Vote - best Topps set
 

Strictly based on eye appeal alone, I am curious what most collectors consider Topps' finest year.

My vote - 1955

And then restrict it to only 1960's - I really like the 1965's.

steve

Lordy, so difficult. Lessee from #1-5 I would have to say 52,54,55,67,71 and 63 for good luck. I like the 71's the best though, the other five are pick 'em.

My 5 in order: 52, 57, 67, 54 and 65. I am not too fond of any design after about 1969 and find most of the 70's dreary.

Strictly based on eye appeal, my vote for best all time:

1954 Topps-That #250 card of the kid is just gorgeous as well as many others.

Resrticting to only the 60's, my fav is 1965. Love those big and bold pennants with the team emblem.

1967. The perfect card IMO. If I restrict it to just '60s....hmmmmm.

67
56

I will cast my vote for 1973.

Best Topps Set
 

1950s: 1955 then 1954

1960s: 1965 then 1963

1970s: 1973 then 1976

My vote - 1956
60s - 1965

For me, the 1953 is my favorite. I love the large "paintings" and overall design.

for 60s only, the 67 set. Simple, uncluttered design. The Mantle card has always been one of my favorite regular issues of his.

Favorite is 56 then 55, 54, 59, and finally 58. I stick with tobaccos for all time favorites the T205's but I love the 50's

My votes:

1950s: 1955
1960s: 1960

1958 i love the big logos and the colors
http://<a href="http://s97.photobucket.com/albums/l239/dcc1/?action=view&current=MARIS.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l239/dcc1/MARIS.jpg" border="0" alt="R.MARIS"></a>

My 2 sets are
 

1957

1967

Regards
Rich

my vote
 

I always liked the 1972's.....kind of acidic.....

For the front design, either '57, '67, '56 or '64
For the back (I know, who cares) either '72, '57, '66 or '77 (my first year as a real collector)

I like 52 topps the best
From the 60s - 1969

1955 is definitely the sweetest design. Also like the 71's, 73's, 63's, 52's and 83's. 56's are nice, but I think the 55's are the best.

Best All-Time = 1953 (I think the two best-looking Topps BB cards of all-time are the Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays from '53)

Best of the '60s = 1962


Steve

Woodies for me.
 

I dig the '62's. I have four or five slabed packs. One of my packs is a 1962 Topps Wax Pack with Mantle/Mays Managers Dream card on the back.

Wanna Rip......Attachment 2629

I love the colors on the 72's. I also have a affinity for the 77's since it was the first year I collected bb cards.

1950s: 1956
1960s: 1965
1970s: 1972

1950's: 1955 and 1957
1960's: 1960 and 1967
1970's: 1970 and 1972

From the 50's - 1959

From the 60's - 1963 or 1967

From the 70's - 1972 (Love the in action cards)

1950s: 1955
1960s: 1967
1970s: 1976

Narrowing to one set each from the '50s and '70s wasn't easy. I didn't go by player selection or rookie cards, but by design, photo quality, and color and these came out on top.

I totally dig the 1967 Topps Baseball effort.

It's exceptional.

50's: 1956, 1954
60's: 1963, 1965
70's: 1976, 1975

My faves...
 

1950s: 1957 (1958 and 59 are just dreadful)
1960s: 1961, 1963, 1964 (1968 is ugly)
1970s: 1978 is da bomb. love the script lettering, some of the images are outstanding.

"59 are just dreadful"
 

Respectfully disagree.

Favorite: 1959 (The last year I actively collected. I think it was about then when I noticed that girls had different parts)

Next: 1953 (The first year I actively collected)

Steve, I thought that comment might draw you out!
 

I fully respect and honor that opinion. The historical perspective and context for each person can be very personal and that's what is so great about this hobby.
For me, not having such a connection, the 59's are viewed entirely through an objective, more distant lense.
The flipside is that I have that kind of conneciton for 1984 Fleer. Honestly no barnburner of a set, but I am more fond of it because that was my second intro to cards, but the first real substantial time I started collecting more aggressively.

My hat is off to 1967 for the bright color palette that reminds me of Kodachrome which itself has proven so easy to love. 1966, by comparison, looks drab and muddy with poor flesh tones. The players in 67 look to have blood in their veins. Also appreciate any photos taken at spring training right after wind sprints. Nothing like a sweat soaked, gasping closeup. Fred Gladding comes to mind.

The photo quality in 67 is higher than most of the 60s, although 65 is good, and the overall quality control of the printing process is good. In my experience 67 had few mis-cuts and centering problems and the images are free of dust, dirt, smears, printer lines and other crap that plagues other years like 1961. (did they ever clean the printing presses and plates that year?) 69 had lots of miscuts.

68 is tough to like, although the color quality is close to 67 the burlap border is big and fugly. I'd like to know how they chose that. If that was the best idea they had I wonder what they rejected.

