A Year of Topps Designs: 1958

Topps was not a fan of backgrounds for their sports cards in 1958, eliminating them entirely in two sets and minimizing them in a third. Baseball went for a very simple look, just the player on a monochromatic background.

Football let in a small window for the background, and had each player pose in what were often dynamic, entertaining photos. This is one of the best I've seen - I don't have any cards from this set yet, myself.

Hockey almost always got rid of the backgrounds, but this might be my favorite vintage hockey design. The triangle with the two colors looks more dynamic than most designs like these.

There were also three non-sport sets in 1958. Target: Moon imagined what future moon missions might be like. The design here was simple, focusing on the detailed paintings.

TV Westerns is an interesting design, that looks to me like a magazine cover. It covered 11 Westerns on TV of the time, including Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel and Wagon Train.

Zorro was not a western but was similar in its themes and style. This set had the look of many other non-sport TV sets, with just a caption and a logo, in this case Zorro's hat and famous "Z".