What year would you consider to be the last of the Topps baseball "vintage" sets: '69? '71

summerof68 · December 15, 2008 11:40AM

As a kid I opened my first pak of Topps baseball cards back in '68 so my love for cards is naturally drawn to that era. I often ponder which Topps baseball set should be considered the last year of the "vintage" sets. Like many people the '69 set immediately comes to mind for three reasons: It contained the last regular issue Mantle card; it was the last year of a great decade in baseball and lastly it was the last year of the "nickel" pak. Then '73 comes to mind for two reasons as well: it was the last year cards were issued by "series" bringing an end to a fine tradition going back to '52. Additionally '73 contained the last regular issue cards of Mays and Clemente. I also must give consideration to that beautiful, black-bordered '71 set. It was the last year containing the great Ernie Banks and what is a vintage set without Banks? If forced to choose just one year in particular I most likely would exclude the '73 set as it is the first year of the relatively "cheaper" sets booking for $700 and the cards just don't have that "classic" vintage look or feel to me. The '72 set, popular also with many collectors, is just a little too "funky" looking for my personal tastes and the pictures of Mays and Aaron depict two of baseball's all-time greats who look old way beyond their prime. It's hard to ignore the beauty of the '71 set and it contains Mays, Clemente and Banks--not to mention it is one of the toughest sets of all time to compile in high-grade. All four of the above mentioned sets indeed have their merits and are great sets in their own right; but in the end I guess my loyalty will fall with the '69 set--you got to have Mantle right? But if someone was to twist my ear (just a little) I could also be comfortable with the '71 as being the last "true" Topps vintage set. I'd love to hear other fellow collectors thoughts as to what they think is Topp's last "vintage" baseball set.

TJMAC · December 15, 2008 12:29PM

To me, the last vintage set was 1976. Maybe it was because I primarily collected in the early 80's and it seemed like the 1976 was the last of the expensive sets at least to me at the time. Also, the pre 1976 sets had a different feel to them and it did not seem like there were a lot of those cards around.

fattymacs · December 15, 2008 12:32PM

73, when they quit selling in series. JMO

I love the 77's, the first year I bought and kept.

PSASAP · December 15, 2008 12:33PM

I would say 1973 was the last year of vintage sets, for the simple fact that it was the last year the cards were released in series. By 1974, all series cards were mixed together, making set building much less challenging.

Estil · December 15, 2008 12:37PM

<< <i>I would say 1973 was the last year of vintage sets, for the simple fact that it was the last year the cards were released in series. By 1974, all series cards were mixed together, making set building much less challenging. >>

Not to mention 1974 was the first year they tried factory sets. I'd have to agree here that 1973 is the best cutoff year.

schr1st · December 15, 2008 1:36PM

For a long time I went with 1973, but now I go with 1980, since 1981 began the traded set and direct competition from Fleer and Donruss.

VitoCo1972 · December 15, 2008 1:42PM

I would have to agree with 1976 above - simply because if you're buying wax, there is a noticeable gap in price between 76's and 77's on up

TravelingWilbury · December 15, 2008 2:02PM

1973. in 74 they made a factory set.. the horror!

and I really dont understand the bloated prices for 1976 topps. crap set for Rookies!

perhaps we can make an exception for the 75' topps set as it is truly a classic.

diamondman · December 15, 2008 2:32PM

some people will argue that 1956 was the last because of the size of the cards.
some people will argue that 1966 was the last great vintage year, and over production began in 1967.
myself I have always thought that 1973 was it because of the last year for series and also had the Mike Schmidt RC and other HOF'ers.
I have also considered 1975 Topps (what a great set with RC's and other HOF'ers).

I guess in ending I will stick with 1973 set (which I think is ugly) but to each his own, of the 70's I will stick with 1971 & 1972 (both great sets). JMHO

Blackborder · December 15, 2008 2:34PM

70. 71 was the first use of actual color game photos.

Same for football.

RonBurgundy · December 15, 2008 2:37PM

Diamondman is pretty close here. I think it goes by degrees:

Pre 57 (large cards)

57-67 (classic vintage era)

68-73 (overproduction slowly ramps up)

74-80 (Topps monopoly overproduces produces some bad stuff, no more cards in series, etc. 75 excepted)

So what I think you see, especially post 67, is that each year is a little less vintage than the year before.

Ron

lsutigers1973 · December 15, 2008 2:55PM

1973 sounds good. Notice my user name.

