Topps cards and ballparks

[riverfrontier]

Don't know exactly why, but different years of Topps cards would predominantly feature certain ballparks in various years, if the photos weren't taken during spring training. Tiger Stadium in the mid to late 80s, Shea stadium in the mid 70s, Candlestick Park and Oakland Coliseum in the early 70s, etc. Does anyone know of any good 50s or 60s cards with good shots of the Polo Grounds?

[Elvis]

Don't know exactly why, but different years of Topps cards would predominantly feature certain ballparks in various years, if the photos weren't taken during spring training. Tiger Stadium in the mid to late 80s, Shea stadium in the mid 70s, Candlestick Park and Oakland Coliseum in the early 70s, etc. Does anyone know of any good 50s or 60s cards with good shots of the Polo Grounds?

Yeah, I know what you mean. I remember pondering when I was a kid why virtually my entire set of 792 Topps cards were photographed at only 2 or 3 different stadiums.

I'm thinking maybe they had only 2 or three different photographers in 2 or 3 different cities and that was the cheapest way to have it done.

[riverfrontier]

I'm too young to have collected cards from the 50s and 60s, so I'm not very familiar with those sets except for some of the bigger stars. I was especially interested in cards that would feature the Polo Grounds, as I don't think I've ever seen a color photo of it. As you noted Elvis, it seems like the Topps photographers would be stationed in just a couple of cities in any given year, so some of the sets heavily favor just a couple of ballparks. But it is kind of cool to go back through some sets from the early 70s and see Candlestick when it was being renovated and had astroturf. The cards are great ways to explore little stadium details and quirks like outfield walls and seat color, and are easy to put in a time line.

[wamby]

I'm too young to have collected cards from the 50s and 60s, so I'm not very familiar with those sets except for some of the bigger stars. I was especially interested in cards that would feature the Polo Grounds, as I don't think I've ever seen a color photo of it. As you noted Elvis, it seems like the Topps photographers would be stationed in just a couple of cities in any given year, so some of the sets heavily favor just a couple of ballparks. But it is kind of cool to go back through some sets from the early 70s and see Candlestick when it was being renovated and had astroturf. The cards are great ways to explore little stadium details and quirks like outfield walls and seat color, and are easy to put in a time line.

There are some nice shots of the Polo Grounds in the 1953 Bowman color set. I think Topps cards of that era (around 1957) were more likely taken at Yankee Stadium or Ebbets Field. Before 1957 it looks like Topps used colorized photos, such as the 1956 set.

Bowman did the same thing. It looks like most of the 1955 Bowman set has the players at Shibe Park.

[POLO GROUNDS 1957]

Polo Grounds

I'm too young to have collected cards from the 50s and 60s, so I'm not very familiar with those sets except for some of the bigger stars. I was especially interested in cards that would feature the Polo Grounds, as I don't think I've ever seen a color photo of it. As you noted Elvis, it seems like the Topps photographers would be stationed in just a couple of cities in any given year, so some of the sets heavily favor just a couple of ballparks. But it is kind of cool to go back through some sets from the early 70s and see Candlestick when it was being renovated and had astroturf. The cards are great ways to explore little stadium details and quirks like outfield walls and seat color, and are easy to put in a time line.

I know that the topps 1963 and 1964 cards have color shots of the polo grounds. if you want to see color photos of the polo grounds i have some on my polo grounds website.

[wamby]

The action portion of the 1956 Topps Dave Pope shows the Polo Grounds RF wall. Unfortunatenly the play did not happen as it is depicted on the card.

[riverfrontier]

Thanks Wamby. I'll try and find one. I'm also looking for early Met shots in color, if you know of any.

[Elvis]

Circa 1963 --------



For more Polo Grounds, click here

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[riverfrontier]

Magnificent picture! That's what I'm talking about. Do you know if the walls and facades were always blue, or were they given a new look for the Mets? It looks like Tiger Stadium if you squint just right (and imagine half the seats being orange).

[POLO GROUNDS 1957]

Polo Grounds

Magnificent picture! That's what I'm talking about. Do you know if the walls and facades were always blue, or were they given a new look for the Mets? It looks like Tiger Stadium if you squint just right (and imagine half the seats being orange).

When the giants were at the polo grounds the walls were painted green in 1948. before 1948 the giants had ads on the outfield walls. the color photo that was posted of the polo grounds is a tinker postcard. tinker also has a post card of the polo grounds in color of the outfield and clubhouse taken when the giants played there.

[Elvis]

Magnificent picture! That's what I'm talking about. Do you know if the walls and facades were always blue, or were they given a new look for the Mets? It looks like Tiger Stadium if you squint just right (and imagine half the seats being orange).

The walls and trim were green as Donald said. When the Mets moved in, the park was painted blue. Here's how it looked in 1956 while still green.

[tonypug]

Almost, the entire Topps set from 1957 was shot in the three New York ballparks, Topps was located in New York. The National League cards show both Ebbets Field and the Polo Grounds. Most of the American League cards were shot in Yankee Stadium.

[tonypug]

The two photos Elvis posted give you an idea of the quirky dimensions of the Polo Ground.Right field was very close to home plate, while center field was in a different zip code except they didn't have zip codes back then.

[64Cards]

I used to have a lot of Topps cards from the 60's, seemed like a lot of the NL players were shot at the Polo Grounds,[after 62, when the Mets came in] Philly and Wrigley. AL seemed heavily at Yankee Stadium.

[Candlestick60]

This is a favorite topic of mine in the 1960s the NL used the polo grounds shea stadium candlestick and connie mack for card photo shoots. In the 1970s shea she and candlestick were used quite often the 1972 set showed the stick being renovated in the background:radio C60