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Set Spotlight 1974 Topps baseball A mix of old and new with some challenges tossed in

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mchenrycards

Featured Contributor, Vintage Corner, Senior Membe
The 1974 Topps baseball set was a landmark for the bubble gum card company in that, with the release of its baseball set, all of the cards would be available in one series and not broken up into several over the summer months. This was a change in philosophy for the card giant because, for the previous two decades, Topps would let their sports issues trickle out 132 cards at a time to the young collectors of America. This series method of distribution would insure Topps of continued sales during the summer months as interest in their product would be boosted with the release of each series. This series method came to an end with the release of the 1974 baseball set and collectors around the country changed the way they would add cards to their collections.


As a child collecting for my second year in 1974, I was vaguely aware that I could not previously get every card in the set at one time. I couldn’t miss the change in philosophy for 1974 as each pack of cards proclaimed this fact that all the cards were now available in one series. The fact that I would not have to beg my parents to take me back to the store every six weeks to start buying more packs enticed even my nine year old mind. The only sad part of this news for me was that there would no longer be a race by my friends and I to discover that the new series was in and the rush I would feel when seeing cards I had never seen before.


The 1974 Topps set is thought of by many as a relatively plain set in that it has no spectacular design like the psychedelic 1972’s and lacked the eye popping appeal of the black bordered ‘71’s. But when compared to the previous year’s design, this set was a masterpiece of color photography and player selection. The team city is printed at the top left of each card with the team name printed on the opposite bottom corner inside what can best be described as a pennant design. The players position would be printed in the upper right corner with the player name located in the opposite bottom corner in black on the white card stock. This simple design did work well as these items perfectly framed the large photos of the player and made the photo the focal point and not the design. The card backs featured statistics printed in black against a green back ground that proved to be sometimes hard to read. The card backs continued the Topps tradition of having hand drawn cartoons touting a nugget of information about the player as well as a facsimile signature for the first time on the reverse. This signature on the back helped to de-clutter the front photos which led to the clean designs collectors have grown to love.


The 1974 Topps baseball set came during a transition in Major League Baseball. Players such as Mays and Clemente would be absent for the first time in decades while players such as Mike Schmidt, Carlton Fisk and other future superstars were taking their places among baseball elite. This set would feature the first cards of Hall of Famer Dave Winfield and Pirates star Dave Parker. There would be appearances on cards of their own for the first time by Mike Schmidt and others who previously shared space on their rookie cards with other players. This set would also see card number one being given to Henry Aaron which proclaimed him to be the all-time home run king. Aaron’s status was virtually assured as he ended the previous season with 713 round trippers, making him just one short of tying the record set previously by Babe Ruth. Topps would also go on to honor Aaron by giving him the next five cards in the set which pictured each of Aaron’s previous Topps issues, picturing four cards on each one. These have come to be known as the Hank Aaron specials with many collectors putting these specials and the Aaron card number into their own collection, even if they do not actively collect this whole set.


The start of the 1974 baseball season was an uncertain one for baseball fans in San Diego. There had been many rumors that their team would be sold and moved to Washington D.C and many felt it was literally a done deal. Topps apparently was in this camp as well since they initially offered all Padres cards with the team city designated as Washington and the team name as “Nat’l Lea.”. It wasn’t know where the team would play it’s next season until Ray Kroc, owner of McDonalds stepped in and purchased the team and vowed to keep them where they were. Once this ownership issue was settled and it was determined the Padres were staying put, Topps fixed all subsequent printings to show the Padres cards with the correct team and name designation. This correction caused the Washington Padres cards to be short printed and, while not rare, they do carry a premium over the corrected versions. The Washington Padres cards were not the only corrections seen in the set as the Jesus Alou card can be found with and without the word “outfield” printed on the front and cards such as the rookie card of Bob Apodoca having different spellings of his name and the Padres Dave Frieselbein having different font sizes for his team name.


This set is one of the last ones to include cards of all-time great such as Bob Gibson, Harmon Killebrew and Al Kaline along with newcomers like the previously mentioned Winfield and Parker and young established stars such as Seaver, Fisk and Rose. This set features an incredible mix of players past and present, along with some collecting challenges with corrected Washington cards and other errors that any collector who loves vintage will find something in this set to collect. It also helps that the pricing for even the most expensive stars are within the budget of most who are inclined to add these cards to their collection. Collecting this set will not kill your budget and you too can collect them all in one series and no longer have to worry about premiums being paid for short print high numbers.

