Ranking the Topps baseball sets from 1952 to 2020. Part 1

 

Ranking the Topps baseball sets from 1952 to 2020. Part 1. 

The basis for this ranking will be primarily the front design with some consideration to the card backs, texture and feel of the cards, the player selection, size and subsets.

O.K., first off I am classify the Topps sets into era’s:

1952-1956 – The Non 2 ½ by 3 ½ era

1957-1972 – The Golden Age of Topps Cards era.

1973-1980 – The Seventies era

1981-1991 - The new Competition era.

1992-1996 – The Card stock / Glossy stock upgrade era.

1997-2002 – The Death March Metallic era.   

2003-2008 – The 21^st Century era.

2009-2014 – The Topps getting cutesy and manipulative era.

2015-2020 – The no border era. 

1952-1956 – The non 2 ½ by 3 ½ era

I know some people consider this the golden age era but these are not the cards that you know of today because of their size. Since that is so it is unlikely the top card set will come from these tears. Also, with Bowman around Topps did not have all MLB players under contract for the sets.

1957-1972 – The Golden Age of Topps Cards era.

Cards that we know of, the right size, all the players and a lot of classic designs.

1973-1980 – The Seventies era.

The end of issuing cards by series, more of a plainness looking to the sets (with some exceptions),

1981-1991 - The new Competition era.

Some consider this the junk wax ear also but surprisingly Topps started to give some thought into the sets and the designs sometimes changed drastically from year to year.

1992-1996 – The card stock / glossy stock upgrade era.

With the 1992 set, the end of the thin gray stock card board was put to rest (a sad time to me) and the glossy supposedly better (and now more expensive cards) began.

1997-2002 – The Death March Metallic era.   

Come on can you visualize any set in your mind from these years. Foil. Foil. Foil These were some of the ugliest cards Topps produced and years later with all the gloss these cards will actually stick together.

2003-2008 – The 21^st Century era.

Topps started to put some thought  into the cards instead of foil and the return of white boarders.

2009-2014 – The Topps getting cutesy and manipulative and exclusive era.

Topps began to emphasize bigger photos and photos with more personality.  The designs only varied slightly from year to year, were simple and somewhat fun and colorful. The manipulative - the variation photos began to appear more and more.  This means master set collectors had to pay more money if they wanted ALL the cards in their set.

2015-2020 – The no border era.

O.k, so 2015 had borders but it was really the beginning to the transition to the lack of borders era. These sets continued a process where Topps varied there designs ever so slightly from year to year.  It seems with 2021 Topps designs, Topps is transitioning back to white borders with some colored striped thrown in.   

 Next post some real rankings