1975 Topps Information Sought

[deweyinthehall]

Hello - me again.

Appreciate any information/images regarding the 1975 Topps set - minis are of interest when specifically noted.

1) Have 4 of 5 printing sheets - upper left corners featuring Giusti, Taveras, Alou and Washington - need #5.

2) need image of wax wrapper with uncut team checklist ad

3) Grocery packs - info/images of potential 192-pack case/display stand

4) was there a 6-box rack case?

5) Minis:

Cello case, rack box, rack case images;
Were there mini grocery packs? If so, images would be great;
Any uncut sheet images

On the distribution of the minis - I've here at net54 and other places that they were sold from Northern California up the coast to Washington, in Michigan and New Jersey. Any other known areas?

Even though prices have evened out in recent years we still believe they are rarer than the full sized - by a wide margin or not so wide?

Thanks!

[jmoran19]

Missing sheet

[deweyinthehall]

Thank you!

[jmoran19]

I "think" this is the full size wax case

[Cliff Bowman]

Originally Posted by jmoran19

Missing sheet

You are the man! I looked all over the web for that sheet and couldn’t find it anywhere.

[jmoran19]

Originally Posted by Cliff Bowman

You are the man! I looked all over the web for that sheet and couldn’t find it anywhere.

TY, been saving Topps 1976 and earlier for 25 plus years, football and basketball too

[deweyinthehall]

That must be a full size wax case - I thought I already had and image of one, but the serial number or whatever it is (332-75) is different and I know that minis were in an identically marked case.

Thanks!

PS These are minis then....

[Kutcher55]

Man lots of tough cards on that sheet. 380 bando is just so tough. Grimsley upper right ain’t no picnic either. Tommy Davis up top is notorious for color bleed. 646 Checklist lower left also quite hard.

Been working on this set for over two years. It’s a lot of fun. There must be 40 or more condition sensitive cards in the set.

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by deweyinthehall

That must be a full size wax case - I thought I already had and image of one, but the serial number or whatever it is (332-75) is different and I know that minis were in an identically marked case.

Thanks!

PS These are minis then....

Interesting. Packed in April and June if I'm reading those case stamps right. I always thought they were done in one big run but maybe the mini's had a second printing?

[deweyinthehall]

Have I heard correctly - did the uncut team checklists in 1975 come in both regular card stock as well as the lighter white card stock of later years?

I have the version on regular stock. If they did also come on the white stock, would that be the rarer version? If anyone could provide an image of the white stock version, particularly the reverse, it would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Cliff Bowman]

Originally Posted by deweyinthehall

Have I heard correctly - did the uncut team checklists in 1975 come in both regular card stock as well as the lighter white card stock of later years?

I have the version on regular stock. If they did also come on the white stock, would that be the rarer version? If anyone could provide an image of the white stock version, particularly the reverse, it would be appreciated. Thanks!

Yes, I'm guessing Topps realized at some point the regular gray card stock wasn't feasible for folding and sending off in the mail and switched to the much thinner white stock toward the end of the print run. The 75 gray back team mail in cards are much more common than the 75 white back mail in cards. I have a complete uncut 1975 gray back team sheet and a hand cut white back 75 Cubs team card. Here is a scan of a white back 75 Giants team card.

[Kevvyg1026]

I have a scan of the back, if interested.

[deweyinthehall]

Very much so!

[Rrrlyons]

Minis definitely distributed in Washington. Bought thousands of them from my local pharmacy.

[deweyinthehall]

Page is live -

https://mrpekrul.wixsite.com/narcissism/1975

[steve B]

Originally Posted by deweyinthehall

Hello - me again.

Appreciate any information/images regarding the 1975 Topps set - minis are of interest when specifically noted.

1) Have 4 of 5 printing sheets - upper left corners featuring Giusti, Taveras, Alou and Washington - need #5.

2) need image of wax wrapper with uncut team checklist ad

3) Grocery packs - info/images of potential 192-pack case/display stand

4) was there a 6-box rack case?

5) Minis:

Cello case, rack box, rack case images;
Were there mini grocery packs? If so, images would be great;
Any uncut sheet images

On the distribution of the minis - I've here at net54 and other places that they were sold from Northern California up the coast to Washington, in Michigan and New Jersey. Any other known areas?

Even though prices have evened out in recent years we still believe they are rarer than the full sized - by a wide margin or not so wide?

Thanks!

The minis were at least briefly available in Dalton Ma.
Although it's possible the store got them from a wholesaler or someone he knew in NJ.

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by steve B

The minis were at least briefly available in Dalton Ma.
Although it's possible the store got them from a wholesaler or someone he knew in NJ.

A small town in the Berkshires, interesting.

[Harliduck]

Originally Posted by Rrrlyons

Minis definitely distributed in Washington. Bought thousands of them from my local pharmacy.

Hey Rick! Yep, only mini's here in Washington and I know this has come up before here. Still weird to me to see regular size 75's...they don't seem right. I have complete sets of each.

