1952 Topps Robin Roberts x 5

1983 Topps 1952 Reprint #59, 2001 Topps Archives #235,
2002 Topps Archives #87, 2004 Topps Shoe Box Collection #8

In my post on the 1952 Topps Phillies cards, I alluded to the fact that Topps went back to the well on more than one occasion when it came to reprinting certain of its vintage baseball cards.  Such is the case with the 1952 Topps Robin Roberts card.  The card was first reprinted in 1983 when Topps released a snazzy blue box containing reprints of the entire 407-card set.*

2002 Topps Archives
Reserve #69

The card made its next appearance in the 1989 Topps Baseball Talk set, which I featured in a post last November.

In 2001, Topps released its popular Archives set, and Roberts' '52 Topps card was a natural fit for the set.  Topps liked including the card so much in its 2001 Archives set that it decided to flip the Archives logo over to the other side and include it in its 2002 Archives set as well.  We also got an extra shiny version of the reprinted card in the 2002 Topps Archives Reserve set.  Sadly, 2003 passed without any further '52 Topps Roberts reprints.  But the card reappeared in 2004, this time in something Topps was calling the Shoe Box Collection.

And who knows? Maybe one day I'll actually own one of the originals.

*Topps couldn't come to terms with five of the players appearing in the original 1952 Topps set, so the reprint set actually only includes 402 cards.