The layout for the 63s works for me. Big Photo, small photo, bright colors that go to the edges at the bottom, easy to read card backs. I really like them/

Speaking of card backs, 61's are the worst. What joker thought that tiny black on green statistics was a good idea. I need a magnifying glass to read them.

Best 5 Topps sets
 

I would have to say 55,59,63,65,67 these sets are very nice.

1950's: 1956 - love the action scenes in the background
1960's: 1966 - but partly because it was the first set I completed
1970's: none - I think the quality of the issues went downhill after 1969

Best overall --1952
Best 60's--1969

My 5 faves in order of appearance:

53 - love the art work
57 - simplistic ,clean design
63 - again the design and colors
68 - see 57
75 - colors, and the memories of ripping open packs at that little country store

Best set
 

I vote for 56

John

Best set ever..........
 

1950's........1953 Topps (the paintings are cool)

1960's........1962 Topps (something about those wood borders)

1970's........1971 Topps (high end cards in this set are so rich looking)

1956 is mine

1955

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/calvindog/2965080586/" title="#28 Ernie Banks by calvindog65, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2228/2965080586_8c3f0095b5_o.jpg" width="723" height="412" alt="#28 Ernie Banks" /></a>

1965

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/calvindog/2922581888/" title="1965 Topps by calvindog65, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3226/2922581888_15503ebc41_o.jpg" width="422" height="737" alt="1965 Topps" /></a>

Have to go with 1957. Maybe it's because that's the first year I started buying baseball cards and so nostalgia factors into my opinion, but '57 is it!

Just based on eye appeal, I'd pick the 57s, though I like the 55s as well. My favorite post-war set is the 1953 Bowman Color, so I tend to like cards with great photos and minimal distaction. The 57 is the closest to this.

Since you qualified it by Topps Sets I'd have to go with 1956 Topps for the '50s (although the '53 Bowman Color Set blows away any other set from that era).

For the 1960's - I'd go with 1967 Topps.

best looking topps sets
 

1967 topps stand-ups by far

1967 Stand Ups
 

....or by few

1967 has always been my favorite.

Best Topps Set
 

I always liked the 1972 Topps Set with the bright colors and the In Action Cards. I can remember looking at the back of the Expos Team card where they list the Career Batting and Pitching Leaders and thought it looked cool seeing Rusty Staub,s name on every batting category(I know they were only 3 years in).

Hands down
 

1954 Topps is the best. Banks, Kaline and Aaron rookies + two Teds. Easy winner. :P

I'm partial to 1961
 

Hello Everyone,

My favorite set from the 1960s is 1961. The design was so simple, it reminds me of the default layout for Power Point presentations, just three boxes. A large photograph on top, and two smaller boxes, on the lower left the player's name and position, on the right the team. The colors are solid and bright. There is no confusion. The focus on the back is on the statistics, not commentary; and the cartoons on the back are fun to read and taken as a whole give an interesting insight into the life of a baseball player. I know there are a lot of portraits and not many action photos. I remember that when I collected the set as a kid I was drawn to the action photos. My favorites were Jerry Adair, Hank Aguirre and Bill Mazeroski, but now I've grown to love all the head shots. I would argue that the 61 Mick is the most recognizable card in the Mantle cannon. In the portraits the personalities of the players is really revealed.
The set pays homage to the great moments of the game: Ruth's 60th Homer, Hornsby's .424 average, Chesbro's 41 wins and the feats of Mathewson, Johnson and others. The set is loaded with Hall-of-Famers and history. Like all sets there are faults, for example, the manager cards are silly and it is difficult to find perfectly centered cards. Nevertheless, when you look at the set in an album its symmetry, artistry and design are striking. Take a moment to examine below one page from my set and you will see what I mean.

Best wishes,

Joe

My favorites per decade

1953
1965
1971
1980

50's: 1953 great artwork w/1952 (right there with it)

60's: Maybe 1969, nice basic design

I am a huge fan of the 1960 set. Easily my favorite set Topps has produced.

By decade I would say 1952, 1963, and 1973. For the overall best Topps set I'd say it's the 1952 set hands down.

Best Topps Set
 

My vote goes to the '56 Topps set. I favor '56 since it contains a Mantle card unlike other previous issues, there are no missing numbers (unlike '53 and '55) and it contains all the stars of the era. They even tweaked photo of the Mantle card so he is catching the ball and if you look closely several of the fans in the background were duplicated on the card.

Hey everyone....
I would say 56, 65, 55, 52.

1957 All the Way
 

First time posting, hope I did this right. '57 has it all but then again I'm biased, that one was my first vintage set collected so naturally I have an affinity towards it. That said, it is a great set for these reasons:

1) Very strong HOF RC class (B. & F. Robinson, Kubek, Richardson, Maz, Bunning, Colavito)
2) Beautiful, clean photography of actual players (better than artistic portraits IMO)
3) Nice combo cards: Mantle & Yogi, Campy/Snider...
4) Standard Size that fit into "normal" sized sheets!

