I started collecting in 1978, and the 1973 set was the first (in terms of 'years ago') that I didn't obtain a batch of 50-100 or so from friends who had them from when they were younger. For a while I possessed only the Mets team photo card. I picked a few other roughed-up examples here and there, but it wasn't until high school that I finally came into some nicer ones when I bought a stack of maybe 50-60 from my friend Joe for $5 - I think I got my money's worth as that lot contained Steve Carlton and Willie Mays. After that it took me through college to build the rest of the set and I think Tom Seaver and the 3td series checklist were the final two I needed. I do know that my one experience with an old card vending machine (from which vending boxes take their name) came while I was in high school and went to a store called Bayshore Enterprises in West Haven, CT. I put in a coin and out came a 1973 Glenn Borgmann.
The 1973 set is significant because it was the first one which was available in its entirety at the beginning of the year. Many parts of the country still received it in series-by-series form, but in others you could open a pack in March and receive any of the 660 cards.
Following 1972's huge pop-art extravaganza, 1973 was smaller and visually tamer - one could even say drab - by comparison. I have to believe there was some disappointment as the first packs were ripped open. Beyond the simpler appearance, the set also includes a number of terrible paint jobs and odd, poorly framed action shots - seems Topps was still trying to get a handle on how to make those work two years after they were introduced in 1971.
A thin, round-cornered black border surrounds the player's image, and a rounded cut-out in the bottom right corner contains a silhouette of the player's position set against a colored circle. Text beneath spells out the position. The player's name and team appear in the lower left in dual-colored text. Position silhouettes were available for catcher, 1st base, 2nd base, 3rd base, shortstop, outfield and both left- and right-handed pitchers. Although 1973 was the first year with the DH in place in the American League no cards bear a DH position. As would be the case when Topps used silhouettes again in 1976, there were no players with multiple positions (i.e. "2nd Base-Shortstop").
Backs are oriented vertically and are printed in gold, white and black against a black background. A small cartoon appears at the top offering some interesting factoid about the player.
Each of the 5 series was printed in two ways - one, with all 132 different cards on a 11x12 half sheet, and another with 66 cards double printed on a half sheet. It is likely that one full sheet had either 2 132 different card half sheets or 2 different 66x2 half sheets.
Series 1: 66x2 half sheet image with Dodgers team card in upper left needed.
Series 1: 1-132
Series 2: 66x2 half sheet image with Breeden in upper left needed.
Series 2: 133-264
Series 3: 265-396
Series 4: 397-528
Series 5: Full 132-card series half sheet image needed.
Series 5: 529-660
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In 1973, wax packs contained 10 cards and sold for 10 cents each. They were packed 24 per box, and cases contained 24 boxes. Topps mixed it up by using 4 different basic wrapper designs.
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The 4 basic wrapper designs each featured 1 of 5 possible side-panel ads: a batting glove which would only fit left hands for 75 cents; an umpire's ball/strike/out counter for 40 cents; and one of 3 LP records - 10 years of ABC's Wide World of Sports, 1972 Sports Highlights and 100 Years of Baseball (narrated by Curt Gowdy and Jimmy Stewart), each for 75 cents.
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Packs issued with all 660 cards available came only in the catcher version, with a red banner announcing their contents. They came in boxes which also carried a notice that all cards were available at once. The boxes were packed in a different case version as well. In addition to the standard side-panel ads, these packs also could be found with either an announcement further hyping the all-cards-at-once aspect or an ad for all 24 team checklist cards (see below) in uncut sheet form. The checklists could be bought for 25 cents.
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Topps issued grocery packs in 1973, but imagery is lacking. All we have at the present time is this ordering information from a sell-sheet which shows that they were packaged 24 per display tray with 3 display trays per case.
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Cello packs contained 27 cards (along with a stick of gum) and retailed for 25 cents each. Boxes contained 24 packs.
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Rack packs held 54 cards and sold for 39 cents each. There is a lack of extant imagery or information which could confirm how many packs were in a box (likely 24) or how many boxes were in a case (possibly 3 or 6).
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500-count vending boxes were issued in 24-box cases in 1973, but useful imagery is unavailable.
Out of 660 total cards, the set contains 558 basic player cards, with 113, 112, 117, 113 and 103 in series 1-5 respectively.
Included among the 558 basic player cards are 6 players from the 1972 Topps All Star Rookie team. Each is designated by a small gold cup on their card - a change from the previous gold player statue. For whatever reason, 4 members of the 1972 squad were not marked with gold cups, and these are indicated by an asterisk in the list to the right.
271 - Tom Hutton, Phillies 1B*
181 - Jack Brohamer, Indians 2B
241 - Dwain Anderson, Cardinals SS
133 - Dave Roberts, Padres 3B
384 - Don Baylor, Orioles OF*
31 - Buddy Bell, Indians OF
322 - Garry Maddox, Giants OF*
193 - Carlton Fisk, Red Sox C
339 - Dick Tidrow, Indians RHP*
55 - Jon Matlack, Mets LHP
Card 1 and cards 471-478 depict all-time record holders in a variety of statistical categories. Card #1 stands out because unlike the others, it presents the three then-leaders, two of whom were still active and one of whom would eventually take over the number 1 spot.
