Cards from the best players of the 1973 set
Up to this point, no decade has seen more change in the NFL than the 1970s. After multiple seasons of an AFL and NFL Super Bowl, the two leagues finally merged into one league with two conferences. The unstoppable freight train of popularity growth amongst the insatiable fans would culminate in what would be an undeniably prescient move from Topps: the 1973 Topps Football set, the largest in its history and by far the most exhaustive—with the most subsets and retrospectives on previous seasons.
This set includes over 70 NFL Hall of Fame players and historical records of unforgettable playoff games. Of course, it is the set that captured the iconic ’72 Dolphins’ undefeated season. It also boasts one of the greatest rookie classes in history, with Franco Harris, Jack Youngblood, Ken Anderson, Dan Dierdof, and Art Shell, just to name a few.
In a huge set, these are but a few of the top 1973 Topps Football cards you should collect.
Top 1973 Topps Football Cards
1973 Topps Football #475 Roger Staubach
Player info
• Two-time super bowl winner (VI and XII)
• won superbowl vi mvp
• Led the NFL in passer rating four times (’71, ’73, ’78, ’79)
Card info
• over 150 of the cards feature the first appearances of players on a topps card
card back
• vitals, 1972 stats, and A recap of Staubach’s legendary comeback against 49ers in 1972 divisional championship game, which earned him the nickname “captain comeback”
1973 Topps Football #89 Franco Harris RC
Player info
• AFC Rookie of the year
• Four-time super bowl winner (IX, X, XIII, XIV)
Card info
• 528 card set
card back
• Vitals, career stats to that point, and a brief description of the “deflected pass” that Franco caught to win the AFC championship game, which would become famously known as “the Immaculate Reception”
1973 Topps Football #400 Joe Namath
Player info
• 1968 and ’69 AFL MVP
• Won Super Bowl II
Card info
• 26 team checklist cards
card back
• Vitals, 1972 season stats, and a recap of his best game in ’72 – a 496-yard, 6 TD game on 15 completions
1973 Topps Football #267 Mike Garrett Boyhood Card
Player info
• Led the league in YPC (5.4) in the 1966 season
• Won Super Bowl III
Card info
• Subsets include three cards with boyhood photos of players
card back
• Vitals, and career stats for each of his seasons in the league from 1966 through 1972
1973 Topps Football #100 Larry Csonka
Player info
• Part of the fabled undefeated 1972 Dolphins team, winners of Super bowl VI
• MVP of Super Bowl VII
Card info
• Largest set ever released up to that point
card back
• vitals, 1972 stats, and a trivia question about buffalo’s first NFL team
1973 Topps Football #135 1972 NFC Semi-Final Redskins-Packers
Player info
• Washington would go on to lose to the undefeated dolphins in super bowl VI
Card info
• Subsets include playoff game matchups
card back
• Date, box score, and individual player stats from the game
1973 Topps Football #60 Fran Tarkenton
Player info
• 1975 NFL MVP and Offensive player of the year
• lost in all three of his super bowl appearances (IV, VII, IX)
Card info
• Card backs come in red, white, and blue colors
card back
• vitals, 1972 stats, and a factoid that tarkenton trails, unitas, tittle, Brodie, and jurgensen in lifetime passing totals but his “rate of advance” surpasses all in history
