Even though they don’t get as much love as their kid brother (that would be 1952 Topps), 1951 Topps baseball cards are an integral part of baseball history.
In reality, 1951 Topps cards come in five flavors — Teams, Connie Mack‘s All-Stars, Major League All-Stars, Blue Backs, and Red Backs.
Those first three are sufficiently scarce that most collectors will be lucky to ever see even one card in their lifetimes.
So … we’ll focus on the Blue Back and Red Back sets.
Each set contains 52 cards and is designed to let you play a baseball game with the players pictured — Billy Goodman is a bunt, Sherman Lollar is a strike, etc.
The sets feature different checklists, so you could have theoretically collected two complete and distinct “decks” of playing cards.
Of the two, the Blue Backs have always been considered to be more scarce, and the PSA Population Report shows about twice as many of the Reds have been submitted for grading.
But there are desirable cards in both sets, so we’re going to Franken-set this list of the most valuable 1951 Topps baseball cards — you’ll find Reds and Blacks mixed in here, ranked based on values for PSA 7 copies pulled from the PSA Sports Market Report Price Guide.
1951 Topps Blue Back Richie Ashburn (#3)
Ashburn was as key member of the 1950 Phillies’ Whiz Kids team that streaked all the way to the World Series before running into a dynastic Yankees club.
During that magical season, Put Put hit .303 with an NL-leading 13 triples, and he would go on to cop National League batting titles in both 1955 and 1958.
Ashburn’s lifetime .308 average on the back of 2574 hits was enough for the Veteran’s Committee to vote him into the Hall of Fame in 1995.
On this list, Ashburn leads off with a $150 card in graded NM condition.
Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)
Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)
1951 Topps Red Back Yogi Berra (#1)
The year this card was issued, Berra won the first of his three American League MVP awards, with the others coming in 1954 and 1955.
The Red Backs, though more common, have always been appealing to collectors for their superior star power, and Yogi leads the charge among the all-time greats.
He lines up here at about $115 in PSA 7.
Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)
Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)
1951 Topps Blue Back Red Schoendienst (#6)
Schoendienst was another Veteran’s Committee selection, in 1989, an honor he won on the strenght of 2400+ hits and his role as the starting second baseman for two World Series winners — the 1946 St. Louis Cardinals and the 1957 Milwaukee Braves.
Probably didn’t hurt that he managed the Cards through their glorious run in the mid-to-late 1960s, either (save for the 1964 champs, who were guided by Johnny Keane).
The Blue Schoendienst is a $110 card in PSA 7.
Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)
Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)
1951 Topps Blue Back Bobby Doerr (#37)
Except for 1945, when he was serving in the military, Doerr parked his slender frame at second base in Fenway Park in 1937, and he didn’t budge until after the 1951 season.
In between, he smacked 223 home runs, batted .288, collected 2000+ hits, and garnered nine All-Star selections.
He also happened to play alongside the great Ted Williams, who also just happened to be an influential part of the Veteran’s Committee in the mid-1980s.
So, for better or worse, Doerr made the VC cut in 1986, and his cards are all the better off for it.
This Blue Back is a $100+ buy in PSA 7.
Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)
Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)
1951 Topps Blue Back Enos Slaughter (#30)
Slaughter starred in St. Louis through the 1940s — aside for three seasons of military service — before bouncing from the Yankees to the A’s to the Yankees to the Braves to end his career.
During that journey, he won two rings with the Cards and one with the Yanks, and he got the Veteran’s Committee HOF nod in 1985.
Oh, and Country was a key part of the Abbott and Costello classic, “Who’s on First”