I don't have many wax pack wrappers, but I do have one 1975 Mini wrapper....just not the one you are requesting, there is no ad for uncut team checklists...sorry

[steve B]

Originally Posted by toppcat

A small town in the Berkshires, interesting.

I had one packs worth I'd bought new. Had no idea about them until I moved to a town with a card shop in late 77.

I suspect he really did get a box from someone in NY/NJ.
The store I went to as a kid got raided by the FBI at one point. It was where everyone local got their "football cards" something that totally baffled young me. Why was the FBI interested in football cards. I had a whole boxful. Was I in trouble?
No, these are different foot ball cards.
Well how do I get them, how may in the set? It's not those wonder bread ones is it?

Soooo many questions. That also went unanswered until about 3 years later.
Tried getting one for the collection, but they were not easy to get, being used for "accounting purposes" by the issuer.

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by steve B

I had one packs worth I'd bought new. Had no idea about them until I moved to a town with a card shop in late 77.

I suspect he really did get a box from someone in NY/NJ.
The store I went to as a kid got raided by the FBI at one point. It was where everyone local got their "football cards" something that totally baffled young me. Why was the FBI interested in football cards. I had a whole boxful. Was I in trouble?
No, these are different foot ball cards.
Well how do I get them, how may in the set? It's not those wonder bread ones is it?

Soooo many questions. That also went unanswered until about 3 years later.
Tried getting one for the collection, but they were not easy to get, being used for "accounting purposes" by the issuer.

My grandparents had a summer cottage on Big Pond in Otis until around 1974. We would go to the diner/coffee shop in town (Hall's) and they always had a few boxes of cards out on the counter. Usually they had the current baseball set and last year's football cards and sometimes the secondary issues like the previous year's Tattoos left over as well. Only place I ever saw cards up there as a kid.

[steve B]

A lot of the towns were pretty small.

My "neighborhood" store was on the end of town near Pittsfield, right in with some subdivisions, and a couple hundred yards from a park that was used for little league.
There was another that had them a couple streets over from school but I only went there once or twice.
K mart had a vending machine, and another chain had rack packs usually in a 4x4 display just piled loose. Mom found me a Hank Aaron card there that I really wanted in 74.

The smaller towns - not like Dalton was huge or anything, may not have had much since the stores were pretty far away from where kids would usually be.

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by deweyinthehall

Have I heard correctly - did the uncut team checklists in 1975 come in both regular card stock as well as the lighter white card stock of later years?

I have the version on regular stock. If they did also come on the white stock, would that be the rarer version? If anyone could provide an image of the white stock version, particularly the reverse, it would be appreciated. Thanks!

Resurrecting an old thread. Does anyone know if all checklists come in both gray backs as well as white backs?

[Kutcher55]

I have spent a great deal of time with the 75 Minis in the past few years, and I can share the following info:

1. The # of PSA graded minis is around 1/3rd that of the 75 Regulars. That doesn't mean 1:3 is the relative scarcity, as numerous other factors could drive that, but it is a data point.

2. A number of mini cards were notoriously printed short from top to bottom. These are the yellow/green borders and the yellow/red border cards. More often than not, these cards are found factory short from top to bottom. And as such, it is much harder to find these cards full size and in top condition. These are all located at the top and/or bottom (I think) of the sheets. Minis are officially said to be 3 and 1/8th inch from top to bottom (3.125 inches), but they tend to be closer to 3.15ish inches at full length. Some of the factory shorts are barely short and other are very short. It speaks to the lack of QC with this test issue.

3. These cards also suffer from color bleed / ink quality issues.

4. You actually mentioned some of these factory shorts in your original post. Giutsi, Taveras, Alou, and Washington. These are amongst the most difficult cards to find in top condition.

5. Other notoriously tough cards in this group include: Frank Tanana, Sal Bando, Tommy Davis, Dan Driessen. There are dozens of others.

6. The highest profile players among the short cuts are Bob Gibson and Mike Schmidt. The Gibby also has color bleed issues.

7. Minis also suffer from poor centering and diamond cuts. The Hank Aaron #1 is very condition sensitive due to the dark borders and it's position atop the set. This baby got handled a lot! The Nolan Ryan #500 is no picnic either as it was on the left side of the sheet and suffers from centering issues. Brett and Young have low average grades, but I believe this is because they more people want them slabbed than the others. The checklists are tough as well, especially #646, as are the Highlight Cards.

I have a list of every mini card in a sortable pivotable spreadsheet that shows the distribution of PSA grades for each one. For some of the reasons above, and the fact that the 75 set is so iconic, this set has attracted a lot of interest among serious collectors. It is right up there with 71 Topps as one of the most condition-sensitive issues in the entire catalogue.

There are a ton of minis out there, since 1975 wasn't that long ago, but they are scarcer than their full-sized counterparts, and it is difficult to find truly elite copies.