Uncut Sheets of 1957 Topps Football Cards

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The picture below shows the configuration of part of an uncut sheet of 1957 Topps football cards. It is modeled after an actual partial sheet that appeared in a Huggins and Scott auction. If you hold your cursor over a card in the virtual sheet, your browser should show you the number of the card and the name of the player. Clicking on a card will bring up the full-sized scan. (A real uncut sheet would not have lines between the cards--that's an effect of scanning them individually.)

The partial sheet below contains 7 of the 12 columns of cards that would have appeared on a 132-card half-sheet. The 132-card half-sheet would have been part of a 264-card full sheet. To get the idea, see this 264-card full sheet of 1966 Topps baseball cards.

The following table shows the numbers of the cards in the partial sheet above.

140	93	101	117	43	39	3
103	110	131	142	45	80	36
124	149	114	126	4	52	79
129	138	134	150	32	24	65
100	111	96	102	76	67	49
120	148	128	125	28	41	6
153	91	90	105	55	25	50
107	143	116	130	31	18	34
92	122	136	99	73	85	71
98	139	108	135	61	10	12
127	113	144	146	74	59	75

I have also collected pictures of other pieces of the 1957 sheet or sheets: 3-, 6-, and 9-card panels, plus miscut cards that show part of the next card. From those I have constructed the sections of sheets below. Some of the sections surely overlap, and they will come together as I find more pieces.

A big thanks to Steve Poland and Cliff Bowman for putting big chunks of the puzzle together.

This is how the pieces were numbered:

2	38	81
78	22	8
62	83	17

77	43	39			43		77	95
82	45	80			45		82
68	4	52			4		68
51	32	24			32		51
11	76	67			76		11
1	28	41			28		1
	55	25	23	9	55
	31	18	84	20	31
	73	85	57	72	73
	61	10		35	61
	74	59		29	74

	77	43	93	43			43
	82	45		45			45
	68	4		4			4
17	51	32		32		138	32
87	11	76		76			76
56	1	28		28			28
66		55		55			55
		31		31			31
		73		73			73
		61		61			61
		74		74			74

39	3	7	7
80	36	5	5
52	79	37	37
24	65	54	54
67	49	14	14
41	6	58	58
25	50	47	47
18	34	21	21
85	71	63	63
10	12	60	60				48
59	75	16	16	46		46	13

48			48	44
13	26		13

7		7	2
5		5	78
37		37	62
54		54
14		14
58		58
47		47
21		21
63	40	63
60	30	60
16		16

69		70
27		88
86		33
64
42		15		106
		53		137

151
145
115
152
141	121			121
104	89			89
109	119		9	119
123	97		20	97
132	112		72	112
118	147		35	147
154	94		29	94

If you are familiar with the 1957 Topps set, you probably noticed that the partial sheet at the top contains both low- and high-numbered cards. From this I infer that the 1957 Topps set was released in one series, not two. Beckett says that the set was released in two series, cards 1-88 and cards 89-154, and that some of the second series cards are double prints. I have always been skeptical of this, because if the second series indeed contained 66 cards, it would have fit an even four times on a 264-card sheet, with no double prints.

Of the 154 cards in the 1957 set, I suspect that 110 appeared twice on the full 264-card sheet, and 44 appeared once. Those 44 cards are thus short prints.

The numbering of the cards on the partial sheets appears to be random, except that each 11-card column contains either low-numbered cards (88 and below) or high-numbered cards (89 and above). If the 1957 Topps sheet follows the pattern of later Topps sheets, some of the columns were repeated to fill the sheet. Judging by PSA's population report, my guess is that all eight of the columns of low-numbered cards appeared twice on the sheet, and two of the columns of high-numbered cards also appeared twice. Four columns of high-numbered cards appeared only once; these columns held the 44 short prints.

The 1957 Topps set also includes an unnumbered checklist. It is rare compared to the numbered cards in the set, so perhaps it was printed separately. If it was part of the sheet, perhaps it took the place of a card that would have appeared twice on the sheet.

For more virtual uncut sheets, see the Gallery's master uncut sheet page.