Griffins · December 15, 2008 3:07PM

to me the last vintage set was '41 Playball. But if you're trying to draw a line in the Topps issues I'd probably say '56, since that was the last year of oversized cards. The next one would be '73, last of the sets issued in series (although there were all series packs as well).

jimrad · December 15, 2008 5:43PM

1967

jswieton · December 15, 2008 8:02PM

78 or 75 and maybe 88

rbdjr1 · December 15, 2008 8:33PM

1979

rd

P.S. Fiscally speaking. Otherwise I can can say 1976

billwaltonsbeard · December 15, 2008 11:37PM

1988. Forget the fact that it's extremely valuable. Just for the pure collectibility and bountiful RCs.

estang · December 16, 2008 1:21AM

1980

sfmays24 · December 16, 2008 1:34AM

20 years ago it was 1973 Topps for sure... then it became pre-76, but I think the last year of Topps Monopoly is the cut-off (1980) now.

Mike

Morgoth · December 16, 2008 1:48AM

1972 just because besides 75 every other year was really down in set design. 1973s are a horrific set.

summerof68 · December 16, 2008 1:49AM

Thanks thus far for the many well thought out responses to my original thread. Another angle which has not been mentioned would be the Brooklyn Dodger move to L.A. Alot of hard-core collectors feel the 1957 set was the end of an era as it was the last set that contained the Brooklyn Dodgers and therefore many collectors feel the '57 Topps set is the last (true) vintage set.

WinPitcher · December 16, 2008 2:23AM

1991 could also be thought of as it was the last year that they came out in true wax form.

Steve

smtjoy · December 16, 2008 3:04AM

1973

69Cubs · December 16, 2008 3:23AM

I always wondered if there's a correct answer to that question. For some reason the 1971 set always comes to mind for the last vintage set.
1971 would be the last Topps set difficulty wise to collect in Near Mint or better condition and is more valuable than any 70's set and a couple of the 60's sets(68+69).

I'm sure if you go to the Net54 board they would consider anything pre-war to be vintage.

Mike

53BKid · December 17, 2008 5:36AM

The serial release through '73 certainly makes for a good argument. Generally high series and some mid series are really tough. However that's not the only consideration on what most long-time collectors consider vintage though.

The quality of card stock definitely left a lot to be desired in '73 and '74, but '58's were just as bad, so I don't put much into that argument personally.

My own cut-off on what I consider "vintage is '76. Though kind of funky, the designs in '75 and '76 were at least imaginitive and colorful.

During '77 through '80, the sizes of the releases ramped up substantially while the print quality declined even further. Increasingly the issues also became more and more non-descript, and in my mind boring, though many collectors consider pre-'80 as vintage.

After Donruss/Fleer broke through Topps monopoly and began releasing their sets in '81 , it was seen as a new era in collecting. Up until then, regardless of what era you grew up in, every 11 year old collector in the country knew what the key star cards looked like--whether it was say a '58 Mantle, 65 Mays, a '70 Seaver looked like. Many still can recall those shots, and even can recall what a '58 Don Mossi or '51 Bowman #195 Paul Richards look like. That era is long-gone unfortunately.

bobsbbcards · December 17, 2008 6:01AM

1969. Just because.

summerof68 · December 17, 2008 10:46AM

Just a final thank you for all the well thought out replies. It seems that 1973 garnered the most votes as being the last vintage topps baseball set due to it being the last year they released cards by the series.

fkw · December 17, 2008 11:13AM

All depends on who you are asking. To me NO Topps set is considered vintage, they are all modern. Modern is PostWar to some.

IMO There are 3 important cutoffs though...

1957 - The 1st year Topps made cards in the modern card size of 2.5" by 3.5".

1973 - the last year cards were issued in series.

ca.1981? - last year Topps made a "True Baseball Card" in the definition of the ACC and Jefferson Burdick (Collector cards are always issued FREE with a product or service of some kind, ie. Gum).

Post 1981 - All sets beyond this are considered "Collector Issues", cards issued as sets/partial sets without a product or service. Low future value.

WinPitcher · December 17, 2008 11:29AM

If you mean because Topps issued factory sets in 1982 they also sold factory sets in 1974.

Gum was still in wax and cellos as late as 1991.

Steve

What year would you consider to be the last of the Topps baseball &quot;vintage&quot; sets: '69? '71

Comments

What year would you consider to be the last of the Topps baseball "vintage" sets: '69? '71