TOPPS 75 TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION AUCTION 1974 – 1980
A fter they fully committed to offering all the cards at once in 1974 - with one notable exception a year later - Topps started an annual run of cards that reflected the realities of having to please shareholders. They had to do so while operating in a world reeling from the 1973 Oil Crisis, which dramatically increased costs across many aspects of their business. These sets all had counts of 660 cards for four straight years, until Topps upped that to 726 in 1978 to belatedly account for the two American League expansion teams added the season before. Barring the crazy quilt full-bleed colors they designed for 1975, the cards began to take on a more basic look that had started in 1973. There were still innovations: the tentative Traded card foray of 1972 led to separate 44 card Traded series in 1974 and 1976 that were seeded in with the regular cards, while 1975 took a long look back at 25 years of Most Valuable Players. They even inserted Team Checklist cards again – red this time – into the 1974 packs before switching those to an annual premium offering. Key rookies of this period include Robin Yount and George Brett, both in 1975; Alan Trammell and Paul Molitor sharing a Rookie Shortstops card in 1978; and Rickey Henderson’s debut in the 1980 set, which caused a sensation two years later when he broke the single season stolen base record. They also continued to issue test and secondary sets, although far fewer than in the heady days of the late Sixties. One decidedly different and obscure set called Baseball Puzzles saw a limited release in 1974; ten of its twelve subjects are now Hall-of-Fame members. Small sheets of Baseball Stamps (and their floppy albums) also returned in a limited run. Even more limited were a set of seventy-two Baseball Deckles, this time sized like a postcard and offered with either gray or far more difficult white backs. Topps went large with some trials in 1974 but took the opposite tack in 1975, a year that also saw them release a substantially larger and widespread test than anything attempted before or since. That year all 660 subjects were issued in several regions of the country in a smaller size, measuring 2.25 x 3.125 inches. These were identical in appearance other than their obviously reduced scale and are known today as Mini’s. Certain areas in the country received only these diminutive cards, but this interesting attempt to reduce costs was scrapped and the card dimensions remained at standard size going forward.
682. 1974 Topps Action Emblem Cloth Stickers Complete Set (24) MINIMUM BID: $150
683. 1974 Topps Action Emblem Cloth Stickers Unopened Wax Pack (BBCE) MINIMUM BID: $100
684. 1974 Topps Action Emblem Cloth Stickers Unopened Wax Pack (BBCE) MINIMUM BID: $100
685. 1974 Topps Unopened Wax Pack MINIMUM BID: $75
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