Buzz 12 in 12: Busting a 1974 Topps football cello pack (Hour 1)

Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today's your day then as we launch 12 in 12 -- a series of a dozen breaks of past wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We'll post one every hour on the hour all day long today ... this is Hour 1.

The pack: 1974 Topps football cello
The cost: $5 (Really.)

What's inside this one? Keep reading ...

Cards per pack: 3 (all in gallery below)
Base set completion: 
3 of 528 (.2 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Base cards – Willie Brown, Marlin Briscoe, Ralph Baker

Inserts: None

Autographs/Memorabilia: Not for a couple decades ...

What's Buzz-worthy: Buzz bought this one thinking it was just a two-card pack (it was billed that way) and because of that it could make for the rare time where a pack would not be opened on a Buzz 12 in 12 since you can see the top and bottom cards easily. But, upon closer inspection, it was obvious that there was a third card in the pack so the deed was done. That mysterious middle card was Ralph Baker, a guy who spent 10 seasons in a New York Jets uniform. The best card? Hall of Famer Willie Brown, a veteran of the Oakland Raiders and a member of their 1976 world championship team. The mystery card got me as I pondered whether it might be a Rookie Card for John Hannah, Joe DeLamiellure, Harold Carmichael, Ahmad Rashaad or John Matuszak. (Sloth!) Or, maybe the mystery card would be one of a number of Hall of Famers -- Dick Butkus, Ken Stabler, O.J. Simpson, Johnny Unitas, Larry Csonka, Roger Staubach, John Riggins, Fran Tarkenton, Art Shell, Joe Greene, Franco Harris and so many more found here. That didn't happen. Older NFL wax isn't that easy to find -- it's just not as available as baseball -- but the fact that there are so few cards here and they're at the mercy of tight cello wrappers and a stick of gum means they're pretty cheap when you do. The brown is cleanly centered with some edge issues, which is about the same as the others, though the top card has a corner issue, too. Surprisingly, the gum didn't leave much residue on the cards (you can feel it but it's not a visual stain like in some years since this), so the only damage is warping from how the cards wrapped themselves around the cards with pressure over time. (I've seen worse.) Would I do it again? Maybe for fun, though there are apparently similarly sized wax packs out there. Maybe I'll try that one next time.

Product Grade: A
Pack Grade: C
Fun Grade: B+

What's next? Be back in an hour ...

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