[zeprock]

My obsession with baseball cards began in 1970. My cousin had cards and my schoolmates had cards and we loved to play ball during recess and I got caught up in it too. I  spent all my money, much to my Mom's chagrin, at the local convenience store and bought enough packs to put that entire set together. That summer I got my first job delivering Grit newspapers, TV Guide and The Weekly Shopper door to door on my bicycle. I had a basket on the front, three on the back and I carried two over the shoulder bags and rode to parts of five different towns in rural Maine delivering. What a summer! One day I rode my bicycle seven miles round trip through the Maine countryside with my allowance and paper route money in my pocket to buy a full box of Topps at five cents per pack. I would sit in my bedroom for hours on end sorting by teams and shoving stick after of stick of gum into my mouth. Only we didn't have sheets and binders for storage back then. We had rubber bands. <IMG SRC="https://www.beckett.com/forums/images/smilies/blush.gif"> I still have that complete set, trading for the last card, Rico Petrocelli, with one of my fellow Cub Scouts way back in the day.

1970's design is one of my favorites. I've taken a lot of flak because it is "boring" with it's gray borders but I like the large photos and many of the player's poses plus complete stats on the backs. In 2019 the design was re-released as Topps Heritage and I saw a lot of posts on how people loved it. To date, 68 cards depict Hall of Famers not counting the team cards. Also cards of Pete Rose, a Munson rookie and the Miracle Mets. Here are nine cards from my favorite set. 1970.

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1970 Topps #189 Rookie Stars/Thurman Munson RC/Dave McDonald RC (We all know Munson's story but what about the man he shared his rookie card with? Dave McDonald spent 8 years in the minor leagues before the Yankees gave him a September call-up in '69. He was traded to the Expos the next spring and spent another year in the minors before debuting with them in 1971. His MLB totals were 62 at bats, 9 hits, one home run, 6 RBI and a lifetime batting average of .145. He went back to the minors until retiring in 1974. By the way, his 1970 rookie card books around $100!)
1970 Topps #350 Roberto Clemente
1970 Topps #500 Hank Aaron

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1970 Topps #580 Pete Rose
1970 Topps #600 Willie Mays
1970 Topps #630 Ernie Banks

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1970 Topps #660 Johnny Bench
1970 Topps #700 Frank Robinson
1970 Topps #712 Nolan Ryan