1951 Topps Red Back

There are some cards that you just need to have in your collection. For me, the 1951 Topps, is a must have.
It is the first national baseball card set issued by the Topps Chewing Gum Co. of Brooklyn, New York and is overshadowed by the 1952 Topps set, which is regarded by most collectors as the first 'true' Topps baseball set.
I like the underdog sets such as these and 1950's Bowmans.
It was issued in two series, 'A' series known as Red Backs and 'B' series known as Blue Backs. The cards were designed to be used a baseball card game and came as two joined (but perforated) cards per penny pack, unfortunately they were packaged with a stick of caramel candy which often melted or was squashed to the cards. The Blue Backs are scarcer than the Red Backs and are considered more valuable.
Bowman and Topps were at logger heads when this set was first issued. Bowman claimed exclusive rights to players images and sued Topps and promptly lost. This paved the way for the now historic Topps 1952 set.
Although I have cards of the same design, which were an insert in the 2003 Topps set, I haven't been fortunate enough to obtain a real '51 Topps until now.
Just the one #2 Sid Gordon. Maybe I could find some unopened packs or a box to bust and bolster this fledgling collection.
Here's an Unopened box of 1951 Topps and another.
Oh well. It looks as if I will just stick with the one card then and hope for another affordable single or two to raise their heads on e-bay.

1951 Bowman baseball cards

In 1950 the Bowman Gum Company of Philadelphia were the only company to release a national baseball card set. The 1950 Bowman set included 252 cards and the cards measured 5.2cm x 6.4cm (2-1/16in by 2-1/2in). The front of the cards featured hand-painted color reproductions of actual black and white photographs.
In 1951 a similar style was used, hand-painted colour reproductions of black and white photographs, some of the 1950 images were reused on the 1951 card set. But Bowman increased the size of the cards to 5.2cm x 7.9cm ( 2-1/16in by 3-1/8in) and increased the number of cards to 324. This was the biggest set of baseball cards at the time.
In 1950 Bowman had a monopoly, but in 1951 Topps entered the baseball card market with their 52 card blue back, 52 card red back playing card game.
The two most desired cards from the 1951 Bowman set are the rookie cards of Mickey Mantle #253 and Willie Mays #305, both of which are horizontal cards. Mantle wasn't included in the 1951 Topps set, he had to wait until the following year for his Topps debut. Some notable omissions from the 1951 set were Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial and Jackie Robinson.
I really like the Bowman sets from the 1950's. With some fear of being shunned by the baseball collecting fraternity, I prefer the Bowman cards over the Topps from this era. That is until 1955 when Bowman ceased to produced baseball cards.

The three cards I obtained from e-bayUK were:

#20 Del Crandell (Crandall) Boston Braves

#27 Jim Konstanty Phillies

#125 Bill Rigney New York Giants

As an added bonus the seller added these two 1957 Topps 'football' cards, not in any great condition but the design is lovely. I am not a collector of football, so if someone can give them a good home it would be appreciated.