It's possible there's another explanation as well. In my mind, and with no other info, I would guess that the sheet in question was simply cut wrong. Perhaps (just speculation) someone in-house noted the miscut and threw the scrap out...and then someone 'rescued' it/them from the Topps dumpster? Of course, it could simply be an error cut that wasn't noticed and got sent out to a kid in 1974. But these cards were included in packs, so they had to go through the 'regular' printing process, too. It's possible that what you have here is a partial uncut sheet and that's why multiples of cards are showing. (This is probably doubtful based on the edges of the sheet being trimmed so closely and correctly, matching what the mailed-out sheets looked like, but it has to be considered, and it's conceivable that it came from late in the printing process.)
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