2001 Topps Set (Baseball)

Set Notes

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Excerpt

The 2001 Topps set featured 790 cards and was issued over two series. The set looks to bring back some of the heritage that Topps established in the past by bringing back manager cards (322-351), dual-player draft picks cards (352-361, 737-751), three-player prospect cards (362-376, 727-736), Golden Moments (377-386, 782-791), Season Highlights (387-391), League Leaders (392-399), team cards (752-781) and Playoffs (400-406). Notable Rookie Cards include Ichiro Susuki and Hee Seop Choi. Also included with the factory box are 8 unnumbered checklist cards.

More set notes

The cards in this 407-card set measure approximately 2 1/2" by 3 1/2". Topps returned to the vertical obverse, adopted what we now call the standard card size, and used a large, uncluttered colo photo for the first time since 1952. Cards in the series 265 to 352 and the unnumbered checklist cards are scarcer than other cards in the set. However, within this scarce series (265-362) there are 22 cards which were printed in double the quantity of the other cards in the series; these 22 double prints are indicated by DP in the Beckett checklists.

The cards in this 340-card set measure approximately 2 5/8" by 3 3/4". Following up with another horizontally oriented card in 1956, Topps improved the format by layering the color 'head' shot onto an actual action sequence involving the player. Cards 1 to 180 come with either white or gray backs: in the 1 to 100 sequence, gray backs are less common (worth about 10 percent more) and in the 101 to 180 sequence, white backs are less common (worth 30 percent more).

The cards in this 206-card set measure approximately 2 5/8" by 3 3/4. Both the large 'head' shot and the smaller full-length photos used on each card of the 1955 Topps set are in color. The card fronts were designed horizontally for the first time in Topps' history. The first card features Dusty Rhodes, hitting star and MVP in the New York Giants' 1954 World Series sweep over the Cleveland Indians. A 'high' series, 161 to 210, is more difficult to find than cards 1 to 160. Numbers 175, 186, 203 and 209 were never issued.

The cards in this 250-card set measure approximately 2 5/8" by 3 3/4". Each of the cards in the 1954 Topps set contains a large 'head' shot of the player in color plus a smaller full-length photo in black and white set against a color background. The cards were issued in one-card penny packs or five-card nickel packs. Fifteen card cello packs have also been seen. The penny packs came 120 to a box. The set contains the Rookie Cards of Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks and Al Kaline and two separate cards of Ted Williams (number 1 and number 250).

In its now standard procedure, Topps issued its standard-size Traded (or extended) set for the fourth year in a row. Several of the year's top rookies not contained in the regular set are pictured in the 1984 Traded set. Extended Rookie Cards in this set include Dwight Gooden, Jimmy Key, Mark Langston, Jose Rijo and Bret Saberhagen. Again this year, the Topps affiliate in Ireland printed the cards, and the cards were available through hobby channels only in facotry set form. The set numbering is in alphabetical order by player's name.

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