If you want proof that a monopoly doesn’t necessarily mean monotony, look no further than 1959 Topps baseball cards.
After buying out archrival Bowman heading into the 1956 cardboard season, Topps was poised to do whatever they wanted to do. And, after a 1956 set that looked remarkably like the 1955 issue, collectors might have thought they were in for a steep dive into mediocrity.
But instead, Topps unleashed an array of so many different looks over the next 25 years that they endeared themselves to generations of collectors.
And the 1959 cards played their role in that continued ascent, offering a very 50s-feeling porthole look after the cleancut 1957s and heavily painted(ish) 1958s.
Today, the 1959s are still super popular in the hobby even though the selection of stellar rookies is small (just one, really).
Read on for a rundown of the most valuable 1959 Topps baseball cards, as determined by PSA 7 values in the PSA Sports Market Price Guide.
(Note: The following sections contain affiliate links to eBay and Amazon listings for the cards being discussed.)
1959 Topps Mickey Mantle (#10)
Surprise! Mickey Mantle sits at the top of a “most valuable cards” list in a 1950 set.
OK, if you’ve been breathing sometime in the last 60 years, this is no shock at all.
Still, though, this is a great looking, 50s-feeling pasteboard that features a slightly amused — or at least contented — Mantle gazing out from the porthole in the card’s red-painted cardboard wall. Batting practice in the background makes the whole thing feel breezy and warm, like a place you definitely want to be.
The price of admission? Steep.
Value: $2000-2500
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1959 Topps Bob Gibson (#514)
You have to win one game with your life — or at least, like, the World Series — on the line. Who do you send to the mound?
It’s a hot stove and hot infield dirt conversation fans have had forever. For 50 years or more, one of the names that always ends up right near the top is St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famer Bob Gibson.
During his 17-year career, Gibson won more than 250 games with a 2.91 ERA, went 7-2 in three World Series play, and picked up two National League Cy Young and one MVP awards.
He also left hundreds of batters questioning their career choices.
This smiling 1959 Topps version of Gibson is his rookie card, and graded NM copies sell like hotcakes. Indeed, Hoot pushes The Mick for the title of King of the 1959 Topps Baseball Cards.
Value: $1900-2000
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1959 Topps Hank Aaron (#380)
Like Mays, Aaron was already an established superstar by 1959, with an MVP of his own and a World Series title (in 1957) with the Milwaukee Braves, to boot.
Hammer’s 1959 Topps is a sunny, yellow-bordered beauty featuring a focused young legend, and it’s a hobby favorite.
Value: $850-875
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1959 Topps Willie Mays (#50)
Willie Mays, on the other hand, was already a superstar who was in the discussion for “best player in the game” as 1959 dawned.
A National League MVP award, 51 home runs in 1955, a couple of 30-30 seasons, and having still not reached his 28th birthday will do that for a fella.
This sunny yellow card, featuring a fairly serious looking young Mays, is on just about every vintage want list.
Value: $775-850
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1959 Topps Mickey Mantle All-Star (#564)
Pretty much any Mantle card will get a slot on lists like this, even if that card is not his main card in a set.
This All-Star issue shows the Mick in a posed batting shot, surrounded by a blue field featuring the American League eagle-and-shield emblem. The whole thing adds even more color to an already colorful Topps set.
Value: $775-800
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1959 Topps Sandy Koufax (#163)
Like Roberto Clemente (below), Koufax wasn’t yet the legend that he would one day become when this sunny, smiling 1959 Topps card first popped out of wax packs across the land.
With the 1960s just ahead, though, it wouldn’t be long until Sandy embarked on one of the most dominating runs in MLB pitching history.
Today, this card of the young Cooperstown-bound lefty is a hobby favorite.
Value: $575-600
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1959 Topps Roberto Clemente (#478)
As 1959 dawned, Clemente was still a year away from really finding his offensive groove in the Major Leagues, though stellar defense in right field was already helping boost his value — in WAR and in visuals — to the Pirates.
This yellow-splashed card features the Pirates logo to good effect and shows a young, fresh-faced legend just on the verge of letting the world know who he was.
Value: $450-500
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1959 Topps Harry Hanebrink (#322) – no trade statement
Hanebrink wasn’t anything like a star in the big leagues over the course of his four-year career, though, as you can see from the back of his 1959 Topps card, he flashed some leather in the minors.
Even that glove prowess doesn’t account for his lofty position here, though.
Nope, Hanebrink is here by virtue of some of his cards appearing without the “Traded to Phillies in March 1959” line. The “no trade” version is the scarcer of the two variations and commands a premium.
(The Billy Loes card from this set, #336, exists in two similar variations.)
Value: $300-400
1959 Topps Willie Mays All-Star (#563)
As with Mantle, every Mays card in a set makes that set better, and this All-Star entry is no exception.
Willie himself doesn’t look all that comfortable scrunched into home plate, but it still a Mays card.
