1975 Topps – Post War Cards

The Only Topps Basketball Release to Feature the San Diego Sails

April 14, 2025 by John

The 1975 Topps basketball set was unique for two reasons. First, at the time, it was the largest basketball set ever produced (330 cards), and it was the fifth and final time Topps included ABA cards (the ABA-NBA merger would occur in 1976). In this article, I will focus on a unique situation and “subset,” in that the 1975 Topps basketball set was the only major card release to have featured the San Diego Sails basketball team.

I’m not saying that Topps ignored the San Diego Sails basketball team in its previous sets; the Sails only existed for a single year! The franchise did play three previous seasons as the Conquistadors, who were the ABA’s only expansion team. But the team was purchased in 1975, and the new owner brought in a new coach, changed the entire roster, and re-branded the team as the Sails. On the Team Leaders card for the Sails, you can see that the back of the card lists leaders for the Conquistadors.

1975 Topps #285 – San Diego Sails Team Leaders – Front

1975 Topps #285 – San Diego Sails Team Leaders – Reverse

Unfortunately, no one in San Diego seemed to care about the team, and only 3000 fans showed up to the team’s home opener. It got worse, as under 2000 fans came to their third home game, which was the last for the franchise. The owner was told the Sails weren’t a part of the ABA-NBA merger, so he shut down the team on Nov 12, 1975, with a final record of 3-8.

The NBA took four ABA franchises: the Spurs, Nuggets, Nets, and Pacers. Three other ABA teams also folded: the Spirits of St. Louis, the Kentucky Colonels, and the Virginia Squires.

However, a team did return to San Diego when the Buffalo Braves came to town and changed their name to the Clippers, keeping the nautical naming theme. But in 1984, the Clippers moved to Los Angeles, and San Diego (the Country’s 8th largest city) has been left without an NBA team since.

Now, going back to the 1975 Topps basketball set, I’ve always been a fan of it—and all 1970s basketball sets, for that matter. The cards have nice portraits and action shots, a lot of star power, and Moses Malone’s rookie card. Because the set has cards from both leagues before the merger, it features subsets from both leagues’ statistical and team leaders, along with playoff cards and team checklists.

Topps featured the Sails on 11 cards, the same number of games the team played! I’ve been sharing the Sail’s cards throughout the article, but here is the checklist and photos of the rest of the cards:

#234 – Lee Davis
#245 – Travis Grant
#256 – Dwight Lamar
#264 – George Adams
#274 – Tim Bassett (He signed with the New Jersey Nets and had Topps cards in 1977, 1978, and 1979)
#285 – Team Leaders
#296 – Warren Jabali
#305 – Caldwell Jones (He signed with the Philadelphia 76ers and had Topps cards in 1976 and 1977)
#317 – Jimmy O’Brien
#328 – San Diego Sails Team Checklist
#328 – San Diego Sails Team Checklist – Hand-Cut

1975 Topps #328 San Diego Sails Checklist

The hand-cut team checklist is a PSA pop three card that collectors acquired as part of an uncut sheet from the Topps Sports Club for $2.50 and a wrapper.

1975 Topps #328 San Diego Sails Team Checklist Hand Cut – PSA 2

1975 Topps Basketball Team Checklist Uncut Sheet

If not for Topps and the hobby, the San Diego Sails might have faded completely from memory. Thankfully, the hobby is more than just cardboard—it’s a living archive that helps preserve and celebrate forgotten chapters of sports history.

Happy collecting!

Prince of Cards – The “Best” Unopened Product You Will Ever See

January 20, 2025November 20, 2024 by John

Yesterday, I shared an ad from The Baseball Card Kid, with whom most collectors on the leading unopened FB group had fond memories. This ad from Prince of Cards didn’t precisely elicit identical memories.

The ad is a scan from the June 1996 issue of Sports Card Trader. Here are a few comments from collectors on the Facebook ‘Vintage Wax and Packs’ group after I posed this same ad on September 15th, 2024.

One collector noticed that the 1971 rack was bad since the header hole was wrong, and another group expert commented that the 1969 Aaron/Bench rack was probably bogus, too, showing just how far back people were fabricating this stuff.
Someone noticed that the 1975 mini box at $1,750 was actually higher than the price for one as recently as 2012 or so. And someone commented that they were getting them for around $400 in the early ’90s.
It’s not all bad; one collector said he bought a couple of 1986 Fleer basketball sets from Prince (in the late ’90s), and both Jordan’s graded PSA 8.
A collector remembered the huge find of sealed 61-62 Fleer basketball cases in the late 80s/early 90s.
Another collector recalled buying a 1969 cello pack from this dealer that, when opened, had two wax-stained cards in the middle (circa 1992). Another purchased some 1961 Fleer basketball packs around this time that, when opened a few years later, had 1980s Topps baseball cards in the middle.
A ton of collectors said the packs purchased from this dealer in the early ’90s were bad.

The lesson is to be informed and do as much homework as possible, especially when buying pricey items in the unopened niche.

Check out The Unopened Archive for more!

The Only Card Topps Made for a Pinch Runner: Herb Washington’s 1975 Topps “Rookie” Card

November 16, 2024 by John

In writing an article about 1975 Topps baseball, I had a lot of options: Robin Yount or George Brett’s rookie cards, the mini-cards, the colorful borders, commemorative cards, or stories about unopened products, among many other topics about this super popular 660-card set. But I’ve decided to talk about Herb Washington instead; it is his birthday (November 16th).

The 1975 Topps card, #407, lists Herb Washington as a “Pinch Runner” since that was his only role as a major leaguer; he never had an at-bat. His 1975 Topps card (and the mini and O-Pee-Chee versions) is the only baseball card that ever used “Pinch Runner” as the position label.

Washington was a talented high school runner who went on to run for Michigan State, where he was a four-time All-American in Track and Field.

In 1974, the Oakland A’s signed him as the team’s designated runner, with no expectations for developing other baseball skills. He played in 105 games without batting, pitching, or fielding. He finished his career with 31 stolen bases in 48 attempts, scoring 33 runs.

The 1975 Topps card is the only one made for him since he was released early in the 1975 season when the team signed Don Hopkins and Matt Alexander.

1975 Topps #407 Herb Washington – Reverse

After his 13-month MLB career, he raced as a pro-runner until 1976.

After his running career, Washington owned as many as 27 McDonald’s franchises as a businessman. He sued McDonald’s for systemic racial discrimination and settled the lawsuit in 2021 when McDonald’s bought 13 of his restaurants for $33.5M.

His 1975 Topps baseball card is considered a rookie card and priced a bit higher than most “commons” in the set. Graded 1975 Topps cards are a bit more expensive than you’d think because of the intense popularity of its PSA Set Registry; however, PSA 8s have dipped from ~$130 in 2021 to under $100 today, but the last PSA 9 sold for $368 in August 2024 which is up slightly from 2021. In the Prices by Grade chart below, you can see that there are 3 PSA 10s (up from 2 two years ago), and one of them came up for sale in May 2023; Probstein sold it on eBay for a Set Registry premium price of $3,438!

Herb Washington’s story as a designated runner is usually overlooked when discussing the 1975 Topps Baseball set. While his reception on the team was mixed among players, he still got a World Series championship ring (despite being picked off at a critical moment in game 2).

Happy collecting!