Topps Baseball Cards Gallery 1970-1980 

The 1970 Topps baseball issue was the largest up to that point, 720 cards. They feature rather dull gray borders with color portraits, or "posed" shots, of the players. The Team name is in the top corner with player name and postion at the bottom of the card. The card backs are yellow and blue with stats and a cartoon. 

The set led off with a "WORLD CHAMPIONS" New York Mets "Team" card (card #1, see pic). The "Amazin" Mets had won the 1969 World Series vs. the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles. Other highlights in the set include League Leaders, Playoffs & World Series, & All-Star cards.

Prior to 1974, Topps would issue their cards in Series. For instance, in 1970 Series 1 cards comprised card numbers 1-546, Series 2 cards 547-633, & Series 3 cards 634-720. The last series, commonly called "High numbers," are scarcer compared to the earlier Series. Among the high-numbered cards are early cards of Johnny Bench, Nolan Ryan, plus veterans like Al Kaline and Frank Robinson. The 1970 Topps 715 Mickey Lolich card (pictured) is an example from the high-numbered Series.  

For your reference, here is a sample of each TOPPS baseball card from 1970 to 1980! 

1980 Topps Baseball

1980 was the final year that TOPPS baseball cards "owned" the market. Ever since buying out Bowman Gum in 1955, they had dominated trading cards, with few competitors. Both Leaf & Fleer challenged Topps in the 1960's but they were only able to issue a couple sets (and with much fewer cards than TOPPS).  They also had to issue a non-gum alternative (because that was a Topps exclusive), so Leaf issued their set in 1960 with a marble, and Fleer issued their 1963 baseball set with a cherry cookie. Whaaat??? After a successful lawsuit against Topps, both Donruss & Fleer were able to issue major sets to compete with Topps. The only drawback was they couldn't issue their cards with GUM. So, Topps had that still going for them, but there was a lot of anticipation for the new "other than Topps" cards. I remember seeing ads for the new sets by Donruss and Fleer. I think their prices were similar to Topps but slightly less. You could buy an entire (hand collated) set for around $25. Collectors were excited about the "new" cards before they came out. 

What happened? Both Donruss and Fleer issued lackluster and "soulless" cards. Poor print quality and mass production were rampant. Topps was GUILTY of this as well.  Other companies soon joined, trying to cash in on the frenzy. And thus began the "junk" era of baseball cards. We won't get into much detail on those cards. Most of the card companies from that time are no longer around (good). However, I just might show some examples of cards from that era to show god-awful they really were. 

Coming Soon - "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" - Modern 1980's Baseball Issues (Donruss, Fleer, Topps, Upper Deck)

Questions? Comments? Email me at nowbatting19@yahoo.com Thank you for visiting!