The 1948 Topps Baseball Picture Cards were the first modern baseball trading cards produced by Topps Chewing Gum, Inc. Prior to 1948, cards were produced as promotional inserts in cigarettes and candy, but Topps revolutionized the hobby by including gum with each pack of cards. The 1948 set included all sixteen Major League Baseball teams at the time and featured over 400 rookie cards for future Hall of Famers. While the primary set brought great joy and nostalgia to kids and collectors, Topps also produced a promotional upgrade to the 1948s known as the 1948 Plus One Special inserts.
By distributing baseball cards with their gum, Topps tapped into an untapped marketing opportunity to reach young baseball fans. The cards grew exponentially in popularity over the following decades as the company perfected their production and distribution model. But in that first year of 1948, Topps struck gold beyond their wildest expectations. Demand for the cards was off the charts, prompting Topps to come up with an innovative way to keep interest high while also boosting sales even more – the 1948 Plus One Special.
Only distributed in select packs of the primary 1948 Topps set, these Plus One Special cards featured players or teams that were not included in the main 400 card roster. Topps handpicked 17 additional players and teams worthy of the special printing to include as bonus inserts in random packs. Some selections were obvious All-Stars omitted from the primary set like Enos Slaughter. Others highlighted up-and-coming rookie talent like Larry Doby or Sal Maglie. A couple special cards even promoted the upcoming 1949 Topps release to drum up early anticipation. Regardless of who or what was featured, collectors coveted these scarce bonus inserts above all other 1948s.
The rare Plus One Special cards added an exciting bonus element of surprise and chase to the 1948 baseball card collecting experience. Kids eagerly ripped open each five-cent pack of bubblegum in hopes of discovering one of the seventeen elusive bonus cards staring back at them. While odds of finding a Plus One Special were still long, it made the collecting experience that much more suspenseful and rewarding when one turned up. Even decades later, unearthing a well-preserved 1948 Plus One Special in a collection is a remarkable feeling for any vintage baseball card enthusiast.
Individually, each of the seventeen 1948 Topps Plus One Special cards tell interesting stories as well. For instance, the Sal Maglie card highlighted the Dodgers pitcher who would go 15-5 as a rookie that year. The Enos Slaughter card promoted the Cardinals star who hit .309 in 1948 after being omitted from the primary set for unknown reasons. A special Yankee team card showed their 1947 World Series championship lineup. The Larry Doby card called attention to baseball’s first black American League player just months after breaking the color barrier.
Two other Plus One Specials stood out for different reasons. The Brooklyn Dodgers team card was printed as a vertical landscape format, unique from the standard horizontal portrait style of the other special cards. This was likely done to fit more Dodgers players in the configuration. Even more notable was the N.Y. Giants team card which inexplicably featured the 1947 roster despite promoting the 1948 release. This error card is one of the most coveted variations among vintage baseball card collecting enthusiasts.
When examined as a whole, the1948 Topps Plus One Special subset elevated the original 1948 Topps offering to new heights. It added another layer of allure, intrigue and chase to an already historic debut set. While sparse in their distribution amongst the primary 400 card base issue, these seventeen special bonus cards managed to take on outsized importance and reverence in the collecting community. They embody everything that makes vintage baseball cards so nostalgic and fascinating to this day. Even after over seventy years, the Plus Ones continue captivating collectors with their unique stories and scarcity within the premier Topps release that started it all.
In closing, without the Plus One Special cards, the pioneering 1948 Topps baseball cards would still undoubtedly hold a treasured place in hobby history as the formative father set of the modern trading card era. But the ingenious promotional upgrade Topps included added that extra special piece which still delights collectors today. By hand selecting seventeen additional subjects to slip into random packs as bonus inserts, Topps helped spark card collecting fever to even greater heights. Their Plus One Special subset introduced an instant chase component and long sought rarity that endures as part of what makes the 1948s so iconic and beloved amongst collectors to this day. The magic Topps created with these special bonus inclusions persists as part of the enduring legacy and lore of those groundbreaking first post-war cardboard treasures.
