Reed’s Buys: 1952 Topps Baseball Complete Set

Our head buyer Reed Kasaoka is back, and this time it’s with the “crown jewel of modern baseball sets,” a complete set of 1952 Topps Baseball. Reed says it includes the “scarce” high numbers, cards 311-407.

He believes there’s so much more to this set than just the iconic Mickey Mantle card. There are also early cards of Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays, rookie cards of Hall of Famers Eddie Matthews and Hoyt Wilhelm (who are both in the high number set), and the card everyone talks about, the #1 Andy Pafko.

What is a Reed Buy?

Eight major cards in this complete set of 407 cards have a PSA grade. Here’s a list of them below with a brief description by Reed in his own words:

• #311 Mickey Mantle PSA 3 – “A very clean-looking card, with even wear around the corners, 65/35 side-to-side centering and 60/40 top-to-bottom centering, and a well-focused picture on a bright blue background. If you’re gonna buy a 1952 Topps Baseball set, you’re gonna need to have a nice-looking Mantle, and this is it.”
• #312 Jackie Robinson PSA 4 – “At first glance, this looks way better than a PSA 4, but upon closer inspection, a light back crease keeps this card from grading much higher. The crease is not visible from the front, and the card shows light wear at the corners.”
• #261 Willie Mays PSA 5.5 – “As close to dead-centered as you can get, this is a gorgeous card. Touches of corner wear on the front and the back make it an EX card, with the half-point bump no doubt earned from its great eye appeal. We will not break this set, so please don’t ask what we want for just this card or any other card.”
• #407 Eddie Mathews RC PSA 3.5 – “The elusive last card of the set, this high number is the rookie card for this HOF slugger. Exhibiting even wear around the corners, this card is only slightly off-centered but better than 55/45 both ways.”
• #314 Roy Campanella PSA 5 – “A clean card with some wear on just a couple of the corners, this grades a PSA 5 due to its centering issues, but the colors are vibrant and still has much of its original gloss.”
• #332 Tony Bartirome PSA 7 – “There supposedly exists a collector out there who has been trying to hoard this card for maybe a decade or longer, and seems to have succeeded somewhat, as these have been getting harder to find. This PSA 7 looks like it just came out of a pack yesterday.”
• #333 Pee Wee Reese PSA 2.5 – “A nice-looking card with a crease running through the back of the card, which is visible on the front near Pee Wee’s nose.”
• #392 Hoyt Wilhelm RC PSA 4 – “Another high number card that is a rookie card for a HOF pitcher, this card is quite off-centered both ways but still has nice focus and color to it.”

The set also holds some ungraded stars:

• #1 Andy Pafko Black Back VG
• #88 Bob Feller VG-EX
• #175 Billy Martin EX
• #315 Leo Durocher EX
• #319 Rube Walker RC EX-MT
• #321 Joe Black RC VG-EX
• #326 George Shuba RC VG-EX

Reed’s complete set of 1952 Topps Baseball is available as of today on our website, and at the new owner’s request, Reed will personally hand-deliver this set, free of charge, anywhere in the United States.

If you have any questions, contact Reed at [email protected].