50 years ago, 1973 Topps changed the baseball card game

One of baseball’s biggest on-field changes in recent memory sprung from the starting blocks in 2023: the implementation of the pitch clock. The reviews have been mixed and time will tell if this particular clock still ticks years from now.

Fifty years ago another seismic experiment unfolded to add more action and offense with the introduction of the American League designated hitter. The DH has been around the junior circuit ever since and the National League finally adopted it in 2022. Talk about a wait-and-see approach.

The 1973 World Series placed the defending champion Oakland Athletics against the New York Mets. That matchup, won by Oakland, started on Saturday, Oct 13.

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With the DH just being implemented in 1973, Topps produced its last mainstream baseball set of the era distributed by series. At 660 cards, 1973 Topps Baseball comprised the card maker’s smallest baseball issue in a few years.

“I think the ’73 set hits a sweet spot balancing collectability and value,” said Avi Gelboim, owner of the top-ranked “Current Finest” version of the set on the PSA Set Registry. “Older sets have a high collectability factor, but can be expensive to build, whereas more modern sets are cheaper to build but [usually] have less rarity appeal.”

Gelboim calls the 1973 set-starter, which spotlighted the Top 3 All-Time Home Run leaders at that point, among his favorite cards in the collection.

1973 Topps All Time Home Run Leaders. PSA

“Ruth, Aaron, Mays on the same card … what else can a collector ask for?” Gelboim said. “When I first discovered the card as a kid, I was amazed to behold an actual Babe Ruth card.”

A big story that season was Aaron’s quest to break Ruth’s record of 714 career homers. The Braves slugger belted 40 home runs in 1973 to finish one shy of tying the mark before eclipsing it in early 1974.

1973 Topps Hank Aaron card. PSA

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Mays, with 1973 his final campaign, went deep six times to finish his career with 660 home runs. The ’73 Mays card (#305), his last regular card, also lives among Gelboim’s top picks from the issue.

1973 Topps Willie Mays card. PSA

Paul Rozga, No. 2 on the Set Registry for the ’73 collection, enjoys that Mays card as well, in addition to the final Roberto Clemente card (#50) and the high-numbered series rookie card of Mike Schmidt (#615) among his favorites.

1973 Topps Roberto Clemente card. PSA

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Although dozens of cards in the set feature Hall of Famers, other than Schmidt, Rich “Goose” Gossage (#174) is the only other Cooperstown member to debut in the collection.

1973 Topps Rookie Third Basemen card featuring Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt. PSA

“I think the ’73 set is the best set of the ’70s,” Rozga said. “Behind the ’75 baseball set, I like the ’73s overall coolness.”

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Rozga acknowledges, however, that the ’73s fall short in one sense with the “soft” card stock and the black card back border, which is susceptible to chipping. And, he says, “well-centered cards are hard to find, and that takes a lot of cards out of the running for possibly being a PSA 9 or PSA 10.”

Plus, some find the general design of the ’73 set about as exciting as being on hold with a telemarketer.

Fair enough. Yet, where the ’73 Topps cards are a bit light in their overall look, durability and quality control for many collectors, one area where the issue ratcheted up its game, especially for the era: action photography.

Topps baseball sets included some game-play, action shots on regular base cards in 1971 and had blocks of “In-Action” images in 1972, but 1973’s collection included several players captured during a game, even if, on occasion, it was from spring training.

1973 Topps Jim Palmer card. PSA

How about Jim Palmer half way through his pitching motion (#160)? Or Harmon Killebrew ready to unload another big swing (#170)? And then there’s Johnny Bench about to snag a foul ball (#380).

1973 Topps Baseball Harmon Killebrew card. PSA

Add in Hank Aaron, Steve Carlton, Roberto Clemente, Thurman Munson, Frank Robinson and the two respective league MVPs, Reggie Jackson and Pete Rose, and much of the royalty of the day gets some good coverage.

1973 Topps Frank Robinson card. PSA

1973 Topps Pete Rose card. PSA

Too bad Tom Seaver, the 1973 NL Cy Young award winner, and Nolan Ryan, who threw two no-hitters in 1973 and set the single season strikeout mark of 383, were only shown in posed photos.

On YouTube, content creator “Virtual Card Curator” has put together numerous well-researched and solidly produced videos on older cards. Two recommended “VCC” productions are: “Bringing 1973 Topps to Life” and “1973 Topps #542, Pat Corrales.” The former video explores the places and stories behind many of the action photos. The latter offers in-depth information on perhaps the best and/or most unusual looking action photos in the entire ’73 offering. The second video also shows actual game footage of a play at the plate that the photo originates from. Bonus tidbit: the sliding runner on the Corrales card is a Hall of Famer. Any guesses who it is?

1973 Topps Pat Corrales action card. PSA

While the Corrales card is the most distinctive image in the high-numbered series (#529-660), the Schmidt rookie is the most sought after. A few others of note in that group of peskier pasteboards includes Hall of Famers Jim Kaat (#530) and Orlando Cepeda (#545), the rookie outfielders featuring Boston’s Dwight Evans (#614) and one of the toughest cards from the last series, the checklist (#588).

Some of the final series packs had blue-bordered team checklist cards randomly inserted and, as Gelboim said, “these cards are extremely difficult to find in good condition, both because the centering is poor and collectors actually used the checklists to inventory their cards.” Although not actually part of the set, these team checklist cards are almost more of a test issue.

The last series does contain a 16-card subset of rookie prospects. Other subsets within the overall offering include League Leaders, Postseason, Boyhood Photos and All-Time Leaders. The All-Time cluster generates strong interest as it includes single cards of Aaron, Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Cy Young, and two each of Ty Cobb and Walter Johnson.

1973 Topps Lou Gehrig Grand Slam Leader. PSA

SLIGHT DIFFERENCES

Variations in the issue fall mainly in the background of the coaches on the team manager cards. Some have a natural background; for others it’s a solid orange or a dark pale. Both Gelboim and Rozga said a variation of the St. Louis Cardinals card of Hall of Fame skipper Red Schoendienst was among the most difficult for them to lock down in a high grade.

“That Schoendienst dark pale variation is my only PSA 8, and it took me over five years to find it,” Rozga noted.

Another ’73 card that bubbles up a great deal in the “extra challenging in top grade” category pictures Cleveland outfielder Del Unser (#247), which shows 13 examples in PSA 9 on the PSA Population Report — and zero in PSA 10. And this is after nearly 216,000 1973 Topps baseball cards across the set have been encapsulated by the company.

Those graded card population numbers alone point to a strong following for the 1973 Topps baseball issue.