[judsonhamlin]

I have been following the various best/worst set polls about post war sets and they got me thinking about a variation on that theme - sets that are significant in terms of the hobby's evolution these past 70 years. Some of the ones that come to mind are not the most aesthetically pleasing but represent a turning point or development of some note. What follows are those that I think meet those criteria. Thoughts, comments and rants are welcome.

1948 Bowman: the first post-war set that showed that there was still a market for cards from a new generation of collectors (and kids). Aesthetically not much to speak of; kind of a scale model of the '39 Play Ball cards.

1952 Topps: Bigger cards, bigger set and the first post war set with a stat line. One can only imagine the reaction at Bowman. Obviously changed the dynamics of the card industry in a significant manner running down to today.

1957 Topps: smaller cards, but bigger set and first use of career stats on the back, which except for a few years has been the expected design ever since.

1981 Fleer/Donruss: first national sets to challenge Topps since 1956. Not the most well-manufactured or designed cards, but the fact that they were out there changed the collectors' game for good and for ill. In some ways, the beginning of the end, or at least the end of the beginning.

1988 Score/1989 Upper Deck: if the 1981 issues were the firsts real challenge to Topps, these sets served to push the design and use of full color on reverses. Fleer picked up on it in 1991, but Topps wasn't on board for a while. Upper Deck also serves as a warning for the business of card production for reasons that are obvious to anyone who was a collector in the 1990's.

Thoughts? Additions?