The John Hilton Rookie Card and a Catcher: The Conclusion of the 1973 Topps Pursuit

I think it was about a year ago that I decided to pursue the 1973 Topps complete set. I know for sure that it's been a year since I started trading on TCDB.com, which was a great source of cards for the set. The most credit I can give to one person, though, is Bo over at Baseball Cards Come to Life!, who helped me take a big chunk out of my want list last year. Of the final two cards I needed for the set, one came from eBay and the other from TCDB. For the past several months, I've had the following search saved in my eBay search list: "1973 Topps Mike Schmidt," with the hopes of finding an underpriced Buy It Now option. Recently, I found a match and was ready to pull the trigger. My second to last card for the set arrived Monday:

The card met my basic requirements for the high numbered short prints of the set: No major creases, little to no paper loss, and no writing (a requirement I waived for the high numbered checklist, because I'm not paying $40 for a checklist). A random thought I keep having about this card - I wonder if there are any John Hilton player collectors or Padres team collectors out there who have this card only because Hilton's on it. 

The day after I hit Buy It Now on eBay for the Schmidt rookie card, I finalized a trade on TCDB with Joe from Portland, OR for the final card I needed for the set. I had tried to track down this one on TCDB a few times before, but it never worked out. Needless to say, I was more than happy to send some 1965 Topps cards out west in exchange for this beauty:

This is one of my favorite cards from 1973 Topps, so it's especially sweet that it's the one that finishes off my set. 

I've featured some 1973 Topps-themed posts on my blog and plan to continue to do so, as a way to make myself continue to page through my first complete vintage set and appreciate it in its entirety. One that I've already promised is featuring the shortest players from the set. Look for that post coming soon.