The Seventies-My Favorites Round 2

Round 2 for my favorite baseball card sets of the '70s

Just a reminder, I'm not ranking these sets in any order, they are just my favorites of the decade. Just like when I list my least favorite sets, it doesn't mean I don't like them, it means I just don't like them as much. They are still baseball cards and baseball cards are greatness!

The next favorite Topps set from the '70s is the 1975 set. 

This 660 card set is one of, if not the most colorful set produced. The '75 set is one of the most easily recognized sets out there. I love the multi-colored borders. This set looks great in a binder with the mix of colors.

The pictures on the cards are mostly posed but there are some that aren't, like the Brooks Robinson and Fergie Jenkins. 

     

The short bill on Robinson's helmet is interesting to say the least. I know a lot of people don't like the facsimile autograph on the cards, but I don't mind them. 

Like most sets, this set includes the play-off subset ALCS and NLCS play-off cards and World Series cards. League leader subset cards and '74 Highlight cards are also included in the set. 

   

 I know that card #660 isn't part of a subset, but I like the fact the Hank Aaron opens and closes the set after breaking Ruth's home run record in '74.

  

I really like the league leaders cards that have both leaders in close ups like these. 

   

   

I'm always a fan of the playoff and World Series cards. It's a great reminder on how the season went when I'm going through my cards. 

Out of all of the subsets in '75, I think my favorite subset is the MVP cards from 1951 to 1974 that depict both the AL and NL MVPs. 

Here's some more cards of the set that I really like. 

   

   

I love Johnny Bench cards when he is squatting like he's catching. I just like Schmidt. Gibson and Ryan pitched the same way...with attitude which makes both favorites for me.

Even with all of the Hall of Famers in the set, when talking about the '75 set, the topic almost always goes to the two big rookie cards of George Brett and Robin Yount. 

     

Brett and Yount aren't the only two good rookie cards in the set. The other prominent rookie cards include Gary Carter, Jim Rice, Keith Hernandez and Fred Lynn.

   

   

I like the position rookie cards. I think I like individual rookie cards better, but I like these better than team rookie cards. I always thought Fred Lynn was going to be a Hall of Famer when I was growing up watching him play. Same with Keith Hernandez. I knew Carter would be and wasn't sure about Rice. I guess that shows you how much I paid attention to the players that weren't Rangers. 

I would be willing to bet that the 1975 Topps set is probably in the Top Ten all-time sets. It definitely is in mine. This was the first vintage set that I ever completed. This was also the first set I ever sold. It still hurts a little to this day. I'm sure you can tell, because I mention it every time I write about it! I've got a pretty good start on replacing it though. I'm about 35% complete. I've been pretty picky on the condition of the cards I get, but even still there's a lot of cards to get to complete it. I've already got the Brett, Lynn and Hernandez rookies, but still got to get the Yount and Carter rookie cards.

Let me know about your thoughts on the 1975 Topps set. 

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31

The Seventies-My favorites Round 1

The Seventies were my youth. The movies "Jaws" and "Star Wars" came out. Disco was king. The A's and Reds dominated early and it was the Yankees and the Dodgers at the end of decade. Wait, I can't forget the "We are Family" Pittsburgh Pirates of '79. I got my first cards in the '70s. I don't remember anything about them and I'm pretty sure they got tossed like most kids' cards did. It wasn't until '81 that I really got into collecting cards. 

Working in the card shop in '80 and '81, I got to see a whole lot of the cards from the '70s. As a matter of fact, collectors that came into shop were either shopping for cards from the '50s, the '70s or the new Topps, Fleer and Donruss of '81. It's like they skipped the '60s for some reason.

I'm going to share my 3 favorite and 3 least favorite sets from the '70s. I'm not ranking them, just my three favorite sets and the three least favorite sets. Like I've said before, just because it might be a least favorite set, doesn't mean I don't like it. It's still baseball cards and you can't go wrong with baseball cards. 

First up, 1972 Topps. 

The 1972 Topps set screams the 70s. The design of the cards definitely matches the decade with the 3D look and colors of the team name at the top of the card. This 787 card set was the largest Topps set to date. The biggest addition to the set were the "In Action" cards that followed the base cards of the players. 

