as a reminder, i have reinstated my sampler sets for the vintage topps flagship sets that i have not completed. more details were provided in these posts featuring my 1952, 1953, and 1954 topps samplers. i am maintaining my topps flagship through the years mini-collection, so the 1955 topps joe amalfitano card remains there and not in this updated sampler.
in 1955, there were 16 teams represented, and for the first time, it's an all-landscape oriented set. the card design features solid color backgrounds (by my count, there are red, orange, yellow, green, and blue backgrounds to include in the sampler) with a variety of colors for the name/position/team box at the bottom of the card, resulting in what i counted to be seventeen different color combinations:
- red/black, red/blue, red/green, red/yellow
- orange/black, orange/blue, orange/green, orange/yellow
- yellow/black, yellow/blue, yellow/green, yellow/red
- green/black, green/red, green/yellow
- blue/red, blue/yellow
as with 1954, there are two images of each card subject and the facsimile autographs remain on the front. the background color gradients also vary from left to right and right to left throughout the set, but i didn't bother to make sure i had all of those represented.
as for the backs, there were different types of card stock used, and so just as with the 1952 set, some cards have what is considered a "white back" and others a "gray back". the comics on the back are single panel, and not specific to the player featured on the front of the card. instead, they are a question and answer format with different categories, such as "daffy-nitions", "you're the ump", "record busters", "puzzlers", and "true or false".
there weren't any subsets in the way that we think of them today, but there were some other things to showcase. such as, the philadelphia athletics moved to kansas city during the offseason, so we get to see the first cards with a "kc" hat logo. the club kept the pre-existing elephant logo, but put it on a ball. in other team related news, the senators are now referred to as their proper team name, the "nationals".
i mentioned in the 1952 sampler post that i chose a couple of players to include in these sampler sets so that i could claim to have their entire topps flagship runs, and the first of those players debuts in 1955.
enough now. let's see what the 1955 sampler set looks like, starting with an ai generated needlepoint sampler for the set.
baltimore orioles - chuck diering
card #105
here's the blue background with the red text box on the front, and a gray back on the, well, back. diering was the orioles' primary center fielder in 1955 in terms of innings played, although he only started 71 games at the position. he made many late inning appearances, however, including on june 17, when he hit a walk-off double to beat the tigers in the 11th inning. let's bring back the term "flychaser".
boston red sox - tom brewer
card #83
here's the yellow background with the green text box (that's two of the 17 combos), as well as a "white back" example. brewer was 0-6 with a 4.99 era after his first seven starts in 1955, but he then rolled out 19.1 consecutive scoreless innings against the senators in his next two starts, getting no decision in the first game after going 10.1 innings and then earning his first win of the season in the second, courtesy of a six hit shutout. he finished the season 11-10.
chicago white sox - jack harshman
card #104
red with blue (three of 17). harshman was on the mound when harmon killebrew made his big league debut in 1954. in 1955, he was 11-7 on the mound, with nine complete games to his credit. one of those complete games came on july 2 against the indians when he homered against herb score to break a 1-1 tie en route to a 2-1 victory. i guess he hadn't completely forgotten how to hit!
cleveland indians - don mossi
card #85
detroit tigers - ferris fain
card #11
new york yankees - bob grim
card #80
here we have the yellow background and red text box (five of 17). what's missing from the back of grim's card is the fact that he was the 1954 american league rookie of the year. his sophomore season didn't match his rookie campaign, as he was just 7-5, but the yankees did win the pennant. grim pitched in three games of the 1955 world series, picking up a "save" in game 1 and starting (and losing ) game 6.
kansas city a's - jim finigan
card #14
this card features the green background and red text box (six of 17). finigan was the starting third baseman (and hitting in the three-spot) for the athletics' first game in kansas city. he was also the starting third baseman for the american league in the 1955 all-star game, becoming the first all-star for the kansas city version of the franchise.
washington senators - camilo pascual
here's an example of the red background and black text box (seven of 17). in 1955, topps decided to go ahead and refer to the washington franchise by their actual name - the nationals - rather than the more popular senators moniker. i've left them as senators anyway. as for pascual, this is his rookie card which carries a bit of a premium here in the twin cities as he moved with the franchise to minnesota in 1961. as for the 1955 season, pascual was 2-12 over 43 appearances (16 starts).
milwaukee braves - mel roach
card #117
here's an example of orange on green (eight of 17). roach was, in fact, a top-notch prospect, but he joined the navy and missed both the 1955 and 1956 seasons.
chicago cubs - frank baumholtz
card #172
this card shows the orange and black combo (nine of 17). 1955 was baumholtz's last full season in the majors, and his last with the cubs, period. he hit .289 and hit only one home run, but made it count as a pinch-hit, three-run dinger with two outs in the top of the ninth against the giants on june 5 to stave off defeat as the cubs went on to win the game 3-1.
cincinnati reds - "corky" valentine
card #44
yellow on black is the tenth color combo we've seen so far. 1955 turned out to be "corky"'s last year in the majors. the last batter he struck out as a big league pitcher was stan musial, but musial got him back later in the season by hitting a three-run homer off of him in what turned out to be valentine's last game in the majors. seeing valentine's nickname on the front of his card (he's one of a few in the set that have that distinction) makes me realize that topps putting rock raines and doc gooden on cards in 1989 wasn't that unusual even though i was confused at the time.
brooklyn dodgers - jim hughes
card #51
hughes card shows the yellow on blue combo (11 of 17). while other teams had some variety in the background colors of their individual player cards, the dodger cards were all yellow with varying text box colors. curious. anyway, hughes followed up his stellar 1954 season by pitching in just 24 games before (presumably) an injury ended his 1955 season in july. as a result, he missed out on the team's championship run.
