In 1952, The Topps Chewing Gum Company issued the largest baseball set of its time. The 1952 Topps set marked a turning point for the Topps Chewing Gum Company and sent the company soaring past their competition. This 1952 Topps set consisted of a whopping 407 cards, beating out the Bowman Baseball set which consisted of 252 cards in total. The 1952 Topps set contains Rookie Cards for some of baseball's greatest players including: Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, and Ed Mathews.
These sets are built to order, and will be constructed to the collector’s precise specifications. We can build most of these sets from inventory, but we may be required to go out and purchase a few cards. The Conditions that we have currently available to custom build are; Excellent/Mint, Excellent and Very Good.
That said, the time to build, the condition, and the price may vary. For more information, please contact us. Our Set Manager Elana, will be happy to help you.
For a better look at this beautiful set, please click here.
DeansCards.com has 1.5 million cards online, and nobody builds or sells more Bowman, Topps, and complete sets than DeansCards.com.
Baseball card collectors continue to come to us with some very specific requests – and thanks to the inventory we have built with more than 1.5 million vintage cards, we are able to fulfill those requests.
1952 Topps baseball card set custom built in Excellent+ 5.65 condition.
We just shipped a complete set of 1952 Topps baseball cards to a collector at a consistent set grade of Excellent + (5.65). The 1952 Topps Baseball Card set was the first mainstream set issued by the Topps Gum Company and far surpassed all earlier sets in size, quality and quantity. The giant sized cards symbolized America’s new postwar prosperity and became an instant hit with collectors and set a new benchmark for the hobby.
Of course, the 1952 Topps baseball card set includes the most sought after baseball card for collectors – the Mickey Mantle Topps rookie card. Interest in the 1952 Topps baseball card set has only grown over time, and we look forward to helping other collectors build more custom sets in the future.
Another baseball card collector also made a special request which we were also able to fulfill quickly from our inventory of vintage baseball cards. The request was for a full 1953 Topps Dodger Complete Team Set and a 1953 Yankees Complete Team Set.
1953 Topps New York Yankees Team Set build by DeansCards.com.
The 1953 Topps baseball card set is considered the most personal set of the 1950s. Everything from the hand drawn sketches on the front, to the signature, biographical paragraph and thorough statistics on the back demonstrates that Topps had hit its stride with the 1952 set and now was ready to push the envelope with the 1953 baseball card set. While these cards did not live up to the popularity of the 1952 Topps set, they have their own special place in sports card history.
1953 Topps Brooklyn Dodgers team set built by DEansCards.com.
The major drawback of the 1952 Topps baseball card set was that many of the players depicted in it inaccurately look very similar, particularly in terms of hair and skin color. The 1953 Topps baseball card set corrects this flaw, especially on the head shots. The color paintings of the player’s faces have warm, relaxed and friendly expressions and completely dominate the large cards. The 1953 Topps baseball cards showcase more “flesh” than any other set ever made.
Sports Collectors Digest featured Dean’s article about the unique 1953 Bowman baseball card set in its March 8, 2013 issue. The article, also available online, is titled, “Bowman bounces back,”and features Bowman’s “counter attack” to the groundbreaking 1952 Topps set.
The 1953 Bowman set that featured great photography, multi-player cards and “pure color” is still considered one of the most beautiful vintage baseball card sets -- yet it was not a money-maker for Bowman, which had to return to a black and white card set later in 1953.
Dean also produced a video on the 1953 Bowman baseball card set which shows off the beauty of the set and serves as a timeless reminder to a bygone vintage baseball card era.
The story behind the 1953 Bowman baseball card set makes the set even more important for sports card collectors. Bowman had been slowly evolving its bubble gum cards, but that came to a sudden end in the spring of 1952, when the Topps Company aggressively seized its opening and issued a competitive set of baseball cards. Bowman seemed caught off guard, as the company was shocked at how quickly the superior giant-sized 1952 Topps baseball cards snatched the majority of the baseball card market share in just a year’s time.
Bowman was now forced to create a better card. The 1953 set was Bowman’s direct response to the 1952 Topps surprise attack and Bowman spared no expense. The 1953 Bowman cards were much larger than their 1952 cards and roughly matched the size of the Topps cards.
When you review the 1953 Bowman cards, you quickly get overwhelmed with the wonderful, bold color photos of the players. And there is no writing on the front of the cards which makes the photography stand out even more.
Without names on the card fronts, it’s sometimes tough to determine who the player is in the photo. The 1953 Bowman set forces you to concentrate on the player’s faces more so than any other set. As you go through the set, you find yourself turning over most of the cards to verify the identity of the player.
The photos were taken during the 1952 season, when color photography was extremely rare due to the high expense of the process. The Philadelphia-based Bowman Gum Company had to act quickly to get all of the photos taken before the 1952 season ended, so the company chose a New York based photographer for the job. That's why almost all of the 1953 Bowman baseball cards were shot in the two classic stadiums that sat across the Harlem River from each other: Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds.
It is fun to look at the cards of the National League players and piece together a panoramic view of the uniquely shaped Polo Grounds. And cards for American League players feature views of Yankee Stadium that most are too young to remember.
And if you have vintage cards from 1869-1969 that you'd like to sell, please visit our "sell your baseball cards" page at Deans Cards for more information.
