While digging through my unpublished archives, I came across a piece I wrote years ago about whether 1957 Topps was a response to the 1953 Bowman Color set. It’s a debate that still pops up from time to time, and with both sets being so beautiful, it felt worth revisiting with a few edits.
The thing is, Topps already owned the Bowman brand by early 1956, so they didn’t need to “respond” to anything. However, I do think the classic Bowman set likely influenced Topps’ designers.
Let’s start with some background information on the sets.
The 1953 Bowman Color set has 160 cards measuring 2-1/2″ by 3-3/4″. Pee Wee Reese is one of my favorites. Today’s collectors consider it one of the most beautiful post-war sets because of the photographic images Bowman’s designers chose.
Hobby historians consider the 407-card 1957 Topps set revolutionary, as it was the first year cards were made in the now-standard 2-1/2″ by 3-1/2″ size. Topps also chose to use full-color portraits and action poses instead of hand-painted images on the front.
Obviously, the two sets share a similar design aesthetic, with full-color photography on the front, so it’s possible Topps’ designers looked at the Bowman cards and thought, “good idea.”
However, one difference is that Topps used a two-line text design for the player’s name and team on the front, while Bowman went with a “pure format” featuring just the photograph within a white border. Bowman also included a second black inner frame around the image.
Some say the backs are similar, but most designs at the time included basic player vitals, followed by a short biography and statistics. Maybe it’s the pair of red background cells? I think Topps’ inclusion of a small cartoon and baseball trivia, along with year-by-year statistical breakdowns, differentiates the backs quite a bit.
Of note, one interesting similarity is that both sets feature a card with Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra; the Bowman Color example also includes Hank Bauer.
The fact that Topps owned Bowman at the time the 1957 set was printed makes it difficult to argue the design was a direct response to Bowman’s refined 1953 set, especially since it came four years later. Additionally, printing technology was more limited, so there were fewer innovations that could lead to dramatic design changes. However, it’s fair to believe Bowman influenced Topps’ decision to use photographic images on card fronts.
Whatever the truth may be, collectors win by having two incredible sets to admire and study.
Happy collecting!
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