philadelphia phillies - danny schell
card #79
schell's card reverses the color combo from hughes' card, giving us blue background with yellow text box (that's 12 of the 17 combos we've seen so far). here we have another use of "flychaser" on the back of a card as well. schell only made two appearances in 1955 - both as a pinch-hitter, and both in april - before his contract was purchased by the cardinals organization. he was sent to triple-a omaha where he hit .326 but didn't get a call-up then, or ever again.
pittsburgh pirates - dale long
card #127
long did indeed return to the majors in 1955, hitting 16 homers but also leading the national league with 13 triples. he twice hit two home runs in a game (both times against the reds), and also had a walk-off blast against the cubs. long is the guy who hit a home run in eight straight games in 1956, since tied by don mattingly and ken griffey jr.
st. louis cardinals - gordon jones
card #78
the green on black (13 of 17) is the last of the different color combos in the "teams' portion of the sampler. despite jones' strong showing in 1954 as a starter, he was moved to the bullpen in the latter part of the 1955 season after being ineffective as part of the rotation. he wound up the season 1-4, while the cardinals were a paltry 2-13 in the games in which he pitched.
new york giants - bobby hofman
card #17
hofman picked up where he had left off in 1954, hitting three more pinch-hit home runs in 1955. those three dingers tied him with some old-timer named cy williams for the most pinch-hit home runs in a career (nine), although the record has since been obliterated by matt stairs, among others.
that's the end of the teams portion of the sampler. with the full color backgrounds, there is no opportunity for me to have a card showing the yankee stadium facade. and, as i mentioned up top, there weren't really any subsets in the 1955 topps set. however, there were some cards that fit what i would consider to be future subsets. so, i decided to be sure to include them in the sampler.
manager - mike higgins
card #150
higgins' card is an example of the green and yellow color combo (14 of 17). i guess topps didn't know that higgins is better known as "pinky" (that's how you find him at baseball reference, anyway). 1955 was higgins' first year as a big league manager, and he guided the red sox to a record of 84-70, good for fourth place in the american league. there are some conflicting reports regarding his stance on integration, but i noted that pumpsie green was brought up to the big leagues about three weeks after higgins was relieved of the club's managerial duties in 1959.
coach - johnny riddle
card #98
from what i can gather, riddle was the first base coach under eddie stanky (and his 1955 in season successor harry walker) for the cardinals. he was a former big league catcher for a few teams, including the boston braves. in 1956, he moved back to the braves' franchise in milwaukee and coached there through their 1957 championship run. this particular card is oddly cut, and i appreciate the fact that the card (and comic) slightly predates don larsen's perfect game in the 1956 world series. oh, and for you harry potter fans, his name rearranges to "i, lord hun jeddly".
another theme i look for are what i call "o-pee-chee" type cards. these are cards that feature a player in a uniform different from the team that is designated on the card. these cards are quite prevalent in the mid-60's when updated photos were scarce, but are not necessarily as plentiful or obvious in other sets. in 1955, i am sorry to say that i could not find a card that fit the bill, thanks to the illustrated nature of the set.
we still have a couple more color combos to see, and here they are
bill wilson
card #86
this is the red and green color combo (15 of 17). wilson got the first hit, first extra base hit, and scored the first run in kansas city athletics history, courtesy of his second inning double and joe demaestri's subsequent single on opening day, 1955. later in that same game, wilson hit the first home run for the kc a's as well.
carlos paula
card #97
paula's card is an example of the orange and yellow color combination (16 of 17). he hit .299 with six homers for washington in 1955. he holds the distinction of having been the first black player in the history of the washington franchise after debuting in the majors late in the 1954 season. as for the comic, i think a key piece of information was left out, so i went and looked. gehrig walked three times in a row in a 1928 game against the white sox, and later in the season walked in three consecutive plate appearances across two games against those same southsiders. was that really a record?
sherm lollar
card #201
lollar's card gives us the last of the color combinations with an orange background and blue text box (17 of 17!). his may be the only card in the set with this particular combination, as this is a high number and i am not sure i would have pursued it if there were another option. 1955 was a good season for lollar, as he hit 16 homers and was again named to the american league all-star squad. unfortunately for him, once again yogi berra played the entire game and lollar was not able to make an appearance.
adding those cards to the team-based cards leaves three spaces on the third sheet for some random cards. i've filled those spaces with these cards:
chuck harmon
card #82
i would love to know how topps decided which nicknames got quotes on the front of the card and which didn't. here, chuck is just chuck on the front, but "chuck" on the back. it's ponderous. harmon was the first african-american player for the reds when he debuted in 1954. in 1955 he set career highs in games played, homers, and stolen bases - although he was caught stealing the same number of times as he was successful (9). he broke up a no-hitter in the 9th inning against the giants on july 23 with a pinch-hit single.
bob skinner
card #88
skinner began the 1955 season in the minors and suffered a wrist injury before he could return to the majors. when he did finally get back to the big leagues in 1956, dale long (the other pirate in this post) was entrenched at first base, so skinner was moved to the outfield. he later went on to coach and manage in the majors (he and son joel were the first father and son to be big league managers), winning a ring with the pirates in 1979 as their hitting coach.
dick schofield
card #143
the last card of the sampler is future dodger dick schofield. he only appeared in 12 games for the cardinals in 1955, going 0 for 4 at the plate. the card back mentions him receiving "early baseball training from his dad" but doesn't have the space to mention that his dad, "ducky", was a long-time minor league shortstop. of course, this schofield would have a son (dick schofield) and a grandson (jayson werth) who would play in the major leagues.
so, that's my 1955 topps sampler set, all 24 cards of it. 1956 is next - stay tuned!
