1974 TOPPS FACTORY SET
Regular readers of this site will be forgiven if they’ve developed an impression that Card of the Week is obsessed with boxes. Alas, it is true, and for this we make no apologies…
The specimen under consideration today is a bit of an oddball.
Through 1973, Topps issued baseball cards in series, with a fresh run of cards hitting retailers’ shelves every month or so throughout the summer. However, starting in 1974 Topps made the business decision to issue the entire 660-card series all at once.
This was a sea change for the kids of 1974, who now had the opportunity to receive the full range of available players when they opened their wax, cello, and rack packs.
As a further innovation that year, Topps partnered with Sears to offer a factory set of the entire run of cards, including the ancillary 44-card traded set. (Some hobby literature identifies the source of these sets as J.C. Penney, but you can bet your Toughskins that it was in fact Sears.)
It’s safe to say that this product underperformed, because Topps did not release another factory set until 1982, when competitive pressure from Donruss and Fleer forced their hand.
Another byproduct of those underwhelming sales is that the sets are now quite hard to find, and collectors will pay a premium well above book price for a 1974 factory set in nice condition.
The overall design of the box itself parallels that year’s wax-box layout, with the dominant motif being a patchwork quilt of cards from the set. In terms of Mets content, the sides of the box feature a Harry Parker card intersected by the first three letters in the word “baseball,” and a Cleon Jones card overset partially by a Nolan Ryan card.
One box end is made to slide out, and contains a round logo reading “official 1974 complete set”; the opposite end of the box pictures the bottom half of a Harry Parker, a corner third of a Cleon Jones, two thirds of a Felix Millan, and just about half of a John Milner. That equals two whole Mets right there, so completists should polish up their auction paddles and get to bidding for a box of their own…
1974 was the first year I purchased a complete set from a dealer. It’s funny to me that this is the first time there was ever a factory set. Obviously, I didn’t get a factory set. I think I get the ’74 set from Bruce Yeko. Or it might have been Stan Martucci. Do you know either of those names?
I remember Yeko (and probably bought from him as a kid), but not Martucci. I recall buying cards from Larry Fritsch pretty frequently in those days, as well visiting a lot of the nascent card shows in Holiday Inns and basements.
When I complete my time machine, I will go back to one of those shows with $1,000 in my pocket…
Yeko was based out of Connecticut and had just a huge inventory. Martucci was from Staten Island. I know I purchased a set from him because he drove to my house and delivered it in person. I think that was later than ’74, though.
Fritsch is from Wisconsin and might even still be in the business. Another guy with a massive inventory but I always found his prices to be higher than others.
First show I went to was in Manhattan and it was the winter of ’73-’74. My brother and I purchased all of the Hank Aaron cards we could get. Still have the ’54 Topps we picked up that day.
Stuff can do two things?