBay.  Topps produced 3-card promotional panels (similar to the cards they used to put on the bottom of wax boxes in the 80's) that are identical in appearance to the regular issue when cut out.  However, these cards do not have the player's biographical and statistical data on the reverse, which is how you can tell them apart.  To date, I haven't heard of too many people getting burned by sellers advertising these as the real deal, but it's certainly possible and something to be aware of.