1973 Alt-Topps

Time for some more rejected Topps prototypes.  Despite the name on this one, there is no mistaking the great Yogi Berra.  Given the uniform, I decided to make this into a 1973 Alt-Topps set.  To the right is my best attempt at cleaning up this mockup card. The fonts aren't an exact match but capture the intent. The style is somewhat reminiscent of the 1972 Topps football set (albeit a more pedestrian version). It seems pretty basic especially by today's standards but still adaptable to many different uses.

In case you are wondering "Who is Len Brown?" He was a long-time Topps employee credited with writing the bios on the backs of cards among many other duties. There is a terrific article about him here.

As usual, I've made cards of the eventual MVPs and Cy Young award winners.

The AL MVP was Mr. October.  But in 1973 he had yet to live up to that name. Although the A's won the 1972 World Series, Reggie did not play.  He was injured on a double-steal.  He collided with Bill Freehan in Game 5 of the ALCS.

In The NL it was Charlie Hustle. In 1973 Rose led the league with a .338 batting average and a career high 230 hits. 

Jim Palmer won his first of 3 career Cy Young awards in 1973. He won 22 games and led the AL with a 2.40 ERA. He also came in second in MVP voting to Reggie Jackson.













Tom Seaver was also the recipient of three career Cy Young awards.  In 1973 he won his second. He won 19 games, and led the league in strikeouts, ERA, WHIP and complete games. I went with a horizontal version and this psychedelic picture from his 1972 Sports Illustrated photo shoot.

To be continued...

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Just as I've done in previous Alt-Topps posts, this post contains the base cards, I'll make a couple more posts with various subsets. And, of course, I'll make as many request as I can an hopefully post them in a few weeks. Just post your requests (or even ideas for other subsets, etc) in the comment section.  Thanks.