I Don’t Need More Goals, But…: The 1975 “MVP” Project

I need more collecting projects like I need the proverbial hole in the head… but the idea for this one came to me and I couldn’t resist.

1975 was my second year of collecting, and I spent an awful lot of time dreaming on the “MVP” subset in 1975 Topps, a subset that was tied together by the “25 Years of Topps Baseball” theme.

I was originally introduced to vintage Topps card designs by the 1974 “Hank Aaron Special” subset…

…and I pored over these cards as well. I vowed to myself that one day I would own all of these cards… in fact, one day I would own every single Topps baseball card!!!

BWAH-HA-HA-HAAAAAAAAAA!

So let’s fast-forward 45 years. I must confess, I don’t own every single Topps baseball card, I don’t even have a complete set older than 1973… (well, other than insert and oddball sets). Given my current trajectory, I don’t see that changing.

I thought about chasing just those cards featured in this 1975 subset, but honestly, when I think of the hundreds of dollars it would involve to get just those two 1954 cards of Berra and Mays… well, there are things I can do with that money that would bring me far more joy …like completing my 1964 Topps “Giants” set.

…And there’s another obstacle in such a project: Some of these cards are ‘customs’ Topps made because there weren’t actual Topps cards of Roy Campanella in 1955 or of Maury Wills in 1962.

So here’s where my epiphany comes in.

Late last year, I came to the realization that just because I can’t have all of these MVP cards doesn’t mean I can’t have *some* of them.

A 1965 Willie Mays is probably not realistic, but a 1965 Zoilo Versalles?  Hey, I can do that.

I’ve started to keep an eye out for affordable MVP’s, and I’ve got a 1960 Dick Groat sitting at COMC waiting for me to request a shipment

So today I’m featuring the 1971 MVP’s

A couple of years ago I picked up this Joe Torre, and it seemed Oh, so very odd to look at this card in standard sized instead of the 1″ by 1.5″ version on the 1975 card.

At the show I went to in February, I picked up the other card, this iconic Vida Blue card.

Again, it’s odd to see a full-sized version of this card.

So at some point I’ll go back and share the MVP cards I already have (1973 and 1974), and any new cards I pick up (like that Groat), but this won’t be much of a recurring series… I just like the idea behind the project and wanted to share it.

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