In 1977 Walter Payton carried the ball 339 times for 1,852 yards and 14 touchdowns. He was the Associated Press's Most Valuable Player and its Offensive Player of the Year, and first-team All-Pro again.
Topps gave him a round number, #200, in a set of 528, and an All-Pro card. The heading at the top reads ALL-PRO between rows of stars, with WALTER PAYTON beneath, over a frame of orange whose wide left side carries BEARS in tall letters, and an RB football in the lower corner.
The picture is not a smiling portrait, as his first two Topps cards had been. It is a sideline photograph. Payton sits in the navy jersey, number 34, the orange and white stripes on his sleeves, looking off past the camera, a teammate beside him.
The All-Pro card of the MVP season, and the picture is from the bench.
It is a plain card for an extraordinary season.
Centering problems and print flaws are the most common faults in this era of Topps.
