A Year of Topps Designs: 1957

1957 was an important year in trading card history, with the introduction of the standard size of card, one that still stands to this day. I have cards from the Topps baseball and football sets of '57. The football set is reminiscent of the baseball sets of '55 and '56, with solid color background and a portrait and action shot. Baseball, however, went with a new look. It was not nearly as artistic, but instead highlighted the full-color photography.

The hockey set was very similar to the football set. Big blocks of color, and either an action shot or portrait (usually a portrait). 

Basketball, however, was like baseball with the emphasis on photography.

The layout of the basketball design, with a simple box inside the photo area, was repeated with minimal variety throughout the company's various non-sport sets in '57.

Hit Stars featured various music and movie stars.

Isolation Booth was a quiz-show style trivia set.

Planes was a celebration of aircraft.

Robin Hood featured photos from the TV series.

Finally, Space featured real and imagined images of space exploration.