In the long-running “Awards Sub-Set”, I imagine what it would have looked like had Topps included such a set every year in their basic sets, and today’s two cards are doozies, with Rose and Jackson leading two juggernauts in baseball history.
Rose put in one of the finest seasons of his incredible 24-year career, leading the National League in batting at .338 , his third batting title, while also leading the league with a career-high 230 hits, the sixth of his ten career 200-hit seasons.
Over in the American League, Jackson led the Oakland A’s to the second of three straight World Series titles by leading the league in homers (32), RBIs (117 and runs scored (99) while also hitting (at the time) a career-high .293.
While Rose’s Reds fell short in the NL playoffs to the Mets, denying a rematch of the 1972 World Series, they would soon take over the mantle of “Team of the Decade” from Oakland when the “Big Red Machine” took two straight championships of their own in 1975 & 1976.
But they’d have to wait as the A’s would beat the Mets for the title in 1973, then go on to win it again in 1974 by beating the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Two al-time baseball super-stars right here in the prime of their career.