140	93	101	117	43	39	3
103	110	131	142	45	80	36
124	149	114	126	4	52	79
129	138	134	150	32	24	65
100	111	96	102	76	67	49
120	148	128	125	28	41	6
153	91	90	105	55	25	50
107	143	116	130	31	18	34
92	122	136	99	73	85	71
98	139	108	135	61	10	12
127	113	144	146	74	59	75

2	38	81
78	22	8
62	83	17

77	43	39			43		77	95
82	45	80			45		82
68	4	52			4		68
51	32	24			32		51
11	76	67			76		11
1	28	41			28		1
	55	25	23	9	55
	31	18	84	20	31
	73	85	57	72	73
	61	10		35	61
	74	59		29	74

	77	43	93	43			43
	82	45		45			45
	68	4		4			4
17	51	32		32		138	32
87	11	76		76			76
56	1	28		28			28
66		55		55			55
		31		31			31
		73		73			73
		61		61			61
		74		74			74

39	3	7	7
80	36	5	5
52	79	37	37
24	65	54	54
67	49	14	14
41	6	58	58
25	50	47	47
18	34	21	21
85	71	63	63
10	12	60	60				48
59	75	16	16	46		46	13

69		70
27		88
86		33
64
42		15		106
		53		137

151
145
115
152
141	121			121
104	89			89
109	119		9	119
123	97		20	97
132	112		72	112
118	147		35	147
154	94		29	94

140	93	101	117	43	39	3
103	110	131	142	45	80	36
124	149	114	126	4	52	79
129	138	134	150	32	24	65
100	111	96	102	76	67	49
120	148	128	125	28	41	6
153	91	90	105	55	25	50
107	143	116	130	31	18	34
92	122	136	99	73	85	71
98	139	108	135	61	10	12
127	113	144	146	74	59	75

2	38	81
78	22	8
62	83	17

77	43	39			43		77	95
82	45	80			45		82
68	4	52			4		68
51	32	24			32		51
11	76	67			76		11
1	28	41			28		1
	55	25	23	9	55
	31	18	84	20	31
	73	85	57	72	73
	61	10		35	61
	74	59		29	74

	77	43	93	43			43
	82	45		45			45
	68	4		4			4
17	51	32		32		138	32
87	11	76		76			76
56	1	28		28			28
66		55		55			55
		31		31			31
		73		73			73
		61		61			61
		74		74			74

39	3	7	7
80	36	5	5
52	79	37	37
24	65	54	54
67	49	14	14
41	6	58	58
25	50	47	47
18	34	21	21
85	71	63	63
10	12	60	60				48
59	75	16	16	46		46	13

69		70
27		88
86		33
64
42		15		106
		53		137

151
145
115
152
141	121			121
104	89			89
109	119		9	119
123	97		20	97
132	112		72	112
118	147		35	147
154	94		29	94

140	93	101	117	43	39	3
103	110	131	142	45	80	36
124	149	114	126	4	52	79
129	138	134	150	32	24	65
100	111	96	102	76	67	49
120	148	128	125	28	41	6
153	91	90	105	55	25	50
107	143	116	130	31	18	34
92	122	136	99	73	85	71
98	139	108	135	61	10	12
127	113	144	146	74	59	75

2	38	81
78	22	8
62	83	17

77	43	39			43		77	95
82	45	80			45		82
68	4	52			4		68
51	32	24			32		51
11	76	67			76		11
1	28	41			28		1
	55	25	23	9	55
	31	18	84	20	31
	73	85	57	72	73
	61	10		35	61
	74	59		29	74

	77	43	93	43			43
	82	45		45			45
	68	4		4			4
17	51	32		32		138	32
87	11	76		76			76
56	1	28		28			28
66		55		55			55
		31		31			31
		73		73			73
		61		61			61
		74		74			74

39	3	7	7
80	36	5	5
52	79	37	37
24	65	54	54
67	49	14	14
41	6	58	58
25	50	47	47
18	34	21	21
85	71	63	63
10	12	60	60				48
59	75	16	16	46		46	13

69		70
27		88
86		33
64
42		15		106
		53		137

151
145
115
152
141	121			121
104	89			89
109	119		9	119
123	97		20	97
132	112		72	112
118	147		35	147
154	94		29	94