TOPPS 75 TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION AUCTION
1961
M ajor League expansion and a team relocation worked to make 1961 a year where Topps had to resort to using a lot of capless head shots and airbrushed photos across 587 cards. The set was skip numbered to 589 when a typesetter misread the final intended 7 as a 9, leaving an odd two card gap. The bright look and color of the previous year’s cards was jettisoned for a more muted look and far more sterile design as the cards once again returned to a vertical format, this time for good. Following three years of team cards bearing them on their backs, Topps integrated seven discrete checklist cards, one for each series, into the set. League Leader cards premiered as well and an attractive subset with Most Valuable Players of the last decade made a big splash. A ten card Baseball Thrills subset reappeared, as historic events recent (Larsen’s perfect game) and Ruth’s 60 Home Runs mingling, a reaction to Fleer’s All Time Great sets trying to elbow their way in. The high numbers are considered among the tougher ones of the vintage era. The premium offers and award ballots were replaced by something far better, actual, fun inserts with baseball players and team emblems. Thirty-six Magic Rub-Offs, with humorous caricatures of players with unusual nicknames and team logos were created by master illustrator Jack Davis, and offered in many packs, as were two-subject panels of photo stamps. With 104 players from each league depicted, Topps also retailed a standalone album for these popular items.
241. 1961 Topps Complete Set (587) MINIMUM BID: $1,500
242. 1961 Topps #496 Ken MacKenzie - Blackless Variation - CGC FAIR 1.5 MINIMUM BID: $100
239. 1961 Topps Print Variations Collection (82) MINIMUM BID: $250
243. 1961 Topps Five-Cent Wax Wrapper MINIMUM BID: $25
240. 1961 Topps Salesman Sample MINIMUM BID: $250
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