     

I love the "In Action" cards. Especially, when it is an all-time great like Willie Mays.

'72 Topps included the regular subsets of league leaders and the the play-offs/World Series. It also included new subsets boyhood photos, award cards and traded cards.  

I really like the look of the league leaders cards. It's hard to mess those up, but I guess it's possible. I'm also a firm believer including the play-off/World Series cards in the sets. It fills in the history of the previous year. 

     

     

Two out of three on the new subsets isn't too bad. The boyhood photos are cool cards. I like being able to see what some of these guys looked like as kids. The award cards are nice, but it's not like I need to see these every year. Putting them in the sets in random years works. The traded cards? Yeah, it doesn't work for me. I could do without them. 

Here are a few more cards from the set.

     

I'm a fan of Roberto Clemente and I really like these two cards. You think he didn't like the call in his "In Action" card?

     

The infamous Billy Martin finger card. I remember back in the day there was almost as much talk about this card as there was about the Billy Ripken card. The big difference is Topps didn't try 15,000 ways to hide it.

The Rod Carew card is the first "big" purchase of a card I ever made. I was finishing up my freshman year of college and found a small card store in Arlington, TX that had this card in his display case. I bet I asked that guy about that card a hundred times. Finally, I broke down and bought it for $35. I wish I still had it. It was one of the cards I sold when I decided food on the table for my family was a little more important than owning the card. 

The design and colors of the '72 Topps set is all 1970s. The design and the inclusion of some of the all-time greats like Mays, Clemente and Robinson make it one of my favorite sets of 70s. 

Let me know what your thoughts are on the 1972 Topps set.

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31 

What a week!

 It's been a tough week! As some of you know, I'm a special education teacher and a baseball coach in high school. With school winding down and end of year paperwork, a tough loss to knock us out of the playoffs and just life in general, it's been a long week. 

A long week means there's not a lot of time for blog writing. To be honest, this week I kind of hit a wall on what to write about. I've got a couple of ideas, but nothing wants to come out when I sit down at the keyboard. What do you do when it's been a long week, you've got nothing to say and you really want to keep your goal of writing at least one post a week? You stop, take a deep breath and think about something good. Something good is checking the mailbox and finding a package with some cards in it. 

I picked up some cards on Ebay, claim sales on Facebook and some trades on TCDB. Isn't cool how baseball cards can make your week a little better!

Here are the Ebay pick-ups that came in this week.

The Bobby Witt Jr. cards were additions for my Witt Jr. PC and one of those is a dupe for my grandson. The Mike Trout is a short print for '24 Heritage set. 

Here's my pick-ups from Facebook claim sales

These cards were all 50 cents each plus shipping. All but the Witt Jr. Home Field Advantage. That one I actually pulled this week. My wife and I have this understanding. She sends me to Walmart for something and I come home with cards too. I was lucky enough to come home with Witt Jr. Home Field Advantage. Here's a few more that I pulled this week.

All of these will go in the player collections except the Lawler. I haven't decided if I'm going to collect his cards yet. He's from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area which is home for me so there is a little interest, but I don't know. 

Almost all of these will go in player collections. 

Here's a few cards that came in on trades from TCDB.

I'm really trying to finish the '23 Stadium Club set. I'm still missing almost 100 cards. These three get me a little closer.

I've completed my '24 Topps Series 1, but I've still got some to get for my grandsons' sets. These are for those sets. 

This little trade gets me a little closer to finally finishing my '81 Topps set. 

The Pudge Rodriguez card comes with a little story. 

I made a trade with someone who didn't have all of the cards that he thought he had. Instead of contacting me and telling me that there was a problem, he found other cards from my want list and sent them instead. When I opened the package, there was note describing the situation with an apology. It caught me off-guard and I wasn't too thrilled with it for a couple of days. After I came to grips with it and looked at the cards he sent, it was still a fair trade. I sent a message telling him that it took a bit, but it was a fair trade and I was okay with it. A couple of weeks later this Pudge card arrives from the same guy. Again, apologizing for the mix up and hoped that this gift would help. I was good with the trade. He didn't have to send the extra card. I guess now I have my first (and probably only!) graded card in my collection. 

