I wrote a dedicated article about 10 Incredible Topps Baseball Team Cards in February 2021, highlighting their importance to the hobby. In my wrap-up, I mentioned a Cubs team card as a card to consider beyond the ten. A few weeks ago, while looking through some recent auction results, I noticed the 1971 Topps Cubs Team card and never remembered seeing it before! And so, despite their history as lovable losers, I thought I’d highlight five great Topps Chicago Cubs team cards.
1957 Topps #183 Cubs Team
A lot of collectors would probably rank the 1957 Topps Cubs Team card as their favorite. The card’s structure is awesome, with the appearance of the team photo within a wooden frame. The layout of the team name and logo on the front is visually appealing, too. The back of the card is pretty interesting, with some team information, all-time Cub leaders, and a list of the layers pictured on the front.
PSA has encapsulated more than 700 of these cards, with just one earning a Gem Mt grade. There are 21 PSA 9s and 189 PSA 8s; a PSA 9 sold for $540 in August 2022.
1959 Topps #304 Cubs Team
The 1959 Topps Cubs team card, again, features the excellent “cub” logo in the upper left of the horizontally oriented card and has a typical team photograph. But I really like the yellow circle over the green background design; it feels era-appropriate. The back of the card is the 1958 Topps Fourth Series checklist.
PSA has graded just over 500 1959 Topps Team checklists, with the highest grade being a PSA 9 with a population of 17. The last PSA 9 example sold for a whopping $1050 at Robert Edward Auctions 2022 Summer Auction. PSA’s historical auction prices only show three other PSA 9 sales going back to 2016.
1967 Topps #354 Cubs Team
I think I’m just becoming a sucker for bold color backgrounds because, despite the team photo looking slightly out of focus, I really like the look of this card. The back of the card features the team’s 1966 batting and pitching leaders and the pitching records that led to the team’s 59-103 record.
The 1967 Topps Cubs Team card has exactly 400 records in PSA’s population report at the time of this writing, including seven Gem Mint 10 and 41 9s. The last PSA 10 sold for $1020, also at Robert Edwards Auctions 2022 Summer Auction. The last Gem Mint 10 sale before that was for $609 in February 2019; you have to go back to 2012 for any other sales when a pair sold for $421 and $824.
1971 Topps #502 Cubs Team
Funny enough, while I can’t remember ever seeing this card before, it isn’t particularly scarce. PSA has graded over 500 examples, but they’ve never given one a Gem Mt 10 grade.
I love all the floating heads on the front, and the back features the Cubs team batting and pitching records along with all their pennant wins dating back to their first in 1906.
1977 Topps #518 Cubs Team
In the spirit of floating heads, I thought I’d highlight another great Cubs checklist that features them. The 1977 Topps Cubs Team card is a little more orderly than the 1971 example, and the back of the card is a team checklist.
The 1977 Topps Cubs Team card has a total PSA population of just over 200, with 18 10s and 107 9s. PSA 10s don’t show up for sale very often, but the last sale (June 2022) was $156. PSA 9s sell for grading costs.
It’s funny, despite growing up in the Chicago suburbs, I wasn’t particularly loyal to either the Cubs or White Sox, though I did enjoy going to Cubs games a bit more; Wrigley Field is such an iconic stadium, and the games were more about having a fun day than watching the games anyway since the Cubs were awful. And despite their string of poor teams, these cards do have quite a few great players from the “vintage” post-war era, namely “Mr. Cub” Ernie Banks, but also Hall of Famers like Ron Santo, Ferguson Jenkins, and Billy Williams, who brought hope of a renaissance in the late 60s. Happy collecting!