My 1956 Topps Set - Series 4

Baseball season is coming to a close this weekend, and September ends tonight (wake up, Billie Joe) Feels like a fitting time to wrap up my 1956 Topps Set with a look at the Series 4 cards in my collection to date.

I've read that the final series of the 1956 Topps set is the toughest, which was often the case with early Topps baseball sets. The early-season excitement over the sport and its trading cards dies down by mid-summer, and at this point in the year is largely dismissed for any fan of a non-contending team.

That hasn't necessarily been my experience with this set. Sure, there are some fourth series cards that are scarce and condition sensitive, but the third series seems to have more of those. And S3 has a lot more Hall of Famers, too. While the legendary stars are highly concentrated in the first and second series, S3 has eight cards of Cooperstown honorees.

This final series has two. One of them is here. The other is the only rookie card of a HOFer in the 1956 set. Here's the fourth series roll call...

Series 4

261. Bobby Shantz - Kansas City Athletics

262. Howie Pollet - Chicago White Sox



263. Bob Miller - Detroit Tigers

There are two Bob Millers in this series. I have the other one.


264. Ray Monzant - New York Giants RC

265. Sandy Consuegra - Chicago White Sox

266. Don Ferrarese - Baltimore Orioles



267. Bob Nieman - Chicago White Sox



268. Dale Mitchell - Cleveland Indians

Mitchell is very tough to find in mid-high grade; a PSA 5 copy recently sold for $50. Luckily I already had this one.

269. Jack Meyer - Philadelphia Phillies RC

270. Billy Loes - Brooklyn Dodgers



271. Foster Castleman - New York Giants RC



272. Danny O'Connell - Milwaukee Braves

COMC has had some graded copies of this card, but they were well over $30. I did the sensible thing (for once) and bought this unslabbed for a tenth of the price.

273. Walker Cooper - St. Louis Cardinals



This one definitely needs an upgrayedd


274. Frank Baumholtz - Philadelphia Phillies



275. Jim Greengrass - Philadelphia Phillies

276. George Zuverink - Baltimore Orioles

277. Daryl Spencer - New York Giants



278. Chet Nichols - Milwaukee Braves

279. Johnny Groth - Kansas City Athletics



280. Jim Gilliam - Brooklyn Dodgers

My father in law grew up in the town where Gilliam lived. He once pointed out the neighborhood to me but said he never met the Dodger great.

281. Art Houtteman - Cleveland Indians



282. Warren Hacker - Chicago Cubs



283. Hal Smith - St. Louis Cardinals



Here's the other bird team catcher named Hal Smith.


284. Ike Delock - Boston Red Sox



285. Eddie Miksis - Chicago Cubs



286. Bill Wight - Baltimore Orioles



287. Bobby Adams - Baltimore Orioles



288. Bob Cerv - New York Yankees

Another tough late series Yankee card. I'm interested to see which one will be cheaper: Cerv or Irv.

289. Hal Jeffcoat - Cincinnati Redlegs



290. Curt Simmons - Philadelphia Phillies



291. Frank Kellert  - Chicago Cubs RC

292. Luis Aparicio - Chicago White Sox RC

293. Stu Miller - St. Louis Cardinals



294. Ernie Johnson - Milwaukee Braves

This made me wonder if his NBA-brodcasting son has a card. He does indeed -- and it's technically a baseball card. {Bonus fun fact: Ernie Jr. was born in the summer of... 1956!}

295. Clem Labine - Brooklyn Dodgers



296. Andy Seminick - Philadelphia Phillies

297. Bob Skinner - Pittsburgh Pirates

298. Johnny Schmitz - Boston Red Sox



This one might be a candidate for upgrading due to the indent along the nameplate.


299. Charley Neal - Brooklyn Dodgers



300. Vic Wertz - Cleveland Indians

I've come across a good amount of Wertz singles, including a 1953 Bowman Color purchased from COMC and a high grade 1952 Topps that I passed on for $40 because it didn't fit my collection/I was poor at the time. Haven't yet found a '56 single at a good price, but I won't whiff on it when it comes.

