Topps Through The Years 1951-2015

reds1 · 01-30-2015, 02:46 PM

Earlier this week, Uni Watch provided a link to a timeline of Topps Baseball Card design from 1951 to 2015. I thought it was pretty cool, so I wanted to share. Be sure to click on each year for detailed info on that year's set.

Timeline of Topps Baseball Card Design: 1951-2019

Bottom Of The Sixth · 01-30-2015, 07:42 PM

Nice find!

Nothing like looking at those old cards.

From what they showed, I recognized a few that I am 100% sure that I own, as I still have all of my baseball cards that I collected when I was a kid; like that Ozzie Smith Rookie Card!

Thanks

knuckler · 01-31-2015, 05:02 PM

Thanks for posting this link, Daren. One of my favorite sets is the 1978 set that had the game you could play with the back of each card giving a batter result.

swoboda · 01-31-2015, 07:49 PM

Great Link, I can remember getting busted by the lunchroom teacher for "flipping" the 1970 cards. A very basic form of gambling when you look back.
My favorite years are the ones where they included a player's autograph on the front

fhomess · 02-02-2015, 04:20 PM

Maybe I'm old, but I don't care much for many of the designs post 1990, with the exception of 2013 and 2014. Too many of the sets from 1997 to 2012 are too similar. I think the gold foil treatment that became so common is largely to blame. It's not an attractive design element, IMO, when used in the way that it's been used here. 2008 isn't bad, though. 1980 is one of my favorites.

MBarrett · 02-02-2015, 04:40 PM

I can't believe it took them until '85 to start putting team logos on the cards.

justafan · 02-03-2015, 04:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swoboda

Great Link, I can remember getting busted by the lunchroom teacher for "flipping" the 1970 cards. A very basic form of gambling when you look back.
My favorite years are the ones where they included a player's autograph on the front

Are you talkin' about flipping a card towards a wall and closest card takes all?

If so, man I was hooked on that game. It was pretty hard on the corners of the cards though.

Another destructive thing we did was put cards in our bicycle spokes to make it sound like a motorcycle. Of course we used commons for this.

MBarrett · 02-03-2015, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justafan

Another destructive thing we did was put cards in our bicycle spokes to make it sound like a motorcycle. Of course we used commons for this.

Being a Cards fan, that's what I used all my Cubs cards for.

cephasjames · 02-03-2015, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fhomess

Maybe I'm old, but I don't care much for many of the designs post 1990, with the exception of 2013 and 2014. Too many of the sets from 1997 to 2012 are too similar. I think the gold foil treatment that became so common is largely to blame. It's not an attractive design element, IMO, when used in the way that it's been used here. 2008 isn't bad, though. 1980 is one of my favorites.

You are old.

But I agree.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MBarrett

I can't believe it took them until '85 to start putting team logos on the cards.

I don't think that logos, as much as nicknames, are as big a deal in the real world as they are here on these forums.

The official site of every team even uses just a tiny logo. I think for cards what's more important is the player.

swoboda · 02-03-2015, 07:52 PM

Nearest to the wall, "match-unmatch", printed color of the team name, and a few other games as well.

fhomess · 02-05-2015, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MBarrett

I can't believe it took them until '85 to start putting team logos on the cards.

Eh? The 70's were pretty barren, but look at the 50's: 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1958, and 1959 all have logos as do 1960 and 1965. They basically took a break from the logos, and from a design standpoint, logos can be difficult to incorporate. The 90's actually didn't have many logos, with 13 years since 1985 not having them. Only 3 seasons since 2000 did not.

MBarrett · 02-05-2015, 11:39 PM

Wow, didn't even notice the logos on the 50s cards. I feel dumb. 😳

kq76 · 09-30-2015, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fhomess

Maybe I'm old, but I don't care much for many of the designs post 1990, with the exception of 2013 and 2014. Too many of the sets from 1997 to 2012 are too similar. I think the gold foil treatment that became so common is largely to blame. It's not an attractive design element, IMO, when used in the way that it's been used here. 2008 isn't bad, though. 1980 is one of my favorites.

I very much agree. I stopped collecting with the 1990 set as I thought it was lame and I'm glad I did. There was a tournament of the designs and the results there are pretty poor post 1989 as well.

I've always seen the 50s and 60s get a lot of love, but IMO the 70s and 80s had most of the best designs, especially 70,73-80,82-84,86-88. Looking at those in general I think the keys are plenty of white space with bright colours and easy to read text. They were doing so well. I wonder got into them.

