Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Oh, So We're Ranking Topps Sets, Are We? Topps and Bottomms - Part 1

I's done seen an awful lot of flagship rankings lately. 'Tis natural, I suppose, with the 2015 Topps release still fresh. Well I wanna play too (harumph). Though I will be playing a different version of your silly little game.

I will not be ranking the Topps sets by design. Instead, I chose my favorite Reds card from each year, based on very specific criteria (riiiiiight), and will be ranking these cards based on even more hyper-specific criteria (read: me saying "ooooh, pretty"). I tried to remove myself from letting the player on the card sway my choices, but that is probably unavoidable. For instance, my true favorite from '68 is the Bench rookie, but it's a very unexciting card. So it did not make the list.

Also, I have chosen my least favorite Reds card from each year and will be ranking those right alongside my favorites. So you'll be seeing a lot of cap-less mug shots, sourpuss faces, pitchers grunting mid-throw, etc. You take the bitter to appreciate the sweet. Or something.

So off we go. Part 1 will be #'s 64-61: The worst best and the best worst. The Topps and the Bottomms.

The Topps:

#64 1958 Topps Bill Wight

Yeah, the design influenced me a little here. That bright-ass yellow with the poorly printed photo just ain't workin', son. And none of the cards in the set are particularly interesting, as you can see by my choice of 'favorite'.

#63 1954 Topps Ted Kluszewski
It's hard not to love any Klu card. But this one is still at the bottom of the love pile (ew). The '54 set is a nice set, but there is very little variation going on, other that the b&w poses. Teddy here had the coolest one. Check out that form.

#62 1960 Topps Frank Robinson
Like the '54 set, the '60 set doesn't sway much from card to card. Frank kinda got my vote by default.

#61 1975 Topps Johnny Bench
Don't get me wrong. This is a good card. It is on the favorites list, after all. I just find it awkward for some reason. Or at least, just awkward enough to keep it low on the faves list. And I'm not as wild about the 1975's as the rest of ya. Sorry.
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The Bottomms:

#64 1952 Topps Dick Sisler
I can't bring myself to declare any 1952 Topps worthy of a list like this. The least I can do is give it the best worst spot. I do think the pink background is a trifle goofy, to be fair.

#63 1954 Topps Harry Perkowski
As mentioned above, it's hard to distinguish 1954's. Of all the bright colors they went with, it's a shame they had to use boring white for a lot of em. Still not a bad card.

#62 1993 Topps Cesar Hernandez
1993 Topps is an awesome set. Mr. Hernandez is not as impressed with it as the rest of us.

#61 2011 Topps Arthur Rhodes
HRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMPH
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#'s 60-56 will be posted at some point in the future. Because that's how time works.

Go Reds.

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