1951 Topps Red Back #50, Monte Irvin ⭐ MLB Pioneer
Before Topps produced arguably the most iconic baseball card set in the hobby (1952 Topps Baseball Cards), they released their 1951 Baseball Card Set.
The 1951 Topps baseball card set was Topps' debut set, featuring black-and-white player portraits on a colored diamond background and distributed as two separate series, the Red Backs and Blue Backs. These are small playing-style cards, designed to be played as a card game using game actions printed on the fronts.
This card of Monte Irvin is a key card because he is a legendary Hall of Famer and MLB Pioneer having played in the Negro League for Newark Eagles.
Monte Irvin was the first Black player for the NY Giants. He debuted with the Giants on July 8, 1949, along with Hank Thompson, becoming the first two Black players to integrate the Giants.