Coxmeatsandwich · 09-30-2015, 06:42 PM

that's so weird..I used to date the daughter of the host of the Cardboard Connection radio show. Just goes to show, ya never know when you're going to get an unexpected trip down memory lane.

kq76 · 09-28-2018, 06:05 AM

So in trying to decide what templates to use for OOTP, I revisited that site and rated each year: yay, nay, or meh. And while the vast majority of years in the 70s and 80s got yays from me (I don't like the cap in '81), all but one year in the 90s got a nay ('91 I was merely meh on). My God, almost the entire decade of the 90s was atrocious. The 2000s got a bit better and now finally in the 2010s we're getting mostly good ones again.

I'd really like to know what they were thinking in the 90s. Did they just hire someone who had terrible taste? I'd be genuinely surprised if sales didn't suffer.

01-30-2015, 02:46 PM	#1
reds1 Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2002 Location: Winnipeg Posts: 3,919	Topps Through The Years 1951-2015 Earlier this week, Uni Watch provided a link to a timeline of Topps Baseball Card design from 1951 to 2015. I thought it was pretty cool, so I wanted to share. Be sure to click on each year for detailed info on that year's set. Timeline of Topps Baseball Card Design: 1951-2019 __________________ United Leagues of Braeland Last edited by reds1; 10-30-2018 at 08:01 PM. Reason: Updated Link

01-31-2015, 07:49 PM	#4
swoboda All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Guarding The Line Posts: 1,220	Great Link, I can remember getting busted by the lunchroom teacher for "flipping" the 1970 cards. A very basic form of gambling when you look back. My favorite years are the ones where they included a player's autograph on the front __________________ "...If you want to look ahead to the bottom of the ninth, the Mets will be sending up Buddy Harrelson, Jerry Buchek , and Don Bosch, we'll be right back after this word from Rheingold Beer" The late great Lindsey Nelson

02-02-2015, 04:20 PM	#5
fhomess Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 3,628	Maybe I'm old, but I don't care much for many of the designs post 1990, with the exception of 2013 and 2014. Too many of the sets from 1997 to 2012 are too similar. I think the gold foil treatment that became so common is largely to blame. It's not an attractive design element, IMO, when used in the way that it's been used here. 2008 isn't bad, though. 1980 is one of my favorites. __________________ StatsLab- PHP/MySQL based utilities for Online Leagues Baseball Cards - Full list of known templates and documentation on card development.

02-03-2015, 07:52 PM	#10
swoboda All Star Starter Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Guarding The Line Posts: 1,220	Nearest to the wall, "match-unmatch", printed color of the team name, and a few other games as well. __________________ "...If you want to look ahead to the bottom of the ninth, the Mets will be sending up Buddy Harrelson, Jerry Buchek , and Don Bosch, we'll be right back after this word from Rheingold Beer" The late great Lindsey Nelson

09-28-2018, 06:05 AM	#15
kq76 Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 11,554	So in trying to decide what templates to use for OOTP, I revisited that site and rated each year: yay, nay, or meh. And while the vast majority of years in the 70s and 80s got yays from me (I don't like the cap in '81), all but one year in the 90s got a nay ('91 I was merely meh on). My God, almost the entire decade of the 90s was atrocious. The 2000s got a bit better and now finally in the 2010s we're getting mostly good ones again. I'd really like to know what they were thinking in the 90s. Did they just hire someone who had terrible taste? I'd be genuinely surprised if sales didn't suffer. __________________ My OOTP Wishlist \| My FAQ List OOTP Wiki \| Your Recommended Team Nicknames, By City (A Crowdsourced Project)

01-30-2015, 07:42 PM	#2
Bottom Of The Sixth All Star Starter Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Land of Lincoln Posts: 1,254	Nice find! Nothing like looking at those old cards. From what they showed, I recognized a few that I am 100% sure that I own, as I still have all of my baseball cards that I collected when I was a kid; like that Ozzie Smith Rookie Card! Thanks

01-31-2015, 05:02 PM	#3
knuckler Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 3,347	Thanks for posting this link, Daren. One of my favorite sets is the 1978 set that had the game you could play with the back of each card giving a batter result.

02-02-2015, 04:40 PM	#6
MBarrett All Star Reserve Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Canada Posts: 627	I can't believe it took them until '85 to start putting team logos on the cards.

02-05-2015, 11:39 PM	#12
MBarrett All Star Reserve Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Canada Posts: 627	Wow, didn't even notice the logos on the 50s cards. I feel dumb. 😳

09-30-2015, 06:42 PM	#14
Coxmeatsandwich Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Aug 2014 Posts: 236	that's so weird..I used to date the daughter of the host of the Cardboard Connection radio show. Just goes to show, ya never know when you're going to get an unexpected trip down memory lane.