Cards Redone: Topps 1951 Baseball

Cards Redone is a new (potentially) recurring series in which I redo some Topps card designs.  My rules are simple.  I won't make change just to make change.  I must stick with the basic elements (no total redo's) and feel of the original.  I will not be redoing any of the backs.  In short, the backs should only have biographical stats and playing stats.  Eliminate any silly cartoons, unrelated trivia or career highlights.

Topps started producing baseball cards in 1951.  The cards were printed as part of a game.  That explains the "foul ball" on Yogi Berra's card and other baseball plays on other cards.  The card featured a black and white head shot in the middle, with a very short bio in the lower left corner and a depiction of a player in the upper right corner.

I give Topps credit for making these baseball cards.  Over the years, Topps became synonymous with baseball cards.  Therefore, I will not criticize this set, but I will redesign it.

Since my set will not be part of any game, I eliminate the "foul ball" or whatever in the corners.  I'll leave the red baseball though for balance.

I moved the player's name to the upper left quad and the team name to the lower right portion, again for balance.  I thought about adding his position, but figured the upper right picture would do that.

I will also eliminate the biographical stuff on the front.  If it must appear on a card, it should be on the back.  In my first transition design, I replaced that with an illustration of a player batting.  The other illustration would show the defensive position of the player.

I wasn't quite satisfied though.  I decided to replace the illustrations with actual images of the player.  The upper right still gets the defensive shot and the lower left gets a batting shot.

My finished project might be the only baseball card (Topps or otherwise) to have 3 different pictures of the same player.  It still retains the simple look of the original 1951 design.