Action Traction

It's been quite a while since I posted here on the 1973/74 Action Emblems, which were an attempt by Topps to circumvent negotiating with Major League Baseball for the right to use team logos on their cards.  Topps instead created their own logos in what can only be considered an act of corporate hubris.

As noted previously, there were three types of stickers issued: the main, original cloth, glossy and then a cardboard version that may have been a proof (but which may have found its way into packs). The cloth versions seem to suffer from an excess of adhesive and that may have caused Topps to switch to the glossy format. I finally landed a glossy sticker and can now show the characteristics:

The front shows a clear score mark between the top and bottom stickers:

The back is white sticker stock.  For some reason I expected tan but it's clearly not:

Compare that to the reverse of a cloth sticker:

The excess adhesive leeched through enough to make the sticker backing somewhat transparent and you can see how the front "floats".  The front shows the same effects as well:

I've wondered a few times why Topps issued such a set and then issued it again.  Perhaps they were competing with Fleer, which often had team logo sets out on the store shelves.  It's a strange issue.