The bulk of what I got from Johnny was from 1956 Topps. Between these cards and the ones I recently got from Crocodile, I've gone from under 1/3 of the set to over 1/2 of the set very quickly!
I'll do this post Johnny style, photo after photo of groups of cards. 1956 Topps is considered one of the best-looking sets ever, and these are great examples of that.
Lots of great action poses (they appear to be photographs that were painted on, or copied by artists). There wouldn't be another action-packed set like this until the 1970s.
A couple of young Brooklyn Dodgers who would go on to be major league managers. Also I'm pretty certain there's a Billy Martin cameo on Al Smith's card.
Lots of great catcher action here.
These must be some of the oldest "Tatooine cards".
It doesn't look like Johnny Temple knows where the ball is on his card.
The Runnels card is confusing to me. There is nobody who wore #39 in the American League from 1951 (Runnels's debut) through 1955 who look like the baserunner in the picture. I think the artist changed the original number.
Dale Mitchell's card the year he would very famously strike out.
Two great Dodger photos on this page. Clem Labine's card has an ad on the Ebbets Field wall for J. Michaels department store. I was able to get a wallet card
photo of an old sign for that store a few years ago.
I happened to get a '56 Hobie Landrith from an OBCer the same day I got Johnny's package. So now I have an extra!
The last three cards. Check out the Jim Busby card - baserunner slides into the base, watching a loose ball go by. In 68 years has there been another card of a scene like that? Now all the action photos look the same. Night Owl made a great comment on my 2024 post - the photos are cropped so closely now. You don't get the kind of wider perspective that makes for a more interesting photo.
It's amazing how fast you're starting to build some of these sets.
ReplyDeleteglad to help!
ReplyDelete👍
ReplyDeleteWish I could ignore condition, you're really demonstrating how much quicker it is to get sets done when you do.
ReplyDeleteI haven't picked up any 1956 Topps for my collection since before the pandemic. I'll probably hold off on grabbing more graded hall of famers unless the hobby tanks again. But after seeing that Zimmer, I'm on the hunt for a raw copy for my binder.
ReplyDeleteAll of my memories of him were from his coaching days... and based on what I can remember he wasn't jumping around like he was on that card.