Topps Football Cards- Light History

1950's

Baseball was the sport of focus for Topps manufacturing until 1950 when they produced a small line of felt backed football cards. At 7/8 by 1 and 7/16 these are the smallest regular issues created by Topps. If you are looking for collectible cards from this era, watch for Ernie Stautner (hall of fame) and Joe Paterno from Brown University.

Another set that is highly collectible today is the Topps Magic, released in 1951. Each card in this set had a metallic gray coating covering the name of the school the player was from. This could be removed with a coin, similar in fashion to a lottery ticket. Any card still retaining this metallic coating will bring a premium price.

Acquisition Of Bowman

Topps was not the first company to produce a football card with the image and pertinent athlete information. In fact Bowman, Topps competition, were one of the first to create football cards on a large scale. In 1956 Topps purchased the Bowman company and began producing football cards regularly. During this time they would release the All American set, 100 cards total. This set is notable in that it contains 11 Heisman Trophy winners, The Four Horseman of Notre Dame, Knute Rockney and many other well known collegiate players.

Notable Errors

Old Topps football cards will vary in value, some of the most valuable are those that contain errors. Some errors were intentional, or meant as a practical joke. Switched bios on the Gaynell Tinsley and Byron "Whizzer" White cards, erroneously identifying Red Grange as a quarter back rather than a half back and spelling Nile Kinnick's name wrong are but a few examples of errors in the 1955 All American set of Topps football cards

Later Years

After 1955 Topps would release football cards on an annual bases, starting with their first NFL set sold in 1956. Throughout the years there would be many different collectible cards created by Topps. Some of the most notable include the rookie card for O.J. Simpson (1970 Buffalo Bills), Fran Tarkenton (1962 Minnesota Vikings) and Jim Brown (1958 Cleavland Browns)

During the 90's Topps major competitors including Fleer and Upper Deck (formerly Donruss) concentrated their card efforts on more expensive cards, leaving Topps alone in the lower priced market. This led the company to improve card stock as well as price.

In the last few decades there have been a few changes to the Topps football card sets. Instead of merely producing one set of 75-100 plus cards per set, there are now different card lines. Bowman Sterling, Topps Chrome and Topps Magic collectors sets are but three of several different lines. This could have been a buffer to the stiff competition the company faced from Donruss and Fleer.