Chaos and Kanji is the blog where I write about my adventures through Japan!

Want Lists are located here. NPB Baseball Want List is located here.

Monday, February 24, 2014

A Box Load of 1973 Topps!

Mixed in with the vintage menko and bromides, new releases, and just random odd stuff I've been gathering, I worked out a trade for 1973 Topps cards from Greg Dunn. He wanted the new BBM Foreigners sets and we each sent big boxes across the ocean. (Greg, do you have a blog?)

There were so many cards included that I just can't post them all. Let's just say my needs from 1973 were significantly reduced, especially among the higher numbered cards. Here are my favorites!
 Don Sutton is just cool. Palm trees behind Don Sutton are even more cool!
 Bobby Bonds! It's like Barry, but without the steroids. In Candlestick Park.
 This is my first Harmon Killebrew vintage card, too. If you want a reminder of what some of the best action cards looked like 40 years ago, this is it.
 Why do I like this card? The names. Will we ever see another baseball card with the names Dick, Jerry, Vern, Irv, and Wes together? For that matter, will Vern and Irv ever appear on another piece of MLB cardboard?
 Is Garvey short or is Parker tall? Steve is a little taller than I am, according to Google.
 Bert Campaneris shows how to slide into first without getting your pants dirty. I guess the A's players did their own laundry in the 1970s.
 This is how you slide and get dirty! Not only is Gamble on the ground, there's another player getting buried under a cloud of dust!
 If I saw Bob Robertson on the street, I would cross it to get out of his way. That's one mean, scary face.
 Another Dick. Green wearing green, with lots of green grass around him! Looks like he's making an error over there at second base, though.
 Sweet play at the plate!
 Another Candlestick card, and another play at the plate but without a catcher. Was this on a passed ball?
 Alan Foster is here because his lower case a has a halo. It's such a cute logo. Like, Japan cute.
 In this photo, we see Dave Johnson demonstrating a country line dancing move.
 Hmm. The Twins playing baseball at home at Wrigley Field? I bet Topps loved this move. "We just need to write in a "T" over his hat and he'll have a TC hat for Twin Cities! We're so clever! Nobody will notice that he's in a Cubs uniform at home in Chicago!"
 Another play at the plate! I gotta hand it to Topps for trying to get some good action shots into the set.
 I wouldn't want to be in New York in the early 1970s either.
 They should have just photoshopped the entire card... The question is, what was he wearing when this photo was taken? A White Sox or Yankees uniform?
 Another card with the cute angels text. And the Chevron Big A in the background.
 Any card that shows an old baseball stadium's trademark is a good card in my book.
 Speaking of stadiums, come by the sandlot on 57th Street where you'll see the White Sox holding practice.
 Without seeing the uniform on the Giants batter at the plate, I had this pegged as a Candlestick card immediately. I should mention that Candlestick was the stadium where I saw my first baseball game.
 Hm. The Cubs at home, with no ivy? This must be a spring training image; the Cub patch on his arm is too good to be photo-shopped IMO. Or am I wrong?
Let's end with this shot. The White Sox using the Reds colors. I know, I know, the Sox have used red off an on since the 1930s. It's also a Spring Training shot, I'm pretty sure. Or a minor league stadium; Egan spent the 1973 season in the corn fields of Iowa.

Anyway, thank you Greg for the awesome cards! I'm glad we could work something out! If there's anything else I can get you over here, let me know. And sorry it took me so long to post this trade and for us to actually get the trade done!

10 comments:

  1. Love that set. It has some of the best play at the plate cards.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm surprised by how many there are, too. Collecting this set has been so much fun.

      Delete
  2. The Bob Locker card is heavily air brushed. They redid his uniform and the center fielder's. But they left off Locker's uniform number. He was an Oakland A up until 1973.

    I think the Dave Johnson card is airbrushed as well. That's a Yankee player on the ground and the Yankee Stadium scoreboard in the background. Johnson was an Oriole the previous year.

    The Oscar Gamble card is a little more subtle. They just took the Phillies logo off his jersey.

    Candlestick was where I saw my first baseball game as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I noticed the lack of uniform number on Locker. That is one well-shaped sleeve patch though! At least, as far as I'm concerned - assuming the Cubs had a patch in the shape of a bear with ears. Everything else screamed photo shop on that card!

      Delete
    2. They might have had that patch but I'm reasonably confident they didn't have a big "C" on the front of their jersey like the center fielder's wearing.

      And maybe it's just me, but there's something wrong with the background on that George Scott card. I don't think that's how the picture originally looked.

      Delete
  3. Never seen that Luis Alvarado card before. That is awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Trying to catalog everything I have and figure out what I still need leaves no time for blogging. Besides, you and NPB Card Guy (and more recently Sean with his Calbee blog) do a great job covering Japanese cards so that I don't have anything relevant to add.

    I do plan on sending you an email in the next month or two with some further stuff I'm looking for. Hopefully we can work another trade out.

    Thanks again, Ryan!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great, post, that is a cool lot of 73s. One thing you can say about the 1973 set is that while it probably has one of the worst designs of the Topps sets from the 70s, it also has some of the best photography. That Luis Alvarado with those big early 70s cars in the parking lot behind him is priceless.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Greg - great. Anything I can do to help you means I'll help myself, of course! Plus, it's always fun to hunt for cards.

    Sean: yes, I guess with Topps you can't have a good design and good photography?

    ReplyDelete