That's my take, '59 is a nice one and is much more affordable...

If it wasn't for the 1952 set the 1957 would have been my next pick. I like the simple, yet appealing design along with the excellent crop of HOFers and rookies like you mentioned.

Funny you say that...
 

b/c '52 is my second favorite but I know I will never have the dough to make a run at it even in PFG condition. The high #'s are just impossible not to mention that one guy named mantel or something :)

1958 was always my favorite set so over 10 years I slowly built a super sick high grade set mostly nrmt condition and then sold it a few months ago, now I can barely look at Topps cards it makes me sad.

Let's see... my favorites are 1952, 54, 56, 58, 61. I know they appear in order, but that's actually the order of my preference.

I like many
 

1952-1953-1956-1957-1961
1963-1965-1967-1975-1983

i like the 50's
 

I think all 4 sets are top notch....54,55,56,57....i want all 4 in a row (need 55 still). 52 and 53 are too expensive, 58 and 59 are too big.

Loth

of course 53 bowman color is the best, i own one, but this was a topps thread hehe

52's just classic, then the 57's the first year topps went to the regular issue sized cards..

Nothing beats all the action shots in the 73's I mean have you really ever looked at some of those pictures, simply amazing..

Best from the 50s:

Front:1953
Back: 1955

Best from the 60s:

Front and Back: 1967 (best all-time)

Best from the 70s:

Front: 1971
Back: 1970

my choices
 

1950's gotta be the 56 set
1960's my fave is 1961, clean, crisp with some great subsets
1970's I'll go with 1974, its the first 1970's set I assembled when i started collecting in the late 80's

67 Why so Popular?
 

Seems like a lot of '67 admirers, could you explain? I am curious as to what about this set is so attractive whereas to me (right now) it just seems like any other 60s set. Also, noboby has picked '66. Is this year a consensus "rotten apple", and if so, why? How is it much different is it than '67? Thanks in advance for your comments.

63 and 65 by far the best to me. 64 the worst.

Why '67?
 

For me the appeal is the great color photographs unobstructed by intrusive borders (i.e., the 1968 Hopsack look), they are almost a full bleed card. Now the teams names in block letters across the bottom do take up some space but really add to the appeal for me. Also it was the first year I really opened a lot of cards as I was 8 with an allowance. I spent nearly all of it buying 6 pack 25 cent trays at the A&P. It was also the first set that I went back and completed some years later and I am also building a second signed set of which I am up to 477 different.

Also, I actually like the 1966s too!

1971 Topps
Black Beauties
Little Square Pieces of Art........:D
http://thebaseballchronicle.com/imag...munsoncard.jpg

http://thebaseballchronicle.com/imag...erojascard.jpg

http://www.vintagecardprices.com/pics/1905/136101.jpg

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/a...fSBKtvKY3i.jpg

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/a...sBKgkmn8g_.jpg

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/a...-OzBKeg2yw.jpg

Great question

1950s: 1957
1960s: 1965
1970s: 1971

1956, 1963, 1971

1964 gets no love.

1968 does not get the respect it deserves.

1960 is also incredible.

1972 is also wonderful.

Bob's picks
 

Bob has been thinking it over since post 5. He is getting close.

53..55..57..63..65..67

50's: 1952, 1957

60's: 1965 hands down

70's: 1975, 1974 (vastly underrated IMO)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

My fav's are 1952, 1969, and 1973.

I am surprised the 1969 set is not getting more love. Crisp photos, great color, and a simple design. IMO, one of the best sets Topps has produced.

The 1969 Topps set has no team cards, all of the team names are in the same color (yellow) a lot of cap less players and the design is too simple.

65
71
88

I can't decide and I may change my mind in the future. But my top five in chronological order.
1953 every card is a work of art, literally. The Mays is my favorite of his and the set.

1956 great design, cool action photos. The Mantle is my favorite and is the 1st vintage Mick I acquired when I got back into the hobby 5 yrs ago.

1971 the borders drive me crazy, but I cannot deny the awesomeness of this set. First set to have in game photos throughout. The Munson is my favorite.

1973 The photography is one of best. Simple design, league leaders for AL/NL on one card, the all time leader cards. My favorite cards are the Bench and Freehan.

1980 The year I caught the disease that ails us. Interesting design with the flags and some great photos inspite of the crazy eyes on some cards. My favorite card is the Henderson. The best HoF rookie card ever IMHO.

Honorable Mentions:
1952, 1970, 1983

1) 1956 Topps

2) 1965 Topps

3) 1972 Topps

1950s: eye appeal - 1956; collector appeal - 1952

1960s: - None. They all sucked. (Only decent non-1950s Topps set in my book - 1973)

Cheers,
Patrick

57's hands down. Hardest cards are the Bakep and Lists. You can put it together without selling your house. Plus first standard size set. And the Mantle is awesome looking.