Jim Palmer Won His Third Cy Young…and Topps Gave Him $75

I stumbled across another cool piece of Topps history in Mastro’s August 2001 catalog: Jim Palmer’s signed 1977 Topps contract extension.

The one-page agreement, signed by Palmer and Topps executive Hank Feister in March, 1977, extended Palmer’s existing contract for another two years. And what did one of baseball’s best pitchers get for signing?

A $75 bonus.

The timing makes that figure even more amusing. Palmer was coming off his third American League Cy Young Award, having gone 22–13 with a 2.51 ERA in 1976. He had also won the award in 1973 and 1975.

So, basically: “I just won my third Cy Young Award, and all I got was this $75 Topps contract extension…and a baseball card where you can barely even see my face.”

There are 13 PSA 10-graded examples of Palmer’s ’77 Topps card. The one pictured above was the most recent to sell, bringing $2,857, via auction, on eBay in January 2024. You can find current offerings of the card on eBay by clicking here.

Mastro offered the signed contract with a $100 minimum bid, noting that it came with authentication from James Spence (PSA/DNA).

The $75 payment is obviously quaint by today’s standards, but that’s exactly why I love finding these old Topps contracts. They’re little snapshots of the business behind the cards, and apparently, even three Cy Young Awards weren’t enough to negotiate a bigger signing bonus.

Happy collecting!

P.S. You can find more Topps Baseball contracts on eBay by clicking here.