The 1975 Topps countdown, worst to best (No. 300-281)

 

January for me is a slow card time. I'm recuperating from Christmas purchasing. I'm also gearing up for the first new cards of the season.

This is why I'm mad at Stadium Club this year. Releasing a set from last year in the middle of a designated austerity period is not cool. I don't know how anybody has the cash to buy SC and go for flagship in a couple of weeks. Also, every time I see outdated photos from 2023 SC on my screen (Mets Verlander for example), I wonder what the fuss is.

Except in the early blog days when there was a big card show to attend in January, I've been content this month to enjoy the cards I already have while buying a card here and there so I don't tip-off the budget.

Here is one of those here-and-there cards:

Don Money is the 480th buyback in my 1975 Topps buyback quest. This is a card that I stared at on COMC for years. It was a different buyback, of course, and it went for around $12-13, which I am not paying unless it's a superstar. It's probably still there, but it don't matter because I GOT IT FOR CHEAPER.

A couple of days after the Money card (heh) arrived I spotted another '75 buyback need, which should be here any day. So that's still clicking along slowly and it's an ideal introduction to the latest episode of the '75 countdown. Of course, these are all cards in my collection. Let's see 'em:

 

 

 

300. Bill Fahey (card 644)

Bill Fahey is demonstrating how difficult it is to catch every day, every day. All that squatting. Looks painful. I prefer my catcher photos where they're looking directly at the camera. Maybe because it hides the squatting better.

 

 

299. Jesse Jefferson (card 539)

 

Very cool signature. Jesse Jefferson seems to be putting a spell on the batter. So if the tilted background doesn't make the batter whoozy maybe Jefferson will.

 

 

 298. Dave Giusti (card 53)

Dave Giusti is featuring the spring training tribute to Roberto Clemente more closely than on any other card in the set. I'm assuming the Pirates didn't carry this into '74 spring training so this is from '73 and it took me quite awhile to realize that several of the photos in '75 Topps were two years old when they arrived in packs.

 

 

 297. Toby Harrah (card 131)

Toby Harrah does not look right without a mustache. I may have taken points off for that. 

296. Dave Johnson (card 57)

That's a look at the backswing that produced 43 home runs in 1973 for Davey Johnson. He settled down to pedestrian 15 in 1974 and Topps gave him a pedestrian card number.

 

295. Jerry Reuss (card 124)

This photo looks like it took 2 minutes to shoot. Not a ton of thought here, but I love all of Jerry Reuss' cards.

294. Woodie Fryman (card 166)

Another character as far as MLB pitchers though I totally associate him with the Expos. I like the shadow on this one.

293. Don Stanhouse (card 493)

Don Stanhouse's distinctive mustache makes this card, there are so many Oakland backgrounds in '75 Topps that they tend to blend together so I'm grateful for his hairiness.

 

292. Sparky Lyle (card 485)

Speaking of mustaches, this card represents Lyle's first card with a mustache. It would have blown my mind as a youngster if you told me that Lyle once didn't have a mustache. Just one of those guys who seemed like he was walking around in first grade with one of those things.

291. Willie McCovey (card 450)

This is the first card I ever saw of McCovey, so I first associated him with the Padres. There is not a lot going on with this card, but he is so tall that "just standing there" works for him.

290. Tom Hall (card 108)

Just a nice happy card of someone I don't know a lot about, which is unusual for the mid-1970s Cincinnati Reds.

289. Lynn McGlothen (card 272)

Another happy pitcher. It's a nice spring training theme and I like the purple-pink border combos with the Cardinals cards. It probably clashes like hell to some, but we're not done with these types of cards in the countdown.

288. Ken Henderson (card 59)

This card has "beautiful day" written all over it. In fact, I wish I was there.

287. Ed Figueroa (card 476)

I really like Figueroa's blue glove. I think if he brought it up to his face a little more it'd make a very cool photo.

286. Ed Goodson (card 322)

As we move up-and-up into the countdown, some cards may make you think "why is this rated so high?," like this one. But there are cards that I can't separate from childhood. Here, Ed Goodson travels on a train to his job as a ballplayer. What's that? You say he's in the dugout? That's not what I thought as a kid.

 

285. Willie Montanez (card 162)

One of those great "shady" action shots, if I saw this card as a youngster in '75, I'm sure it would have been one of my favorites (and rated much higher).

 

 

284. Billy Champion (card 256)

Everything about this card makes you think this player is/will be a star, from the photo angle to the name to the signature. Billy Champion's finest card (although his '72 Topps one with 400,948 bats in the background is pretty damn good).

 

283. Rico Petrocelli (card 356)

I sure do love a portrait shot of a player smiling under a batting helmet.

282. Cecil Upshaw (card 92)

Classic pitching pose from a a guy with glasses and a mustache. Upshaw was barely a Yankee in his career, spending most of it with the Braves, but this is how I met him.

 

281. Denny Doyle (card 187)

This card doesn't look quite as majestic in person as it does here. Doyle provides a classic infielder's stance with the buttes providing the backdrop at Tempe Diablo Stadium. I like his signature, too.

Some really nice-looking cards in that segment. But we still haven't gotten to that Don Money card yet, nor a bunch of others.

There's plenty of time though, just like there's plenty of time to buy some 2023 Stadium Club. Hell, Topps took its time with the thing, there's no reason why I need to rush out and get some.