Bulletin Board Material
The above is a photo of the bulletin board in my office. For years I've wanted to pin a Topps card from every year since '52 to it, but have only now finally gotten around to it. I'm pleased with the way it came out. My basic idea beyond one of every year, was to not have any duplicate players and keep it all to one team. I thought about doing a card from the corresponding World Series Champion for each season, but in the end opted for keeping it all one team. I feel like this is a better example of the changes (and similarities) in design from year to year. I was able to pull duplicates from my collection (no breaking up sets in 3-ring binders) for most of these. 1997 through 2007 did require going on Sportlots and hunting down cards as I literally have zero cards from a lot of those seasons, but that was surprisingly painless as far as cost. Here's a run down of who made the board.
1952 to 1955
I didn't have a lot to go with as far as duplicates from these sets. Ed Lopat is the only big name here (check his stats, I bet you'll be surprised). The Frank Overmire is a card I've always thought was nice looking, and ended up picking up a few of them whenever I saw them for cheap when I was building the '52 set as a result. It may not be apparent, but I didn't actually stick the cards with the push pins. Sure, they'll have little dents along the edge, but I'm no slabber, they'll be fine.
1956 to 1959
You can really see the thought process Topps was using in the 50's with these cards. '58 is basically a rehash of '54, but with just the mini picture. '59 combines '57 and '58. It wasn't until I started focusing my collecting on vintage Topps sets, that I suddenly saw just how prominent bright colors have been to the design throughout the years. For decades I viewed sets like '54, '58, and '75 as outliers, but with only a few exceptions, it's almost always in the design.
1960 to 1963
It took me forty years of looking at these cards to see the common thread in '60, '61, and '63, with the red and yellow at the bottom. Now I can't unsee it. The names on these cards should start being more recognizable. The '63 Yogi is probably the biggest card on the board, certainly if condition wasn't a factor it would be. This might also be my favorite four year run of Topps cards that they've ever printed. This run represents the heart of my father's collection that survived. As kids (around '88) my brother and I would go through his shoe box of cards and just be in awe of these. They somehow seemed older forty years ago than they do today. None of these were my father's cards. As I've dove head first into vintage collecting, I've never intermingled the ones I pick up with his originals, which are somehow now far out numbered by mine.
1964 to 1967
This run of four years has never really caught my attention. I am seeing it with some new eyes, and '64 & 67 do suddenly have a lot more pop of color I didn't always see and ''66 keeps with the red/yellow bottom stripping, so there is some new found appreciation. Howard/Pepitone/Bouton/Ford also represent four of my all-time favorite Yankees, albeit for very different reasons.
1968 to 1972
I somehow never matched the red bubbles (at least, red in the case of Yankees, various other colors for other teams) in the lower left of '68 with the red bubbles in the uppe right of '69. I also somehow never noticed "Yanks" as the name in the '70 set, and that was a set I spent a ton of time analyzing as it was the first vintage set build I ever completed. Outside of Tresh, these guys may not be household names, but they all had very solid careers and deserve to be represented up here on this board as great Yankees of their era (albeit, not all Yankees Era's are created equal).
1973 to 1977
This is a great run of designs. I don't argue with people who say '75 is the best set Topps ever printed (not my choice, but it's on my short list), and the other ones up here are all great as well. When you focus on the pops of color on these other four designs, they suddenly look a lot less drab. The red circle on '73, the blue piping on '74, '76 with the stripes, and '77 with the team names and pennant. I also really like the players I was able to use for this run. The Sparkly Lyle is a card that never really caught my eye during my '74 set build, but definitely should have.
1978 to 1981
This isn't my favorite four year run of designs, but there absolutley nothing wrong with them either, as evidenced by these four cards. I think Topps was really in a groove here and would keep it going for another ten years before they started to over think things. The Munson, Guidry, and Jackson may be four of my favorite Topps cards in existence, just fantastic examples of what a "baseball card" is supposed to be.
1982 to 1986
With this run of cards we've run into my era of collecting. I know I bought cards in '83, but '84 was the first set I actually remember asking for in the grocery store (and even then it was usually Fleer at the time). By '86 I was full on trading cards with friends. That '86 Mattingly is one of the first cards I remember being "special" and standing out among the others. Prior to that I think my focus was on Expos and cards with "cool" photos on the front.
1987 to 1991
This five year run perfectly captures the heart of my collecting. I bought more packs of cards during this period than any other period. These sets will always elicit happy memories for me. They may not be worth the cardboard they're printed on to modern collectors, but to me they're priceless. I may also be the only person in the world who holds this position, but you'll never convince me that 1988 Topps isn't the greatest set ever printed. Just a perfectly executed and genuine throwback to the sets that came before it, with obvious elements of '64, '66, and '67. Maybe Topps was feeling nostalgic heading into their 40th, because all of these designs borrow heavily from ones that came before (something I wish Topps would do more of today).
1992 to 1995
Thanks a lot Upper Deck, and misguided kids who bought it (my brother and I bought a crazy amount of Upper Deck from '89-'91). This is the start of Topps messing with the program that had worked perfectly well for forty years, wasn't broken, and didn't need to be fixed. 1992 saw the white backs with color photos of the stadiums, '93 introduced gloss to the backs, and for some reason Topps decided their bubble gum cards required foil stamping in 1995 and have never looked back. By 1995 I wasn't really buying cards any more. I would pick up a few packs every year until '97, just to see the designs, but I had moved on to other interest for the most part.
1996 to 2000
I have deep seeded resentment towards the 1996 and 1997 Topps sets. I actually kind of like the '97 design (a lot if I'm being honest), but these two sets still earn my disdain. The problem being one of omission. There is no Tim Wallach in either sets unusually small checklists. There definitely should be based on precedent, but there isn't. Other companies at the time were still including Wallach, but for some reason Topps didn't think he warranted inclusion with his 2000 hits and 17 years worth of stats to fill up the backs with. I don't know what Topps was thinking at the time, and I wasn't buying cards, but I find this to be a rather forgettable period in the Topps timeline.
2001 to 2005
I definitely never bought a single pack from any one of these sets. They're not bad looking sets. I like the return of the second photo in 2003, and I find the 2002 bronze border to a subtle ode to '87 and '62 (even if no one else does). 2004 and 2005 would be so much better looking if the names at the top were just matte colors instead of hard to read foil stamping.
2006 to 2009
2008 represents my return to card collecting. It was just supposed to be something to break the monotony of studing for the bar exam, but now 18 years later I'm still as deep as I ever was into the hobby. Or at least, my 1988 version of the hobby that doesn't involve slabs or willie wonka golden ticket cards. This is a nice little run of big name Yankees, maybe the best four year run on my board.
2010 -2014
I didn't like these sets much when they came out, and they haven't grown on me any since then. Too much white, too much foil, not enough personality.
I appreciate Topps making an effort to take some design risk during this run of sets. They don't all hit (2016 I find particularly terrible), but a few of them do and I'd much prefer Topps take a risk that doesn't work out with a design, then pump out another generic boring set.
2020 to 2023
2023 has really grown on me as a set. I actually think it's the start of a nice little run that Topps has carried into 2026. 2020 on the other hand may be my least favorite design on this board. I think Luke Voit, the most anonomous Yankee to ever lead the American League in home runs, is an apt choice to represent the set.
2024 to 2026
2024 is in my opinion, the best Topps design of the last 15 years. 2025 and 2026 are fine as well. I think were due for a colorful set in 2027, but Topps may have other ideas. In any event, I've got room for seven more sets before I run out of space. This whole exercise has made me feel very old.