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mrmopar

Member
Jan 19, 2010
6,188
4,100
You captured a number of great shots there, but there are so many more. The action shots in this set are what draw me to the early 70s cards. The A's are particularly top heavy with great action shots (Fosse, Hunter, Jackson, Odom, Lindblad, Fingers, Knowles, Green, etc) along with a lot of great star cards like Bench, Rose, Garvey, Concepcion, Killebrew, Morgan, Powell, Pinson, etc.
 

mchenrycards

Featured Contributor, Vintage Corner, Senior Membe
You captured a number of great shots there, but there are so many more. The action shots in this set are what draw me to the early 70s cards. The A's are particularly top heavy with great action shots (Fosse, Hunter, Jackson, Odom, Lindblad, Fingers, Knowles, Green, etc) along with a lot of great star cards like Bench, Rose, Garvey, Concepcion, Killebrew, Morgan, Powell, Pinson, etc.

If I could have I would have posted almost the whole set because this thing is loaded with great shots. I feel like I only scratched the surface in my recap of this set as there is so much more to it in terms of photo selection and other items like the Dave Frieselbein card having different size fonts for his team name. This is a nice set to assemble and I think most, if they are not familiar with this set would be surprised at the great action shots.
 

Austin

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
5,706
41
Dallas, Texas
Great post, as always.
I really like how you not only tell the history of these sets, but you also interject your own personal collecting history into the story.
Excellent read and I look forward to more!
 

mrmopar

Member
Jan 19, 2010
6,188
4,100
Funny, despite so many great action shots, I only had this scanned for my great action shots thread. Had a lot of 73s scanned though.

 

olerud363

Active member
Jun 14, 2010
3,212
14
Ontario, Canada
I started putting together the 1974 Topps set around 11 or 12 years ago as a long-term project, since it was issued the year I was born. I also included the Traded cards and the team checklists in the project, and am down to about a dozen cards left that I need. Putting together a PSA graded set ranks high on my list of hobby things to do if money ever becomes no object. :)

I didn't know about the Apodaca error card, so I'll have to check which version I have.

Thanks for the informative article!

- Rodrick
 

mchenrycards

Featured Contributor, Vintage Corner, Senior Membe
I started putting together the 1974 Topps set around 11 or 12 years ago as a long-term project, since it was issued the year I was born. I also included the Traded cards and the team checklists in the project, and am down to about a dozen cards left that I need. Putting together a PSA graded set ranks high on my list of hobby things to do if money ever becomes no object. :)

I didn't know about the Apodaca error card, so I'll have to check which version I have.

Thanks for the informative article!

- Rodrick

There is a version with "Apadoca" which is spelled correctly and Apodaco. The first image is of the full error card itself and the second is the error and corrected version, isolated on Apodaca. By the way....one of the other rookies on this card, John D'Aquisto is very much into Facebook and baseball history and is very approachable. IT is fun getting his perspective on all matters baseball.

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mchenrycards

Featured Contributor, Vintage Corner, Senior Membe
Great post, however it just seems incomplete without mention of the 1974TT cards.

I may have subconsciously omitted the traded set as I never really felt they were part of the full set. I remember opening packs and getting one of those traded cards and feeling like I just got a checklist. I hated them LOL. While they are not technically part of the set, I understand how many feel that without the traded cards and the team checklists, the set just is not complete.
 

Brewer Andy

Active member
Aug 10, 2008
9,634
21
Another great write up. They do come off as plain nowadays but as a kid I remember thinking they looked really nice. Got a few '74s on my wantlist yet
 

MaineMule

Active member
Aug 7, 2008
5,454
0
Maine of course......
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.......this was the first set I collected as a kid. I loved opening the packs AND chewing the inserted bubble gum. I was 8 in 1974 and I likely completed the set in my mid-teens (14/15) when I discovered the local hobby shop. I too loved the action shots but was somewhat frustrated that some cards were vertical and some horizontal in design. I always wondered how they decided which would be which direction. It's just the '73 and '74 sets that are printed this way, right?

Wish I had some of these pack to tear into.......
 

mchenrycards

Featured Contributor, Vintage Corner, Senior Membe
You're over due or another spot light Mchenry

LOL Thanks for wanting more from me!

The last few months work has been overwhelming and my photo of the day posts and other things such as set spotlights have fallen to the side. Things have now stabilized and getting back to normal so I am going to try and get back to getting some things done here on the board again.

My wife is out visiting our daughter (who is in the Air Force) this week and I even got my mom to watch the dog for the who week so I am literally a bachelor for the next 8 days and I think it is a very good possibility another set spotlight actually shows up soon. Any suggestions on a set one would like to see? I have a few ideas but was wondering what others would like.
 

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