While the 1956 Topps baseball card set is considered by collectors to be one of the most iconic and valuable in the hobby’s history, featuring the likes of Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Ted Williams, what many fans may not realize is that there were a number of potential cards from that vintage that ended up never seeing the light of day. Due to various factors like player contracts, lack of sufficient photograph rights and production issues, several intriguing subjects that could have been memorialized in cardboard instead remain lost to the annals of history. Let’s take a closer look at some of the most notable 1956 Topps cards that, for one reason or another, never made the cut.
Perhaps the highest profile omission from the ’56 set was Brooklyn Dodgers legend Jackie Robinson, who had retired from baseball just two seasons prior after breaking MLB’s color barrier in 1947. While Topps held the rights to Robinson’s likeness from his playing days and he had been featured in their sets annually up until his retirement, for unknown reasons he was left out in 1956. Some speculate Topps may have wanted to avoid any controversy or backlash by including a recently retired black player during a time period when racial tensions still ran high in America. Robinson’s exclusion stands as one of the biggest what-ifs from that classic issue.
Another Dodger great that collectors never got in cardboard was pitcher Don Newcombe, who like Robinson had been a Topps standard bearer until his sudden retirement after the 1956 season at the young age of 32. Newk went 129-66 with a 3.56 ERA during his eight year career, winning the Cy Young and MVP awards in 1956 when he led Brooklyn to the pennant. But for reasons lost to history, Topps did not procure his rights in time to include him, missing out on commemorating one of the best pitchers of the 50s.
Speaking of recently retired hurlers, Cleveland Indians ace Bob Feller also hangs as one of the biggest missed opportunities of the ’56 set. Arguably the hardest thrower of his era, “Rapid Robert” amassed 266 wins and struck out a then-record 2,581 batters over 18 seasons, mostly with the Tribe, before hanging it up after the 1956 campaign at age 38. Feller ranked among the most popular players of the post-war era but remains woefully under-represented in vintage cardboard due to bad timing with his retirement.
Staying in Cleveland, the Indians’ triple crown winning first baseman Larry Doby also found himself excluded despite putting together the AL’s best season in history up to that point in 1954. Doby, the second black player to break the MLB color barrier just months after Robinson in 1947, hit .279 with 32 HR and 114 RBI in ’54 but was not featured by Topps two years later at age 32, nearing the tail end of his solid 11 year career. Inexplicably, Doby remains one of the most notable omissions from the entire set.
Switching coasts to the Giants, NYC fans were also denied the pleasure of finding Hall of Fame outfielder Willie Mays’ teammate and clean-up hitter in that great ’54 campaign, Dusty Rhodes. As the fourth place Giants morphed into the “Unexpected Champions”, Rhodes made a name for himself with 27 home runs and 93 RBI, a career year at age 34. He too seems to have slipped through Topps’ cracks, getting lost in the shuffle despite ranking among the NL’s elite sluggers that season.
In contrast to some of the bigger name veterans that evaded Topps’ clutches, the ’56 set is also missing a golden opportunity to commemorate some rising young stars on the cusp of greatness, future Hall of Famers who were entering their primes. White Sox third baseman Ted Kluszewski missed out after consecutive 40+ home run seasons in ’54 and ’55 established him as one of the game’s most feared power threats. Similarly, Baltimore third base phenom Brooks Robinson earned his first All-Star nod in 1956 at age 20 but collectors found no cardboard recognition for the future 18 time Gold Glover and future Hall of Famer.
While Topps’ 1956 issue stands as one of the most revered in the hobby due its sheer star power and design aesthetics, it remains an incomplete time capsule as several true legends from that era were left out for one reason or another. From recently retired greats like Robinson, Newcombe and Feller to rising young talents like Rhodes, Doby, Kluszewski and Brooks, their absence leaves baseball card aficionados to ponder the “what ifs” of cards that sadly never came to fruition. Such is the nature of a vintage issue missing some historical context due to circumstances outside of Topps’ control.
