1956 Topps Football | The Start of a Hobby Tradition

The Topps Football Set That Started it All

Topps won the baseball card war in 1956, and one of the spoils of it was producing football cards for the first time after Bowman dominated that market earlier in the 1950s. Topps would continue releasing annual sets for the next 60 years. 

Modeling its approach after its success in winning the battle with Bowman, Topps decided again that, even without competition, bigger would be better. Cards that were essentially two-inch squares at the start of the decade were now 2 ⅝” x 3 ⅝”. The 1956 Topps Football set had arrived, and The Hobby would never be the same.

Player photos were set against a solid color background that corresponded with the team colors. Topps Baseball cards were famous for team logos, and that was carried over to 1956 Topps Football. Included in the 120-card set were rookie Hall of Famers Lenny Moore, Roosevelt Brown, and Rosey Grier — all African American stars. Hall of Famers Alex Webster, Joe Schmidt, Bill George, and Stan Jones also have first cards in this set. 

Card backs are split into two sections, with a short biography on the left and a trivia-based cartoon on the right. Some positions get a line of stats from the prior year and lifetime stats. 

This modern design helped set the standard for The Hobby on the gridiron, paving the way for modern releases like the highly anticipated 2025 Topps Chrome Football.

Team cards were issued for the first time in football. There was also a set checklist encouraging the entire set to be collected, and special contest cards. The latter were either thrown away or sent in for prizes, making them very difficult to find for set completists. 

Each of the 12 teams has nine player cards and a team card. Heavy card stock and a multitude of unopened finds make the 1956 cards more plentiful than other 1950s issues. 

Wire cuts common for the era and print defects on the color backgrounds, along with typical centering issues, are challenges for collectors. The rookie Lenny Moore, who remains the only player in NFL history to score 40+ rushing TDs (he had 68) and 40+ receiving TDs (48), is extremely difficult to find centered in any grade. 

Chasing the Very First Topps Football Set

To make the number of cards work with the card-sheet size, Topps printed all the cards twice on each sheet, except for the Washington Redskins and Chicago Cardinals, who were single printed. This makes these teams more difficult for vintage collectors to find. 

Many of the card images are iconic. Chuck Bednarik, the last NFL two-way star, whose nickname was “Concrete Charlie,” looks like he’s determined to defy the laws of physics and leap out of the card to separate you from your senses.

Bednarik’s teammate Norm Wiley seems to be spreading his wings like an Eagle, inventing the touchdown celebration Eagles players perform to this day.

The record purchase of a 1956 set remains the No. 2 set in the PSA Registry (average grade: 8.764), purchased in 2021 for $37,934, according to Card Ladder, which tracks prices and card populations. For a single card record, a PSA 9 Stan Jones sold for $15,000 in 2016. That same year, a Lenny Moore in a PSA 9 (not perfectly centered) sold for $6,200. 

1950 Bowman Football Collector FAQs

• Why is the 1956 Topps Football set so important?
  • It marked Topps’ entry into the football Hobby, setting the modern standard for decades to come.
• How many cards are in the 1956 Topps Football set?
  • The set features 120 cards: nine player cards and a team card for each of the 12 featured teams.
• What makes 1956 Topps Football so enticing to collectors?
  • The ongoing legacy of Topps Football, with modern sets like 2025 Topps Chrome Football, makes the 1956 set an important historical release.
• Who are the key chases in 1956 Topps Football?
  • Stars like Lenny Moore, Roosevelt Brown, Rosey Grier, Alex Webster, Joe Schmidt, Bill George, and Stan Jones headline this vintage chase.

Key Facts

• Set: 1956 Topps Football
• Historical Relevance: First-ever Topps Football release
• Key Players: Lenny Moore, Roosevelt Brown, Rosey Grier, Alex Webster, Joe Schmidt, Bill George, Stan Jones
• Collector Category: Football, vintage sports cards

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