Research Yields Surprises Hidden in Vintage Topps Baseball Team Cards

It’s no surprise to experienced baseball card collectors that deciphering human identities on Topps vintage team cards is about as easy as reading road signs down a country dirt road at night while wearing Lowell Palmer sunglasses. Welcome to the world of shadowy faces, blurred uniforms, cropped bodies, airbrushed backgrounds and altered colors. Baseball card production in the Topps vintage era, which I’m taking the liberty here to define as 1951-1980, was a hot mix of rudimentary techniques and manual intervention.

Even when Topps provided player names on the fronts of 1956 and 1958 and the backs of 1951 and 1957 team cards, you still have to use your imagination to convince yourself that that roll call list is accurate.

Well, I have good news to share. Thanks to the internet and its infinite database of images, I’ve been able to locate 98% of the photos and names of players, coaches, managers, bat boys, trainers, equipment managers, traveling secretaries, executives and even owners, featured on these 502 team cards.

As these bodies come to light after decades in their murky existence, some incredibly fascinating findings emerge, such as:

1. There are 112 different Hall of Famers featured. This HOF group appear a total of 1,152 times, with Yogi Berra and Red Schoendienst topping the list for most appearances (23). Schoendienst appeared on two 1980 team cards, the St Louis Cardinals and Oakland Athletics, courtesy of a recycled 1977 A’s team photo.

2. In fact, Topps used an outdated photo (older than the previous year) over 20% of the time. For example, the 1959 Pirates team photo is the one you see on the ’64 Topps card.

3. The 1966 San Francisco Giants hold the record for most outdated photo, a 1959 group shot.

4. The same 1959 Dodgers team photo was used by Topps for six consecutive years (1960-1965).

5. Since Topps reused old photos, it provided an opportunity for retired players to appear in a Topps set, not as a manager or coach, but as a current player after their playing career. This gives new meaning to “last card”. For instance, Hank Aaron’s last Topps card is technically not his 1976 player card. It’s really the 1977 Milwaukee Brewers team card, which can be had for just a couple of bucks.

Same goes for Stan “The Man” Musial. His last appearance as a player is not 1963, but rather the 1965 St Louis Cards team card.

There are 39 Hall of Famers during this vintage period that technically have later last appearances than most collectors realize.

6. The star-studded Brooklyn Dodgers 1957 team card, featuring the 1956 National League Champs, has the most Hall of Famers (9!) depicted of all vintage team cards.

7. Ted Kluszewski, who retired as a player in 1961, is featured in four different team cards in 1962 thanks to the use of 1959 team photos, a year when he was traded. You can see him on the White Sox and Pirates team cards and on two variations of the Angels card, which utilizes a 1961 team photo.

Topps’ bad habit of using old photos allowed Big Klu to be in three 1964 team cards as well, three years after his retirement.

8. Ted Williams retired after the 1960 season, famously hitting a home run in his last at bat. Yet, his last Topps cards as a player pre-dated his retirement by two years because he signed an exclusive contract with Fleer starting in 1959, hence shutting out Topps from using the Splendid Splinter’s image.

Ted Williams’ four 1958 Topps cards (warning – another Kluszewski card ahead):

However, Fleer (and perhaps even Topps) must have been asleep at the wheel because Williams appears on the 1959 Topps team card.

In fact, since Topps used a 1959 Boston Red Sox team photo from 1960-1964, Topps collectors were rewarded with a Williams appearance all the way through 1964.

Besides Fleer, the big loser in all this is Carl Yastrzemski, who broke into the league in 1961, but wasn’t shown on a Red Sox team card until 1965, when Topps finally got around to updating its Red Sox team image library.

9. Fervent BoSox fans probably wondered why the heck Jimmy Piersall and Billy Klaus weren’t in the 1956 team card. Those two procrastinators were most likely dilly-dallying in the clubhouse when the photographer started snapping, and Topps, probably unknowingly, used the picture sans the two local heroes.

