A Not-So-Arbitrary Arbitrary Collection

Well, I didn't intend to be blog silent for the past three weeks, but a series of unfortunate incidents put a crimp in my writing schedule. Thankfully, everyone is on the road to healthy again and I am back with some more nonsense.

One card from each 1950s era Topps set - nothing jumps out right away looking at the front of each card.

The backs reveal the not-so-arbitrary pattern - each card is matched up with the year it was issued - Card #52 from 1952, card #55 from 1955, etc etc.

I've put together a collection spanning all the Topps years like this (more or less, you'll see when I get there) and it serves as a nice visual progression of Topps designs. The cards could as easily have been completely random selections, but I kind of like having the card # match the year on the back. Plenty of fun facts for each player, from Hall of Famer All-time great Eddie Robinson, to the trivia on the back of Sherm Lollar's card noting that the pitcher used to only be 35 feet from the plate in the early days. "Rip" Repulski is a Minnesota kid from Sauk Rapids, and Don Mueller played in Minneapolis before his call-up to the New York Giants.