IN NEARLY 50 YEARS IN THE HOBBY, one thing I’ve discovered is that for as many different collectors as there are, there are just as many ways to collect. We all approach the hobby differently, with different goals, priorities, and things we love. Despite our different approaches, there’s one thing almost all of us have in common: we all began our journey with a pack of Topps baseball cards. Mine was in 1977. I was a young boy, and my mother bought me a couple of Topps packs to keep me busy while grocery shopping. She tried to explain what they were and what they were for, and
or without the issue – fingerprints, blemishes, ink spray, extra color (or missing color), various attempts to obscure something in the background of a photo. There are, quite literally, hundreds throughout these pages – our intent is to show you all of them, but it’s impossible to do so in this catalog. If we did, it would be hundreds of pages long! You can, however, see each on our website, where they will remain documented for as long as the website exists. Consider our website to be a companion to this catalog, both during and after the auction. You may, of course, disagree about what constitutes a “variation” – and that’s awesome. That’s
I didn’t quite understand. But once I opened that pack, an entirely new world was revealed to me – a world that still captivates me every single day. Over the years, many companies have made baseball cards, but Topps has done far more. It has documented the game, shaped a hobby, pushed its boundaries, and created many of the images that define how generations of fans remember baseball. It has innovated and experimented, set trends and followed them, taken chances, made mistakes, and continually found new ways to put baseball in the hands of its fans. These small pieces of cardboard captivated us as children and, decades later, can still take us back to a particular player, season, or moment. Other companies have made baseball cards. Topps became part of baseball. And after 75 years, it remains exactly what it has always claimed to be: The Real One. Welcome to an auction we have quietly been assembling for more than a year. It began with one fantastic collection and gradually evolved into what we think is one of the most exciting auctions the hobby has ever seen: nothing but Topps baseball cards, from its earliest output to its most recent. The auction contains the largest and most complete assortment of Topps cards we have ever seen assembled in one place. When you dive into the following pages, you’re going to see every mainstream Topps set and insert, and virtually every test and regional issue the company produced, broken down by year. There are a few things, specifically, that I’d like to point out: Chronology: There are several issues – particularly test issues – where the true date of issue either remains in question or has been proven different from what conventional wisdom indicates (i.e. “1961” Dice Game or “1972” Candy Lids). In such cases, we have listed the cards chronologically based on how they are catalogued, for ease of reference. Variations: In these pages you’ll find a host of variations, including some in large groups. Many are well-known, documented variations – errors, corrections, and various anomalies of which we’re all aware. Many more are minor printing issues that recur and can be found with
the kind of hobby discussion we love. We’re not about to take a position on this, though – we’re just presenting them to you (and be on the lookout for a full checklist we’re working on with some pals). Test Issues: Topps has, over the years, produced a host of incredible test issues – things issued on a small scale, perhaps regionally, or things that never even made it out of the lab. In these pages, we have examples of virtually every one. Sometimes the entire test issue is offered as a complete set; other times we break the cards into smaller groups or individual lots. There are sets in this catalog that, before we started researching them, I’d never heard of! Maybe you’ll find something similar – some of them are fascinating. When I was a kid, I was a voracious reader of baseball card publications. Magazines, books from the library, the Beckett Baseball Card Price Guide and later the Standard Catalog. I’d even read the advertisements in magazines to learn about cards I’d never heard of. Years later, going through these cards, I can’t help but recall those things I’d read – after running Love of the Game for 14 years, there are still so many cards I’ve never handled. This auction has truly been a treat for me, but there are some folks who provided valuable information that helped us understand much of what is in these pages. As such, it’s important for me to thank Andy Broome, Spike Glidden, Steve Hart, David Hornish, Rob Lifson, Anthony Nex, Keith Olbermann, Arthur Rich, and a host of message board posters and hobby researchers who shared their knowledge over the years, enabling us to research many of these issues. It has always been a goal of mine to put together a themed auction like this one, and I hope you enjoy what you see. It was, without doubt, the most challenging auction we’ve ever done, jam-packed with information, research, and quality images, many of which have never been seen or highlighted. It’s certainly one of the coolest auctions I’ve ever seen!
Al Crisafulli Auction Director
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CLOSES OCTOBER 31, 2026
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