During the year 1952, the Topps Company released its largest collection of baseball cards yet. This collection consisted of four hundred and seven cards. Definitely, a collection anyone would do anything to have. The previous collection consisted of only three hundred and twenty four cards.
Many people out there will pay a lot of money to actually owe a set of the 1952 Topps baseball cards collection. They issued this particular set in two series. They released the first series with cards from number one to number three hundred and ten. The second series consisted of numbers three hundred and ten to four hundred and seven. This big collection did not only consist of normal cards, no, it had much more than just that. The sets consisted of proofs from the first modern baseball cards, all the older cards as well as some black and white photos.
Some of the names, which featured in these sets, are Mickey Mantle who you can see on card number three hundred and eleven, Willie Mays on card two hundred and sixty one and Edd Matthews who features on the last card in the series, card number four hundred and seven. There is also a card of Joe DiMaggio, who would have featured in the set, but because he retired just before the release of this series, it was not included; this is why Edd Matthews got a spot to feature. If it were not for Joe’s retirement, Edd would have missed this opportunity. The 1952 Topps baseball cards, surely have a very rich and remarkable history behind it, which makes it such a sought after collection.
Unfortunately there are some very important baseball player names missing from this collection, because they had other obligations at that time. They all are, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Ralph Kiner, Vic Raschi, Sal Maglie, Marty Marion, Casey Stengel, Hal Newhouser, Nellie Fox, Carl Furillo, Whitey Ford and last but not least Satchel Paige. By not having them in this collection is a pity, as it would have made the collection more valuable. They might not feature in the 1952 Topps baseball cards collection, but there are cards of them in other collections available.
Some interesting facts about your 1952 Topps baseball cards are –
- They destroyed many cards in the second series. The ones left now carry the premium mark, as they are scarcer than the others are.
- They wanted to make an album to keep about a hundred cards, but they never managed to manufacture it.
- Only cards one to eighty have a red or a black back. This you will not find in any of the other cards.
- Because the second series of cards came out late during the baseball season, the Topps Company found it very difficult to sell them.
- Just because they could not sell much of the second series, they actually dumped it in the sea.