WIREPHOTO: Michael Jordan - [03/14/84] 'Early Award' (Bulls)

1955 Topps Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values

1955 Topps was the first of 2 years of horizontal card designs. As with 1952, 1953 & 1954, cards were again a tad larger than today's standard. A nice feature, facsimile autographs, again appeared on the cards. The set came in 2 series, #1-160 and scarcer "High Numbers" #161-210.

Due to the contract battles between Topps & Bowman, Cards #175,186,203 & 209 were never issued. Topps eventually won the war, buying Bowman making 1955 the last year for Bowman cards. But the damage was done as Topps had to leave out many stars including Mickey Mantle & Stan Musial.

There were a total of (15) Hall of Famers in the 1955 set !!!
Top ROOKIEs: Roberto Clemente, Sandy Koufax & Harmon Killebrew
Top Stars: Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, Al Kaline, Ernie Banks, Warren Spahn, Jackie Robinson, Eddie Mathews, Willie Mays, Yogi Berra & Duke Snider.

"The Golden Greek" Harry Agganis, a popular 1955 Topps card, is a tragic story, Agganis, a rising young star, died after his first card was issued. A football star at Boston U., he turned down an offer from the Cleveland Browns and became the starting first baseman. Shortly after he came down with pneumonia and died of a Pulmonary Embolism.

1955 Topps Baseball card checklist, values and prices.

1954 Bowman Baseball
Cards Checklist & Values

Competition was raging between Topps and Bowman in 1953 and 1954 leading to problems with both companies sets. Bowman caused Topps to missing 6 cards in 1953 with Topps getting revenge by signing Ted Williams to an exclusive contract in 1954. Bowman then had to pull Ted Williams card #66 from their set shortly after they started printing, replacing it with Jimmy Piersall, who also was on card #210 making the 1954 Bowman Ted Williams #6 one of 50's scarcest cards.

1954 Bowman Wax Box Perhaps distracted by it's competition with Topps, the 1954 Bowman set was filled with errors and variations. Nearly 20% (40/224 cards) had some sort of variation, with some having more than 2.

The St. Louis Browns recent move to Baltimore also made things interesting. Bowman's artists had no idea what an Orioles jersey would look like - so they just madeone up.

1954 Bowman Baseball card checklist, values and prices.

Baseball card collecting terms (part G)

Grade/Condition Centering, corner wear, photo clarity, edges, creases, print flaws ... all combine to determine a card's condition or grade. Along with rarity/scarcity it is the major factor in a card's value.

Graded Card As values increased the condition of cards and the determination of fakes and alterations became increasingly more important. Various companies became "graders" of your cards. For a fee they would grade your card (usually on a 1 to 10 scale) and then placed in a sealed plastic holder with labelling of the vital information.

From past experiences, most people are NOT HAPPY with the grades they receive. To keep values up, graders can be extremely picky. Things you don't see, they do so don't be surprized when the NEAR MINT card you send in ends up with an EX or EX/MINT grade.

There are TOO many grading companies - if you do, do choose carefully. PSA / SGC / GAI / BGS are some of the many companies. It is good to know that getting a card graded by a company that people do not recognize or respect will usually just cost you time and money and not help you in any way.

WIREPHOTO: Michael Jordan - [03/14/84] 'Early Award' (Bulls)

1955 Topps Baseball Cards Checklist & Values

1932,1933,1936 Chicago Cubs Picture Pack Team Issue

1954 Bowman Baseball Cards Checklist & Values

1955 Topps Baseball Cards
Checklist & Values

1932,1933,1936 Chicago Cubs
Picture Pack Team Issue

1954 Bowman Baseball
Cards Checklist & Values