1952 Topps Baseball

Topps's 1952 baseball card set was the first to resemble what one could consider a modern baseball set. It consisted of 407 cards, with prominent (black and white) player photographs on the front, as well as small color team logos, player name, and a facsimile of the player's signature; card backs contained the card number, player stats for the previous season, and a short paragraph about the player's career.

The first 80 cards in the set were printed with either black and red ink, or only black ink; for several years the black-ink-only-backed cards were considered more valuable and commanded higher prices, but that situation no longer applies to most collectors, with both back variations commanding roughly the same price.

Cards #311-407 (the 'high numbers') were distributed in more limited supplies (possibly short-printed compared to the other cards), and are thus more rare and expensive.

Cards #48 and #49 were printed with both correct and incorrect player information on back; the incorrect versions are much more hard to find and expensive.

Popular cards in this set include Phil Rizzuto, Duke Snider, Billy Martin (rookie), Pee Wee Reese, Yogi Berra, and (especially) the Mickey Mantle, which can command up to 1/3 of the set's total value.