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.

This is an unbelievable find. Historically awesome.🔥 Larry Doby, Buck Leonard, Monte Irvin...🤩
If you're not following @Vohnhenk you might miss out on some fantastic nuggets of baseball history and beautiful collectibles.
Congrats on this find Aaron!🤝
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I love the ‘55 Doubleheader set and Monte Irvin is one of my all-time favorite players. He is a Hall of Famer, and an MLB pioneer as part of the first all-African American OF in MLB history - along with Willie Mays and Hank Thompson - for the NY Giants. He was a Negro League Champion and an MLB Champion. Monte served in the Army in WWII from 1943 to 1945 and was in the Battle of the Bulge - as was my Grandpa Jenkins. All those fellas were so young. I think about that often…

"I used to watch Monte Irvin play when I was a kid - I idolized him. I used to wait in front of the ballpark just for him to pass by so I could see him." - Roberto Clemente

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