Hoo boy. It feels pretty nice having a complete team set this old. Though 1954 isn't the toughest set, since the 250 card checklist yielded no high-number short prints to speak of, it's still satisfying to now own the Reds' 14 card team set; stains, creases, rounded corners, warts, and all.
As far as the design, in '54 Topps dropped artist renderings in favor of actual photos. The sacrifice was in backgrounds. Solid colors in place of the painted ballpark scenery. I'm supposing that any background in the photos wouldn't print well on the cards, though I don't really know what I'm talking about. Introduced, was the small, full-body, action photo alongside the up-close portrait, which Topps would repeat in '55 and '56. There are also stock variations for the first few dozen in the series, and a subsequent 'green back' listing in the checklists. While I don't have those, I imagine I will someday. And I'm not counting them in the complete set, because, well, I don't want to.
STATS:
Cards - 14
All Stars - 5 (Ted Kluszewski, Ken Raffensberger, Roy McMillan, Ed Bailey, Grady Hatton)
RC's - 1 (Chuck Harmon)
Reds Hall of Famers - 2 (Ted Kluszewski, Roy McMillan)
Edges of the Card the Topps Designers Thought Required a Border - 3
Legs - Red
Edges of the Card the Topps Designers Thought Required a Border - 3
Legs - Red
7 Ted Kluszewski
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22 Jim Greengrass
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46 Ken Raffensberger
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69 Bud Podbielan
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71 Frank Smith
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120 Roy McMillan
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123 Bobby Adams
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125 Harry Perkowski
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136 Connie Ryan
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138 Bob Borkowski
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162 Herman Wehmeier
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182 Chuck Harmon
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184 Ed Bailey
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208 Grady Hatton
Go Reds. |
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