2 Sets, 40 Years Apart

The evolution of baseball cards to me is extraordinary. Cards have changed drastically over time. From the simply designed 50's and 60's sets to the colorful 70's sets all the way to the foil-centric sets of the 2000's and now the borderless sets of 2016, 2017, and the future.

2015 was the last year of borders and even though the set is only 2 years old it feels a lot older. So much innovation in cards has occurred since then that it's difficult to remember what it was like.

After many years of colorless borders, 2015 Topps surprised collectors with bright and colorful cards for the first time in years. Topps hadn't made such colorful cards since 1975. These 2 sets which were released 40 years apart have more connections to me than just these.

That's because Matthew from Summer of '74 reached out to trade with me. He had a handful of 2015's and a couple 1975 Topps cards that he sent my way.

If you look at this set enough you can't help but compare it to 1975. Yes, it has its differences like the logo on the card, but the bold colors on each and every card are something that can be matched only by 1975 Topps.

He sent me some of these future star cards. I have previously stated that the future star part of these is rather boring, but that shouldn't take away from the spectacular picture quality in the set. The C.J. Cron card especially catches my eye, probably because it's bright red and screams "you can't help but notice me." Neither of these players has really become a star yet so maybe Topps should choose a bit more wisely in the future.

To me, the landscape view cards are hands down better than the standard cards. These allow for more action shots and players in action, not just the same card of a player at bat all the time. The uniform of the Vargas card is one of my favorites in baseball, while Infante is playing defense which is something I always love to see.

All in all the 2015's were great, but my favorite cards are yet to come.

Now tell me you don't see some resemblance.

I haven't gotten any new 1975 Topps cards in a while, but this Steve Ontiveros card reminds me of what I was missing out on. It's a great shot of him at the plate with who I believe to be Jerry Reuss (I could tell by the hair.) The bright colors look great and they work despite not having any correlation to the team colors.

And sometimes it only takes 1 card to remember what you liked the most about a set. 1975 Topps went year by year through decades of baseball and featured cards of each MVP with their Topps card from that year on a card in 1975 Topps to commemorate their 25th anniversary. This one features Nellie Fox and none other than Mr. Cub Ernie Banks. Not only do I love the purple and yellow, because it's just so 70's, but I also believe that 1959 is the only year that a north-sider and a south-sider each won their league MVP award.

I always knew a lot about what each set looked like, but I never really seriously compared them until today. So thank you, Matthew, for the cards as well as helping me connect 2 sets, 40 years apart from one another.