1974 Topps Baseball Cards

By Patrick Mondout

Topps once again left most collectors disappointed with an uninspired set a pair of test issues that were difficult to find.

1974 Cards at a Glance Kellogg's fifth annual set returned to 3D graphics. Read more about these cards and view a checklist here.  Our coverage of the 1974 O-Pee-Chee baseball cards is here. There were no less than eleven minor league sets produced in 1974 - more than doubling the 1973 total. Caruso led the way with PCL sets for the Albuquerque Dukes, Hawaii Islanders, Sacramento Solons, Salt Lake City Angels, Spokane Indians, and Tacoma Twins. TCMA produced both the Gastonia Rangers and Cedar Rapids Astros while the Syracuse Chiefs and Albuquerque Dukes produced their own sets. Falstaff Beer sponsored a set for the Omaha Royals. Our coverage of Topps 1974 baseball set of 660 cards is here and a complete checklist is here. The first ever set of 44 Topps Traded cards were produced in 1974. They hobby has collectively decided that they are not part of '74 Topps set, but they were sent out with in high quantities with the last round of wax and cello boxes and the card numbers are the same as in the main set but with an added 'T' at the end. They are not particularly valuable but a '74 Topps set doesn't feel complete to me without them. A checklist is here.  Officially known as the Topps Baseball Photos, the '74 "Deckle Edge" cards are a very rare test issue that was apparently only sold in Massachusetts. We have a checklist here. Another hard to find test issue, the 240 1"x1.5" unnumbered Topps Stamps were issued in strips of 12. Each 5¢ wax pack contained one such strip and one of 24 team booklets to put the stamps in. Topps once again produced a series of 24 team checklist cards that were inserted in wax packs in '74. It was also possible to mail in for an uncut sheet of these. Either way these are hard to find. They are not officially part of the '74 Topps set, but they make a nice companion.

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