In 1968, Topps announced a momentous undertaking that would have far-reaching implications for the baseball card collecting world. They called it “Project 70”, with the goal being to photograph and produce cards for every eligible professional baseball player from the past 70 years, dating back to the 1890s. It was an incredibly ambitious project that aimed to document the history of the sport in card form.
Topps had produced baseball cards since the early 1950s, focusing mainly on current major and minor league players each season. But the idea with Project 70 was to go back and create cards for thousands of players that never previously had cards made. These included legends from the early days of professional baseball who had retired long before the modern baseball card era. Toppswould have its photographers track down surviving older players across the country for photo shoots.
The project got underway in 1968 with cards issued that year featuring over 500 players from the 1890s to 1910s. Subsequent releases would highlight additional decades, with sets issued each year through 1971 covering players up to the 1950s era. In total, over 1800 different baseball cards were produced as part of Project 70 before the endeavor concluded.
Many of the featured players were true pioneers and pioneers that helped grow the sport in its earliest professional days in the late 1800s. This included stars like Cy Young, Roger Bresnahan, Nap Lajoie, Tris Speaker, and Grover Cleveland Alexander. For collectors and fans, seeing actual photographic images of these legendary players on cards decades after their playing days was an amazing thrill.
Tracking down and photographing some of the oldest living former players proved quite difficult. Many had passed away in the decades since retiring or their whereabouts were unknown. Topps investigators had to do a lot of research to locate surviving players, often having to travel to small towns and cities to find some of the more obscure names from the 1890s-1910s.
Even with those challenges, the photos that were taken and featured on the Project 70 cards became invaluable historical documents. They captured images of these baseball pioneers for posterity at a time when few photos existed of their playing careers. Topps really went above and beyond to properly chronicle the early decades of professional baseball that laid the foundation for the modern game.
Each year’s Project 70 set included statistical nuggets and biographies on the back of many cards as well. This provided younger fans with insights into how the eras of baseball in the late 1800s through the 1950s differed greatly from the modern game. It gave collector’s a glimpse at the backgrounds, careers and accomplishments of these legends from earlier generations.
The pricing of the Project 70 cards also helped drive interest, as the early series were generally cheaper than contemporary cards. This made it feasible for collectors to try and obtain full sets during the course of the multi-year project. Topps ensured continued excitement by issuing the cards in serial fashion over several years instead of all at once.
When all was said and done, Topps’ ambitious Project 70 effort had brought to life over a century of baseball history in collectible card form. While not every early player was included due to limitations, it represented the most comprehensive retrospective account of the game put out by any manufacturer. The photos and biographical details preserved the legacy of stars and role players alike for future generations of fans to appreciate.
Even after the formal project concluded in 1971, Topps continued issuing additional cards spotlighting more decades of players throughout the 1970s and early 80s. Other companies like Fleer also got involved producing retro-themed sets of their own. Project 70 truly set the standard and influenced how subsequent vintage and retro offerings were conceived going forward. It is still considered the crowning achievement among baseball card producers in terms of historical documentation and preservation.
Today, complete Project 70 sets spanning all four primary series from 1968-1971 in high grade are among the most coveted collections for dedicated vintage collectors. Individual key cards also carry premium values in the marketplace. The set defined the hobby’s vintage and retro segments for decades to come. It also helped fuel the antique/memorabilia aspects among collectors interested in tangible pieces of baseball history. Most importantly, Topps’ ambitious Project 70 effort succeeded in its mission to chronicle the origins and growth of America’s national pastime through the collectible card medium in a way never seen before or since.