Other photos that had players late to the ball include the 1951 Philadelphia Phillies team card (Bill Nicholson and Curt Simmons)…

…the 1964 and 1966 New York Yankees team cards (Pedro Gonzalez and Jake Gibbs)

(Notice how Topps recycled a 1963 Bronx Bombers team photo onto the 1966 team card with the photo shot from the right side as opposed to the left side on the 1964 card.)

…and the 1977 San Francisco Giants team card (John D’Acquisto)…

10. While Pete Rose’s rookie and 2^nd year cards are hot, he’s a no show in the 1963 and 1964 Cincinnati Reds team cards, courtesy of a regurgitated 1959 group shot.

11. 1970 World Series MVP Brooks Robinson is not featured in the World Champions Baltimore Orioles 1971 team card.

12. Mickey Mantle appears in the 1971 Yankees team card as a coach.  He had served in that role for about a month late in the ’70 season but his playing days had ended before the 1969 season.

13. Joe DiMaggio is seen in the 1970 Oakland Athletics card, as coach & executive vice president.

14. Ironman Lou Gehrig’s 1939 first base replacement, Babe Dahlgren, is in the 1971 Oakland Athletics team card.

15. Topps listed all 1956 New York Giants squad member names in reverse order in all 3 rows, causing all but 2 players (Leo Durocher and Ruben Gomez) to be misidentified.  John Antonelli and Gil Coan were left off the listing despite being in the photo, while Foster Castleman and Jim Constable weren’t in the photo yet their names were listed. Constable wasn’t even on the Giants in 1955 when the photo was taken.

16. Leonard Garcia, the infamous batboy featured on Aurelio Rodriguez’ 1969 card, surfaces on the 1967 and 1968 California Angels team cards.

Speaking of Angels cards, Gene Autry, Angels co-owner/board chairman and prominent Hollywood actor, was portrayed in multiple Angels team photos in the 1960’s. Autry was physically present for the 1967 team photo shoot, which was featured on the 1968 Topps card.

However, a sharp eye notices that the identical arms-folded image was cut and pasted onto the 1968 and 1969 Angels team-issued photos.

In fact, the Angels snagged the 1967 poses of both co-owners Autry and Bob Reynolds and incorporated them into the 1969 official team photo. Topps used that 1969 photo for the 1970 team card, and Reynolds’ left arm and leg from 1967 barely appear on the 1970 team card, but it’s all photo trickery.

17. Dr. Frank Jobe, the inventor of Tommy John surgery, and Tommy John himself, are both in the 1976 and 1977 Los Angeles Dodger team cards.

18. Topps used the same photo to create both the 1977 and 1978 Cincinnati Reds team cards, but in classic “Now you see them, now you don’t” magic, equipment manager Bernie Stowe and trainer Larry Starr vaporized from the 1978 version. Even the familiar green Riverfront Stadium wall has turned a leathery brown. Did Topps not secure the current photo in time for production, so they resorted to airbrush hocus pocus to fake out kids buying all those 20-cent wax packs??

A side note: Bernie Stowe, whose career with the Reds lasted 67 years, is on the 1956 and 1957 Cincinnati team cards as a batboy. It appears Topps airbrushed out Bernie’s 1956 sign for the 1957 team card. Foreshadowing?

19. The Topps art department crudely cropped and touched up some people’s heads on both 1963 New York team cards, causing Big Apple collectors to scratch their own heads in an attempt to identity their hometown heroes.

20. The first time a team posed without hats occurred on the 1974 Philadelphia Phillies team card.

The Phils also appeared without lids in 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979 and 1980. The only other capless team during the vintage era was the Kansas City Royals on their 1980 team card.

