1971 Dick Allen: The next Titus?
 

Will the 1971 Dick Allen become the next T206 Titus? Unlikely, but if you like moustaches maybe it should.

For those who hang out in the prewar section, you are aware of the 'Titus Bubble', the hyper-inflated price of the T206 John Titus merely because he was the only player in the set with facial hair. The bubble seems to have largely burst but the tumult got me to thinking about Topps cards during the reemergence of facial hair in baseball in the 1970s. So, while an electrician is working on my house I wasted some time with an analysis of Topps facial hair in the early 1970--here is a summary:

1) Although I do not have many and have not looked at them, as far as I know there are no players with facial hair on Topps cards in the 1950s and 1960s.

2) During the 1970s facial hair became more acceptable and eventually leaked into baseball. I counted Topps cards with moustaches and beards for regular player cards from 1970 to 1974 and here are the results.

1970: 0 moustaches, 0 beards, a limited number of sideburns
1971: 1 moustache (Dick Allen), 0 beards, some longer sideburns emerging
1972: 1 moustache (Reggie Jackson), 0 beards, sideburns more common and substantial.
1973: 11 moustaches, 1 beard (Dan Briggs), many sideburns
1974: 115 moustaches, 6 beards.

3) The 1971 Dick Allen and the 1972 Reggie Jackson card are both the only example of mustachioed players in their respective sets, just like Titus. It should not come as a surprise that either of these players was on the forefront of facial hair on Topps cards.

4) If you like full beards, Dick Billings appears to be your man. Maybe someone will correct me, but he is the first major league player to appear on a card with a full beard for six decades.

5) Moustaches suddenly ballooned in 1974. In one year they went from being a significant rarity to being present on roughly 20-25% of regular player cards. Full beards were increasing but still rare.

Yes, time was wasted but the electrician has finished and I will begin my stash of Allen, Jackson and Billings cards.

lol.. this is great. thanks for the research, some interesting data here. The ramp up in facial hair for 1974 shows baseball players also follow that lemmings mentality.

It's OT, but worth bringing up yet again. It's hilarious that the photographer shooting Dick Allen couldn't get his frickin' leg out of the shot. Ha ha.

Uh oh…I found a bit of a wrinkle. How does McGraw's 'soul patch' fit in?

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Good point Yes, there was subjectivity. For one thing, sideburns were getting longer and bushier to the point they might be getting close to mutton chops. See 1971 Reggie Smith and Jim Grant for early examples. Then there is 1972 George Scott--not sure what is going on there?

I realized quickly I had to make it simple, so I was just looking at full moustaches and full beards, but there was certainly some other follicle creativity going on, especially as sideburns got more substantial. The 'soul patch' is another example. I'm not sure if that is the only one before 1973 or not but good observation.

The 71 Allen is a very difficult card to find centered in high grade. It's a great card.

It almost looks like Dick's about to crack him on the knee...

Mike Marshall is rocking a mini-Duane Allman