1972 Topps

Total Cards: 787

Rating: 8.1 (193 votes)
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Top Sets: #22

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Trivia

  • In card #33, Billy Martin is extending his middle finger down the bat.
  • At 787 cards, this is Topps' largest set to date.
  • The set was released in six series.

    In later series, 24 'In Action' cards had pieces of images on their backs that, when assembled, created pictures of Joe Torre, Carl Yastrzemski, Tom Seaver, and Tony Oliva.
  • The images of Jerry Bell and Darrell Porter are transposed on card #162.
  • Seven cards toward the set's end have the word 'Traded' stamped across their fronts, making them the first-ever Topps traded cards.
  • Bob Stinson appears on a third consecutive "Rookie Stars" card, all with different teams (1970 Dodgers, 1971 Cardinals, 1972 Astros).
  • 6 different series released. The higher series are higher value and difficult to get because when they were released in late summer, there was less interest in the cards so many were destroyed.

    1972 series numbers:
    1. 1-132
    2. 133-263
    3. 264-394
    4. 395-525
    5. 526-656
    6. 657-787

User Comments

Mar 25, 2023 - 10:03AM
shutout52

This set always takes me back to 1994. I was ten years old, and my friend Sean and I used to trade cards after church. One day a member sees us and tells us that his son used to be a card collector and if we were going to be there next week he might have some for us. True to his word, Ron gave us each a bag full of 1981 Donruss cards. A few weeks later, he had some 1972 Topps cards for us: a pile of maybe 30 commons for each of us, and then a small stack of bigger names, and one Reggie Jackson. He told us to pick among ourselves who gets the star pile and who gets the Jackson. Sean and I didn't even need to debate it: he wanted the Jackson and I wanted the star pile. Thirty years later, I'm trying to get the entire set autographed. With multi-player cards that means there are 863 signatures required; I'm less than 300 short. Unfortunately with several cards of players who died within 15 years of the set's release (three Clemente, two Munson, two Don Wilson, two Danny Frisella, two Norm Cash, Danny Thompson, Danny Murtaugh, Jim McGlothlin, Bob Moose, Carl Morton, and Don McMahon), several more who just don't/didn't like signing (Mike Marshall, Steve Hovley, Gary Gentry, Rich Chiles, Stan Swanson, Terry Forster, Bob Fenwick, Doyle Alexander, and Mike Kekich), and multiple cards of big name stars (six cards of Seaver, five of Stargell, four Aaron, three Reggie, two Mays, and a Ted Williams), I know I'll never complete it. But it's fun to work on.

Feb 1, 2023 - 8:44AM
ComposerMike

As a complete set, this was a challenge to build. 1972 was the largest set Topps had released to date. The high series was tough finding in higher grade, and most series had centering issues. That said, this set just screams '1970s'! Mixing in the seven 'traded' cards towards the run's end is a nice touch, too.

Dec 14, 2022 - 12:53PM
barebum2

It was a Saturday in April or May. It had been raining throughout the morning, squashing any chance of card hunting. In the early 1980s, that's what I did with my dad. Every garage sale or yard sale around our Alsip, Illinois neighborhood, was hunting ground for baseball cards and memorabilia. We searched hard those years, but more seasoned hunters came away with better game.

That afternoon, we went out for a drive. The rain had stopped after lunch, and my dad thought we might find a sale or two. I was happy to go, as I often was. There were no sales on our drive out, but on our way back home, I spotted a family loading up their front yard. We stopped in. Lots of useful stuff I suppose, but nothing that caught this 14 year old's eye....except a large cardboard box the size of a milk crate. Inside? The colorful splash of thousands of 1972 Topps baseball cards, with a disproportional amount of high numbers (I didn't know that at the time). My dad paid for it, I think it was $10. Boy was I excited on the drive home. There was everything in multiples....Mays, Clemente, Aaron. I can't recall if I noticed then that the bottom quarter of the box was a bit damp.

I started my story with rain, so it must end with rain. That cardboard box was likely out on the lawn that morning, which became evident the deeper I searched. The high numbers, Carew, Garvey, you know.... were mostly at the bottom.

But for $10, it's a great memory that has lasted all these decades....that's a score!
If you took the time to read this...Thank You.


Edited on: Dec 14, 2022 - 2:43PM

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Posted by: ComposerMike
May 25, 2021 - 6:06PM

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