This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/10/2010
Already enduring a world-wide oil crisis that saw gasoline prices climb to over 55 cents a gallon, Americans were greeted by a wild roller-coaster ride called 1974. 1974 was filled with highs and lows; Stephen King penned his first novel, “Carrie”, under his own name, President Richard Nixon announced his resignation in the wake of the Watergate scandal, and Muhammad Ali, in a stunning upset, knocked out George Foreman to regain the Heavyweight Championship that he was stripped of seven years past, in what became known as “The Rumble in the Jungle.” And in the baseball card world, the 1974 Topps baseball set was issued. Unlike all previous Topps issues, the ’74 Topps set was released in its entirety at the beginning of the year, rather than in series throughout the baseball season. The set is famous for the "Washington" variation cards. At the time of printing, it was unclear whether the San Diego Padres were relocating to the nation’s capital, so Topps released many of the San Diego players' cards with “Washington, Nat’l League” as the team name, only to stop production when the decision was made to keep the Padres in San Diego. These cards are generally not considered part of the complete set, but an addition to forming a master set. Specialty cards include a Hank Aaron tribute, All-Stars and statistical leaders and multi-player rookie cards. Key to the '74 set is the rookie card of Hall of Famer Dave Winfield. Offered is one of the finest 1974 Topps sets ever assembled, ranked #7 on the PSA Set Registry with a weighted GPA of 8.80. In all, 25 cards have been graded PSA 10 GEM MINT, including three pop 2’s, one pop 4, and four pop 5’s. Almost 75% of the set (491 out of 660) has been graded PSA 9 MINT; key PSA 9 cards include: #1 Aaron, 20 Ryan, 40 Palmer, 50 Carew, 55 F. Robinson, 60 Brock, 61 Aparicio, 80 Seaver, 95 Carlton, 100 Stargell, 160 b. Robinson, 207 Strikeout Leaders Ryan and Seaver, 230 Perez, 250 McCovey, 252 Parker RC, 280 Yastrzemski, 283 Schmidt, 300 Rose, 330 Marichal, 340 Munson, 350 Gibson, 400 Killebrew, 456 Winfield RC, 542 Gossage, and 598 Rookie Oufielders Griffey. The remaining 144 cards are all PSA 8 NM/MT. A complete list of each card and grade can be found on the PSA Set Registry, under the heading “Mile High Card Co.'s 1974 Topps - Basic Set.”