1961 Topps

The Time Managers Were Traded and Topps Airbrushed Their Baseball Cards

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Frank Lane was infamous for making many trades, including players like Norm Cash, Rocky Colavito, Roger Maris, Red Schoendienst, and Early Wynn. Among the over 400 trades he made in his career included one for managers. In 1960, when he was the GM of the Cleveland Indians, he sent Joe Gordon to Detroit and brought Jimmy Dykes over to the Indians in the middle of the season.

Many baseball fans may remember Joe Gordon more for playing with the Yankees and Indians. He was the MVP in 1942, a 9x All-Star, 5x World Series champion, and entered the Hall of Fame in 2009. He began his managing career with the Indians in 1958 but had a rocky relationship with Frank Lane. So Gordon, in 1959, said he wouldn’t return to the team the following year, so Lane fired him. However, he rehired him shortly after that. Gordon was 49-46 with Cleveland in 1960 when Lane sent him to Detroit.

1960 Topps #216 Joe Gordon – Front
1960 Topps #216 Joe Gordon – Reverse

Gordon would go 26-31 with Detroit in 1960 but wouldn’t re-sign as their manager. Instead, he became Kansas City Athletic’s coach for the 61 season, where he went 26-33 before being fired and replaced by Hank Bauer. So we never got a Topps Baseball card with Gordon in a Tigers uniform. Gordon would be a head coach again in 1969 for the Kansas City Royals, going 69-93 before resigning.

For his 1960 card, Topps used the same photo from the 1959 Indians Picture Pack. They then used the same image, with a little airbrushing, for his 1961 Topps card as the Athletics Coach.

1959 Cleveland Indian Picture Pack – Joe Gordon
1961 Topps #224 Joe Gordon – Front
1961 Topps #224 Joe Gordon – Reverse

Jimmy Dykes was also a player before becoming a manager. He played for 22 years between 1918 and 1939 before becoming a manager between 1934 and 1961. He was the player/manager for the Chicago White Sox from 1934 to 1939. As a player, he was a 2x All-Star and 2x World Series champion.

Dykes had a record of 44-52 with the Detroit Tigers in 1960 before being sent to the Indians, where he would go 26-32. He stayed on as the Indian’s coach in 1961, going 77-83 before retiring.

1960 Topps #214 Jimmie Dykes – Front
1960 Topps #214 Jimmie Dykes – Reverse

Topps used the same photo they used for Dykes’ 1960 Topps card for his 1961 card. I haven’t been able to find a team photo or type 1 for the 1960 Dykes card; if you have one, please leave a comment down below.

1961 Topps #222 Jimmie Dykes – Front
1961 Topps #222 Jimmie Dykes – Reverse

It wasn’t uncommon for Topps to reuse and airbrush images throughout the vintage post-war era. But, as far as I know, this is the only case of a trade involving a pair of managers forcing Topps to do a little of their magic airbrushing.

Happy Collecting!

1961 Topps Hockey Is A Set of Many Firsts

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The 66-card 1961 Topps hockey set isn’t as noteworthy as it probably should be in the hobby. Only 47 active 1961 Topps hockey sets are in the current PSA Set Registry, making it one of the least collected vintage hockey sets. While the set only features players from the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, and New York Rangers, plus a checklist (Parkhurst had the rights to players from the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, and Detroit Red Wings), the reality is that Topps did a lot of things for the first time in this release that helped define the hobby.

1961 Topps #29 Bobby Hull – Front
1961 Topps #29 Bobby Hull – Reverse

First, while OPC produced the set under the Topps license, the cards, wrappers, and boxes had “O-Pee-Chee” and “Made in Canada” printed on them for the first time. 

1961 Topps Hockey Wrapper

1961 Topps was also the first hockey set that had a premium placed in the packs. Each came with four cards, a piece of gum, and a pair of stamps.

1961 Topps Stamp Panels Howie Morenz Frank Nighbor

As a lifelong checklist collector, I’d be scolded if I failed to mention that Topps included a checklist for the first time in a hockey set in 1961, too.

1961 Topps #66 Checklist 1-66

1961 Topps Hockey is also the first set to feature team cards, coaches cards, and rookie card designations on the front of cards (though not for every rookie).

1961 Topps #63 New York Rangers
1961 Topps #24 Rudy Pilous
1961 Topps #60 Jean Ratelle

The Bruins team card also marked Willie O’Ree’s first appearance on a hockey card. He was the first African-Canadian player to compete in the NHL.

