You will find a vast resource of vintage Cubs baseball cards, feel free to view pictures of my collection, read commentary on the players, teams, sets and sub-sets.
Ron Santo, the former Chicago Cubs third baseman who went on to become a broadcaster for the Cubs, died at the age of 70.
Santo's broadcast partner, Pat Hughes, told the Chicago Tribune that "he absolutely loved the Cubs." "The Cubs have lost their biggest fan."
Santo played for the Cubs from 1960 through 1973. A nine-time All-Star, he batted. He had 277 home runs in his 15-year career, with 342 home runs and 1,331 runs batted in, and he won five Gold Glove Awards for defense.
There was never any doubt that Ron Santo was anything but a lifelong Cubby. He is probably the most deserving player who is not in the Hall of Fame.
Ron always had a great smile (just look at his Topps baseball cards; this is a ball player who loved the game) and loved his job as a radio broadcaster for WGN. He will be greatly missed.
RIP Ron. You are a Hall of Famer to me and plenty of others.
With the player profiles and action photos, the 1955 issue is nearly identical to the 1954 issue, but you'll notice that this year Topps employed a horizontal layout (rather than the normal vertical orientation) for the first time. Unlike the 1954 set, both the full-length action photo and the player portrait are in full color, and this is one of Topps' most colorful sets ever, thanks to the bright and happy backdrops. Topps used a facsimile autograph and artistically created team logos on the front of the card once again. Topps introduced subsets for the first time in 1955, and two can be found. Topps Test Stamps (21 cards) and Topps Double Header (66 cards) from 1955.
Number of Cards
At 206 cards, this set remains the smallest of the regular Topps issues.
Size of Cards
The horizontal 1955 Topps cards measure the same 3 ¾ by 2 5/8" that was now the standard for the company. This size would last until 1957 when the cards became slightly smaller.
Basic Features
Topps changed their style in 1955 and issued a horizontal card. A colorful background, full-figure pose, and the giant portrait make for an attractive set. The fronts are similar to the 54 set, using a lot of the same images. The cards feature colorful team logos and facsimile autographs.
The back has biographical information and single-season and career stats (either major or minor league). Cartoon trivia boxes or game information add to the fun. Because of the competition with Bowman, the 1955 Topps baseball card set is missing 4 cards. The original players slated for those cards signed exclusive contracts with Bowman. The set consists of 206 baseball cards numbered 1–210.
Cards not issued are: 175, 186, 203, and 209.
Series I: 1-160
Series II: 161-210 (scarce)
Rookies:
6 Stan Hack
52 Bill Tremel
68 Jim Davis
179 Jim Bolger
196 Gale Wade
DP - Double Print (a card that was printed in double the quantity compared to the other cards in the same series)
This set was the first color baseball cards of the post World War II era and consisted of 8 cub players. This is a difficult set to complete, mainly due to the fact thereare many short print cards (the term short print means those particular cards were produced in significantly less numbers then the other) also there is a variation on card 136 (long sleeve or short sleeve).
Cubs SP cards are
33 Peanuts Lowrey SP
48 Johnny Schmitz SP
160 Bob Scheffing SP
168 Phil Cavarretta SP
Cubs Variations cards are
136A Cliff Aberson Long sleeve
136B Cliff Aberson Short sleeve