You hear so many stories of people getting scammed, cards not showing up, counterfeit cards, etc... I thought it was important to hear a good story too. I have met so many great people in this hobby at shows, through this blog, on Facebook and at card shops. As much as I love baseball and card collecting, its really the people that make this hobby great.

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31

Diamond Jester's Blog Bat Around and The Traveling Box - Blogger Style

Diamond Jester's Blog Bat Around

Somehow I missed my friend Diamond Jester's Blog Bat Around post on the top 5 pack pulls. I try to go out and read the blogs I follow two or three times a week. Somehow, I missed this one. So, even though I'm late to the game, I'm going to give it a shot. 

I'm not real sure that I can remember my top 5 pack pulls. Does that mean I haven't pulled anything that was so awesome to be unforgettable? I don't know, maybe? I've never pulled one of the really high end inserts. Never pulled a /5 of anybody. I know that I've never pulled an autograph or relic of a player that I collect like Trout or Ohtani. If I did I'd probably sell it to pay for more cards. Okay, maybe not. There are two cards that quickly come to mind and that's probably because the were more recent. 

I pulled a 2023 Stadium Club Triumvirate Black Die-cut Shohei Ohtani and sold it a week later on Facebook. I moved it so fast I can't even find a picture of it to put on the post. I really did it to give selling on Facebook a try. I figured that was something that would move pretty quick and I was right. 

The second card is an autographed Jim Rice.  

I know, I know, a HOF on card autograph. Not a bad pull at all. I liked watching Jim Rice play when I was a kid, but I'm not collecting him, so the card doesn't fit in my collection. For now, it sits in a box. If someone has something to trade for it, let me know.

So, after all of these years opening packs and I can't even come up with my top 5. I remember in 1981 pulling the Fleer error cards, in 1982 pulling a Cal Ripken Jr. rookie card, in '83 pulling a Tony Gwynn and Ryne Sandberg rookie card. I could probably go on for almost every year. Why do I keep doing it? Why do I keep opening packs? 

Being a set builder, opening packs is a great way to start building a set. Not so great for finishing one, but great for starting. I love that feeling you get when you bust open a pack and get that hot rookie for the year like Evan Carter or pull a Trout, Ohtani, Witt Jr., Kershaw or one of my World Series Champion Texas Rangers. I'm not sure how to explain the feeling...euphoric? 

I enjoy busting a pack open and finding cards that I know I can trade for cards that I need. I never really traded cards until I started putting my cards on TCDB and writing this blog. Now, I've traded cards with friends I met from blogging, on Facebook and of course, TCDB. I love helping other collectors build their collections and opening packs allows me to do that while finishing my sets.

Duplicates from opening packs allows me to put together starter sets for others to maybe get them into collecting or help someone else get started collecting sets. I got my nephew into card collecting and I love being able to send him packs to open or some of my duplicates for his sets. I can't wait until my grandsons are old enough to sit down and open a box of cards with them.

I guess to wrap this up, opening packs is going to be a part of my collecting until I'm done, but for me, it's not all about the best all time pulls(No disrespect to those who are all about the hits when opening packs). It's about the hobby in general. That's probably why I can't remember my top 5 greatest pulls. I say that now, but let me pull a /5 auto relic of Ohtani or Witt Jr. and that might change! 

The Traveling Box

If you've read my posts before, you know that I watch YouTube videos about the hobby. I came across one that I thought was really interesting. The Traveling Box.

Basically, this YouTuber packed a box of random cards and memorabilia, gathered a list of 8 to 10 participants and sent the box out. The thought is the first person to receive the box would go through it, take what they want and replace it with equal value before sending it on to the next person. This is all based on the honor system. Eventually, the box makes it back to the YouTuber who started it. Here's the link to a couple of videos about the traveling box. 

The Traveling box intro

The return of the traveling box

This sounds like something that would be fun for the blogging world. If there is enough interest, I thought I would put together a box(baseball only) of about 100 to 200 cards and give this a try. It won't be any high dollar stuff, but there might be a surprise or two in there. If you would be interested in doing something like this, go to my profile and send me an email. This might give those who decide to do it, some content for their blogs! 

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31