McCovey Monday #33 - 1971 Topps

My favorite player of all time is Hall of Famer Willie McCovey.  I have amassed a collection of over 1100 different  McCovey cards since I started collecting him in the late 1980s.  I will show off one of my favorite cards every Monday.  Stretch was one of the most feared hitters of all time and I am excited to show off my collection.

I recently picked up another copy of this card on Sportlots.  It looked to be in pretty good shape and was fairly cheap.  I also don't have one in my Giants binder so this was a perfect opportunity to fill a slot in the 9-card binder page.

 I am somewhat perplexed as to why cards look so nice with black borders.  The Giants look particularly good since black is one of their team colors.  I would rank this set in the top 1/3 of sets in the 70s, probably behind 1975 and 1972 despite its fairly simple design.  The bold team name at the top in all caps followed by the name in all lower case print just seems to work. I also like the 3 different colors for the letters.  A well placed facsimile signature is great in my book for all by cards I would like to get autographed in person.  Since that isn't a passion of mine, I like them on the card fronts.

 Another great feature of the 1971 Topps set are the card backs.  The green back with the black print works, it is pretty easy to read and easy on the eyes.  I like the inclusion of the extra photo and this picture of Willie Mac has showed up again and again on more recent releases. I think the First Year in Pro Ball and the Majors is a nice touch.  My only criticism would be the single year of stats along with the lifetime stats but I guess the other cool stuff wouldn't have room with 12 years of stats.  Check out Stretch's 1970 season - it was a sweet follow up to his 1969 MVP season.