Topps All-Time Fan Favorites Favorites - M

Topps put out 150 card sets of retired players in 2003-2004-2005. Players are pictured on card designs from their playing days but with different photos than were in the originals. Here are my favorites, alphabetically.

2003 #68

1975 design. Not wild about the border colors on this one (red on orange for the team name?) but it's a nice shot of a young Bill Madlock and it's a Cubs card.

2005 #86

1964 design. Juan looks so sweet here. Not so sweet to face him in 1964. He struck out 206 and only walked 52, winning 21 and losing only 8.

2003 #1

1955 design. Great design , super great player. No complaints here. Next!

2003 #83

1957 design. Remember when the Pirates were good? Bill does. In 1957 he hit a career high .283 but it was not a good year for the Pirates in '57. They finished tied with my Cubbies at 62-92 and in last place, 33 games behind the eventual World Series Champion Milwaukee Braves.

2003 #90

1965 design. For some reason the Cardinals cards always look particularly good. That being said I like this card for the goofy looking Tim McCarver.

2003 #132

1968 design. Not my most favorite card but Willie's a Hall of Famer and I like the Giant's green on the 1968 design. This is one case where the original is actually better.

2004 #85

1968 design. Sam had an ERA of 1.81 in 1968. That was good for second in the AL behind teammate Luis Tiant but Sudden Sam went only 15-14. If I'm not mistaken he lost twelve games in which the Indians scored no more than one run.

2005 #56

1965 design. The last man to win 30 games in a season, McLain went 16-6 in 1965. Don't you love the glasses? I think Denny borrowed them from Floyd the barber.

2005 #80

1970 design. I believe it's right that the players are not the slaves of the baseball owners but I miss the days when the same guys were on your team together for a longer time.

2005 #110

1978 design. Rick was an All-Star in 1978 and the Dodgers made it to the World Series.

2005 #123

1960 design. This is the design of Topps Heritage in 2010. Personally, I like it. As for this card, you can't do any better than Stan the Man.