Saturday, April 17, 2010

Messing With A Classic: Topps 1975

Two days ago I made some tweaks to the 1973 set to satisfy a lefty slight.

Today, I'm getting a lot more daring. I'm going to mess with the classic colors of the 1975 set.

What's bothered me about the set is the mish-mash of colors and how some really do not match at all with the colors of the player's uniform.



In 1974, Topps used consistent, matching colors for each team. For the Cubs, the two colors were a pinkish red and a blue. These colors seemed to go with the blue and red on the Cubs uniform.



In 1976, the exact same colors were used on all of the Cubs cards.

But 1975 had no consistency at all. Now please don't get me wrong. I love the 1975 set. As Night Owl would say, "Its far out, man!" I bought a ton of cards as a 13 year old. It's just the inconsistency that bothers me.



This combination would work well with the A's, not the Cubs.



And this card would work for the Cardinals.



The orange and brown say Giants or Orioles to me, not Cubs.

So I thought I would take a stab at fixing it.

I wanted to use consistent colors on all of the Cubs cards. The colors I choose were the same ones Topps used in 1974 and 1976, the pinkish red and blue. I went with the red on top and blue on the bottom.

I've got four cards made up.









And here's a look at 1974, 1975, and 1976 all together. I really like the way they share the common colors.







So what do you think? Would this have worked better or have I desecrated a classic?

Which 1975 colors would work best for your team?

5 comments:

  1. Wow, so many topics...
    First, thanks for the Stelmaszek love!
    Second, why couldn't Topps use a redder color? Would it have been too dark?
    Third, I love the ones you made. Of course, I also love the oddness and randomness of the originals. If it happened now, would Topps produce the regular set, then a parallel set like yours, where team colors were considered/
    Lastly, Did '74 and '76 match up like that for other teams?
    Okay, I'm done. Great post.

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  2. "Lastly, Did '74 and '76 match up like that for other teams?"

    Some of the teams had the same colors in 74 and 76 (Cubs, A's), but several had one of the colors switched in 76.

    ...and I picked the Stelmaszek just for you!

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  3. It certainly does look more uniform and eye pleasing with the cosmetic changes. Nice job!

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  4. I really like it when the design colors match the team, so great job.

    But the randomness of the colors is one of the things that makes the '75 set so loveable.

    The red-blue combo works best for the Dodgers team colors. There are just two cards in the set that have that combination.

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  5. Andy Thornton? Andy? Wow, Topps.

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