One of the main reasons these pages begin with a sample card from each team is to demonstrate the particular color patterns and other design features Topps assigned each in that particular set. As you can see above, in 1975 CHAOS reigned! Many people have a deep affection for the 1975 set - even many for whom it wasn't their formative collecting experience seem to be entranced with its design. Me? Well, let's just say it's not my favorite set. 1975 isn't the only Topps set which lacks any common design elements from team to team, but it is the only one where that situation is exacerbated by such an aggressive lack of commonality from card to card.
My sad journey with this set began when I somehow came into possession of a Bert Campaneris in the late 1970s, which was followed by getting a handful from my friend Dave. I tried sorting them by team, and have been in recovery ever since. I managed to complete the set when I obtained Bake McBride while in college. Even beyond the design, the set is plagued by many terrible paint jobs and poorly executed action photos.
Cards are divided just beneath the mid- point into two colored backgrounds. The team name appears in bold 3D lettering along the top of the image, while the players name appears in a small black font below and the position is displayed in a little baseball inset at the bottom right. Fronts also feature a faux-autograph.
Card backs are oriented vertically, and are printed in green, pick and magenta on a gray background. A large cartoon appears in the upper right corner as part of the solution to a trivia question posed to the left between the player's biographical information and his full legal name.
The 1975 Topps baseball set was printed on 5 different sheets, each containing 132 unique cards; there were no short- or over-prints. Viewing the sheets illustrates why the final random color assignments were inevitable.
Wax packs contained 10 cards (along with a stick of gum) and sold for 15 cents each. They were packed 36 per box and cases contained 16 boxes each.
Wrappers came in 3 varieties - one offering a sports card locker locker ($4.75 plus a wrapper), one advertising membership in the Topps Sports Club (2.50 and a wrapper) and one (not shown) with an offer for a sheet of uncut team checklist cards.
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For 1975, the sports card locker was improved. No longer a simple cardboard container, it was now made of sturdier plastic and had a more durable vinyl covered exterior. This design would be used until Topps' final offering of the locker in 1982.
Membership in the Topps Sports Club netted you a periodic newsletter, special merchandise offers, autographed photos and other perks. The club was marketed across all Topps' sports offerings.
The team checklist sheet came tri-folded and was printed on both regular card stock (shown here) and on the white stock which was the standard in future years.
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So-called 'grocery' packs were available primarily at, well, grocery stores. These were simply 3 wax packs overwrapped together on a cardboard tray. They didn't carry an MSRP but were likely priced at 45 cents in most places.
Grocery packs were packaged 24 per display tray and cases contained 2 trays.
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The cardboard tray advertised the Topps Sports Club.
Cello packs contained 18 cards (along with a stick of gum) and retailed for 25 cents each. Packs came 24 per box and boxes were packed 15 per case.
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Rack packs held 42 cards and sold for 49 cents each. Packs came 24 per box and 3 boxes per case (it is possible that 6-box cases were used as well).
Header cards had a Topps Sports Card ad on the reverse.
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Dealers and other interested parties could purchase 500-count vending boxes directly from Topps. Vending boxes came in cases of 24 boxes each.
Out of 660 total cards, the set contains 573 basic player cards, a total which includes 16 cards with special All Star stars (AL stars contain blue type, and NL stars contain red type) signifying the 17 of the 18 starters from the 1974 mid-summer classic. These are:
American League:
400 - Dick Allen, White Sox 1B
600 - Rod Carew, Twins 2B
170 - Bert Campaneris, A's SS
50 - Brooks Robinson, Orioles 3B
350 - Bobby Murcer, Yankees OF*
470 - Jeff Burroughs, Rangers OF
80 - Carlton Fisk, Red Sox C
530 - Gaylord Perry, Indians P
National League:
140 - Steve Garvey, Dodgers 1B
180 - Joe Morgan, Reds 2B
420 - Larry Bowa, Phillies SS
390 - Ron Cey, Dodgers 3B
1 - Hank Aaron, Braves OF*
320 - Pete Rose, Reds OF
570 - Jim Wynn, Dodgers OF
260 - Johnny Bench, Reds C
440 - Andy Messersmith, Dodgers P
* - Bobby Murcer was selected to the game and played as a member of the Yankees, but his card depicts him as a member of the Giants; Hank Aaron's basic card, #660, is not marked with a star. Instead, his '74 Highlights card, #1, has the star and it is not counted toward the 573 basic card count; the third AL outfield starter was Reggie Jackson of the A's, whose card is not marked with a star. Curiously, all marked cards are yellow on top and red on bottom, with the exception of Aaron's #1 which is colored in the same manner as the other record breaker cards...but his basic card IS yellow on top and red on bottom; Reggie's basic card, #300, lacks has no yellow or red in its pattern.
