Scoring: The two cards go head-to-head in a number of categories, each scoring up to 3 points in each per category. Extra points available where noted.
• Personnel
• Signature Quality
• Number of Players
1973 Reds (8) vs. 1973 As (9)
Personnel: Let’s be honest: who weren’t on these teams? These teams were dominant. One personified personality baseball, Charlie O. style, while the other was the working class, grind-out-the-wins that would really dominate mid-decade. 1973 Reds: Bench (HOF), Perez (HOF), Foster, Rose, Morgan (HOF), Gullett, Carroll, Tolan’n’Nolan… 1973 As: Jackson (HOF), Fingers (HOF), Hunter (HOF), Rudi, Bando, Campaneris, Tenace, Blue, Cepeda (HOF) 1973 Reds: 3 points | 1973 As: 3 points
Signature Quality: The Reds are showing off their best grammar school signatures, while the A’s are flaunting it, baby! The closest any of the Reds get to flaunting it is Johnny Bench’s big J, and even that’s not so big. It’s almost like they’re afraid someone will find out they sign real big and will hit them across the knuckles with a ruler. The A’s win this category hands down, not because Gene Tenace signs using his first name ‘Fury’, but because Jim Hunter signs with Catfish in quotation marks. 1973 Reds: 1 point | 1973 As: 3 points
Number of Players: Not all the players listed on the backs of these cards have their signatures on the front. That’s obvious on the A’s card, less so on the Reds, and that’s because the Reds really know how to fill a box. By my count I see 12 Reds signatures. Two of them signed with their full name, which makes the reader comment more believable that Topps used the signatures from player contracts. On the A’s card, I count 12 player signatures and again, two players signing with three names. We’re knotted up here: 12/2 and 12/2, but the real kicker is Bert Campaneris signing as Dagoberto Campaneris.
1973 Reds: 2 points | 1973 As: 3 points
Total Score: 1973 Reds: 6 points
1973 As: 9 points
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