#660 - Hank Aaron

Card fact: Hank Aaron is airbrushed into Brewers gear after the Braves dealt him to Milwaukee on Nov. 2, 1974.

What I thought about this card then: Not much. I traded the Aaron card in order to get the '75 card of my favorite player, Ron Cey. It's just as well. The Aaron card was stolen goods as it came out of a pack that I shoplifted from a drug store.

What I think about this card now: Topps was getting collectors ready for what was in store for Aaron in 1975. Aaron had not played a game at designated hitter prior to his trade to the Brewers, but yet Topps is declaring him a designated hitter.

Other stuff: Topps book-ended the set with Hank Aaron cards at No. 1 and No. 660. It took me years to realize this. I just never figured Topps put that much thought into the set. But it's a nice tribute after Aaron's record-setting 1974 season.

The card is one of Aaron's least pleasing ones. Topps chose a photo that was easy to airbrush and it's kind of unfortunate that this is what came out the year after he broke the all-time home run record.

Aaron's also the only player in the set (discounting the MVP subset) featured with two different teams.

(EDIT: The great Hank Aaron died at age 86 on Jan. 22, 2021).

Back facts: Ernie Banks is misspelled. And an O.J. Simpson reference on the back of an Aaron card is a bit of a downer, although it was pretty impressive in 1974.

Other blog stuff: This is the final card in the set. But I'm not quite done. I need to wrap up all the categories, like I did every 100 cards. I'll devote tomorrow's post to that.

#1 - '74 Highlights, Hank Aaron

And we're off!

Card fact: For the third straight year, Hank Aaron appeared on the first card of the Topps set. Aaron would do it again in the 1976 set, and is the only player to appear on the first card four straight years for Topps.

What I thought about this card then: As a 9-year-old, I had a vague idea of who Hank Aaron was. He was only the biggest sports star of the time. And I knew he held the all-time home run mark. But that was about it. I never had this card as a kid and neither did any of my brothers. But I do remember seeing it somewhere. One of my friends must have had it.

What I think about this card now: Well, the first thing I notice is the All-Star star on a subset card. That is very odd to someone who only knew the stars to appear on cards that were framed in yellow and red. Also, Aaron was traded to the Brewers the November before the cards were issued, so Hank's not wearing the correct uni.

Other stuff: I love the "highlights" font. Diamonds for the apostrophe and dots on the "I"s! Can you dig it? And purple on an orange background? Out of sight!

Back facts: Since this is the first back shown on the blog, I'll point out the Christmas colors that dominate the '75 backs. All of the Highlight cards feature the newspaper-like design. Some of the headlines stick to traditional newspaper rules. Others, like this one, don't. In real newspaper land, if you ended the top line of a headline with an adjective, you'd get a nastygram the next day.

Also, there is a big-time flub in the copy. According to the write-up, Babe Ruth set the career home run mark in 1945 -- or, 10 years after he retired. It should have read, "39 years."

Other blog stuff: I've settled on a few things that I will showcase in this blog. There may be some other features, but, like I said, I'm doing this on the fly, so I don't know what those features are yet. This is what I do know I will be featuring:

a) Define the design, 1975 style: You know how I like to find a name for card designs. 1975 is fantastic for this, since there are more than a dozen different color combinations. I'm going to come up with a name for each of the color combinations. I welcome any suggestions, and I plan on refining the names as the blog goes along. Also, you may have noticed the banner color changed with the color of the featured card. Yeah, I plan to continue to do that.

b) 1975 originals: The main reason why I love this set is it's the first one I collected. And I still have the cards I collected as a kid. So, when I get to one of those cards I pulled as a kid, I will show the upgraded card and the beat-up card. And we can all make fun of it together.

c) The "Dude looks like a lady" count: I know that's an '80s reference, but it works for this feature. There are a bunch of long-haired dudes in this set. And, as kids, we thought they were borderline women. So, anytime I come across one of those DLLALs, I will add it to the counter. And we'll see what we have at the end!

That's all I've got for now. Hope you enjoy!