As those who have been following my articles know, I'm getting more fascinated every day by how Topps did "Living Sets" before we even knew that term existed.
The 1958 Last Series is a marriage of two worlds one of which features most of the leading players of the day. The other is a grouping of almost all young (ish) players getting in many cases their first card or their first time in the majors.
And because I look at things differently than most people we'll start by touching on the known players and then go to the rest of the last series.
The 1958 last series comprises of cards 441-495 and yes is broken down that way. Some of the All-Stars include Mickey Mantle who was printed in such a quantity that this may well be the most available 1950's Mantle card
That's a really pretty card by the way in my opinion. Another 1958 All-Star which is beloved to this day is the Stan Musial card
The Musial card is important because well you see, he had not appeared on a major manufacturer card since 1953. Yep, the youth of America would not have a Musial card from 1954 through 1957. Did he want too much money in those days? Well, we're just happy as collectors he came back in 1957 and completed his career with a Topps card each year through 1963.
And the third and final card we'll feature as part of this was the Ted Williams All-Star card. This would be the final Topps card of Williams as a player. He would make a "Surprise" appearance in 1969 with cards in the final two series and would get manager cards through the end of his time helming the Senators/Rangers.
And this would be the only time when they were active players that Musial and Williams would both be in the same Topps set.
And how did Topps make sure there were plenty of these cards available, well it appears they printed a few less of cards 443, 446, 450 and 462. There is nothing truly scarce of these cards but there are less of them than the other cards in that series amongst the more common players.
Now we'll talk about some of the people in that final series. To being our discussion how about #445 Bob Smith. Now Bob Smith may have been the most common name in baseball during the late 1950s and early 1960s and if anyone wants to separate them or separate the 2 Hal Smith's (both of whom were catchers) have at it.
Card #448 is the Rookie Card of Charlie Lau. Charlie Lau had a nice career as a back-up catcher for many years but became famous later as one of the best hitting coaches in baseball. To me, Lau is an underrated rookie card to purchase because,,, there is a major flaw in the Hall of Fame and that is there is not a "contributor" category as there are with other Hall of Fames. If that category ever shows up, then this card would get serious consideration
Next Up is the best Rookie Card Pitcher of this series. Milt Pappas won over 200 games in the majors and never won more than 17 games in a season. This is card #457
Oh and some people still think he got "Squeezed" out of a perfect game when he pitched a no hitter
Milt Pappas loses perfect game with walk
Speaking of people who should be in the Hall of Fame as contributors, here is the Rookie Card of Curt Flood, card # 464. There are books written about what Flood's stand about player's rights helped to change in baseball history but the fact he will willing to forego a healthy salary for the time tells you all you need to know about how important the issue was to him. Again the contributor status is perfect for Flood.
And that's a quick look at the final 1958 Topps series.
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