These are bizarre words for me to write but this year marks 50 years since I first held baseball cards in my hand.
Those cards were 1974 Topps baseball cards. Had Heritage not been so scared to begin with Topps' first real baseball set when it kicked off the brand in 2001, we'd be celebrating my 50 years with the '74 design in Heritage. Full circle! But Heritage has been out of kilter ever since and I need to take a time-out every time I try to figure out which set Heritage will be replicating in the 2030s when it should take milliseconds.
Heritage did the '74 thing last year and the design means so much to me that I completed the whole thing despite last year ending in a "3". It's such a classic set that I started with 50 years ago -- even though I chucked those cards at the end of the summer.
I used the Eddie Leon card as a post-topper once before, quite awhile ago (I like that post, most of what I wrote in there still applies). It's one of those cards that takes me back to my life in 1974 instantly. It's a good card to remember starting a new hobby 50 years ago -- although 1975 was really when I really acted like it was a hobby.
With the Leon card in mind, I thought I'd do the latest Joy of a Team Set edition on the '74 Topps White Sox to recognize the anniversary. There aren't a lot of White Sox fans around here. Two of the main White Sox bloggers left blogging quite awhile ago. I used to have a White Sox fan comment on my blog all the time a couple years ago but he vanished, too. I guess that's understandable. The White Sox are pretty terrible now.
They weren't good in '74 either, but at least at 80-80 they figured out what it was like to not play below .500 since 1967. It wouldn't be until 1977 and the Southside Hitmen that fans really got excited and the White Sox hit my consciousness outside of their baseball cards.
But that's getting ahead of the '74 team. Or for this exercise, the '73 team on 1974 cards.
It's time for Joy of a Team set:
Maybe not much as a team at the time but a whole lot of potential. You've got future managers, future broadcasters, future postseason villains, a future parent of future big-league players and a future fat tub of goo.
Team's claim to fame: Well, I just mentioned the 80-80 record, so there wasn't a lot. Wilbur Wood led the American League in victories with 24, which was of note because he knuckle-balled his way to the title. But Dick Allen played in just 72 games after his MVP year in 1972.
Favorite element on the back: We're still in peak cartoon era here so there is a decent amount to choose from, I like this one best.
Players I've talked to: None, although Goose Gossage came through town a number of years ago for something or other. Someone else talked to him, I was probably editing away in the office.
Speaking of which ...
Strangest photo: I kind of like it but that's quite a bit of dead space there.
Card in need of an upgrade: One of the reasons I do this exercise. Here it's Wilbur Wood, with the dent in the upper corner.
Famous error card: All the error cards in '74 Topps have to do with the Padres, rookie prospects or Jesus Alou. No White Sox.
Card you're thinking is in my top five for the set: It's the Bucky Dent rookie card. Did it make it?
Favorite card runners-up: 5. Bill Sharp; 4. Carlos May; 3. Bart Johnson; 2. Dick Allen ...
And my favorite 1974 White Sox card?
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EDDIE LEON, OF COURSE!
Sorry, Bucky. Shouldn't have hit that home run.
Not that it would've mattered. You can't compete with childhood memories.
As more evidence, the 2023 Heritage White Sox:
Not quite the same (the White Sox need to break out the '70s red once in a while).
Comments
That team was a mix of some really good players (Allen, Bahnsen, Gossage, Forster tub of goo, Wood, Kaat, Orta, C. May, etc.) Along with some roster fillers plus a few guys late in their career. Melton was never the same as before his back injury. Santo was nearing the end. Two HOF. three if Allen ever makes it in.
I'm working on the care package for you and will look to see if I have a nicer Wood. Any other upgrades needed, you have my email.
I see the Heritage set as a bunch of guys from other teams and Tim Anderson....but my knowledge is a bit stale.
'74 was my first batch of cards ever as well. I chuckle a little when I hear all these guys talk about '87 being theirs - or somewhere in the 90's....
@GCA ~ The cards in this post are in order by card number. But in my Dodgers team binders, I put the team card first and then the players follow alphabetically. ... I feel sad for collectors who started in '87 or the '90s, because they missed a ton of good stuff, but I'm sure they don't feel that way.
One of them, unfortunately, was quite unnerving: a few years later, pitcher Wilbur Wood was struck in the kneecap by come backer. It was so painful to watch and I can’t get that image out of my mind, even today.