As near as I can tell, I started building the 1972-73 Topps Basketball set in November of 2018. It has been a stop and start process. My local show only has limited vintage sellers and they rarely have vintage basketball, so progress has been slow. Glacially slow. Earlier this year, I made a decision to collect non-baseball sets, since they tend to be much more affordable. After finishing 1973 Topps football, I set my sights on 1972-73 basketball. Recently, I finally received from COMC the last cards to finish this set. It was my first COMC order in over 10 years, as the sellers there tend to overprice vintage (at least in regard to my willingness to pay.)
I have had an idea for a post on this set for a while. As I was looking over the set a few months ago, I noticed some oddities with the cartoons on the back. The cartoons are much like you would see in any of the Topps baseball sets from the 1970s. The cartoons are intended to share a factoid about the cards subject. Some are about their NBA career, but most are about their life prior to, or outside of, the NBA. I was going to do a whole post grouping those factoids together, like the players musical interests or off-season activities. However, that involved a lot of time and I procrastinated. In the mean time, Night Owl did a post along these same lines and, lets be honest here, he did a much better job than I could ever dream of. I looked for his post and for the life of me, I couldn't find it. So, Greg, drop a link in the commetns and I'll update this post with a link to it. (Not that you need me to promote it, but I would like to have it for my own reference.)
Anyways, I reset my goals just to share the weird cartoons I found that really defy explanation. So, let's start with Topps weird obsession with the players weights.
Apparently, other health related facts are considered interesting:
Of course, there were other cartoons that defy classification:
One of my base hobby beliefs is that Topps is generally hapless when it comes to putting out a high quality product. So, credit where it is due, they did display one piece of prescience in the 1972-73 basketball set.
Bil Bradley was certainly one of the most significant individuals of the late 20th century. A Princeton graduate, and a Rhodes scholar, he entered politics after his playing career was over. That isn't really quite accurate as he was politically active during his playing career, but I think you get the point. Elected in 1979, he spent 18 years serving the state of New Jersey as one of their US Senators. He made an ill-fated run for President in 2000 (and I would note was my preferred candidate) but lost the Democratic primary to the more centrist Al Gore.
So, tip of the hat to Topps.
What I am listening to: Pissed Off and Mad About It by Texas Hippie Coalition