Topps Heritage 1972: Revisiting a Pop Art Set

1972 is the year of my birth, so since I've started collecting cards again and thinking about the relationship between card design and movements in art and design, I've been interested in the set from that year. They are one of the most unusual card designs available, using non-intuitive colors (including shades of green, sky blue, orange, and mauve that aren't typical in sports cards, with the team name in a font that seems to be a hybrid of an movie marquee and a Peter Max poster -- exactly the kind of vibe that goes with the late 1960s and early 1970s designs, and fit for Austin Powers to have in his collection.

Nick Vossbrink of the SABR Baseball Cards Research Committee wrote a comprehensive (and fascinating) comparison of the 1972 set with the 2021 Topps Heritage re-interpretation. Take a look for his discussion of how printing technology has changed in fifty years, from registry marks, to colors and shades, to how computer-aided design relates to the printing process. He picks out something very interesting, that the back of the card, instead of using two-color printing on the grey side of traditional card stock, uses four-color printing so the grey is actually a printed design element (and not a consistent one, at that).

David Edward Byrd's poster for "Follies", 1970.

There's also an interesting example of the dangers of speculating on artistic inspiration. Several of the design elements, including the font and the general layout, are very similar to the design that David Edward Byrd used in his poster for the 1970 Stephen Sondheim musical Follies. Take a look at the print and decide for yourself. Byrd says that he had no idea about the 1972 Topps cards -- he didn't work on the design and wasn't aware of it. I wonder if he would be entitled to royalties, since it wouldn't surprise me if a designer working at the Topps Company may have seen the poster, buried it in the recesses of their memory, and thought of it when coming up with ideas for the set.

I made paintings of an actual 1972 card, and one from the 2021 Heritage set.

Willie Mays, 1972 Topps, 
gesso and acrylic on card stock.

For the former, I worked with a Willie Mays card. He is my father's favorite player - he's always said with pride that "Willie hit a home run for me" on a visit to San Francisco and a game at Candlestick Park. This was Willie's last card in a Giants uniform, and the copy I found on eBay was somewhat faded, with little distinction between his white home jersey and the white background that I gessoed. So I created a golden background, using greens and blues to
highlight his shoulders and reds elsewhere to create the atmosphere similar to a Russian icon, to venerate the greatest living player. I light how these colors work with the yellows and oranges in the card; the whole thing has a very vintage air to it, and I'm struck by how I've created something new for a card that is as old as I am.

Juan Soto, Topps Heritage 2021,
gesso and acrylic on card stock.

For the Heritage card, I chose Juan Soto, my favorite current player. He plays with a joy that reminds me of Willie, and his card uses blues and yellows to play off his red, white, and blue Nationals uniform. I also chose the gold and red icon-like treatment for him, since he's in a traditional batting pose and there's not quite as much movement in the image.

I'm pleased with how both of these paintings turned out. Especially with the gold background, that lends a burnished and antique effect to the card, I think it's an understated look that balances the vibrant pop-art graphics of the 1972 set. It's a great fit with the overall theme of the galleries: giving new life to new (and old) cards.

The galleries are often upgraded expanded, and I'm working on a new room for Father's Day next month. I welcome your comments and thoughts below, and please subscribe to the page and share it!