There was magic in the cards in 1951
Every card collector knows that Topps has been issuing sports cards seemingly forever. Each year like clockwork, they look for new Topps baseball cards in the late winter and new football cards in late summer. What they do not know is that once upon a time Topps was unsure of itself and taking small tentative steps in both areas.
In 1951, probably trying to determine exactly what America’s card buyers were interested in, Topps printed no less than five sets of baseball cards, none of them resembling those issued annually now. There were two sets (called “Red Backs” and “Blue Backs”) intended to be used in a table baseball game, two more 11-card sets (one for current players and one for all-time greats) die-cut so they could be folded out and stood up, and a final set of oversize team cards but encompassing only nine of the 16 existing franchises. None of the sets was particularly popular, although Topps definitely hit its stride the following year with the classic 1952 set.
It faced similar questions at the end of baseball season. Topps’ competitor
