Sports Cards Ate My Brain

 I'm not a huge fan of the 1952 - 1956 Topps cards but I have collected a few of the Braves cards: My top 5, in chronological order, are below: One of only two 1952 Topps cards that I have and my only Brave. Another nice card of Del Crandall.  This may be my favorite set from this era of Topps. I like this card even though I don't like the cluttered nature of the design. We end with two from 1956. Sorry 1955, you got left out. So who am I picking? Not in consideration, but from this era, we have this bonus. Joe Cunningham turns into Wally Moon when unfolded. ================================ While 1953 is my favorite design my favorite card is the Ernie Johnson.  I grew up listening to him on the radio or on Braves games on TBS.  I'm sure he would be proud that his son was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a broadcaster.

 We move on to my Bowman collection, with the exception of two Tiger cards it is all Braves. I've seleted one card from each of the years I have one from and then will narrow it down to my favorite. This is here by default as my only 1949 Bowman.  I just picked this card up recently. 1950 gives us Buddy Kerr.  I chose this because the other 1950's I have are all boring portrait shots. I have to go with Del Crandall for 1951.  I have a nice collection of the Braves All-Star catcher and this is an error card also, though the name was never corrected. This 1952 Bob Chipman is a little rough but I like the stadium background. I got this lovely Johnny Pesky earlier this year along with another 1953 Bowman Color Tiger card. My only 1954 so it is here by default but I still do like this card even if it does look like someone hand cut the signature and glued it on the card. I do not have a 1955 because I hate the fake TV design.  I'm sure I will eventually pick up somet...

I got my first vintage Bowman card a few years ago and have picked up several Braves cards at shows over the past 3 or 4 years.  I don't admit to liking all of the sets but I really like a few of them. The 1950 set is comes as smaller cards than standard.  I like the clean design.  This is outfielder Willard Marshall on card 73.  Here is Willard again from the 1951 set.  I like this better than the 1952 set.  The only real difference is that the 1951 set has the name on the front and the 1952 has a facsimile signature.  As you can see, these cards a little taller than the 1950 cards.  This is card 98.   I bypass the, very plain, 1953 Bowman set and pick up on 1954.  This card is only slightly smaller than the Topps cards of this era.  I have a nice Del Crandall collection.  This is card 32. The 1955 set is ugly to me.  It's the wood grain TV set.  I have one card of Bill Bruton. In my current, c...

I picked up a bunch of Braves a couple of weeks ago at a card show and also got a needed card in a trade. My 9th 1951 Bowman Braves card is #228 Bob Chipman.  It has a significant crease but was very cheap at the show. This is the card I got from Dennis over at Too Many Verlanders .  1953 Topps 217 Murray Wall.  The top of the card is actually very good.  The bad edge is actually scanner glare. I'll be highlighting my other show pickups over the next few days.

I need many cards from the "big" Topps sets of the early 50's.  I picked up 10 cards from these sets.  Here are the first 5. I added my first 1952 Topps Braves cards: 97 - Earl Torgeson I prefer my earlier Bowman Torgeson's but it is nice to finally have a cards from this iconic set. 1953 Topps 185 - Jim Pendleton The Braves received Jim from the Dodgers before the 1953 season. 214 - Bill Bruton My favorite Bill Bruton card so far. 1955 Topps: 23 - Jack Parks Played 11 years in the minor leagues before making the Majors with the Braves in 1955. 103 - Charlie White Another backup catcher from 1955.  I see a theme! Next up will be 5 1956's.

I'm not a big fan of the larger cards that Topps produced from 1952 to 1956 so I haven't started actively pursuing Braves cards from those years.  I will eventually get around to it if I can find some good deals.  I don't have a Braves card from 1952 Topps.  1951 Topps Blue Back - Topps first baseball issue was two series of game cards.  One with red backs and one with blue backs.  They are smaller than the picture below. 12 Sam Jethroe - Sam was the Braves first African-American player and won the NL Rookie of the Year award in 1950 after leading the league in stolen bases at age 33. The back is blue.  Go figure. 1953 - I like the artwork of these cards but I think the black bar should have extended across the entire card. 197 Del Crandall - The artist gives Del a light unibrow.  Del has no stats for 1952 as he was in the military. The signature over the biographical info makes it hard to read and was is "Strike Outs" in quot...

I only have 4 Bowman cards from 1953 - 1955.  The cards are much bigger than the previous years.  They are as tall as the Topps cards of the era but slightly narrower. The images are smaller than the actual cards. 1953 - A "pure" card design.  This was the first year Bowman used photos. This is from the color set.  I do not have any cards from the black & white set. 83 Jack Daniels - Played only one year in the majors in 1952 and hit .187.  The Braves moved to Milwaukee right before the beginning of the 1953 season so Jack is shown as a Boston Brave. One of my favorite card back designs from the 1950's.  Good information and finally some stat lines from Bowman. 1954 - The colored box for the faux signature detracts from the design. 16 Jim Wilson - Jim played for the Braves for 4 seasons.  Two with Boston and two with Milwaukee.  He won 12 games in 1952. I like the bat and ball motif for the name and card number and...