1962 was an all-time great year for set design at Topps. The baseball and football sets were instant classic. The woodgrain baseball set is iconic, and personally I think the black bordered football set with the action-photo inset is even better.
The hockey set is also quite good, with an action picture behind the player.
In non-sport, Topps put out a set for the movie Mars Attacks. The set remains well-known to this day, maybe even more than the film.
That set was all-horizontal, as was a Civil War news set which capitalized on the increased interest in the war on its centennial. Both of these sets were some of the most graphically violent sets in the company's history.
The only other set put out in 1962 was "Casey and Kildare", featuring the two heartthrob TV doctors. Each card was a black-and-white photo of one of the doctors, with the actor's facsimile signature.
The baseball set wins it.
ReplyDeleteThat football design is really classy. And I think kids back in '62 must have loved those hockey cards, even if they weren't hockey fans.
ReplyDeleteThe order of your photos is the order of my favorite (baseball) to least favorite (Casey and Kildare).
ReplyDeleteAll three sports designs are fantastic. Throw in the Mars Attacks and Civil War cards and 1962 may have been a golden year for card collectors!
ReplyDeleteSmall correction, the original Mars Attacks! set was based on an amalgamation of books and films. The actual Mars Attacks! film didn't come out until 1996.
ReplyDeleteI had never put any thought into it, but after seeing everything here together, 1962 might've been the pinnacle year for Topps design-wise.