Scratch ‘n Play

The 2019 Topps Heritage set is based on the 1970 design.  As with past sets, there are limited number of bonus products that match the wax pack inserts from the featured year.  Thus, collectors might find a poster, a story booklet or a scratch-off, baseball game folio. The “Scratch-Offs” are one of Topps most unique inserts. Since you are itching to find out more, here is the balm for your “Scratch-Off fever.”

The 1970 Scratch-Offs are 2-1/2” × 3-3/8” bi-folds with a small “Team Captain” headshot on the front, 44 black scratch boxes in the middle, and the rules and a scoreboard on the back. When unfolded, the cards measure 3-3/8” × 5”. Teams names were not printed in conjunction with the players’ photos.  The fronts were printed in blue, yellow or red, but each player only has one color.

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The game is played by scratching off the black surface with a coin, revealing hits or outs.  My recollection is that you never had enough boxes to complete nine innings.

By 1970, most teams did not designate a player to be the team captain.  Therefore, Topps simply selected a player for each of the 24 teams to be the “captain.”  By the way, Topps selected a different player for each of its three insert sets, all of which came in sets of 24.  (If memory serves me, posters were issued first, Scratch-Offs second, and finally the story books. If this is not the case, please let me know.)

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Some of Topps “captain” selections are curious.  For example, Richie Allen and Tim McCarver, who were traded for one another prior to the 1969 World Series, show up as captains. Most likely, McCarver was originally selected as the Cardinals representative and Allen as the Phillies.  Based on the drama surrounding Richie Allen at the time, there is some irony in labeling him team captain.  

The most interesting of the small headshots is that of Boog Powell.  The negative is flipped, which is made obvious by the comic Oriole emblem facing the opposite direction.  Also, the reverse image makes Boog look as if he is ready to “toss his cookies.”

Most collectors remember that Topps didn’t attempt, even in the later series, to relabel the Seattle Pilots cards as Milwaukee Brewers.  The franchise shift (sob!) occurred a week before the season started, meaning that most of the cards, posters etc. were already printed. This means that Mike Hegan is depicted wearing a Pilots cap from spring training of 1969.

Fresh off his American League Rookie of the Year award in 1969, Lou Piniella got the nod to be the Royals team captain.  However, Topps didn’t reward him with a new picture.  No, “Sweet Lou” is saddled with the same squinty-eyed photo used on his 1968 and 1969 Rookie Stars cards.

Nine Hall of Famers are included in the set: Henry Aaron, Harmon Killebrew, Yastrzemski, Tom Seaver, Luis Aparicio, Juan Marichal, Willie Stargell, Al Kaline, and Tony Perez.

Strangely, Topps reissued the same 24 Scratch-Off cards in 1971 but with a significant difference; the scratch off sections are printed in red instead of white. They were distributed with the later series after the coin inserts. Thus, the Mike Hegan Scratch-Off means the Pilots lasted in “Topps World” until 1971.  Also, Richie Allen was traded to the Dodgers, resulting in a dual captainship with Claude Osteen and no Cardinals captain.

Checklists and dealer offerings don’t always make a distinction between the two issues.  Completing sets can be difficult if the description does not include the booklet’s interior color.

Surprisingly, to me at least, the Scratch-Offs were also issued in packs as a stand-alone product at the end of year in 1970 and 1971 in order to get rid of excess inventory.  I couldn’t find information on the number of cards per pack, price or distribution.

So, if you get the itch to scratch off a game, pick up a Mack Jones, grab a penny and go to it.  This game was cutting edge technology back in “my day.” We didn’t need no stinkin’ video games!

Sources:

http://www.oldbaseball.com/refs/topps.html