1974 Topps Factory Set

[deweyinthehall]

I'm relatively new to this forum, and I love this discussion.

Interesting the way he described the red-bordered team checklists - as if he hadn't seen the 73 blue version...I've heard that some collectors back then were unaware that the checklists were even issued because of odd distribution.

As to the 1974s, when I was building my set I did some research and found some information which painted the following picture:

1) All 1974 sheets were proofed initially solely with San Diego designations
2) O/a December 6 when the league approved the sale to DC, the sheets were re-done to reflect Washington; this includes all 5 sheets. They weren't lettered in 1974, so arbitrarily listing them here alphabetically:

A - Grubb, Troedson, Grief, Colbert, Jones, Team, Beckert, McCovey
B - Kendall, Hilton, Romo
C - Roberts, Gaston, Morales
D - Arlin, Alou, Winfield, Tolan, Corkins, Hernandez, Freisleben Rookie, Lee
E - Corrales, Thomas, Murrell

3) Even though issued in a single series, they were still apparently printed in consecutive batches - sheets A, B, and then C went to press before D and E. It was after Kroc bought the team that they stopped the presses to assess the situation - too many of the first three sheets had been printed to take a loss and reprint from scratch with San Diego, so they knowingly let all the printed Washington cards into circulation, reformatted the sheets, and began printing them with San Diego (Washington cards from sheet C appear to be scarcer than the rest, so perhaps fewer of sheet C had been printed when they changed over.

4) The other two sheets were reformatted, and as far as anyone knows none were ever printed, let alone cut, with the Washington designation (so, no Winfield Washington rookies out there to be found). When they examined sheet D, they simply missed Freisleben because they didn't look closely at the 4 player rookies. After that sheet had gone through a lot of print runs, they discovered what had happened, and hastily put San Diego on his card, and started the presses. Then, someone with an eagle eye saw the font was different from the other rookie cards. They stopped again and created the accurate "small lettering" version, and resumed. They got so deep into the print run that the Washington version of Freisleben is the common version. The small lettering is hard to find - it took me a while to find one in NM shape that wasn't slabbed.

Anyway, just FYI for anyone who didn't know or might find it interesting.

And, as a bonus, here's a photo I downloaded from a Padres' fan site a long time ago of the very same Freisleben in the uniform of the ill-fated Washington Stars.