Monday, June 2, 2014

Completely Red: 1974 Topps

This was the second consecutive year for Topps featuring white as the main color of the set. The 1974 design is pretty basic; nothing terribly exciting or fresh. What makes it stand out is the amount of action shots. Eight of the 24 regular Reds cards in the set feature in-game photography. The Joe Morgan, Dave Concepcion, Jack Billingham, and Johnny Bench cards are particularly good lookin.

As for the team, the Reds had assembled the seeds of the best lineup of all-time. They won 98 games in '74, good enough for 2nd in the West (hey, remember when Cincinnati, Ohio was considered 'west'?). The next two years, these guys would tear it up with back-to-back championships.

Special cards include 3 All-Star cards, a leader card, a Ken Griffey RC, and an error variation: #608 Bob Apodaca (Apodaco).

STATS:

Cards - 36 (including the error)

RC's - 4 (Dan Driessen, Ken Griffey, Ed Armbrister, Dick Baney)

All Stars - 12 (Johnny Bench, Ross Grimsley, Joe Morgan, Clay Carroll, Denis Menke, Jack Billingham, Tony Perez, Gary Nolan, Pete Rose, Dave Concepcion, Ken Griffey, George Foster)

Hall of Famers - 4 (Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, Sparky Anderson)

Reds Hall of Famers - 14 (Clay Carroll, Gary Nolan, Jack Billingham, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, Sparky Anderson, Dave Concepcion, Don Gullett, George Foster, Ken Griffey, Cesar Geronimo, Pedro Borbon, Dan Driessen)

Disembodied Heads - 4

Merv Rettenmund - TRADED!!!!!!


Checklist:

 10 Johnny Bench 
 34 Andy Kosco 
 59 Ross Grimsley 
 85 Joe Morgan 
 111 Clay Carroll 
 134 Denis Menke 
 158 Jack Billingham 
 181 Cesar Geronimo 
 201 Rod Carew Twins - Pete Rose Reds LL 
 230 Tony Perez 
 248 Tom Hall 
 277 Gary Nolan 
 287 Clay Kirby 
 300 Pete Rose 
 326 Reds Coaches
 331 Carlton Fisk - Johnny Bench AS 
 333 Rod Carew - Joe Morgan AS  
 336 Bobby Murcer - Pete Rose AS

 341 Dan Driessen 
 362 Hal King 
 385 Don Gullett 
 410 Pedro Borbon 
 435 Dave Concepcion 
 459 Reds Team 
 491 Roger Nelson 
 507 Larry Stahl 
 524 Bill Plummer 
 559 Darrel Chaney 
 581 Fred Norman 
 598 Dave Augustine - Ken Griffey - Steve Ontiveros - Jim Tyrone
 601 Ed Armbrister - Rich Bladt - Brian Downing - Bake McBride
 608a Bob Apodaca - Dick Baney - John D'Acquisto - Mike Wallace
 608b Bob Apodaco - Dick Baney - John D'Acquisto - Mike Wallace
 622 Phil Gagliano 
 646 George Foster  
 585T Merv Rettenmund

Go Reds.

5 comments:

  1. Love this set. First one I ever completed as a kid. Ripped a lot of packs that year

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    Replies
    1. Man, I would have love to have torn into packs back then. I don't think the mystique of pack ripping will ever be back. It's a different monster now.

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    2. Yes it was fun. All base cards. None of this crap they push on us now.

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  2. I remember walking in Sears as a kid and seeing an endcap full of the 1974 Topps set. I begged and begged my mom to get it for me, but no I just got the cards a pack at a time. I have about half of the set. It's probably a good thing I didn't get the whole set because I probably would have destroyed them. I really wore out my cards as a child.

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    Replies
    1. Good! Cards back then were meant to be rough-housed.

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