1969 Milton Bradley # 24 Johnny Bench (Reds)

Topps continued to increase the size of their sets growing the 1971 set to 752 cards. The set was again issued in series with the semi-hi's (#524 to #643) are scarcer with the scarcest being the the huge number of high #s (#644 to #752). Making this set even more challenging was the fact that tons of the High #'s were SHORT PRINTED !!!

ROOKIES included Hall-of-Famer Bert Blyleven Steve Garvey, Dave Concepcion, Bobby Valentine, George Foster, Dusty Baker...

1951 was Bowman's largest set to date, both in the card size and number of cards. Thanks to the several major rookies, led by Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays, the 1951 Bowman set is by far Bowman's most valuable.

Bowman again used hand-painted color reproductions of actual photographs. The 1951 Bowman card fronts were very similar to the 1950 set, with several players 1951 Bowman cards look like larger versions of their 1950 card.

Cards #243-#324 are scarce high numbers. The rookie cards of Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays are in this series making them very difficult to obtain.

TOP ROOKIES: Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Whitey Ford, Monte Irvin, Nellie Fox, Joe Garagiola, Jackie Jensen, Jim Piersall ...
TOP STARS: Ted Williams, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Pee Wee Reese, Bob Feller, Warren Spahn, Duke Snider, Richie Ashburn & MORE !!!

One of the more interesting items in Topps 1970's baseball was the almost certain move of the Padres to Washington. Topps was so sure that they started printing the Padres cards identifying them as WASHINGTON NATIONALS. McDonald's founder Ray Kroc saved the Padres for San Diego where they are now thriving.

Topps had to chang all the Padres' lower series cards, creating many variations. The 'Wshington Nationals' variations are fairly scarce and now more in demand with a new team in Washington.

TOP ROOKIEs were Padres great Dave Winfield and Ken Griffey Jr's dad Ken Griffey Sr.