The 1970 Topps baseball card set is one of the most iconic issues in the history of the hobby. As with most vintage sets there are several key cards that are significantly rarer than others and command massive premiums in the trading card marketplace. Let’s take an in-depth look at some of the rarest 1970 Topps cards that collectors covet.
One of the true crown jewels from the ’70 set is the #130 rookie card of Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson. More commonly known as “Reggie,” this card was the first Topps rookie card issued of Mr. October and is arguably one of the most iconic in the entire hobby. What makes the ’70 Reggie so rare is the strange printing error that occurred – there is a significant mismatch between the photo and the player name/team name slab below it. This photo swap variation is exceedingly scarce with experts believing there may only be 100 or less in existence. In pristine mint condition, high grade copies have sold for over $250,000, making it one of the most valuable baseball cards ever printed.
Another highly coveted rookie card is #25 Hank Aaron’s final Topps rookie. While Aaron appeared in earlier Topps sets as well, 1970 was his true “rookie” card since it features his first season with the Atlanta Braves after leaving the Milwaukee Braves. In high grades this iconic card still commands over $10,000. Far more scarce is the “paper loss” variation where a small portion of Aaron’s jersey number is missing in the bottom corner due to a paper cutting error during printing. Only a handful are known to exist and in mint condition it exceeds 6 figures.
Rookie cards aren’t the only keys from the ’70 set, sometimes even more common players have variations that set collectors hearts racing. A perfect example is #429 Nolan Ryan’s card. Nothing too exciting on the surface until you notice his entire body is missing below the waist in the photo due to a slicing error in the printing plates. Less than 10 are reported to exist and graded examples have brought as much as $35,000 at auction.
Moving over to the league leader subset found at the end of the set. The #579 N.L. Hits Leader card featuring Ron Santo is a huge key. Not because of Santo himself but rather for the bizarre printing errors. First, the player shown is a photo swap and is actually Hall of Famer Billy Williams. But even more randomly, the Billy Williams head was pasted on top of what appears to be a photo of Denny McLain’s body, unrelated White Sox player from the A.L. Less than 5 copies combine all these random photo swaps making it perhaps the rarest production error in the entire set.
One final highly coveted subset card is #583 Jeff Burroughs’ N.L. Rookie Stars issue, celebrating Burroughs winning the 1971 N.L. Rookie of the Year award. A small mistake was made listing the year as 1970 instead of 1971. Incredibly, out of the millions of cards printed, only a single copy is known to exist with this one year typo. When it last sold in 2013, it achieved over $46,000, a true record for the ’70 set.
While the 1970 Topps base set is extremely popular in its own right, it is these rare anomalous photo swap errors, variations and typos that make certain cards from the issue truly legendary among vintage collectors. With population reports indicating many have survival estimates under 10 copies, they are rightfully among the most valuable cardboard in the entire hobby. For the savvy collector or investor, finding high grade examples presents the ultimate chase and could result in 6 or even 7 figure rewards.