Also included in the 573 basic card count are 9 Rookie All Star cards, featuring members of the 1974 Topps Rookie All Star Team. Cards were marked with small gold cups.
* - Claudell Washington was selected as an outfielder, his natural position, although a majority of his appearances in 1974 came as a DH. The Giants' LHP John D'Acquisto (372) is not marked with a gold cup despite the fact was was selected to the team.
106 - Mike Hargrove, Rangers1B
512 - Larry Milbourne, Astros 2B
299 - Bucky Dent, White Sox SS
104 - Bill Madlock, Cubs 3B
174 - Bake McBride, Cardinals OF
334 - Greg Gross, Astros OF
647 - Claudell Washington, A's OF*
229 - Barry Foote, Expos C
16 - Frank Tanana, Angels LHP
Cards 1-7 document highlights from the 1974 season, with card backs offering a newspaper-like account of each.
Cards 306-313 document each league's top performer from 1974 across 8 statistical categories. Card backs list the top ten performers from each league in that particularly category.
Cards 459 and 460 recap the 1974 LCS (459 is AL and 460 NL). Card backs provide line scores from each series' games
Card 461-466 summarize the action from the 1974 World Series. Each of the 5 games has its own card with stats from that game on the reverse, and a final card highlights the Athletic' 3rd straight championship and contains a series statistical summary on the back.
One of Topps' more distinctive and popular subsets appears across cards 189-212. In recognition of 1975 being their 25th anniversary, Topps produced cards showcasing baseball's MVPs from 1951 through 1974, with their Topps cards from that year featured on the front and summaries of each player's MVP season on the reverse.
Topps had to improvise and create faux cards of Roy Campanella from 1951 and 1955, as well as Maury Wills from 1962, as cards of each were not produced by Topps in those years.
24 team checklist cards are scattered throughout the set. Each features a team photo and small inset image of the club's manager on the front. The White Sox' card features a collection of small player portraits instead of an actual team photo.
In addition to the team checklist, card backs contain an offer for the uncut team checklist sheet.
1975 was the first year that team photos contained a team checklist on the reverse.
Cards 614-624 each feature four 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 1975 set, including printable formats, can be found at the Trading Card Database HERE.
No discussion of the 1975 set would be complete without mention of the enduring oddity of the card of Herb Washington (407). Washington was a world-class sprinter who had been signed by A's owner Charlie Finley as the club's "designated runner". In 81 pinch running opportunities in 1974 he stole 29 bases and was caught stealing 16 times. In the bottom of the 9th of the second game of the 1974 World Series, he was picked off first for the second out, helping to kill a potential A's rally.
In the long history of Topps baseball sets, Herb's 1975 card is the only one with a position designation of "Pinch Runner".
Hall of Famers Robin Yount (223), George Brett (228), Jim Rice (616) and Gary Carter (620) made their debuts in 1975, as did Mike Hargrove (106), Jim Sundberg (567), Fred Lynn (622) and Keith Hernandez (623).
Making their final appearances were Hall of Famers Ron Santo (35), Bob Gibson (150), Frank Robinson (580) and Harmon Killebrew (640). Also making his final appearance was Dave McNally (26).
DY-NO- MITE!! Starting in 1975, Scholastic's Dynamite Magazie began a nearly 10 year tradition of offering young readers small, uncut 6-card panels in one of their spring issues.
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Two advertisements for the 1975 set.
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Minis were packaged more-or-less identically to their regular-sized counterparts.
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And then there were - the minis. In 1975 Topps test-marketed a smaller version of its basic set in areas which included Michigan, New Jersey and the Pacific coast from Seattle down to at least the Bay Area.
The cards were identical in every way to their regular sized counterparts, just smaller - the images on the left offer an approximation of an actual size comparison.
From the time of their issuance the minis were considered scarce and commanded a premium of up to twice that of their normal counterparts.
The discovery of a large unopened hoard some years back and less hobby interest has resulted in more or less equal prices between both versions today.
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Finally, for you true obsessives out there (like me), there are 17 color combinations for cards in the 1975 set, each of which appear 55, 33 or 22 times. They are:
Yellow over Red - 55
Orange over Brown - 55
Dark Green over Light Green - 55
Purple over Magenta - 55
Magenta over Yellow - 55
Light Green over Purple - 55
Dark Green over Yellow - 33
Red over Orange - 33
Brown over Orange - 33
Orange over Yellow - 33
Yellow over Blue - 33
Blue over Dark Green - 33
Brown over Tan - 22
Tan over Blue - 22
Red over Yellow - 22
Yellow over Dark Green - 22
Red over Blue - 22