1971 Topps

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, these bad boys came along. Finding one of these in mint condition is like finding a four leaf clover growing out of a unicorn's ass. To make matters worse, thousands of these cards were colored in with black magic markers by money grubbing scumbags to hide the wear and tear these cards showed so easily.

On a positive note, the Billy Martin card kicks ass. I dig Tigers cards of guys who enjoyed greater successes elsewhere before or after brief periods with the Bengals, such as Eddie Mathews, Fred Lynn, Bill Madlock, and Dickie Noles. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, your 1971 Topps Detroit Tigers:

Series 1

3 Dick McAuliffe

39 Tigers Rookies Lerrin LaGrow/Gene Lamont

71 AL Strikeout Leaders - Lolich

86 Mike Kilkenny

101 Les Cain

120 Willie Horton

Series 2

133 Mickey Lolich

154 Cesar Gutierrez

180 Al Kaline

208 Billy Martin

229 Jim Hannan

Series 3

265 Jim Northrup

296 Tom Timmerman

316 Fred Scherman

336 Detroit Tigers Team Card

367 Dalton Jones

389 Ed Brinkman

Series 4

403 Joe Coleman

423 Tigers Rookies Dennis Saunders/Tim Marting

444 Jimmie Price

464 Aurelio Rodriguez

481 Daryl Patterson

503 Gates Brown

Series 5

524 Mickey Stanley

533 Kevin Collins

575 Bill Freehan

599 Norm Cash

629 John Hiller

Series 6

669 Ike Brown

695 Joe Niekro

708 Russ Nagelson

732 Bob Reed

749 Ken Szotkiewicz

Topps cut it back to six series in 1971. Again, the last series is a lot rarer than the other five. I wonder, when and where were Topps issuing these late series? Thanksgiving weekend? Inside specially marked packages of Sea Monkeys?