1962 Topps

1962 Topps usually gets lost somewhere in the shuffle of sets of the sixties. It's not as in your face as the 1960 design. It's not as simple as the 1961, 1964, 1966, 1967 or 1969 designs. It's not as colorful as the 1963 design. It doesn't have a snazzy flag like the 1965 design.

Since Topps hasn't dared to borrow the 1968 couch material design for future sets, 1962 is left to wallow in the wake of 1987 Topps. Until 1987, when you thought of wood grain and Topps, you thought of 1962. This is the stained wood father of 1987 Topps. The fake wood is darker and more of it is showing.

This leaves us with a very interesting design. It reminds me of a bar room wall that has old, curling pictures of sports stars hanging. It looks old, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't have character. The wood grain border works for most of the photos. On some, it makes the subject leap out. Sometimes in a bad way. I think if the color had been lighter, it wouldn't have worked as well.

The White Sox have 29 cards in this set.

8 - Ray Herbert
59 - Juan Pizarro (Bunning, Ford, Pascual) AL Strikeout Leaders
73 - Nellie Fox
91 - J.C. Martin
113 - White Sox Team
116 - Herb Score
161 - Frank Baumann
178 - Camilo Carreon
195 - Joe Cunningham
214 - Dom Zanni
255 - Juan Pizarro
283 - Charlie Smith
286 - Al Lopez
325 - Luis Aparicio
341 - Mike Hershberger
363 - Bob Roselli
385 - Early Wynn
410 - Al Smith
426 - Bob Farley
454 - Floyd Robinson
469 - Luis Aparicio AS
479 - Joel Horlen
514 - Sherm Lollar
528 - Turk Lown
540 - Jim Landis
555 - John Buzhardt
576 - Russ Kemmerer
586 - Sammy Esposito
595 - Bob Sadowski (Charles, Coughtry, Torres)

There are some nice cards in the set. One of the last years for Sherm Lollar and Nellie Fox. Early Wynn makes his last appearance on a regular issue card. Luis Aparicio is always a welcome addition. Juan Pizarro makes two appearances on cards. It's a nice mix of the old guard and the new direction of the sixties era White Sox.

It must be my dumb luck, but I rarely find these cards in decent condition. Almost every one that I've come across looks like it's been in Bob Costas's wallet since 1962. Maybe something about how the dark wood grain looks made kids think that these cards were as solid as wood paneling. Whatever the reason, it is currently one of the least represented Topps sets of the sixties in my White Sox collection, with four cards. The least represented would be 1966 with two.

I'm not complaining though. This has led me to complete my 1968 master team set and come close in completing my 1960 and 1961 sets. There is an upside to everything. One day, the rest of the sixties White Sox sets will fall into place. Until then, I'm having fun just hunting them down.