Vintage Set Collecting

I recently celebrated my success in completing the 1975 Topps set so it is time to start on a new adventure.  While I would love to have a set of every Topps flagship release in my collection, that probably isn't a realistic goal with my budget.  What I have decided to do is shoot for every set from 1970 forward.  My gaps right now are the sets from 1970-1973, I have every set from 1974 forward.  This doesn't mean I won't look to pick up cards from the sets in the 60s but I want to focus my purchases and trades on the early 70s sets.

I have been fortunate enough to pick up fairly big lots of cards from the 1970 and 1973 sets and have made some good trades on the 1973 set so I am going to start with the 1973 set.  My status of completion is 489/675, this includes the variation cards.  The 1970 set needs more work, I am at 390/726.  From a condition standpoint, I am trying to avoid major centering issues, significant creases, paper loss and ink, although a little damage to the back wouldn't be completely unacceptable.  By no means am I looking to put a mint set together, that just wouldn't be feasible for me.

I thought I would share some of my recent pickups towards these two sets.

 The Sutton and Swoboda are my only recent 1970 pick ups.  Nice scoring a HOFer in Sutton and the Swoboda came along with it.  The Niekro is another nice HOF addition, this time from the 1973 set.  It is off center about as much as I would accept and otherwise is in solid condition.

 I also found an eBay auction with pick 15 cards of your choice from the 1973 for a good price and upgraded to the 18 I needed for my set.  While there aren't tons of action shots in the 1973 set, the ones that do exist, like the Paul Casanova, are very nice.  I also like some of the posed shots like the Borgmann in front of what looks like a spring training backstop and the Timmermann and Dietz with the facade of their stadium in the background.

Here is the second half of that eBay purchase. Two nice action photos on the Amos Otis and Jim Fregosi card and great backdrops in several with my favorites being the Norm Cash and Rich Morales cards.  A pretty high percentage of the cards I still need are from the high number series and some stars so I suspect I won't be able to find too many of these set builder auctions to fill my needs.

Here is another nice card I picked up in a Sportlots auction. It has a pretty decent crease in the upper left corner but it is HANK AARON!  I was very happy to score this at a reasonable price.  The All-Time Leader subset is 8 cards deep and I only need the Babe Ruth and one of the Walter Johnson's to finish it up.

This is my most exciting recent pick up.  Nolan Ryan's card is typically the second most expensive card in the set after the Mike Schmidt rookie card.  I got it for $14 in a Sportlots auction which I think is a solid price.  The centering isn't great but otherwise it is in pretty nice condition.  In addition to the Schmidt, I do still need some pretty big stars, Clemente, Carlton/Ryan SO leaders, Aaron, and Mays.  In addition to the Ryan, the top cards I have are card #1 HR Leaders, Rose and the Gossage RC.

If you have extras of these that you want to trade let me know.  While I have some duplicates, most are fairly poor in condition and lower numbers.  I have tons of auto and relic cards and more recent releases if you are into those cards.  Also, if the price is right and I haven't blown through my monthly budget, I am always up for a purchase as well.