1975 Topps

With a different look for yet another new generation, 1975 Topps baseball cards came out of the gate well-equipped to impress their clientele. The first packs opened that year must have momentarily taken aback the initial consumers: a handful of 1975 Topps cards showcased a mind-boggling rainbow of colors, plenty of stars, loads of attention-grabbing features, and those splendid two-tone borders ... in other words, all of the ingredients necessary to bring about another banner year for the Brooklyn-based confectioner.

Topps had been a serious player in the trading card realm for 23 years at this point, and had completely dominated the field for two decades. The company learned its lessons well during that span, and astutely retained the most widely appreciated features in its cards from year to year. Its 1975s displayed a range of design elements that could be traced in their origins all the way back through its 1952s, its 1955s and its 1963s. The 1952 cards exhibited facsimile autographs on their cardfronts, and so did 1975s. Entertaining cartoons appeared on the backs of mid-1950s Topps cards, and here they were once more in yet another production. The early 1960s had been noteworthy for the continued development and perpetuation of full-career statistical listings, multi-player collectibles, and specialty cards honoring award winners, individual records and World Series contests - not to mention the now customary 2 ½" by 3 ½" card size. Every one of these components, and more, was evident in the bright, full-bleed bordered 1975s.

There was one big difference in 1975, though, that would have astonished a buyer who hadn't looked at cards since, say, 1963. It was immediately clear that the concept of cards in compartmentalized series no longer applied. Beginning the year before, in 1974, Topps emblazoned an enticing slogan - "All 660 Cards in One Series!," or words to that effect - on each box and wrapper. Collectors of 1975s quickly realized that they wouldn't have to wait for subsequent boxes later in the season to acquire Hank Aaron, for instance, all of the cards were available now. (Incidentally, Aaron is one example of Topps' marketing savvy in constructing its 1975 set: the slugger was featured on card #1, a 1974 Highlights commemorative, as well as the final entry, #660 - Hank's regular card.)

The downside? It took a lot of individual-pack purchases to round up 660 different cards. No doubt, the hobby's mathematicians could quote some depressing odds with respect to finding the last few cards needed for a set in this fashion. But Topps benefited from the ability to mount just one extended production run and to simply handle re-orders all year long from a stocked warehouse. In this way, presumably, the company gained a steady stream of revenue from buyers of packs all year long.

Composition - The 1975 Topps set's 660-card length was a stable and orderly size for the time. Its innovations included appealing Team cards (equipped with Checklist backs that applied to each respective squad's members) and 1951-1974 MVP cards, along with Record Breakers and Highlights. All three of the latter types afforded Topps the transparent opportunity to cram more superstar pictures into the release, but the depictions were enjoyable, nonetheless. The MVPs, utilizing cardfront designs borrowed from past Topps issues, gave collectors two big names on each card. In this way, 1975 Topps enthusiasts were treated to multiple new collectibles of recently retired legends like Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays.

Starting in 1973 Topps had elected to cluster a majority of the set's first-year players into one segment of the issue. For 1975, numbers 614 through 624, inclusive, were devoted to Rookies, grouped by position and showing four players per card. Talented youngsters like Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, Jim Rice and Fred Lynn debuted to the public on these Rookie entries.

Given all the planning and organization that must have gone into partitioning the Rookies, it's ironic that the two most sought-after single cards in 1975 Topps somehow eluded the agreed-upon formula. Future Cooperstown enshrinees George Brett (#228) and Robin Yount (#223) have their own cards, right in the mix - mid-set - with the game's veterans.

Key Features and Rarities - To produce its 1975 series, Topps had to merely lay out five different, 132-card press sheets of customary size and cut them into 660 cards. That process yielded the full contents of the year's set, and all cards were printed in equal quantities. No "High Numbers," no "Short Prints," no anomalies of any kind. The company had engineered its methods to achieve maximum efficiency, and the outcome was straightforward and predictable - and in some ways, pleasing. Although enthusiasts often refer in nostalgic tones to the "old days" of tracking and chasing new series of baseball cards as they surfaced in unexpected places, many found 1975 Topps' "One Series" distribution to be quite satisfactory.

As the nation's fans were building their 1975 Topps sets, few knew that the card manufacturer was simultaneously indulging in a bit of odd behavior. After the many years of tinkering and refinement that had brought about the streamlined and wholly acceptable 1975 Topps baseball product, the company opted to test another scenario. A few, limited areas of the country were chosen as venues to receive 1975 Topps "Mini" cards, which replicated the "regular" cards, detail for detail, right down to the style of their packs' wrappers. The only difference: "Mini" collectibles measured 2 ¼" by 3 1/8" ...just a little larger than a 1951 Bowman card! Whether Topps succumbed to its own spell of nostalgia at this point, or was just nvestigating the prospect of holding down the cost of raw materials in its purchases of cardboard, will likely never be known. But the "Minis" became a legitimate and recognized, stand-alone production, and 1975 Topps cards in the relatively scarce, smaller size are widely and happily pursued in today's hobby.

Bottom Line - Topps' contribution to the trading card industry in 1975 stood as yet another period-defining (and visually gratifying) release. Its colors, its features and its length all lent themselves well to a group of youngsters - at this point just two years away from the Star Wars phenomenon - for whom activity and vibrancy were essential qualities. The period's collectors thrived on 1975 Topps cards, which, as mentioned, were the newest in a lineage that had successfully evolved from patterns formed through traceable ancestral roots. But - witness the 1975 "Minis" - the manufacturer was still experimenting ...