2016 Topps Throwback Thursday Set #4

Its crazy how quickly the weeks of summer are flying by. (Sorry educators!) I feel like I just did a TBT post and yet its time for another one. I was going to post two sets to catch up this week but it snuck up on me before I had time to scan and crop.

Week 4 came out around the 4th of July, a very patriotic time of year. With that in mind, Topps went outside their Archives/Heritage box again and used the 1955 All-American Football set for its design. But unlike their Week 3 Flamethrower player selection, they managed to come up with a solid group of players to match their patriotic theme. The six players for Week 4 for not only played baseball, but also served in the U.S. Military.

So, All-American card design, veterans, and baseball? Ding! Ding! Ding!

#19 Ted Williams

#20 Jackie Robinson

#21 Stan Musial

#22 Duke Snider

#23 Warren Spahn



#24 Ralph Kiner

If you are only doing a 6-card set (and trying to make money from collectors), it's hard to argue with the inclusion of these 6 players. Of course, there were a couple of dozen other Hall of Famers who were also military veterans, and well over a thousand others not enshrined in Cooperstown. Checkout Baseball in Wartime for more information.

I also said last week that I was going to start tracking teams used and duplicate players. With all retired players, there weren't any duplicates this week. Through 4 weeks (24 cards) here is a list of teams and players with multiples:

Los Angeles Dodgers - 5

Washington Nationals - 3

Chicago Cubs - 2

New York Mets - 2

Texas Rangers - 2

Boston Red Sox - 1

Colorado Rockies - 1

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim - 1

Miami Marlins - 1

Atlanta/Milwaukee Braves - 1

New York Yankees - 1 (surprise??)

Pittsburgh Pirates - 1

San Francisco Giants - 1

St. Louis Cardinals - 1

Toronto Blue Jays - 1

That's 5 teams representing 14 of the 24 cards.

The only duplicate players so far have been Bryce Harper and Clayton Kershaw.