[Cliff Bowman]

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It's also the last year Topps would issue cards by series, a practice that had resulted over the years in one or more series, usually the final one, being distributed in decidedly smaller numbers than their earlier counterparts. Letters in the various hobby magazines and newsletters had for years noted the problems, with many pointing out that, in some broad regions of the country, series were frequently combined, with a region receiving the first and second series together, third and fourth, etc.

But in what might be considered a forerunner to the "chase" card, the company did include a set of unnumbered team checklist cards with facsimile autographs on the the front that would, over time, turn out to be hard to find and ultimately expensive.

And the only competition nationally that Topps had in 1973, if you want to call it that, came from Kellogg's, which issued cards included in cereal boxes for the fourth straight year. Topps did produce football, basketball, and hockey sets in 1973, but in those days baseball was king, easily dominating the new card market and capturing an inordinate amount of space in any hobby publication. Vintage material from the "other three" sports was quite visible in display and classified ads, frequently with an emphasis on yearbooks and even college media guides and the like.

Perhaps by way of simply reminding Topps that they were still around, Fleer produced a 40-card "Famous Feats" set consisting of the drawings of artist Robert Laughlin. Laughlin had issued such sets for several years, but previously on his own. His linking with Fleer in 1973 (and in 1971 with a World Series set) no doubt brought broader exposure to a man who had been producing and distributing his own sets as far back as 1961.

The choice of "old timers" subject matter was dictated by the continuing litigation wrangle with Topps, since Fleer could not use active players, all of whom were under exclusive contract with Topps.

Collectors who wanted to buy the "Famous Feats" could do so directly from Laughlin for $2.50, perhaps the price of a really breathtaking 1959 Mantle card. And beyond that and munching corn flakes to get Kellogg's cards, there wasn't much else. But there was something on the horizon that would effectively help to link the hobby of 1973 to the 1980's.

One of the noted collectors of the time, Mike Aronstein, and Tom Collier, formed The Card Memorabilia Associates (TCMA) in 1973, and promptly produced a "League Leaders" set that would prove to be the first of dozens more to come. Over the next decade the company would produce a myriad of different and unusual sets, always of retired and thoroughly deceased players, frequently utilizing formats like all-time great teams or players from a particular era.

Though they couldn't have known it at the time, the cards played an enormous role in sustaining a hobby from its earliest days to the arrival in 1981 of Donruss and a full-fledged Fleer (try saying that three times quickly). Add in literally dozens of national sports magazine carried listings for the TCMA cards every year, giving long-time collectors something to pursue once their Topps sets were put together (not too tough), and also opened up the growing hobby to thousands of new collectors whose arrival would signal the explosion in the 1990's.

The TCMA sets would ultimately receive a good deal of attention in the hobby press of the day, but notably absent from those earliest publications was much of a memorabilia presence. While auctions were a major part of those pioneering magazines and also a prominent part of some of the earliest shows, the material offered was almost exclusively paper related. There was a considerable autograph presence but they were commonly found on baseball cards or index cards, and again, frequently in lots of multiple players, even multiple Hall Of Famers. The expansion of the memorabilia market of game used and signed material was still quite a few years off.

Still, 1973 was a pretty good beginning. Nobody on hand at the time could have predicted what the next quarter-century could bring, and if you don't believe that, try picturing what the hobby will look like in 2023.