Tuesday, November 9, 2021

Art on the back: 1961 Topps

In 1961 the cartoons were compressed into a small space at the bottom of the card, making them harder to see than previous years. Too bad, there were some good ones.

Like these that show the players are just like us - they collect too!

Here are a couple of mild digs at avant-garde culture in 1961.
A couple of cards that highlight some medical maladies. The first series cartoons are even harder to read as they were typed in small print rather than hand-lettered, like this cartoon about Gary Geiger's collapsed lung. The cartoon about Earl Battey being beaned "but not seriously" turned out to be ironic as Battey's cheek was broken in a beaning in 1961. He wore a helmet briefly on his return, one of the first major leaguers to do so.

Closing out with a couple others I enjoyed. Back in 1960 a home run in a spring training game might still be noteworthy enough to get mentioned on your card. And I love the cartoonist's incredulity that anyone might think Hal W. Smith could actually cook!




1 comment:

  1. Aside from being a bit smaller, I enjoy the presentation of the '61 cartoons.

    ReplyDelete