1977 Topps

Once upon a time, two team's baseball cards mystified me.

On November 5th, 1976 the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners added the first players to their rosters via an expansion draft.

I was nine years old at the time.

I had read about this development in the newspaper, but those were just words in print. I didn't see any photographic evidence of the league's expansion until I saw Toronto and Seattle cards from the 1977 Topps Baseball set for the first time.

The league's expansion became a reality for me on that day. Then, as if to remind me that it wasn't a dream, I would get a Mariner or Blue Jay card in nearly every pack I purchased. Repeatedly seeing cards for these two new franchises slowly helped me realize that it was all true. There really were two new teams born in the off season and I was getting a sneak preview of their roster and uniforms within seemingly every pack of cards I opened that winter.

These franchises named their managers and they each received a card in the '77 Topps set, more evidence that these teams would indeed take the field come that April.

I remember announcing to my friend Jeff that the Blue Jays would be better than the Mariners because they had a much cooler logo on their caps and their team uniforms had 'better colors'. You'd expect a nine year old to decide on the better team in a different way?

It's now 37 years later. I understand the world a lot more clearly than I did in early 1977. I understand that expansion means more money for the league. I understand that teams don't perform any better or worse than another based on their team logo or uniform colors. I understand that I didn't fully understand how two new teams could be created out of thin air as a nine year old boy.

Today Toronto and Seattle are just two teams amidst a league that expanded two more times in the 1990's. I don't think about the Mariners or Blue Jays all that often today. However, when I do think of them, I think of how their existence mystified me all those years ago. 

I think about how baseball cards helped me to understand the world a bit more clearly.