Cards 61-68 document each league's top performer from 1972 across 8 statistical categories. Card backs list the top ten performers from each league in that particular category.
Cards 201 (AL) and 202 (NL) recap the 1972 LCS. Card backs provide the winning clubs' cumulative series stats.
Card 203-210 summarize the action from the 1972 World Series. Each of the 7 games has its own card with stats from that game on the reverse and a single card highlighting the A's series victory features each club's cumulative series stats on the reverse.
Cards 341-346 feature pictures of popular current players as youngsters. Card backs describe their childhoods with a focus on sports.
24 team photo cards are scattered throughout the set. Each features a team photo on the front and the club's all-time leaders and pennant history on the reverse (cards of newer clubs without pennants simply list annual standings).
The set features 24 manager cards, which include the manager and four of his coaches on the front, while providing some information on their professional playing careers other data on the reverse. The Royals', Rangers', Indians' Cardinals' cards feature only 3 coaches.
Cards 601-616 each feature three rookies with little to no major league experience that Topps thought showed promise. Each card is categorized by position - rookie pitchers, rookie catchers, etc.
5 checklist cards mark the set off in increments of 132: 1-132, 133-264, 265-396, 397-528 and 529-660.
A full checklist of the 1973 set, including printable formats, can be found at the Trading Card Database HERE.
Hall of Famers Rich Gossage (174) and Mike Schmidt (615) appear for the first time in 1973.
Also debuting are Buddy Bell (31), Garry Maddox (322), Rick Reuschel (482), Gary Matthews (606), Bob Boone (613) and Dwight Evans (614).
Making their final appearances are Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente (50) and Willie Mays (305). Clemente's finale was due to his tragic death on New Year's Eve, 1972.
Norm Cash (485), Frank Howard (560) and Denny McLain (630) also took their bows in 1973.
1973 saw the debut of what would be a popular feature of Topps sets for years to come - team checklist cards. They have blue borders with the team name and year set against yellow crossed bats on a red field. Facsimile autographs of the team's players take up the majority of the front surface area. Backs feature the checklists.
Cards were printed on a white stock, different from the standard gray of the basic set.
The opportunity to produce team checklists had been limited in the past as higher-series cards would not be finalized until after the first series had hit the stores. The move to issuance all at once probably gave Topps the idea.
It is not precisely clear how these cards were distributed - common opinion is that they were only available in the All 660 packs, but there are some who collected the set in this manner who never saw one back in the day. However they were available, they are quite scarce compared to the cards in the basic set.
The 1973 set contains some variations. Al Kaline (280) was initially issued with band-aids clearly visible beneath the brim of his cap. Topps airbrushed out the unsightly first aid implements early in production, and on the vast majority of his cards you'd never know his noggin had a boo-boo.
No fewer than 16 of the 24 manager cards can be found with variations centered on the coaches (some, like Dick Williams, have more than 2 each). The changes have to do with whether the backgrounds behind the coaches' head shots show natural features such as trees or hills, whether those features have been artistically eliminated, whether some coaches lost ears in the process and whether the backgrounds are tinted orange-ish or brown-ish.
As mentioned above the set contains a whole lot of cards which make you wonder what Topps was thinking sometimes...
This cluttered action shot doesn't even show Ellie Rodriguez - that's either Paul Ratliff or John Felske preparing to gun down a runner.
That isn't Joe Rudi being congratulated at home - that's his teammate Gene Tenace.
Which one of these painted Mets players is the Astros' Tommie Agee? The one on the far left, but you shouldn't have to think that hard.
If anyone hits one of the neighbors' cars, they all better book it!
He may be mostly hidden by teammate Wes Parker, but at least that IS Steve Garvey.
The Indians debuted red caps in 1972, but weren't wearing them yet that spring training. So, Topps felt it necessary to paint several Indians players to appear as...Indians.
As Obi Wan might have said about Mr. McKinney, "He's more paint than man now".
It would be another two years before Scholastic's Dynamite Magazine would begin to include Topps panels each year, but their July, 1978 issue #50 Best of Dynamite edition contained an article about Topps which must have first run some years before.
I remember the article featured an image of an uncut 2nd series sheet (I had only been collecting for a couple months - I had no idea there was such a thing!), and an interview with Sy Berger.
I recall a couple things he spoke about. He assured kids that they printed the same about of every card - stars and commons - to alleviate the concerns of frustrated youngsters who could never find the good cards. He also gave a peek behind the curtain on how Topps handled players who changed teams.
He let us in on the wizardry of photographing players from below so the emblem on their caps wouldn't show, with the McMullen card used as an example. As for the Gentry card, it too was included with Berger rhetorically asking "why does a guy in a Braves' cap have Mets' pinstripes?!?"
Why indeed, Mr. Berger....why, indeed.
This sell-sheet, featuring the grocery pack ordering information discussed above, hides a couple surprises.
It includes unissued proof cards of Matty Alou with the A's (upper left) and Phil Hennigan with the Indians (upper right, beneath MIke Torrez of the Expos).
Each changed teams in late November (Alou from the A's to the Yankees and Hennigan from the Indians to the Mets), so this image must have been taken EARLY in the production process.