Value: $300-400
1959 Topps Stan Musial (#150)
Heading into 1959, Stan Musial was already 38 years old and had more than 3100 hits to his name, with nearly 400 home runs and a .340 batting average.
A Hall of Fame lock, in other words.
He kept going, though, for another five years, and continued to produce pretty much all along the way for the St. Louis Cardinals.
In the process, Musial forever cemented his cards as collector favorites.
Value: $300-325
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1959 Topps Mays’ Catch Makes Series History (#464)
So, yes, another Willie Mays card, and this one was five years in the making.
This exciting pasteboard celebrates one of those amazing baseball memories that can be summarized in just a word or two.
The Catch.
You know instantly that we’re talking about Mays’ amazing, no-look, over-the-shoulder catch in the 1954 World Series against the Cleveland Indians.
You know it.
But it’s still great to “watch” the action unfold over and over again, and this card gives you that in the palm of your hand.
Value: $300-325
1959 Topps Billiy Pierce All-Star (#572)
Billy Pierce was a star pitcher — an All-Star pitcher, in fact, on seven different occasions. He also won 20 games twice and was a key member of the 1959 White Sox and 1962 Giants World Series teams.
But, for as good as he was, Pierce was never a super duper star on the level of, say, a Koufax or Gibson.
So … where’s the rub? How does he end up on this list?
Well, the rub is on the front and back surfaces of many of these Pierce All-Star cards, the very last in the 1959 Topps baseball cards checklist.
And, not only does the Pierce card suffer from the typical types of condition scarcity you often find with first and last cards, it’s also a last card (redundancy alert), which means it was likely issued in lesser quantities than cards from earlier series in the set.
And, of course, it doesn’t hurt that Pierce was a star.
Value: $250-300
1959 Topps Roger Maris (#202) – gray back
This is Maris’ second card, showing the young slugger after he’d moved on from the Cleveland Indians to the Kansas City Athletics, but before he landed on the “destiny” square of the baseball gameboard with the New York Yankees.
That would almost be enough to get Rajah onto our list, but he needed an extra push.
And that push comes in the form of a cardstock variation that afflicted all Series 3 cards (#199-286) in 1959, wherein you could find them with either gray or white backs.
These babies generally show up at about the same frequency in the wild, but the gray backs seem to be less plentiful in nice graded condition.
And THAT is Maris’ push.
Value: $200-300
1959 Topps Hank Aaron All-Star (#561)
If you’ll allow a bit of editorialization, this is a smokin’ baseball card.
Whereas Mays looks cramped on his All-Star entry in this set, Aaron looks triumphant. Sure the choice of pose makes all the difference, but the facts are the facts.
And Henry’s Braves uniform looks pretty amazing inside the bright red borders here, too.
All of which wouldn’t matter if this were almot anyone other than The Hammer. But this is The Hammer, and collectors love this card … once they discover it, at least.
Value: $225-275
1959 Topps Ernie Banks (#350)
This is peak Banks, fresh off his first MVP award (1958) and heading for his second (1959).
You don’t have to squint too hard, either, to make that sunlight splashing off Mr. Cubs face into twilight, guiding us into the second game of a doubleheader.
Let’s play two!
Value: $225-250
1959 Topps Harmon Killebrew (#515)
Killer was in sort of a funny position heading into 1959. Like others on this list, he had yet to break out.
But, at just 22 entering the season, he had already spent parts of five years in the Major Leagues, with just 11 home runs and a lifetime .224 batting average to show for it.
At the same time collectors were pulling his fire-alarm red 1959 Topps card from wax wrappers that summer, though, Killebrew was hitting the cover off baseballs to the tune of 42 home runs and a slash line of .242/.354/.516.
He didn’t stop mashing for another 16 years, and eventually landed in Cooperstown.
Given all that, the price tag for a PSA 7 copy of the Topps card from his breakout season seems downright reasonable.
Value: $200-225
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1959 Topps Roy Campanella – Symbol of Courage (#550)
Roy Campanella was one of the studs of those old Brooklyn Dodgers teams that seemed to make it to the World Series every year only to fall short to the New York Yankees.
Until 1955, that is, when Dem Bums won it all, thanks in large part to Campy’s third MVP season in five seasons.
Just a couple years later, unfortunately, Campanella suffered catastrophic injuries in a car accident, which would leave him wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life.
Regardless of his struggles, though, the Hall of Fame catcher maintained a cheerful public persona and became even more of an idol for fans everywhere.
Topps commemorated Roy’s career and recovery in this 1959 card, dubbed “Symbol of Courage.”
Over the years, the stature of this card has grown along with Campy’s legacy, and today it will set you back a pretty penny in PSA 7. Fitting for the most inspirational of all 1959 Topps baseball cards.
Value: $200-225
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So, did your favorite make this list of most valuable 1959 Topps baseball cards? Or are we missing a beauty? I’d love to hear your picks!
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