Curious about 1973 Topps distribution

[onlyvintage62]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

My posts in another thread on distribution of 1973 Topps has sparked me to ask others who collected cards that year what they remember about obtaining them. I no longer actively collect much post-war, so I was surprised to see how there seems to be incomplete and/or inaccurate information about this set, which seems to me to have been issued not that long ago–at least not so long that there should be much mystery.

As I mentioned elsewhere, the cards were issued in one 660 card series in southern Minnesota in 1973. http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=184104 At least one other board member recalls similar distribution in the Boston area. Please chime in with your recollections.

The so-called high numbers were clearly printed in the winter of 1972, as evidenced by the lack of player-team changes that should have been noted and made. In addition to those I mentioned in the other thread, I have since found at least two more. Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda was traded to the Red Sox by Oakland on January 18, 1973, yet his high #545 shows him in an A’s uniform and captioned with Oakland. Similarly, lesser-known pitcher Rickey Clark went from California to Philadelphia on January 29, 1973, yet he is shown in high number 636 still on the Angels. Contrast this to 1972, where a trade involving Bob Burda to Boston in late March was caught so that his high number card depicts and captions him with his new team and Ron Hansen, who never played for the Royals until being signed April 2, 1972, is nonetheless shown wearing full Royals gear in the high-numbered series (See also the McLain and Carlton traded cards). Clearly the presses stopped early in 1973 (perhaps before New Years), giving Topps the opportunity and ability to distribute all the cards at once. This also may have allowed them to devote time in the Spring for developing their various test issues from that year.

An all-at-once distribution makes sense for other reasons too. First, Topps released its complete football card set all at once for the first time in 1973, so it clearly had the idea and the ability to do so that year. If football why not baseball? Moreover, the FB card set was Topps’ largest by double or so, meaning they would have needed extra time to print the cards—which takes us back to the printing starting early because the baseball presses had fully run. Finally, I now see from the SCD catalogue that our neighbors up North issued the nearly identical (except for text) 1973 OPC baseball set of 660 cards all at once, so again the idea and ability were in place by at least the Spring. All of this confirms what some of us experienced first-hand– that the 1973 Topps baseball set was distributed all at once in certain parts of the country.

Despite this, some guides and resources seem confused and uncertain when describing this set. For one thing, Ron Erbe’s book from 1981 claims the cards were released in two series, one with card numbers 1-528 and then a second with high numbers 529-660. Erbe was writing from Iowa–who knows, maybe there was some different distribution there, although that seems lacking in evidence.

The SCD guide claims that the blue team card checklists are “generally accepted” as having been inserted in the high-numbered series, as well as being available by mail order. Generally accepted? It’s only been 40 years and there were millions of these cards produced, yet no one can state authoritatively whether these checklists were or were not in the high-series packs? By the way, I have never owned a blue team checklist, and yet assembled nearly three full sets of 1973's at the time. I submit that the only way for us “all 660 in one series” collectors to acquire these was by mail. For those of you here who collected by series in 1973, were the blue checklists in the high-series wax packs? Cellos?

Some online sources suggest that the “all 660 in one series” wrappers that are sometimes seen were issued only when the high numbers were distributed. I am skeptical, and instead believe that these sources simply haven’t accounted for the fact that some parts of the country had the whole set available all along, and are struggling for an explanation. I suppose they could have been issued in this manner also, but I would have been steamed as a kid if I waited all summer for the last series and then had to rip packs that were stuffed with retread cards from prior series I’d already put together, getting what, possibly 2 out of 10 high-series cards? Not a great marketing strategy for Topps. I suppose there could have been some sort of Christmas card packs assembled a la some sets from a little earlier in that era, but I have not heard anyone make claim to having seen such a promotion.

Anyway, those are my musings for now. Hopefully Mr. Lemke, Mr. Hornish and those others here who remember the 1973 cards can add to this discussion.

Well Done!!!

[Rich Klein]

I am convinced, and this is only based on what I personally saw, that these blue checklists were issued only in the five series packs which included all 660cards. Nearly 20 years ago, I found a nice bunch at Orlando Sports Cards for $1 each and the owner told me he got them all the time from locals. Since those Florida packs were all inclusive. I always believed that with the cards I saw there and in Ohio (another place where all the series were distributed at the same time) they were included in the five series packs.

The other reason I believe that is they were almost impossible in the New York Metropolitan area and we almost never saw those cards in any of the 1973 collections we bought and I bought tons of 1973's over the years.

Just my opinion

Rich

[ALR-bishop]

I stopped piecing together my sets by packs and singles in 1971 and after that just bought sets, so no expertise on the underlying question. It has always been my impression that Topps did "issue" the cards in series, at least in most places. But that would not mean Topps did not issue them all at once in certain locals, since I think Todd is right that the set may have all been produced at one time. Since Topps clearly went to full distribution in 1974, maybe they were testing the different distribution method in some areas

As Todd mentioned Topps often tested and experimented with new ideas on a regional or geographic basis. In 1973, in addition to its base set Topps tried out
Candy Lids, Comics, Pin Ups, the Team Checklists and the 53 Reprints ( although the latter may have just been an item created for a function or Banquet).

