Mets Card of the Week: 1972 Tom Seaver

1972 METS FANTASY CARD TOM SEAVER

There are few things in the world that make me happier than Topps baseball cards from the 1960s and 1970s. They don’t try to be anything more than what they actually are. The simple is what makes them great.

A fantasy of mine is to go back in time to open a pack of these cards once more. But no matter how much we sometimes wish, it’ll never be 1972 again. Another fantasy of some is to go back and fix these cards to how they could or should have been. And with technology, we can actually do that. There are no shortage of people online who create their own vintage cards, using the iconic set designs but updating the photos.

One of the best at doing that is friend of Mets360 Warren Zvon, who created the image you see here at his wonderful site, metsfantasycards.blogspot.com. If you like cards, don’t go to that site unless you’ve got a couple of hours to spare because it’s terrific.

In this featured card, Warren corrected one of the flaws that always bothered me most – using different colors on the cards. It was one thing when the lettering was all different, like in the 1970 cards. But why was the Mets color purple in ’66, ’68 and ’69? Why was it green in ’65? Why was it pink in ’67? And why was it red in ’72?

Now, this wasn’t done to just the Mets. It’s next to impossible to shake the hot pink of those ’72 Cubs cards. Yet when Topps recycled photos they were just being lazy, when they airbrushed cards, they were doing the best that they could with the technology of the time. But intentionally using colors that had nothing to do with the team? That was just … odd.

Considering their New York ties, Topps shafted Tom Seaver in his early cards. His poses in ’68 thru ’72 were bland. The first interesting one was in his In Action shot in ’72 and that one looked like a reaction to giving up a key base hit. Would it have killed them to give him a triumphant pose somewhere along the way?

I’m not sure that this rises to the level of triumphant, either, but it is very easily a card that could have been. It didn’t break any of the borders, it utilized a familiar baseball card pose and had a believable for the period backdrop. And I think the blue and orange is a vast improvement over the red and yellow that Topps did use at the time.

Topps is all about cashing in on the nostalgia and each year it recreates one of its classic sets. I’m curious if they’ll go a step further and hook up with someone like Warren and do a reprint-type set where they keep the design but change the pictures and colors and give a 21st Century update while keeping the heart of the specific year’s design intact. What makes the ’72 set great isn’t the red and yellow Mets cards. It’s the 3D lettering and the stars and the odd shape of the photographs.

I haven’t bought a pack of cards in years. But if Topps announced they were collaborating with Warren on an updated ’72 (or any set from the 60s or 70s), man I would buy all that I could. The joy opening up a pack of those cards would bring me would be worth every penny, even if they didn’t cost 10 cents anymore.

OK, Warren – make it happen!