1950s Topps
In its 1956 set, Topps issued six team cards, the Cubs, Reds, Orioles, Indians, Braves and Phillies, in three different versions. The different cards are commonly referred to by collectors as the "dated", "undated" and "centered" cards. The first release showed a team picture, obviously taken the year before and correctly labeled as "1955 Chicago Cubs, "1955 Cincinnati Reds" and so on. For some reason, perhaps because it was confusing to have a card labeled "1955" in a 1956 set, Topps reprinted these cards, blacking out the space where the date had appeared. This resulted in the team name being offcenter in the black box where it appeared. Topps finally issued a third version of all six cards with the team name centered in the box.
Topps's 1957 set contained Yankee great Mickey Mantle as card number 286. The card is known among collectors as the "ghost Mantle". Topps editors had long been expert at altering pictures to meet their needs. For example, the same photo of future major league manager Bob Kennedy appears in the 1954, '55 and '56 Topps sets. But the photo is airbrushed to show Kennedy in an Indians cap in '54, a Orioles cap in '55 and, finally, a White Sox cap in '56. The '57 Mantle card shows a posed shot of the switch hitting center fielder finishing a left-handed swing. The original photo apparently contained someone standing behind Mantle as he swung. When the card was assembled, the intruder was "blacked out", leaving a perfect silhouette, a "ghost", in back of the Mick. The outline is far more prominent and clear in some copies of the card than it is on others, inspiring debate among collectors as to whether Topps issued a corrected version, with the interloper better camouflaged.
In the 1957 Topps set, card number 20, of Henry Aaron, features a classic example of a "flipped negative". The photo on the card shows Aaron, a right-handed slugger, batting left-handed. A closer look at the number on Aaron's uniform, 44, shows that he was not playing a practical joke on the photographer. The number is backwards, the result of the photo negative being printed upside down. Topps never issued a corrected version.
In the 1959 Topps set, Aaron's Braves teammate Lew Burdette fooled the Topps photographer. Burdette joined with Warren Spahn to form the heart of a pitching staff that would carry the Braves to two consecutive World Series. The front of his 1959 Topps card, number 440, shows Burdette, a right-handed pitcher, with a glove on his right hand at the top of a left-handed windup. Topps got revenge on Burdette, however, when they printed his name on the card. Burdette's middle name, "Lewis" is shortened to "Lou", rather than "Lew". The year before Topps had taken no chances, identifying him as "Lou" on the front of card number 10, and "Lew" on the back.
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