[ALR-bishop]

And see what is said about the Team Checklists and the 600 packs in here

http://www.1973baseballcards.com/?p=36

[frankh8147]

Top 3 favorite Topps sets- 1952, 1956, and 1972
Least favorite- 1957, 1967, 1968

[ALR-bishop]

Given the topic of this thread Frank, you could at least told us what you think about the 1973 set

[frankh8147]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Given the topic of this thread Frank, you could at least told us what you think about the 1973 set

Haha, sorry Al, guess I got two threads confused somehow- I love the Clemente and Aaron BUT really dislike the Mays-i'm a Willie Mays collector and a Phillies fan so it pains me to see him in a Met uniform but I do have to admit, if I were a Mets fan, it would probably be my favorite card!

[toppcat]

Given the wide (yet limited) range of places with "All 660" packs described in this thread, it seems possible to me that Topps was testing how to do a full distribution through each of the major hubs they had at the time (three plus NY I believe) while at the same time issuing the cards in series elsewhere. Kind of like priming the pump of the jobbers as there would seemingly have to be a lot more cases of cards going to each one all at once in the "All 660" distribution. They were compressing four months of distribution into one big wave essentially, which was major change for all parties.

Can't recall if the 73's came out earlier than normal, which was usually around March 1 but I vaguely remember them being issued in series but also having a couple of Blue checklists. When I started collecting again in '81 after laying off in '76, the Blue checklists were familiar to me. I was buying packs (mostly racks but some packs from the ice cream man) on Long Island in '73 as a kid but the Blue checklists could have come from a year end dumping of cards at Newberry's or Woolworth's by Topps and I also spent summers in Massachusetts then so who knows?

A team checklist in just the "All 660" packs makes some sense though as Topps would usually try to churn each upcoming series by lagging earlier series compared to the regular checklists by 22 cards or so. But if you had all 660 cards at once, perhaos they changed tactics to let the kids know all the cards issued from their favorite team to keep them hunting.

[Rickyy]

I don't recall seeing any blue team checklists at all when I was actually piecing the set together as a kid back in N. Calif in 1973...and I bought tons of packs. I do specifically recall buying a mixed series rack pack at a toy store in Sunnyvale, CA back then. It contained a mixture of Semi High and High Number cards.

Ricky Y

[ncinin]

I was fourteen years old in 1973 and the last year as a teenager I bought packs and I bought alot of them.

In my part of North Carolina 1973's were issued in series and we had all series. The high numbers were not hard to get. We had no mixed series packs.

I never saw any blue checklists and didn't know they existed until the 1980's.

[moeson]

I hope this isn't overkill, but I dug up a March 1973 issue of The Ballcard Collector, featuring this interview with legendary Topps official Bill Haber concerning 1973 Topps.

In other BCC issues, a collector reported that Ohio had all cards issued at once. Also, a Canadian columnist noted that the entire OPC set was released in late May, in a similar fashion to many parts of the US. Later in the year, the Card Collectors Company was advertising the Blue Checklist set (@$2.95), along with many test set items.

[esquiresports]

Maybe everyone knows this or it's been written in this thread, but Topps definitely distributed in series (one through five) and an all-in-one series. OPC is all-in-one series only. I do not know where the all series boxes were released. They are relatively uncommon in my experience.

Note how the OPC box says "team checklist in every pack." If this carried over to the Topps version, it could explain the source of the blue checklists.

I am attaching photos of my second series box (labeled as such), my fourth series box (black "hey kids") tab, and empty all-series box (pink "hey kids" tab and note the all series designation on the box side). I know first series had a tab that said "1st Series" because I lost out on an auction for one. Still sad about that.

I am also attaching an empty OPC box and OPC pack. The Topps version of this pack is very similar looking, but I don't own one.

[GasHouseGang]

You look like a collector of packs and boxes so you seem to be someone who would know. Were the checklists offered as sheets on one of the 1973 packs? The 1973 checklists I have were torn from a full sheet and I seem to remember reading that they were offered that way. Any info?

[GeorgeBailey2]

First, I want to thank those that have provided information, particularly the letter from Bill Haber. The scans are just plain old cardboard porn.

In King of Prussia, it was wax packs in series. I don't recall seeing cellos or racks. In August, though, we spent our usual two weeks in Ocean City. The penny candy store at the north end of the boardwalk had racks which had the one pocket of the last series. At least a third of what I bought that year was bought at the shore. In today's vernacular: "Best Summer Ev-ah!"

Never even knew they had the blue checklists until years later.

Someone mentioned that the mail away may have been an uncut sheet. Is that verified? I know that the Topps Collectors Club in 1976 sent an uncut sheet of the team checklists (the team photo cards) as part of the membership. It was folded and was printed on a brighter and thinner card stock than the issued cards.

[esquiresports]

Originally Posted by GasHouseGang

You look like a collector of packs and boxes so you seem to be someone who would know. Were the checklists offered as sheets on one of the 1973 packs? The 1973 checklists I have were torn from a full sheet and I seem to remember reading that they were offered that way. Any info?

I have seen uncut checklist sheets offered on eBay, but I believe they were of the red variety. I can pull my 1973 packs and see if a team checklist sheet is one of the offers.

[blackandgold]

I love these threads that take me back to my childhood of busting packs. I could be wrong, but in my little town in north central PA, I believe the 1973's were still done in series. I got very few high numbers.
The grocery store sold wax all the time, and once in a great while would have rack packs. However, for cello, I had to wait until my parents went to the town 15 miles away to grab those. I would spend the whole time in that store searching the cellos for Pirates on the top or bottom. And that store sold only cellos. Strange the things you remember !