In certain hobby trading groups, a "Hero" is the name given to a trader who sends along the final card needed to complete a set. Recently, another blogger achieved Hero status by sending this card:
It's a 1973 Topps team checklist. They were inserted in wax packs along with the high-numbered series that year. They're more scarce than a similarly-themed red-bordered checklist series from 1974, which were added to the packs throughout the year.
Thanks to Tony of the 1973 Topps Baseball Set Builder blog for sending this over and letting me fill the last hole in my 1973 Topps binder.
Even though I completed my 1973 Topps base set at the Chicago National a few years ago (the final card was Johnny Callison), I still needed several checklist cards. Last year, when I began writing the 1973 Topps Photography blog I still needed a half dozen of them and hoped I could finish that pesky auxiliary set before I ran out of cards to feature. Now, that's no longer a concern.
However, there are collectors who point out that there are still variations that can be picked up: the various manger cards with different backgrounds behind the coaches' photos, some print variations and the variations with the checklist cards themselves. At this time, I have no intention of chasing a "master" set.
But expect a post in the future on 1973 Topps variations.
Was 1973 was the last year that Topps issued in several series? I am one card away from finishing a 1974 master set* and don't recall any price differential between low and high number commons.
ReplyDelete* To be honest, given that the last card is San Diego small print version of rookie card 599, and they tend to sell for big bucks, I am not very motivated to complete the master set.
Yes, '73 was the last year of series.
ReplyDeleteAnd that #599 small print Rookies card is one of two I need to wrap up that set (the other is Vincente Romo's Washington variation).
congrats on finishing the set w/ the checklists - I ran into a bunch of these in a .25 bin a few yrs back and wasn't sure what they were at the time - I like checking out the similarities and differrences between the 73 and 74 checkers.
ReplyDelete