Unopened packs Blog

1970 Topps Baseball Trivia

Written by Jeff Walters | August 2021

With a design as simple and as gray as the concrete pillars that supported the new-fangled stadiums, 1970 Topps had the misfortune of having been released in-between the elegant white-bordered 1969 set and the black-bordered 1971 Topps, with the lack of a strong rookie class.

 

Never the less it represented a new era for Topps and a decade of different designs and production changes.

1. Which card in PSA 10 condition is the highest priced card in the 1970 Topps Baseball set?

 

The highest priced PSA 10 condition card from the 1970 Topps baseball set is currently the Thurman Munson. The rookie card last sold for over $33.2 thousand and remains the highest valued and most sought after card from the set to date. Despite a POP report of over 4 thousand total graded, only 4 PSA 10 cards have ever been graded by PSA.

2. Which famous player's card was not included in the 1970 Topps Baseball Set for the first time since 1952?

 

The famous player whose card was not included in the 1970 Topps baseball set was Mickey Mantle. For the first time since the company started printing cards, a Mickey Mantle was not put into a Topps regular issue, which considering his retirement was expected but still a new sensation for long time collectors..

3. How many different types of wax pack display boxes were released by Topps in 1970?

 

Topps released 3 different types of wax pack display boxes for their 1970 baseball set.  Each of them contained a unique series and each had a different sales incentive for kids to encourage them to buy the new packs.  

4. How many inserts were included across all the 1970 Topps Baseball Wax Packs Series?

 

There were 3 inserts included in all the 1970 Topps Baseball Wax packs. These included the All Star Poster, Scratch-off Insert or a Baseball Booklet and were released into different series (i.e. series 1, series 3, etc.). 

5. How many cello packs were included in 1970 Topps Baseball Cello boxes?

 

1970 Topps cello boxes included 24 packs of 33 cards each. Prior to 1970, Topps had issued cello packs in  clear cellophane wrappers without any pricing.  Interestingly, they also occasionally used a specially printed cellophane wrapper before 1970 too.  In 1970 (as well as in 1971 and 1972)  Topps produced a cellophane pack of cards that was wrapped both in clear cellophane and again in a nicely designed little box.  

6. How much did 1970 Topps Baseball rack packs cost?

 

 

A 1970 Topps rack pack cost 39 cents. The irony of this however was that Topps was in essence giving its consumers a 28% discount when purchasing a rack pack. Let’s do some math:

  • Purchase a wax pack, 10 cards for 10 cents – you pay .01/card
  • Purchase a cello pack, 33 cards for 25 cents – you pay .0076/card (about ¾ of a penny per card)
  • Purchase a rack pack, 54 cards for 39 cents – you pay .0072/card (a little less than ¾ of a penny per card)

 

 

7. How many cards were there in a complete set of 1970 Topps Baseball cards?

 

A complete set of 1970 Topps baseball consisted of 720 cards making it the largest set ever to be produced by Topps at the time. As was custom, the set was released in seven series with Series Six (cards #547-633) and Seven (#634-720) the scarcest.  Cards of Pete Rose, Willie Mays and Ernie Banks can be found in Series Six, while Nolan Ryan and a third-year Johnny Bench were in Series Seven. 

 

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