21. Starting in 1975, and continuing in 1976, 1977, 1979 and 1980, Topps included a small secondary photo of the current team manager on the card front. Nice touch, except given the revolving door of managers, sometimes a particular skipper would not appear in the team photo because the picture was typically taken the prior season. This happened 30+ times over these 5 sets. One of the more interesting ones involved the 1980 San Diego Padres team card. After the 1979 season, former Yankee infielder and Padres broadcaster Jerry Coleman was hired by long-time friend and General Manager Bob Fontaine to replace Roger Craig as manager. Using Jerry’s broadcasting publicity photo, Topps painted Jerry’s dress clothes a fine Padres mustard yellow and stuck it on the team card.  And yes, that is the San Diego Zoo in the team card background.

22. Without properly investigating which players are actually included or excluded from certain team cards, it’s not surprising some eBay listings incorrectly tout phantom superstars. There’s no George Brett rookie image in the 1975 Royals team card, Nolan Ryan doesn’t appear on the 1967 or ’68 Mets team, you won’t find Roberto Clemente on the ’60 Pirates team card, Pete Rose is absent from the ’63 Reds and ’64 team images; no Juan Marichal on the ’60 Giants card, no Gary Carter on the ’75 Expos, no Yaz on the ’60 Red Sox team and you won’t find Brooks Robinson on the Orioles’ 1960 card.

I’ve compiled images from 1951-1980 of each Topps team card and its accompanying photo with a roster of names for that card. If you would like the electronic files sent to you, I’d be happy to share them. Simply send me an email request at [email protected] and I’ll email you the comprehensive files for your reference and enjoyment. Please note that many of the images are identical to the one’s Topps used, while others are taken seconds or minutes apart, or at a slightly different angle. Even so, the photo culled from the internet provides a roadmap needed to understand who’s who. Topps only produced 9 of 16 teams in a special 1951 team set, did not produce base team cards from 1952-1955 and only created 13 of 20 in 1968 and none in 1969 due to a compensation squabble with Marvin Miller and the players union. Houston missed out on team cards from 1964-1969, mainly due to a licensing issue.

In addition, I’ll include Excel spreadsheets for each year and team that highlight interesting findings about these vintage team cards. All Hall of Famers and notable key players are listed, along with hundreds of miscellaneous observations — some trivial, others head-scratching.

It should be noted that of the 502 vintage team cards from 1951-1980 that depict over 18,000 individuals, there is not a single woman featured in any photo.

The color barrier was finally broken by Jackie Robinson in 1947, yet the executive, coaching and support staffs in these team photos overwhelmingly lack diversity. Many minorities no doubt missed out on opportunities to contribute to the game of baseball.

I want to give credit to the many sources, sponsors and photo credits found on the internet, like Topps Chewing Gum, eBay, Sporting News Baseball Guides, Major League Baseball teams, Getty Images, Baseball Hall of Fame, WorthPoint, Google, Yahoo, Bing, Associated Press, United Press International, Deadball Era, Pinterest, Shutterstock, Perfect Photo, Inc., Play Ball Photos, Amalgamated Lithographers of America, Morton Tadder, Al Church, Bob Stearns, Frank O’Brien, Jerry Buckley, David Bier Studios, BBest, FayFoto Boston, Camera Craft, Inc., Visual Sports Network, Inc., Anheuser-Busch, Inc., Miller Brewing Company (Miller High Life, Miller Lite & Lowenbrau Beer), Gulf, Avis, Star Lumber & Supply Co., Jerry Reuss Collection, COMC, Illini37 Collectables, San Diego Union-Evening Tribune, Philadelphia Bulletin, Boston Globe, Seattle Times and to many others I discovered with no photo credit attributed to them.

I’ve been collecting Topps baseball cards since 1969 when I was seven years old. Except for a four-year break during college, I’ve never left the hobby. This six-month project has been a labor of love. I hope you find this research as eye-opening and fascinating as I have.

About Roy Carlson

Roy has been a Topps collector since 1969, specializing in original production material. He lives near Chicago, IL and is a long-time operations employee at the Chicago Tribune.