If you saw our last video, the #7 Bill Bradley from this set, you know what this card is. This is the matchup that Action Packed chose for the Bill Bradley card. The #7 Bill Bradley and the #8 Elgin Baylor form a pair in this ten-card One on One subset. We’re going to talk about Elgin Baylor, but we need to talk about the 1970 NBA Finals. Action Packed had all of NBA history from which to select these ten players, but five of them were on the court in the 1970 NBA Finals. The first two cards, Walt Frazier and Jerry West, were there competing. And as we said, this pair, Bill Bradley and Elgin Baylor were on the court. But we can’t forget about Willis Reed. If you haven’t watched our video on that #5 from this set, please do, Willis Reed owned the NBA in 1970, and the crowd went wild when he entered the stadium. They thought he wouldn’t play. It’s worth browsing YouTube for that scene. So many legends on the court! I just thought it was interesting that half of the players from this subset come right from that series!
These cards are loaded with information. For the affordable price, they’re a must have if you want to study the history of the game. So let’s do what these cards were meant for and let these players compete. Full disclosure, I think Baylor wins this one except for one big detail. Let’s start at the top, notice that both players in this pair stayed with one team throughout their career, ten seasons with the Knicks for Bradley, fourteen seasons with the Lakers for Elgin Baylor. Look at this amazing number here for Baylor, he was selected to 11 All-Star games. He certainly has Bradley there. I want to talk about rebounds too. Look at this, Baylor set an NCAA tournament record with 91 rebounds in five games, and he would go on to be the Lakers leading rebounder with 11,463 in his career. Bradley doesn’t come close here. While we’re looking at stats, Baylor leads in points and ppg as well, but look at some of this information below. He had a 71-point game against the Knicks on 11/15/60. And he still holds the record for most points in an NBA Finals game with 61 vs. Boston on 4/14/62. But one big issue, Elgin Baylor never won a championship, Bradley won two.
Before we go, if you’re not familiar with this set, let’s talk about it a bit. It’s hard to find a better set for the price. The cards are a much higher quality than most early ’90’s cards. They have thick stock with these rounded corners distinctive of Action Packed. They’re embossed, the player is glossy against a matte finish on the background. Action Packed was trying to innovate here, and they even filed their own patent for the design seen in fine print on the back, “Pat. #315,364.” And, although not true vintage, the set is still full of great Hall-of-Famers and loaded with information. It’s really a must for collectors who enjoy delving into the history of the game. There are nice subsets dedicated to Larry Bird and Julius Erving as well. Since the set honors the 25th anniversary of the Hall of Fame (as displayed in the gold foil on the front), each card mentions when the player was inducted. Elgin Baylor was inducted in 1976. Really a neat set of cards for the history, and because it’s overlooked, complete sets can be found for under $20 if you look hard enough.
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