Let's Remember Some 1975 Guys

I first started buying Topps baseball cards as a young lad in 1976, but a couple of kids in my neighborhood who also bought cards had started accumulating a year earlier. Thus, even though '76 Topps was my personal entrée into the world of baseball cards, I soon found myself with quite a few 1975 Topps in my collection as well, via various trades and I'll-buy-that-for-a-nickel pickups from my Sacramento-area comrades.

One thing I've never had - until this week, that is - is a complete set of the 1975 Topps San Francisco Giants cards. The cards partially reflect a 1974 team that was pretty awful, going 72-90 and finishing a dismal 5th place in the NL West. However! 1975 would end up being a little better. They traded for the Yankees' Bobby Murcer, and he made the All-Star team. John Montefusco, who didn't get a card in this 1975 set, ended up being the NL Rookie of the Year, pitching his way to a 15-9 record with a 2.88 ERA. The Giants finished in 3rd place to tough Reds and Dodgers teams, with an 80-81 record. Not great, but they'd be worse again the next two years, just as I was coming online as a SF Giants die-hard.

The 1975 cards I got back then were the minis - smaller versions of the main cards, apparently only issued later in the season. Someone told me only in certain states as well - is that true? Like California? I'm sure I could look it up somewhere, but I'm certain one of you knows. I think the colorful design of these may be my third favorite overall design of the 1970s, after the '72 Topps and the '71 Topps. That sounds about right.

Anyway, I have been pulling together the normal-sized cards from this set - maybe one day, after I've collected everything, I'll tackle the smaller versions. Here's what some of the 1975 Giants looked like.