Ah, 1974. Somewhat like 2022, most of it was the Year of the Tiger if you're not referring to the Detroit kind. To very prematurely celebrate the 50th anniversary (for which I think I'll have some Sports74 Gold posts), here's my selection of 50 scorecard, program, media guide, and yearbook covers from that year.
I do this because for a few days my attention has been on SportsPaper.info, a site with a bunch of those covers. The wiki could use some work.
BASEBALL
ALCS program for the "Once More in '74" Oakland A's; reuses the yearbook art.
Scorecard for the A.L. East champion Baltimore Orioles; the cover mistakenly calls it a "Golden Glove."
Media guide for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who won the National League pennant with Walter Alston at the helm for the seventh time.
Program for the N.L. East champion Pittsburgh Pirates, Pirates, Pirates, Pirates, Pirates, Pirates, Pirates (it was this or the album cover-looking yearbook).
Yearbook for the Atlanta Braves, with the big moment of '74 anticipated.
Yearbook for the New York Yankees, second place in the A.L. East in their first of two Shea Stadium seasons.
Scorecard for the four-games-out-of-first Cincinnati Reds with the image of Don Gullett; the crossword is filled in on the Joe Morgan version.
Media guide for the second-place Texas Rangers, who hired Billy Martin late in '73 and watched him go to the Yankees in '75.
The All-Star Game program, with Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente as "All-Time All-Stars."
The World Series program, with a neat concept someone had to think up sometime.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL (with final '74 AP rankings; chosen for teams and not designs)
Program for Oct. 5 game, No. 6 Notre Dame vs. No. 12 Michigan State (ND won 19-14).
Program for Oct. 12 game, No. 18 Texas vs. No. 1 Oklahoma (OU won 16-13).
Program for Nov. 23 game, No. 3 Michigan vs. No. 4 Ohio State (OHST won 12-10). Look at that Big Ten logo, so true to the name and compact in geographical area.
Program for Liberty Bowl, No. 20 Tennessee vs. No. 13 Maryland (TENN won 7-3).
Program for Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl, No. 11 N.C. State vs. No. 19 Houston (31-31 tie).
Program for Sugar Bowl, No. 9 Nebraska vs. No. 15 Florida (NEB won 13-10). Note the bicentennial logo at the top-right.
Media guide for No. 5 Alabama, with newcomer Bear Bryant.
THE NFL
Program for Super Bowl VIII, the second with the trophy on the front (VII was the last without it).
Program for the canceled Chicago College All-Star Game. Not the only charity exhibition game of the year, I could see while browsing.
Media guide for the Super Bowl IX champion Pittsburgh Steelers. Simple and symbolic.
Media guide for the NFC champion Minnesota Vikings.
Program for the Nov. 24 game between the San Diego Chargers and Green Bay Packers, Johnny Unitas having finished his career with the former the year before (GB won 34-0)
Program for the Dec. 21 playoff game between the Miami Dolphins and Oakland Raiders (OAK won 28-26).
WORLD FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Program for the Aug. 28 game between the Portland Storm and Southern California Sun (SC won 45-15), teams with distinctive uniforms (not pictured).
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Media guide for the '74 Final Four, with action from the previous year's UCLA-Memphis State game in St. Louis (it says KPLR).
Media guide for the '74-75 UCLA Bruins, with John Wooden prominently featured.
THE NBA
Playoff program for the Finals-bound '73-74 Boston Celtics.
Playoff program for the Capital Bullets in their only season under that name.
Playoff program for the champion '73-74 Milwaukee Bucks.
Media guide for the '74-75 Portland Trail Blazers, with Bill Walton's distinctive face and figure.
Program for a New Orleans Jazz vs. Kansas City-Omaha Kings game Nov. 5 at Omaha (KCO won 115-97).
THE ABA
Media guide for the '73-74 Kentucky Colonels, with a very '70s font.
Program for the '74 All-Star Game at the Norfolk Scope.
Playoff program for the Western champion Utah Stars. Groovy stripes and Rick Mount.
Program for the '74 Western runner-up Indiana Pacers' interleague game against the Milwaukee Bucks. How'd they make that picture?
Media guide for the '74-75 Pacers, whose new arena had just opened.
Yearbook for the reigning champion New York Nets of '74-75.
Media guide for the "new" Denver Nuggets, who with the name change had more of a claim to "new" than the Squires.
Media guide for the "new" Virginia Squires. Only that of the San Antonio Spurs was plainer that season.
THE NHL
Media guide for the Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers. Bobby Clarke had 37 goals in '72-73, not 36.
Playoff program for the Eastern champion Boston Bruins. Speaking of arithmetic, sometimes you'd get a program that explicitly stated the actual price plus tax.
Media guide for the '74-75 California Golden Seals, whose Schulz-created mascot would be around for only two years.
Media guide for the expansion Washington Capitals.
THE WHA
Program for the '74-75 Quebec Nordiques (from 5th place in East to first in Canadian), with Rejean Houle in his Summit Series uniform.
Media guide for the reigning Avco Cup champion Houston Aeros.
Program for the '73-74 Eastern champion New England Whalers' Oct. 19 game against the blink-and-you'll-miss-them Michigan Stags (NE won 2-1 in OT).
AUTO RACING
Program for the 450-mile Daytona 500, whose winner is on the cover, Richard Petty also having won in '73.
Program for the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, won by David Pearson.
Program for the Indianapolis 500, held on the same day as the World 600 for the first of many times and won by Johnny Rutherford.
SOCCER
Program for the West Germany-Holland World Cup final, featuring a few flags no longer in use.
EDIT 6:55 p.m. EDT: Did some more underlining and corrected category of the Orioles item.
EDIT July 16, 7:55-8:01 a.m. EDT: Added Houston's final AP ranking and deleted an unnecessary "an."
EDIT Jan. 17, 2023, 1:32-1:43 p.m. EST: Added a period after Rutherford's name, re-worded part about Braves yearbook, and kind of fixed broken link to Rangers media guide.
EDIT June 15, 2023, 12:06-12:17 p.m. EDT: Fixed some more broken links, I hope.
EDIT Nov. 30, 2023: 2:25 p.m. EDT: Introduced the "football" label.
