1972 Topps Baseball was as vivid and unique as the World Champion Oakland A’s

Perhaps “a hairy situation” best described the start of the 1972 Major League Baseball season as players went on strike for the first time in league history.

Depending on how the schedule fell, some teams missed up to eight contests — with no makeup games.

For Oakland Athletics owner Charlie O. Finley the situation became even hairier when star outfielder Reggie Jackson turned up in spring training with a mustache. At the time, facial hair on big leaguers during the season was a long-standing no-no. Finley wanted Jackson to trash the stache. The slugger refused.

Surprisingly, the colorful owner quickly came around and offered $300 to any A’s player to grow a mustache. The players cashed in. Long hair flowing from the caps of A’s players soon followed.

Also See: Baseball Stamps tell history of game and its biggest stars 

Breaking baseball tradition even more, the A’s owner strayed from the regular uniform design and went with an eye-popping “two-tone” green and gold look. A moment in time had arrived for many of the Oakland players with Jackson joined by stars Sal Bando, Vida Blue, Bert “Campy” Campaneris, Jim “Catfish” Hunter, John “Blue Moon” Odom, Rollie Fingers and Joe Rudi among them.

No one knew just how big a year it would be for The Mustache Gang as the first few dozen games of 1972 unfolded. But the wins started to pile up early enough that their newfound “fuzz” was not the only thing causing a buzz.

With that backdrop, by coincidence, Topps released its most attention-grabbing regular baseball set of the era with its vivid and “loud” 1972 design, including the typical card’s team name trumpeting above the arching top border of the player’s image. It’s as though Peter Max, the ’60s artist known for using bright colors in his pop and psychedelic art, had final say on the issue, one that some collectors casually call “the psychedelic tombstone.”

“When I think of 1970s sets, I feel 1972 and 1975 [Topps baseball] sets are the most popular. They have a unique design and kind of embodied the era, a very ’70s look and feel to them,” collector John Constantino said.

Also See: Remembering Gaylord Perry and other notable sports deaths of 2022 

Constantino now owns a highly-ranked, PSA-graded version of the 1972 set and collects it partly because “it has a lot of superstars from the ’60s and ’70s,” kind of a “bridge year” between the decades. But he also likes the dozens of In-Action cards throughout the issue. Each “IA” photo directly follows the player’s regular base card.

Additionally, the collector also enjoys many of the 50-year-old offering’s other subsets, such as the Awards (Cy Young, MVP and Babe Ruth, for instance), plus the Boyhood Photos and League Leaders.

“I am also a Pirates’ fan,” he noted, “so I like the [’71] World Series cards and Roberto Clemente is on one of those, and the World Champions card [Pittsburgh defeated Baltimore in the ’71 Fall Classic], too,” the latter of which begins the set.

Also See: Why slugger Fred McGriff deserved Hall of Fame nod 

Larry Morey, meanwhile, loves the set because it matches his birth year. He also likes “the challenge of the high numbers and the set’s colorfulness.” Being a Yankees’ fan, Morey especially gravitates toward the pair of Thurman Munson and Bobby Murcer cards in the ’72 set.

Morey, who also owns a top-tier complete PSA-graded collection of 72s, said “the [regular] Murcer card [#699] was one of the toughest” for him to find. The Murcer In-Action cardboard has been a high hurdle for others, as well.

“For the In-Action cards, more so with the [average] lower numbered cards, finding centered tilt-free copies can be a true challenge,” Morey said, attributing the condition issues to their side and corner locations on the card sheets.

Morey also placed the Willie Mays (#50) and Hank Aaron (#300) In-Action cards among the most difficult in the subset to locate well-centered.

While the 1972 Topps Baseball issue mostly shines bright like high-beam headlights on a Monster truck, the rookie cards generally, in comparison, illuminate more like a barely working bulb in a vehicle’s glove compartment.

The set’s key rookie appears in the first series and features Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk (# 79), the 1972 American League Rookie of the Year. That card also includes his Red Sox teammate Cecil Cooper, who played until 1987 and who also put up some solid career batting numbers.

Also See: Best Baseball Books of 2022 

Another rookie card of interest in the high-number series (#657-787) spotlights a blend of both leagues, all listed as outfielders, with Boston’s Ben Oglivie and the Dodgers’ Ron Cey, who later made a name for himself as a third baseman, leading the trio on #761.

