it's a wonderful life! (and a giant thanks to a giants fan)

"that's right. that's right. atta boy clarence."

this 1973 topps jimmy stewart card came to me courtesy of reader and giant fan jim from northern california, who has sent me cards a few times.  the last package came several months ago, and i am just now going to show off some of the bounty.  the shame.  they were mostly cards i needed for my 1973 set.

here is one of the best examples of the 1973 set.  tito fuentes

there are parts of 5 different players on the card, and although we can't see tito's headband, we are treated to a lot more thanks to topps' inability to crop their images.
here's another giant, showing off a sign of the times - it's garry maddox and his muttonchop sideburns.

bernie carbo also has some sideburns

plus, he can't be bothered to tuck in his jersey.  his polyester pullover jersey.  that was progress?

here's mike corkins

who appears to be suiting up for the padres inside a maximum security prison.  is this the first baseball card with a trash can featured on it?
the backs of the cards can be equally entertaining, like duke sims' card

looks like senator mccarthy was working at topps in 1973.  i wonder if sims was called in for questioning.  here's the front of duke's card

as well as that of luis tiant

tiant looks pretty happy; perhaps he is thinking of smoking a cigar

i wonder if cameron crowe saw this and came up with the idea for jeff spicoli's van.
here's a svelte looking mike torrez

who apparently dropped some pounds

that's pretty crazy. if only torrez sold insurance or cars or real estate in the offseason,  then maybe topps would have had something better to say in the cartoon.
finally, jim sent this - a nefarious 9 need at the time - a 1975 topps mini maury wills mvp card

alongside some other guy.

thanks jim for the cards!