1973 Topps Info/Images needed

[deweyinthehall]

Looking at the 1973 set now -

1) Any information on or images of cello cases, rack boxes or rack cases - how many packs/box, boxes/case?

2) Any images of vending boxes or cases

3) Any grocery pack/box/case/images - the only reason I know for sure they existed is that there is a sell-sheet advertising them

4) Anyone have any information/pics of the 3 different Wide World of Sports records offered on wrappers, or the batting glove or the umpire pitch counter?

Finally - distribution:

From what I've read (here, mostly) it seems the 1973 sets distributed BOTH by series and as all 660 at one time. Did where you lived make the difference in which manner you got the cards? Did some people see all 660 from the very beginning and some only saw issuance by series?

Those pesky blue team checklists - I believe they were only issued with high number packs, so they would only have been available in areas which received cards by series - does this sound right? I also read somewhere that it is possible only rack packs contained a checklist - anyone recall if this could be true?

Many thanks as always!

[deweyinthehall]

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=184284

Found this thread from 10 years ago - some interesting observations on this subject.

It is clear that some areas received cards by series and others "all 660" without overlap. It is also clear that all 5 series were printed by the end of 1972, eliminating any same-year spring training pics which used to be traditional in hi series cards.

As to the checklists, from what I can read here it seems like recollections are all over the place - only in 660 packs, only in 5th series packs, all year long, late in the year.

The thread mentions a good article on the set by Bill Haber - the link is long dead it seems. If anyone has that article, could you post?

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by deweyinthehall

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=184284

Found this thread from 10 years ago - some interesting observations on this subject.

It is clear that some areas received cards by series and others "all 660" without overlap. It is also clear that all 5 series were printed by the end of 1972, eliminating any same-year spring training pics which used to be traditional in hi series cards.

As to the checklists, from what I can read here it seems like recollections are all over the place - only in 660 packs, only in 5th series packs, all year long, late in the year.

The thread mentions a good article on the set by Bill Haber - the link is long dead it seems. If anyone has that article, could you post?

It seems that the team checklists could not have been issued in the first three series packs because Wayne Simpson shows on the Royals Team Checklist and he didn't join that team until the second printing, which likely occurred in early December 1972 (he's card #428).

[nolemmings]

You probably already saw this, as I'm pretty sure it came from this forum awhile back, but here's an ad sheet for the trays that shows both the Alou and Hennigan proof cards.

[jmoran19]

None of the 5th series packs opened on YouTube had any blue checklists

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by deweyinthehall

Looking at the 1973 set now -

1) Any information on or images of cello cases, rack boxes or rack cases - how many packs/box, boxes/case?

2) Any images of vending boxes or cases

3) Any grocery pack/box/case/images - the only reason I know for sure they existed is that there is a sell-sheet advertising them

4) Anyone have any information/pics of the 3 different Wide World of Sports records offered on wrappers, or the batting glove or the umpire pitch counter?

Finally - distribution:

From what I've read (here, mostly) it seems the 1973 sets distributed BOTH by series and as all 660 at one time. Did where you lived make the difference in which manner you got the cards? Did some people see all 660 from the very beginning and some only saw issuance by series?

Those pesky blue team checklists - I believe they were only issued with high number packs, so they would only have been available in areas which received cards by series - does this sound right? I also read somewhere that it is possible only rack packs contained a checklist - anyone recall if this could be true?

Many thanks as always!

I only noticed two different records advertised on the wrappers, one celebrating 10 years of Wide World of Sports and the other 100 Years of baseball. Each of these can be found on ebay, although they likely cannot be attributed to the Topps offer. They were produced in 1971 and 1969 respectively, and were surplus by the time Topps made the offer in 1973. I doubt they were re-packaged to show that they came from Topps, although one version of the WWS record has a small circular sticker in the upper left that seems to have been drawn in the Topps artwork on the wrapper. The Baseball Centennial albums on ebay have slightly different covers, one in black and white and the other cropped, so it's unclear which one was offered by Topps. Here are the WWS cover and one of the Centennial covers:

Finally, the Umpire b/s/o indicator is pretty generic, and looks like one offered back on one of the 1967 Topps wrappers, which uses the identical first line in its description and like the 1973 version requires that mail be sent to a PO box in St. Paul, MN. These too could be leftovers.

[deweyinthehall]

Thanks for these images! The third album is advertised on the wrapper as a 1972 Sports Highlights record.

[deweyinthehall]

1973 page is live.

PLEASE let me know where errors have been made or if you have additional information or images that might help fill it out more.

https://mrpekrul.wixsite.com/narcissism/1973

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by deweyinthehall

Thanks for these images! The third album is advertised on the wrapper as a 1972 Sports Highlights record.

These three together seems an odd coincidence

https://www.ebay.com/itm/38145780703...Bk9SR5789oL-Yw