The 1971 main set was Topps most innovative ever, and has become their most collected set during the past few years. Vintage Hall-Of-Famers may be had for reasonable prices. It is the last great set available (in price) to the average weekend collector. New features for 1971 included: Black borders, action photos on front, portraits on back. No year-by-year stats for the first time since 1962. No separate All Star cards. Half of the high-numbers were short-printed. Top cards include: Thurman Munson #5, Nolan Ryan #512, Reggie Jackson #20, Pete Rose #100, Hank Aaron #400, Willie Mays #600, and Frank Robinson #640. Prominent rookie cards in this set are: Dusty Baker & Don Baylor; Bert Blyleven; Dave Concepcion; Steve Garvey; and Ted Simmons.

VG