BY MARK A. LARSON
There are some interesting individual cards in the 1961 Topps set.
• Jim Golden (#298) is shown in perhaps the stupidest pose ever to grace a baseball card. He is holding the ball so close to the camera lens it appears to be as big as his head.
• Wes Covington’s card (#296) features one of the best photos to appear on a Topps card. It shows him wearing the old Milwaukee Braves “Tomahawk” uniform while grabbing a piece of lumber out of the bat rack. This card reeks with nostalgia.
• Ray Ripplemeyer (#276) and Bill Kunkel (#322) are just two of several cards in the set that appear to be paintings, not photos. Who knows why Topps went this route … 1961 cards with 1910-type pictures.
• Jack Curtis is doing his Don Zimmer look-alike routine on card #533. But that’s not all. Topps made Curtis look like a big blob posing for a mug shot. Topps also saw fit to remove the photo background and replace it with yellow. Just yellow. A blob in front of a yellow background. (Curtis looks like a normal human being on his 1962 Topps card a year later.)
• The Twins team card (#542) is unique in that under the “Minnesota Twins” block letters on the front it states: “Formerly Washington Senators 1960.”
• Speaking of the Minnesota Twins (or was it the Kansas City A’s?), Bill Tuttle’s card (#536) shows him in a K.C. A’s uniform on the front, with the A’s listed as his team. Flip the card over and at the top it says his team is the Twins. Turns out Tuttle was traded by Kansas City to Minnesota on June 1, 1961. So does this card belong in the team set of the A’s or the Twins or both or neither?
• Finally, an All-Points-Bulletin is being issued for the whereabouts of cards #426, #587 and #588. They were never issued. Ah, but according to the checklist the Braves team (#463) is supposed to be #426. That’s good because Jack Fisher already has his own #463 card. Confused? There’s more.
There’s no #587 or #588 at all, but there is a card #589. So Topps’ 589-card 1961 set really only has 587 cards. Don’t worry. It’s just Topps version of the new math.
• • • • • •
See related article on BaseballCardFun.com entitled:
“BASEBALL HOBBY NEWS — Topps Offered a Simple Design For a Powerful Year in 1961”
Click Link Here
• Originally Published in Sep. 1991 “Baseball Hobby News” •
THIS ARTICLE FROM “BASEBALL HOBBY NEWS” MAGAZINE IS REPRINTED WITH THE PERMISSION OF BOTH THE EDITOR/PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR. IT HAS BEEN RETYPED, BUT NO CONTENT HAS BEEN CHANGED (EXCEPT FOR VERY MINOR ADJUSTMENTS, CORRECTIONS TO TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS AND CHANGES TO GRAPHICS). COMMENTS OR INFORMATION IN THE ARTICLE MAY BE OUT-OF-DATE.
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