Another Reason to Procrastinate - Looking at a 1973 Topps Set

 I probably should be getting ready for school on Monday but I just can't find a way to do that.  I enjoyed looking at the 1981 and 1975 sets so much that I thought I check out another one instead of being productive.  

I didn't want to deal with the scanner so the pictures won't be as nice today.  I wanted to focus on enjoying the cards.  

Not many better ways to start a set than having a card with Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays.  

It didn't take long to find centering issues top to bottom.  There were many of them.  Not too many problems left to right.

It also didn't take long to find a card with a tree in the background.

Always one of my favorite cards in the set.  

What's nice about the checklist being marked?  It means that I didn't mark 24 team checklists.  I will probably attempt to get the checklists unmarked.  

I show the back of this card because this was what I looked at frequently.  Everyone who collected cards could tell you who was on this top-10 list.  

Great card.  Too bad he was another A.L. East guy who I didn't get to see play often.  

I loved the cartoons and I showed this one because I remembered it without even looking.  We spent lots of times reading the backs of the cards.  

I love shots of the leftfield bleachers at Wrigley Field since I sat there hundreds of times.

As a kid I was happy to get any Cubs card.  

Another card where I remembered the cartoon before looking.  

I always liked this card.  I am not an autograph collector but I do have this card signed.

His glove looks so old.  

One of the coaches is named on the back, but not on the front.  Joseph Charles Schultz, Jr.  would have been bothered by that if he didn't have a card in the 1969 set as the manager of the Seattle Pilots.  Schultz actually managed the last 28 games of the season when Martin was suspended and fired.  

I pictured the Moses card out of order.

Gerry Moses was the last card that I needed to complete this series.  I don't remember it being the last card I needed for the set.  Since the rookie cards were in the last series, I remember chasing a few of them to complete the set. 

Topps gave us more card backs to memorize with this subset.  These subsets, Strat-o-matic baseball and the Kellogg's All-Time Greats really helped us dig into the history of the game.

Early 1970s are all over this card - the uniform and shirt underneath it, the sideburns, the helmet, etc.

Why does Mike carry his baseball cards in his duffle bag?  Does this mean all of the cards featuring him or all of the cards in his collection?  Why a duffle bag?  I didn't learn about nine-pocket pages for a few more years but I have no idea when they were introduced to the hobby. 

I don't like the airbrushed hats either, but with the entire uniform it looks like Bill is wearing a high school uniform at Wrigley Field.  

Career stolen bases - John Hilton (6), Ron Cey (24), Mike Schmidt (174).  Nice. Schmidt is 16th on the all-time home run list.  Eight of those guys ahead of him had more steals that he had - Bonds, Aaron, ARod, Mays, Griffey Jr., Sosa, F. Robinson and Reggie Jackson.  A different game years ago indeed.

Without zooming in for this picture it is another shot that looks like it was taken at a high school freshmen game.  

That was fun.  I will try to go through another set next weekend when I don't want to prepare for the next week of school.