Topps put together their first World Series subset in 1960. The set commemorated the 1959 series which featured the Chicago White Sox versus versus the team that also happens to be this years NL rep, the LA Dodgers.
The World Series may be dubbed the Fall Classic, however I would never consider the first Topps card created to honor the Series a Classic.
Yes any first is significant, and the introduction of World Series cards to Topps is obviously important.
Unfortunately the execution of this first card in the subset is poor.
I have no problem with the picture of Charlie Neal (2-4, SB) on the card. Action shots are rare in the era, so Topps gets points here, although this appears to be a color painting based off of a black and white photo.
My issues is based on the image and the large caption, who do you think won Game 1 of the 1959 World Series?
Okay the score is given in the bottom left – in the smallest font on the card. Regardless, if the Dodgers get clobbered why would you feature their second baseman stealing a base as the picture to represent that game?
Ridiculousness – If Twitter had existed in 1960 World Series cards would have been banished for decades, or at least until the next managerial faux pas.
The White Sox won the contest 11-0, consequently Topps had a number of heroes to choose from for the card front. Ted Kluszewski had a pair of home runs and 5 RBI. Jim Landis had 3 hits, 3 Runs and an RBI. And what about the pitcher – future Hall of Famer Early Wynn tossed seven shutout innings, scattering six singles.
Moving on from my rant, despite this rather odd start I am glad that Topps introduced World Series cards in 1960 and look forward to a the cards that will note this years series in 2018 Topps.
Topps did get the b-side of these cards right by featuring a box score with basic line score. The capsule summary at the top is concise and summarizes the key points of all the players missed on the front of the card.
The 1960 Topps World Series subset consists of seven cards one for each game plus a summary/Dodgers Celebration card which features a composite box on the back. In addition to this card Charlie Neal is also featured on the second card of the subset.
Neal had 2 home runs in that game including a 3 run shot in the 7th which gave the Dodgers their first lead of the series. White Sox Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio appears on the Game 5 card, although the picture on the card is from Game 4.
Sources and Links
Horizontal Heroes
Sports Collectors Digest – John McMurray
baseball-ref
Trading Card DB
SABR's Baseball Cards Research Committee 
Well, they only had one other picture of the game, and “Esposito Strikes Out” might’ve been worse.
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Game 1 caption should have been: Klu Clouts Two. The celebration cards is great. Imagine a card today where players are dousing a coach with bear. Great post.
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Topps was (is) hardly alone in such selections. Don’t know how many times I’ve seen, say, a football team win big and the picture in the paper is of the losing team’s FB diving into the line for no gain. (Of course this would have to have been a HS game since many local papers no longer cover pro sports–even local minor league teams. Don’t get me started.)
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To the victor (of the Series) go the spoils!
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