Joy of a subset: What are these old guys doing in my set?

 

Here we are, three days into the new year and I've forgotten again the series that I last posted three days into last year.

 

Maybe this series wasn't meant to be. I've forgotten it twice now and it's been so buried in my subconscious that when I'm desperately searching for "which blog series can I update that I didn't just do?" it never occurred to me to do the one I haven't done for a year!

 

But I guess that's what early January is for, taking stock of past blog posts.

 

For those who don't remember (like me), the Joy of a Subset series is my attempt to review the traditional subsets of my youth, mostly from Topps, which put together all kinds of subsets in the '70s and '80s, stuff like record breakers and highlights and league leaders, etc.

 

I've already reviewed the 1975 Highlights set and the 1976 league leaders set. Today I'm staying with 1976 and looking at a set that I should have reviewed in my second Joy of a Subset, because at the end of the first one, I said I would! Good job, brain.

 

This subset covered "a bunch of old dudes," which I imagine was my thought when I saw the All-Time All-Stars in 1976 Topps. I don't specifically recall thinking anything about them that year but I'm sure I thought they were unusual. There was nothing like it in 1975, my first year of collecting.

 

In fact, Topps didn't include "long ago" players in their sets often to that point. In 1962, it recognized Babe Ruth with a series, but other subsets about "the past" acknowledged moments rather than players. What Topps was doing in 1976 was more like what Fleer was doing in the early 1960s!

 

 

Here is the full subset, laid out like we used to do as kids in a diamond format with every card in the right position (sorry, Lefty, there was only one spot for the pitcher).

This subset seems like it came entirely out of the blue, but if you think a little about what was happening at the time, it makes sense. The Sporting News had selected an all-time team in recognition of the 100th anniversary of major league baseball, which was definitely something MLB was commemorating in 1976. (EDIT: The team shown appears to be the 1969 100th anniversary team, with Williams inserted for DiMaggio because of rights issues. Why was Topps featuring it seven years later?).

Topps doesn't make reference to the anniversary anywhere on the subset cards, it simply plops them in the middle of the set at card numbers 341-350.

I am also assuming the subset that Topps made in 1973, which created cards for each of the all-time leaders in various categories, was popular, prompting it to unearth more photos of "old guys" three years later. (I will be reviewing that 1973 set in the series ... if I don't forget).

 

I no longer remember which of the subset cards I pulled out of packs or saw in 1976. It was probably around 4 or 5 of them. I simply couldn't appreciate at the time having my first cards of Honus Wagner or Pie Traynor and how unusual it was. They were just players in black-and-white.

 

When I completed this set 14 years ago, finishing a task that began 34 years prior, I was a little bit surprised by how difficult it was to track down some of the cards in the subset. Babe Ruth was one of the last cards I needed to finish the whole set. That sounds perfectly logical now, but back then I was operating under my old childhood perceptions that these black-and-white guys hadn't played in a long time. They weren't "current" so why would they be more elusive than Yaz or Rose or that great Bobby Bonds card?

Ted Williams was another toughie. You can tell that the copy I own is a little beat up and needs an upgrade. I remember seeing this card in 1976, it's a bit unusual next to the other cards in the set because all the other ones are full-body shots.

 

 

Looking back at it now, the subset really stands out among all the cards of current players in the '76 set. But at 10 cards you can't store it neatly by itself in a binder.

 

Lefty Grove got let out again.

Another one of my favorite parts of the set are the card backs, which I'm sure I noticed back then.

 

Turning over the back of a card of someone like Ron Fairly was a thrill as a kid. Look at all those years!!! So it was a hoot to see career logs like this. As for the Hall of Fame mention, I'm not sure I made the connection. I had visited the Hall of Fame the previous year, but kids are scatter-brained.

This subset is close to celebrating its 50th anniversary and I'm looking forward to seeing how Heritage will treat it this year as it will be paying tribute to the 1976 set.

 

Topps has used the design since, most notably in 2017 as part of an online-exclusive "In-Season Call-Ups" set.

 

Some obvious differences. The look on Corey Seager's face says he doesn't approve.

Hopefully the Heritage subset will be closer to the original. Will it feature the same players with maybe different photos? Will it create its own all-time team? (You know, if Heritage started with the 1951 set instead of 1952, the '76 tribute would be coming out in 2026, which is the 150th anniversary of MLB and maybe a new All-Time Team would be created, which would have fit neatly into the Heritage set).

And while we're on the topic of 1976, subsets and Heritage, the real question is will there be a Bubblegum Blowing Champion card in Heritage this year? Yes, a single card can be a subset.

See you on the next edition of Joy of a Subset. I hope that's before January 2026.