5 Cheap 70s Hobby Stocking Stuffers

... that Santa never left at my house!

Last week in this space, I set out to offer up some “vintage” stocking stuffers that wouldn’t break the bank and that you could actually still buy in time for Christmas.

Mission accomplished, mostly.

But the “vintage” bit ended up being all 1980s stuff, with a slight protrusion into the 1990s further calling into question that designation.

So …

I thought I’d give it another go this week, but with a more defined target date range — the 1970s. And I’ve added a couple more qualifiers just to make things intersting.

What follows, then, are five cheap stocking stuffers that each fit these criteria:

• Issued during the 1970s

• Stuff I never owned but wanted to

• At least one lot on eBay available for under $30 at the time of this writing

Also, you’re unlikely to shoot your eye out with any of these beauties (but no guarantees, you understand).

Note: The following sections contain affiliate links to eBay listings for the goodies being discussed.

1979 Topps Comics Complete Set

This set was a takeoff on Topps’ very own Bazooka gum, wherein a hunk of rock-hard confection was wrapped inside a waxy comic panel, and then all of that was wrapped inside another waxy covering.

In this case, though, each piece of gum was accompanied by a player-bio cartoon rather than another installment in the adventures of Bazooka Joe and his chums.

At five cents a pop, these comics were a bargain, even 43 years ago.

All in all, there were 33 players in the set, and you can still find the the whole thing sans gum, wrappers, or grading for $20 or so if you look around a bit.

1978 Burger King Yankees Set

Burger King issued cards in conjunction with Topps from 1977 through 1980, with the checklist ranging from a handful of team sets to a majors-wide All-Star run (1980).

These cards have been a delicious source of confusion among collectors for decades, too, because, for the most part, they’re identical to their counterparts in the base Topps sets, but with different card numbers.

This particular set features the World Series champion Yankees, complete with Thurman Munson, Catfish Hunter, Ron Guidry, Reggie Jackson, and even Billy Martin.

Delicious, indeed.

1976 Topps Traded Complete Set

Topps fooled around with different ways to manage players traded after their base set went to press for a lot of years.

There was the occasional “Now with …” designators on card fronts.

There were the “TRADED” stamps on 1972 Topps cards.

There were the “artistic” airbrush jobs to get guys in the correct garb.

And then, in 1974, Topps went whole-hog and put together their first dedicated “traded” set, a 44-card run inserted in late-season packs.

They were back for another go at it in 1976, which served as a warm-up for the 132-card box sets that became standard late-year fare beginning in 1981.

And this one — the 1976 Topps Traded set — gives us one of the most iconic baseball cards of all time.

Yeah, lookin’ at you, Mr. Oscar Gamble.

1976 Linnett Reds Set

I’m cheating a bit on this one, because I actually do own this Reds set … along with the Red Sox and Dodgers entries.

But I (OK, Dad) bought them at a junk shop one summer in the 1980s — Santa was not involved.

Anyway, here we have a set of 12 oversize cards featuring the 1975 (and 1976) world champions, which is really a 36-card continuation of the previous year’s All-Star set.

Some of the artwork is a bit sideways when it comes to matching a player’s actual appearance, but mostly, this set is a fairly stunning period piece that drops you into the moment in a flash.

1974 Topps Team Checklist Complete Set

For the second year in a row in 1974, Topps issued a run of team checklists that pulled together their cards for each team (duh) into one list.

Inserted into specially marked wax packs, each card features facsimile autographs of the players in question on the front, then the numbered list of said players on the back.

You could also send in some wrappers and cashage for an uncut sheet iversion of the set.

Here, at the cheap end of the bargain pool, you’ll be looking at rough condition cut versions of the cards to meet our pricing restrictions, but these are still pretty cool.

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There you have them — five cheap, 1970s vintage hobby goodies perfect for stuffing stockings or just a bit of self-indulgence this Christmas.

If you have other ideas along this line, I’d love to hear them!

Until next time — which is, like a week closer to Christmas, don’t you know? — enjoy what’s the holiday season.

Or, if you’re a ba-humbug type, just try to keep your head down. It will all be over soon, and there will be more baseball cards waiting for you on the other side.

Thanks for reading.

—Adam