#771 San Francisco Giants

*  author's note this one is going to be tricky the first team card...  Depicted are the 1971 San Francisco Giants who made the divisional playoffs with a 90-72 record beating the Dodgers by one game. They were the first losing team to win a game since the start of divisional series taking the first game 5-4 over the eventual champs Pittsburg Pirates.  The nucleus of the team was a holdover from the teams of 1960’s that was often in a playoff hunt only to fall short (finishing 2nd five times from ’65 to ‘69).  This aging team was in its last hurrah, for in 1972 the Giant would revert to a 69-86 record, 26.5 games behind the Cincinnati Reds (the season was 7 games shorter because of a labor dispute).  Attendance almost dropped in half from 71 to 72.  This is was team that needed an overhaul. About the team card:  This is my first team card, so I have a lot to say.  Here goes…I don’t hate team cards but they are…wasteful.  The picture is too small to discriminate players (although the size of McCovey and distinctive look of Willie Mays can be made out here).  That stats on back have no bearing on the 1971 season (even making the divisional playoffs is not indicated) and this is the case for most of the team cards.  Then and now… Hitting: Eclipsed batting records are Double (4x’s), total bases, home runs (Barry Bonds 2001)   Here's a look at 1972 team records compared to Baseball reference.  A key difference is that baseball reference includes records from 1883 on, whereas Topps excludes all records from the 19th century or have a different minimum.
Batting Record in 1972		2013 status on Baseball Reference
At-bats		Unchanged
Runs		Now M Tierman with 147 (1889)
Hits		Unchanged
Singles		Unchanged
Doubles		Eclipsed 4 times Jeff Kent is now the leader.
Triples		1893 George Davis with 27.
Home Runs		Barry Bonds..insert comment here. Mays 52 hrs is now second.
Total Bases		Now Barry Bonds with 411
Run Batted In		Unchanged
Batting Average		Unchanged
Pitching		2013 Status
Games		The record is elipsed many times over Wilhelm’s mark.
Complete Games		Unchanged
Innings		Unchanged
Wins		Unchanged
Loses		Unchanged
Pct.		Whihelm’s .833 is now beat by Felix Rodriquez based on 9-1 record in 2001.

Pitching:  This is a difficult analysis; The Giants have 120 plus years of seasonal records, the nature of pitching has changed massively.  Some statistics have gone a massive change out (games appearances  some not at all (wins, losses, ERA), some records have changed by what Topps or MLB considered criteria at the time.