Topps Football in the 1970s

1970 Topps and 1971 Topps

The 1970 set contains 263 cards, with O.J. Simpson’s rookie as a familiar landmark. The 1971 set includes Terry Bradshaw and Joe Greene rookies and uses colored borders that readily reveal wear. A decade collection should not apply one condition expectation to both designs.

1972 Topps: series matter

Roger Staubach’s rookie belongs to the 1972 set, but the final high-number series is an important separate challenge for completion. A large lot of low numbers can leave the hardest part of the checklist untouched. Sort by card number before judging how close a partial set is to finished.

1973 Topps and 1974 Topps

Franco Harris is a prominent 1973 rookie, while John Hannah and Ray Guy are familiar 1974 first-card subjects. The larger annual checklists reward organization by number and team. Separate regular player cards from leader, postseason and checklist material when assessing the completeness of a purchase.

1975 Topps: a deep rookie group

The 528-card set includes Lynn Swann, Dan Fouts, Mel Blount and Drew Pearson rookies. Joe Theismann’s card is his first NFL card, a distinction worth preserving because earlier Canadian cards exist. “First NFL card” and “first card anywhere” should not be used interchangeably.

1976 Topps and 1977 Topps

Walter Payton’s 1976 rookie and Steve Largent’s 1977 rookie provide obvious collection anchors. The 1977 set also includes leader, team-checklist, record-breaker and playoff subsets. A star-card collection can ignore those subsets; a complete-set claim cannot.

1978 Topps and 1979 Topps

Tony Dorsett’s rookie is associated with 1978 and Earl Campbell’s with 1979. Later cards of established stars can make a pleasing companion run without being rookie cards. Compare exact card numbers and years before using a headline rookie price as a reference for another card of the same player.

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