The 1975 Topps countdown, worst to best (No. 560-541)

 

I've gone on quite a bit about 2023 Heritage on here. There are lots of reasons why it excites me and has been, so far, the product of the year for me.

One side benefit is that upon watching a couple of box breaks of Heritage, I've seen the stamped buybacks pulled and that's reminded me that there will be some of those in 2024 Heritage and an opportunity to add to my 1975 Topps buyback collection!

I've recently pinned down a few '75 buybacks that I need to add. The problem is that a couple are a bit pricey and I am debating whether I want to pay that. But there will come a time when I have to get spendy to get certain cards, so maybe that time is here.

But before that, the time has arrived for another segment of the 1975 Topps worst to best countdown!

We're still running through some pretty standard (i.e. not exciting cards) and will be doing so for a few more sessions. So don't get too sleepy on me. It still takes time to rank these, scan them and count them down no matter how dull!

Let's go:

 

560. Pirates team (card 304)

The Pirates jerseys seem to fade into the seats in the background, they just don't stand out like the jerseys Pittsburgh would soon wear and make famous.

559. Balor Moore (card 592)

This is easily Balor Moore's least interesting Topps card, which seems a shame considering it's 1975 Topps.

558. Dick Bosman (card 354)

I remember pulling the mini card of Dick Bosman in '75. He looked like an angry dad to me. I didn't like angry dads.

557. Dave Roberts (card 301)

The second Dave Roberts card in the countdown and the more interesting one. So he's got that going for him.

556. Bill Butler (card 549)

When Billy Butler was a portly slugger for the Royals about 10 years ago I would mention there was a previous Bill Butler in the majors. Of course nobody remembered that. Maybe because of cards like this.

 

555. Rich Coggins (card 167)

Rich Coggins is getting extra points because of his smile, one of the largest in the set.

554. Marty Perez (card 499)

Marty Perez bounced around from one bad team to another in the '70s, but he did have the good sense to pose here in front of a spring training crowd.

553. Lew Krausse (card 603)

Look at those sideburns. Lew Krausse was 31 when this photo was taken. 31! He looks like he's 48 ... and just spent all day in the sun on a tractor in the corn field.

552. Dave LaRoche (card 258)

Obvious long hair was a thing in '75 Topps, probably the first set that really showed players growing their hair longer. LaRoche, though, needs at least a mustache, too, something he'd figure out on later cards.

551. Al Fitzmorris (card 24)

I really liked Fitzmorris' 1976 Topps card as a kid, which is why this one was a disappointment to me.

 

550. Royals team (card 72)

You really need the privilege of seeing these team cards magnified and on a backlit screen. In hand, this is fairly muddled and the guy in the back not facing the camera (is that Amos Otis?) is completely missed.

 

 

549. Bill Bonham (card 85)

 

This exercise is making me want to upgrade some cards. This one might be the most "worn" of the cards in my set. Things I notice when the card isn't that interesting.

 

 

548. Jim Fuller (card 594)

 

I don't know a lot about Jim Fuller other than he was very good minor league player. But that is a major league mustache.

 

 

547. Jim Todd (card 519)

I appreciate the classic, old-school wind-up pose but not a lot else to go on, and this card was not one of my favorites as a kid.

546. Cliff Johnson (card 143)

The color border matches Cliff Johnson's uniform, which I do give bonus points for.

545. Mike Cuellar (card 410)

I've always liked this profile shot but Cuellar's name is spelled wrong. Also it's not the first time that Topps misspelled his name on his card. They did it in 1959, too. Not good.

544. Lee Richard (card 653)

More spelling errors. Topps added an "s" on to his name on the front. But this card amused my brother and I as kids because of the one-line bio on the back that says: "Bee Bee" has great speed.

543. Steve Busby (card 120)

More errors! This is a big one as that photo is not Steve Busby but teammate Fran Healy. This is a big goof because Busby was throwing no-hitters left and right at the time, you'd think they'd have the player sized up. Maybe if Topps picked a better photo.

542. Rookie Pitchers (card 615)

Dennis Leonard was a solid pitcher in the late '70s and one of my favorites, but not a lot of people remember him anymore. I also remember Tom Underwood and Pat Darcy, but the masses would think this doesn't have much star power.

541. Bruce Bochte (card 392)

Not a bad card and Bruce Bochte adds the touch of signing his name with no capital letters, but I didn't like this card as a kid. That's a difficult thing to let go even after all these years.

And now another ranking is done. We still haven't gone through even 20 percent of the cards in the set yet!

But it sure does feel good to get this set ranked.