The 1973 Topps baseball card set is most notable for being the final year that the company issued team checklist cards in their flagship baseball card releases. Starting in 1955 and continuing through 1972, Topps had included these cards to help collectors keep track of which players they needed to complete their entire set for each Major League Baseball team. For the 1973 set, Topps decided it was time to move on from including checklists.

The decision was likely made due to growing disinterest among collectors in the checklist cards themselves. While they served a practical purpose, most kids who collected cards were more interested in accumulating cards of their favorite players rather than blank checklist placeholders. Topps also may have wanted to use the card spaces for additional player cards instead to appeal more to the collector demand.

So for the 1973 set, collectors had to rely on checklists they had kept from previous years or ones published independently by hobby publications. In their place, Topps inserted 19 additional player cards into the base set, expanding it to 792 total cards. While a disappointment to completionists, it allowed for some additional popular players to be featured that may have otherwise been left out.

Even without official team checklists included in the set, collectors can still track down the 18 team checklist cards that Topps produced for the 1973 season retroactively. Similar to previous years, they were designed with the team logo above the team name along with divisions/leagues noted. Space was provided underneath to check off or list the players collected for each team.

Here’s a brief overview of each of the 18 checklists included:

American League East – Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees

American League West – California Angels, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers

National League East – Chicago Cubs, Montreal Expos, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals

National League West – Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants

Some notable aspects of the checklists include the Angels being listed as being from California rather than Anaheim at that point. The Brewers and Rangers also had only recently joined the AL as expansion teams. Meanwhile, the Expos were still relatively new as a franchise only having begun play in 1969.

While produced separate from the main set, these 1973 team checklists carried the same iconic Topps design aesthetics from that era. They utilized a white border around a solid color team panel with a primary team logo prominently displayed above the team name. Plenty of space was provided below for tracking purposes with room for at least 50-60 players per checklist.

For collectors looking to build complete 1973 Topps sets which originally included the checklists, tracking down a full set of the 18 team cards helps fill that void. They often come available through group breaks of unopened wax boxes or individual sales online. Prices tend to range from around $10-25 each depending on the individual team and condition with the more popular big market clubs demanding higher amounts.

While Topps made the change to exclude official team checklists from their flagship 1973 baseball card set after years of including them, the look back and optional checklist cards they produced outside the primary release help provide closure and completeness for collectors. They maintain the classic Topps design style and offer a nice accompaniment for anyone assembling a pristine 1973 set over 45 years later.