Curious about 1973 Topps distribution

[ALR-bishop]

I was thinking Howie, that these things are a great read now, looking back at the hobby from a different era, but had I got one of these back in 1973 I may have looked at all that small,scrunched up print and decided it was not worth the effort

[moeson]

Al, it sure helped to have much younger eyes back then when the hobby was so hungry for information. No wonder SCD became such a big hit in a short time.

[Rich Klein]

Al Blumkin, mentioned in that article, is a very good friend of mine, I'll ask him to share his recollections of those trips in the very near future.

RIch

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by moeson

Al, it sure helped to have much younger eyes back then when the hobby was so hungry for information. No wonder SCD became such a big hit in a short time.

I've been going through old Trader Speaks from earliest to latest in researching my next book and right around 1970-early 1971 it seems like there was an almost exponential leap in interest in baseball cards. TTS circulation soars over 2,000, other publications seem to launch monthly and there are regular stories of news coverage of hobby events.

A couple years after that we get The Great American Baseball Card Flipping Trading and Bubble Gum book. Then not long after that comes out I remember Joe Garagiola on This Week In baseball doing a story on Topps and it was off to the races after that over the next five years, culminating in the great hobby expansion of 1981. Imagine if the internet had been around then.

[Rich Klein]

I think we had a definite explosion around 1978 as in my pre-Beckett dealing days there were a couple of points where it seemed as if we got more cards

One pre-1968 to 1968

1974

1978

1981

1987 for the over explosion

Rich

[mattsedate]

Originally Posted by moeson

As a teenager living in NYC back in 1973, I used to buy rack pack boxes from a toy wholesaler on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I recall that one of the three rack pack panes would feature cards from the next series. So 1/3 of the cards in a Series Four rack pack box would be from Series 5. I just checked a May 1973 The Trader Speaks issue which had an ad from a NY dealer selling 1973 sets for $6.99 plus 95c postage, which covered the mailing for individual series as they got released!

That's cool.

[toppcat]

The Bill Haber comments earlier in this thread are interesting. I like his list of veterans and scrubs not included in the set on the basis they might not make the big club but some of them were non-Topps signers like Rusty Staub who was an established player/star and also was not in the 1972 set.

[bigfanNY]

As a 12 year old in 1973 I was the only kid in my neighborhood my age still collecting cards that year and I remember wax coming out in series and Racks with two sections with one series and one section with another. And I do remember that I completed my set earlier than the year before. 1972 I had to rush to get packs before Football cards came out. In 73 I was complete by early summer. As for Blue checklists they were not in my area (NJ) and when I came across some at a show the next year I was all over them and have liked them ever since. How cool is Hank Aaron shagging a fly with his shades. Great set.
Jonathan

[nolemmings]

Thought I'd move the discussion about 1973 Topps from the other thread back over here-- for future reference that thread is http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=190826

Dave's box topper insert shown above is important because it talks about the "One Series Baseball with all 660 cards" being new to '73 and tells "Mr. Retailer" that he'll get "more sales, more profits all season long". IMO, this shows that the cards were not sold with just the last series or after the season but right from the get go, which is what some of us have said all along.

It looks to me as though the printing of series 1 and 2 took place on November 29, 1972 or so, and the remaining cards were printed in the following three weeks. From October 28 to November 28, 1972, there were 42 players in the 1973 Topps set who changed teams, and all of them show correctly with their new clubs regardless of their card numbers. On November 29 and 30, there were another 26 players from the '73 set who changed teams. However, if those players' cards were issued in Series 1 or Series 2, they were stuck on their old teams, whereas those numbered 265 or higher made the change, even if they were part of the same trade. In total 12 stayed with the old and 14 showed the new team. This suggests to me that Series 1 and 2 were printed on the 29th, with Series 3-5 thereafter. There were no trades in December, 1972 involving players found in the 1973 set, so it's hard to say exactly when Series 3-5 were printed using player/team selection. However, Orlando Cepeda was released from the A's on December 18, 1972, and he is a high number card in the 1973 set (recall that Haber mentioned he regretted that Cepeda had been waived but glad the Red Sox had picked him up in January). This suggests that as of December 18 when Cepeda was let go Topps had finished printing Series 3-5. No player movement after that date was reflected on any card found in the 1973 set--by then the set was in the can, so to speak. Thus, any Spring training shots you may find in the '73 set would have been taken the preceding Spring or before.

[chris6net]

I was only a young kid in 1973 but I was a huge collector back then and I am positive that where I lived on Long Island the set came out all at once. I specifically remember finishing the set almost right away and how much for me it kind of ruined the wait for the next series to come out.

[Tomman1961]

Staub is not in the set as he had contract "issues" with Topps in 1972 and 1973. Though he does appear on Tommy Agee's card in 1973. I opened only cello in NJ in 1973. No wax at my local store. No Blue Checklists. I remember my Dad buying me a rack pack in NJ- no blue in that either.

[moeson]

Todd, now I understand why you wanted me to repost the Haber article. Even with the rudimentary hobby press back in 1973, collectors were well aware that the set was available all at once in many areas of the country. Memories may vary, but Haber was not lying.

[bigfanNY]

The Article says that Topps hopes to have all 5 series distributed to most of the country by April 1st. And the article on 1973 wrappers says that only 5th series wrappers say all 660 cards. Series 1 thru Five had Vending cases. I have only ever owned a 1st series box but have seen other 1973 Vending cases from a unique series. Yes Topps shortened there distribution and by late April or May in some places you could buy packs from all 5 series but that is very different from packs containing cards from all 5 series which was the case in 1974. Anybody out there own a 1973 vending case with cards from all 5 series? 1973 cards were issued in series. The article on wrappers also says where checklist cards came from some 5th series packs had them included and had an offer on the wrapper to get a set. my understanding limited distribution I never opened a pack of 1973 5th series with a checklist card but I opened a number of 5th series packs back in 73.

[moeson]

[nolemmings]

Like Chris6net, I had at least one complete set very early, and probably two or close to it by the end of the school year in May. This by a teenager who was not exactly able to buy them by the case. The cards came on schedule in March--no later than any other year-- and the packs I opened had players from all 5 series in them. There were no series packs in my home town in Southern Minnesota. Like the box topper said, the all 660 series was available ALL SEASON, so unless other parts of the country had series 1-5 issued throughout February, with what, a series issued every week (which seems unlikely), then the all in one series did not come last but was contemporaneous with the cards being available by series.

Actually, I will back off somewhat to say that I can't expressly recall if each pack had cards from all series-- I only know that when I opened my usual five pack or more purchase, I had cards from all five series out of the same box. I suppose it's possible one pack had all series X and the next pack all series Y. I doubt it and think I would have remembered that as unusual, and I note that the article Howie just posted made no mention of that as relates to OPC. Also someone buying just one pack would find the all-in-one advertising to be false or misleading if each pack had just one series for contents. As a 14 year old I just knew that the set was quickly and easily completed, and there were no series (note that the checklists make no mention of the word "series" either, just card nos. 1-132, etc., which is further evidence, to me anyway, that the all in one series was intended from the outset).

[ALR-bishop]

Todd ---hopefully you realize this is all just anecdotal