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Musical Chairs w/ Topps Baseball
The past few months, I have been carefully building a list of my favorite Topps baseball card designs and have sort of hit a wall. The Top 6 are essentially set in stone. However from #7 down... it's sort of like playing musical chairs.
On any given day, my rankings change. One day I'll think the 1963 Toppsdesign is better than the 1982set design. The next day, they'll swap places. I tip my cap to all of you who have built your list of favorite Topps sets, because it has been much harder than I ever imagined.
I have managed to narrow it down to three tiers. Tier One are my top six sets. These are like first ballot hall of famers in the sense that there's really no debate on my end... which means they don't seem to fluctuate.
The next four sets make up the Tier Twosets, which I'd compare to solid hall of famers, but not quite legends. Tier Threesets are part of the Hall of Very Good... and round out the final six sets in the upper echelon of Toppsset design hierarchy. The sets within each of these two tiers move around, but are essentially locked into their own group.
Today I'll target Tier Three. However... before I reveal my selections, you should probably know that my rankings are solely based on the front base card designs. Not the subsets. Not the card backs. Not the photo quality or photo selection. I considered using Night Owl'scriteria... but to be honest... there was way too much thinking involved and it made my head hurt.
With that out of the way... let's get things started:
#16: 1963 Topps
As many of you know... I love bargains. And with this design, you get two photos for the price of one. It also bares a striking resemblance to one of my favorite Topps designs that I'll reveal in a future post.
#15: 1984 Topps
Copy my response from #16 and paste it here.
#14: 1952 Topps
I have only owned one 1952 Topps card in my lifetime and I sadly traded it away for some 80'srookie cards. But it's hard to deny the significance of this particular set. Personally... I never really considered the design to be anything special, but after comparing it to all of the other set designsTopps has produced over the years, I've come to realize that it has a place in my Top 16.
#13: 1982 Topps
I've always had a soft spot for the "Hockey Stick" set. It has to do with Topps' decision to use colors like pink, purple, orange, and brown on their cards and the Tron-likelines racing down the sides.
#12: 2015 Topps
It's been a few years since I saw a base card design from Topps that stood out, but thankfully the drought ended with last year's product. My favorite thing about it are the colorful borders that match the team's colors.
This particular set has been ranked as low as#11... and as high as#15. It just depends on my particular mood.
#11: 1980 Topps
Baseball and pennants go together like peanut butter and jelly... which is one of the reasons this design is so high on the list. It also doesn't hurt that the Hendersonrookie card is a thing of beauty that should be hanging up on a museum wall.
Well there's myTier Threegroup of Toppsbaseball card designs. Stay tuned for my Tier Two selections, which will consist of sets#7 through #10.
Until then... let's hear your thoughts on my selections.
Looking forward to reading your responses. Happy Leap Day and sayonara!
More...
On any given day, my rankings change. One day I'll think the 1963 Toppsdesign is better than the 1982set design. The next day, they'll swap places. I tip my cap to all of you who have built your list of favorite Topps sets, because it has been much harder than I ever imagined.
I have managed to narrow it down to three tiers. Tier One are my top six sets. These are like first ballot hall of famers in the sense that there's really no debate on my end... which means they don't seem to fluctuate.
The next four sets make up the Tier Twosets, which I'd compare to solid hall of famers, but not quite legends. Tier Threesets are part of the Hall of Very Good... and round out the final six sets in the upper echelon of Toppsset design hierarchy. The sets within each of these two tiers move around, but are essentially locked into their own group.
Today I'll target Tier Three. However... before I reveal my selections, you should probably know that my rankings are solely based on the front base card designs. Not the subsets. Not the card backs. Not the photo quality or photo selection. I considered using Night Owl'scriteria... but to be honest... there was way too much thinking involved and it made my head hurt.
With that out of the way... let's get things started:
#16: 1963 Topps
As many of you know... I love bargains. And with this design, you get two photos for the price of one. It also bares a striking resemblance to one of my favorite Topps designs that I'll reveal in a future post.
#15: 1984 Topps
Copy my response from #16 and paste it here.
#14: 1952 Topps
I have only owned one 1952 Topps card in my lifetime and I sadly traded it away for some 80'srookie cards. But it's hard to deny the significance of this particular set. Personally... I never really considered the design to be anything special, but after comparing it to all of the other set designsTopps has produced over the years, I've come to realize that it has a place in my Top 16.
#13: 1982 Topps
I've always had a soft spot for the "Hockey Stick" set. It has to do with Topps' decision to use colors like pink, purple, orange, and brown on their cards and the Tron-likelines racing down the sides.
#12: 2015 Topps
It's been a few years since I saw a base card design from Topps that stood out, but thankfully the drought ended with last year's product. My favorite thing about it are the colorful borders that match the team's colors.
This particular set has been ranked as low as#11... and as high as#15. It just depends on my particular mood.
#11: 1980 Topps
Baseball and pennants go together like peanut butter and jelly... which is one of the reasons this design is so high on the list. It also doesn't hurt that the Hendersonrookie card is a thing of beauty that should be hanging up on a museum wall.
Well there's myTier Threegroup of Toppsbaseball card designs. Stay tuned for my Tier Two selections, which will consist of sets#7 through #10.
Until then... let's hear your thoughts on my selections.
Which of my selections do you consider to be vastly underrated or overrated?
Looking forward to reading your responses. Happy Leap Day and sayonara!
More...