301. Marv Grissom - New York Giants



302. Eddie Robinson - New York Yankees

Robinson was one of the oldest-living subjects of the 1952 Topps set when he passed away two years ago at age 100.

303. Jim Dyck - Baltimore Orioles



304. Frank Malzone - Boston Red Sox

How do I not have this one yet?

305. Brooks Lawrence - Cincinnati Redlegs



306. Curt Roberts - Pittsburgh Pirates

307. Hoyt Wilhelm - New York Giants



308. Chuck Harmon - Cincinnati Redlegs

309. Don Blasingame - St. Louis Cardinals RC



310. Steve Gromek - Detroit Tigers



311. Hal Naragon - Cleveland Indians

Another tough one that I rarely see on COMC or eBay.


312. Andy Pafko - Milwaukee Braves



313. Gene Stephens - Boston Red Sox



314. Hobie Landrith - Chicago Cubs



315. Milt Bolling - Boston Red Sox



316. Jerry Coleman - New York Yankees

This was the first card I bought myself for this set build. Actually, 'bought' is slightly misleading - I acquired it with eBay bucks (remember those?)

317. Al Aber - Detroit Tigers



318. Fred Hatfield - Detroit Tigers



319. Jack Crimian - Kansas City Athletics RC

320. Joe Adcock - Milwaukee Braves

321. Jim Konstanty - New York Yankees



322. Karl Olson - Washington Senators



323. Willard Schmidt - St. Louis Cardinals

324. Rocky Bridges - Cincinnati Redlegs



Rocky's given name was Everett.


325. Don Liddle - New York Giants



326. Connie Johnson - Chicago White Sox RC

327. Bob Wiesler - Washington Senators RC



328. Preston Ward - Pittsburgh Pirates

329. Lou Berberet - Washington Senators RC



330. Jim Busby - Cleveland Indians



331. Dick Hall - Pittsburgh Pirates



332. Don Larsen - New York Yankees

Yankee tax + high series + memorable feat in '56 = out of my price range.


333. Rube Walker - Brooklyn Dodgers

334. Bob Miller - Philadelphia Phillies



The other Bob Miller in series 4.


335. Don Hoak - Chicago Cubs



336. Ellis Kinder - St. Louis Cardinals



337. Bobby Morgan - Philadelphia Phillies



338. Jim Delsing - Detroit Tigers



339. Rance Pless - Kansas City Athletics RC

This card was the first one I'd heard about in regard to short-printed/scarce/condition sensitive singles. I've seen more than my share of print defects on this card, and happily accepted a lesser grade copy with a cleaner surface. (Also, Pless' career stat line kind of fascinated me. I'll have to look into more of these unfamilar players someday.)

340. Mickey McDermott - New York Yankees

Lucked out on landing this - along with the Pirates team, Yankees team, and Harmon Killebrew - from an eBay seller who offered them in addition to another purchase.

Finally we have these two, which are technically considered part of the set.

1st/3rd Series Checklist
2nd/4th Series Checklist

This is very much a 'cross that bridge when I come to it' problem, but... I don't see how I can acquire unmarked checklists at an affordable price that's in line with my condition guidelines. Here's proof:

I did not buy this card, but I saved the scans of both sides in my 1956 folder, with a note...

...sold for $204. I am not spending that much on a checklist.

I'm working on some ideas for October posts to coincide with the start of basketball and hockey season. My favorite(?) NBA team just acquired my favorite active player(!), while my favorite NHL team has a legitimate chance at the Stanley Cup.

Perhaps I could also lament the fact that the Hurricanes and Jets have officially existed longer than the Whalers and Thrashers, respectively :/

Or I could accept Jon's assignment and explore the best players (from 1988-2000) who never appeared in a Starting Lineup set. Any or all of these posts would be a lot shorter than this series. 

Thank you for reading yet another novel-length blog post series, and have a great weekend!

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