At 787 cards the 1972 set comprised the company’s largest to that point and the second-to-last mainstream baseball issue from that era to roll out via series. If working with a modest bankroll, expect expending some extra effort finding top-condition ’72 baseball high numbers.

One subset within the offering’s last series featured seven consecutive cards that have the word “Traded” essentially stamped on them. These cards reflect the new team and a more current photo/new uniform for a few of the players who changed teams during the season. Luckily some are future Hall of Famers (Steve Carlton, Joe Morgan, Frank Robinson).

“That is a nice subset,” Constantino said. “Those can be tough, especially the Jim Fregosi (#755) and Jose Cardenal (#757), those two are hard to find centered.”

Aside from a few of the “Traded” players, the biggest names of that high-number series include Steve Garvey, Dusty Baker and Hall of Famers Walt Alston, Bill Mazeroski, Hoyt Wilhelm, Rod Carew and 2022 HOF inductee Jim Kaat. That roster’s last two diamond kings appear on regular and In-Action cards.

Other superstars who “double-dip” in the issue, appearing on a regular and “Action” card, include Johnny Bench, Roberto Clemente, Reggie Jackson, Pete Rose, Tom Seaver and Carl Yastrzemski.

Nolan Ryan, on his first regular card as a California Angel (# 595), heads up the set for many collectors, but unfortunately does not have an “In-Action” card in ’72.

When Morey began his trek building the issue in PSA-graded form, he met a fellow collector on the identical path through the company’s Set Registry.

“We realized we were both bidding on the same cards via auctions and driving the prices up on each other,” he said. “So, early on in the build, we began communicating as to which of us would bid in which auctions. With lots, we would split them up, each taking the cards we needed.”

Both crossed the “complete set finish line” at a similar point “at a substantial savings as we weren’t battling it out and overpaying on the same cards.”

With several complete sets and many others well on their way to that same milestone on the PSA Set Registry, Constantino noted the current enthusiasm for the issue bodes well for solid long-term interest.

“It’s a challenging set, but it’s obtainable, which is nice,” he said. “For the most part you can put the set together for a reasonable price, setting the grade [and whether it’s raw or slabbed] based on your budget.”

Dubbed “The Hairs vs. The Squares” due to Oakland’s shaggy look compared to the Cincinnati Reds’ clean-cut image, the 1972 World Series commenced between those ballclubs in mid-October.

Except for the Reds’ lopsided win in Game 6, a mere run decided each contest. Reggie Jackson missed it all due to a torn hamstring, but A’s catcher Gene Tenace took up some of the slack and surprised everyone by smashing four home runs in the series. His homer total for the regular season — five.

Oakland relief workhorse Rollie Fingers, with his handlebar mustache the most distinctive upper lip on this colorful club, appeared in all six close games. In fact, Fingers was on the mound for the last out of Game 7, a fly ball caught near the warning track with the tying run on base. As a result, the A’s won their first of three straight World Series titles.

With Fingers’ final touch, some could characterize it as a fitting finish from Finley’s furry folks; others might just call it a close shave.

Topps paid homage to their 1972 baseball set with the 2021 Heritage collection as the company brought back the splashy card design featuring mainly the current crop of big leaguers.

The 2021 Heritage issue also includes 10 cards, however, with 1972 World Series highlights. That subset, which does not have the look of the ‘72 cards, includes images of Hall of Famers of Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Tony Perez from Cincinnati and Oakland’s Rollie Fingers and “Catfish” Hunter.

Here are some recent auction results of 1972 Topps Baseball cards, rounded to the nearest dollar. All cards are in grade PSA 8 (Near Mint), unless noted.

Nolan Ryan (#595) $495-$836/SGC 8 $461

Willie Mays IA (#50) $535

Hank Aaron IA (#300) $371-$525

Roberto Clemente (#309) $349/SGC 8 $359

Reggie Jackson (#435) $155-$335/SGC 8 $127

Carlton Fisk (R) (#79) $140-$350

Jose Cardenal (Traded) (#757) $109-$161

“Catfish” Hunter (#330) $63-$99

Rollie Fingers (#241) $24-$70

Complete set (raw, overall EX) $1,725

— Doug Koztoski is a frequent SCD contributor. He can be reached at dkoz3000@gmail.com.