1961 Topps #20 Boston Bruins

Here’s more information about this hobby-defining set if you want to collect it.

While Topps featured three teams, the Rangers cards are the key to the set as three of the four most challenging cards in the set are cards 63 (New York Rangers), 64 (Action Picture – D. Meissner/G. Worsley), and 65 (Action Picture – Gump Worsley). There are no PSA 10s between those three cards and only 2 PSA 9s (both of card 65). The other tough high-grade card is card 66, Checklist 1-66, with zero PSA 10s and 2 PSA 9s in the population report.

From a price guide perspective, the cards that will set you back the most are Cards 1 (Phil Watson), 22 (Bathgate, Hall in Action), 29 (Bobby Hull), 36 (Stank Mikita), 60 (Jean Ratelle), 62 (Rod Gilbert), and the low pop cards I discussed earlier.

Raw sets come to market from time to time. This higher-grade example sold for $2218 in September 2021.

1961 Topps Hockey Complete Set

The pictured mid-grade set below sold for $1082 in September 2021.

1961 Topps Hockey Complete Set

The Stamps are a little more expensive. Four years ago, in their Spring 2017 auction, Robert Edward Auctions sold a complete 26-panel, 52-stamp set for $1080.

1961 Topps Hockey Stamp Panels

Topps packed a lot of innovation and incredible imagery into their 1961 hockey release. Its small size makes collecting it a little more achievable if you like collecting graded sets with just enough scarcity in high-grade to make it challenging for condition-conscious collectors.

If you decide to tackle this iconic set, let me know your progress in the comments. Happy collecting! 

Beyond the NFL – Topps Football Cards from the AFL, USFL, and CFL

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A couple of older hobby periodicals have so much alpha that I recommend completing the back issue runs to everyone. One example is Topps Magazine; sure, it had a lot of self-advertising, but it also had great pieces like this one about Topps’ Non-NFL sets.

How many of you have all 14 Topps AFL, CFL, and USFL sets Dwight Chapin mentioned in this article?

Now, let’s see how pricey some of the cards mentioned in this Fall 1993 article are today (Near Mint 1993 prices compared to recent PSA sales).

  • 1958 Topps Cookie Gilchrist: $22/$151 PSA 6 in October 2020
  • 1961 Topps Joe Kapp: $20/$109 PSA 8 January 2024
  • 1961 Topps Jack Kemp: $110/$221 PSA 9 June 2020
  • 1964 Topps Checklist #176: $125/$1,480 PSA 9 in May 2024
  • 1965 Topps Joe Namath: $1,250/$36,400 PSA 8 in May 2024
  • 1966 Topps Funny Ring Checklist: $325/$4,446 PSA 8 in September 2023
  • 1984 Topps USFL Jim Kelly: $185/$91 PSA 8 in October 2024

Five Incredibly Rare Hockey Wax Packs

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Mastro offered five scarce hockey wax packs in their August 2004 Sports Premier Catalog Auction. Here’s the oldest, from the 1954/55 Topps set featuring a “who’s who” of hockey greats: Kelly, Howe, Worsley, Bathgate, and Sawchuck!

Also included were a 1957/58 Topps Five-Cent Wax Pack, a 1958/59 Parkhurst 5-cent Wax Pack, a 1961/62 Topps Five-Cent Wax Pack, and a 1965/66 Topps Five-Cent Wax Pack.

For good measure, a 1954/55 Topps display box was also part of this catalog!

PS, this auction also included a few lots I’ve discussed previously:

Happy collecting!

Check out The Unopened Archive for more!

1961 Topps Collection Of World Series Baseball Card Original Artworks

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Ron Oser Enterprises offered these three 1961 Topps World Series baseball card original full-color artworks (card #’s 309, 310, and 311) in a lot together back in the spring of 2000.

All are from the “1960 World Series” specials. The full color artworks measure approximately 4″ x 5″ and each is accompanied by an original 1961 Topps example card. All are bordered by the artists color “wash” which runs into the artists board that the artworks are still attached to. Includes: #309 “Cimoli Safe in Crucial Play’ #310 “Face Saves the Day’ #311 “Ford Pitches Second Shutout
Reserve $250.

Ron Oser Enterprises

Here are the final products:

Now, cards 306-313 make up the World Series subset, and I managed to find one other original artwork online; REA sold card #308 for $830 in the fall of 2013

Please let me know if you’ve seen any of the other four World Series cards’ original artworks.

Check out The Original Artwork Archive for more!