Monday, August 24, 2009

1954 Topps Baseball Card Set & The Holy Grail of Cub Cards

Number of Cards

The 1954 Topps set contains 250 cards, including 11 Cubs players.

Size of Cards

The cards measure 2 5/8 by 3 3/4 inches, which is slightly larger than today's standard size.

Basic Features

The cards have numerous images for the first time ever in a Topps series. Both a colored player portrait and a black-and-white action image are featured in the design. Card fronts have a variety of colorful backgrounds, including white, yellow, light blue, green, red, and orange. The player's name, position, team emblem, and facsimile signature are also displayed on the cards.

The 1954 Topps Baseball cards feature biographical and statistical data about the player on the back. This contains the card number and a cartoon frame with moving pictures.

The man himself, Mr. Cub, is the greatest rookie of all time. Ernie Banks RC is a must-have if you own a collection of this legendary team. To prevent purchasing a false piece of history, always get a professionally graded card from a recognized provider. In the future, graded cards will be significantly more valuable.

There are 3 series this year for Topps


  • Series I: 1-50
  • Series 2: 51-75
  • Series 3: 76-250
  • There is no “high” series


1–50 come with either white or gray backs.





Chicago Cubs 1954 Topps Checklist


Number Player
4 Hank Sauer
4A Hank Sauer GB
28 Paul Minner
28A Paul Minner GB
31 Johnny Klippstein
31A Johnny Klippstein GB
55 Phil Cavarretta MG
60 Frank Baumholtz
67 Jim Willis RC
76 Bob Scheffing CO
89 Howie Pollet
94 Ernie Banks RC
229 Bob Talbot RC
243 Ray Blades CO RC






















The 1953 Bowman Color baseball card set is a true classic

The 1953 Bowman Color baseball card set was printed and issued by the Bowman Gum Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

. In 1953 Bowman issued two separate baseball sets, one featured the major stars of the day and was in color, while the other featured lesser known players and was in black and white.

1953 was the first modern set that contained actual color player photographs. These cards measure 2-1/2 x 3-3/4(inches) and have only the player photo on the front, no name, team or autograph facsimile, simply the player photo. The backs of these cards feature a more baseball card trend with player stats and biography info.

The high numbered cards (#113-160) are the scarcest of the set.

Chicago Cubs Checklist

Number Player
7 Harry Chiti RC
30 Phil Cavarretta
42 Tommy Brown
48 Hank Sauer
71 Paul Minner
94 Bob Addis
110 Bob Rush
112 Toby Atwell
122 Bill Serena
144 Warren Hacker
154 Turk Lown
























Sunday, August 23, 2009

1953 Topps

To prevent purchasing a false piece of history, always get a professionally graded card from a recognized provider. In the future, graded cards will be significantly more valuable.

The 1953 Topps Baseball Card Set again featured paintings of the players and in my opinion is a more attractive card than Topps issued in 1952.

1953 Topps contains 274 player cards each measuring 2-5/8 x 3-3/4 (inches). Topps set were prints from small color paintings done from black and white photographs.

Action poses were rare, with most of the cards being portraits of the players. In taking this approach, each portrait was carefully rendered by excellent artists, including Gerry Dvorak. There were no bad poses. They were all carefully handcrafted. Ultimately, this set is recognized as one of the most beautiful baseball cards sets in history.

Series I: 1-85
Series 2: 86-165
Series 3: 266-220
Series 4: 221-280 (Scarce)

Chicago Cubs Checklist

Number Player
23 Toby Atwell DP
29 Hal Jeffcoat
39 Eddie Miksis
46 Johnny Klippstein DP
92 Paul Minner DP
111 Hank Sauer DP
130 Turk Lown DP
144 Bob Schultz DP
155 Dutch Leonard
157 Bob Addis DP
173 Preston Ward
179 Gene Hermanski
202 Carl Sawatski RC