tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10936673645549397642024-03-14T08:05:28.448-07:00Top of the Toppspetethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-5227549421819937492013-07-31T20:33:00.001-07:002013-07-31T20:33:09.430-07:001987 Topps: Part III<b>THE SET</b><br />
<br />
<i>Vital Statistics</i><br />
<br />
There are 792 cards that look like they were cut directly from a baseball card tree in a forest near Cooperstown, plus another 132 cards in the Traded set that must have come from a radioactive tree somewhere near Chernobyl.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, another year, another third baseman for the Dodgers. Between Ron Cey's departure after the 1982 season and the arrival of Adrian Beltre in 1998 the Dodgers went though players at the hot corner like George Steinbrenner went through managers. Jeff Hamilton played more games at third for the Dodgers than anyone during that 15-year period, and was the main guy manning the position for the '88 World Champions. Former Dodger Dave Stewart started game one of that World Series for the A's. When he was asked about the Dodgers lineup on MLB Network's 20 Greatest Games, he pointed out that he didn't know who Jeff Hamilton was at the time, and that he still has no idea. But Hamilton remains the last third baseman to win a ring with the Dodgers, and you can't take that away from him.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4mwWAgqxFBnfnUxyPT5HZDvkbpxHfBcj4gIvBCPuFUR7Cv8IL1QvIeJs6LKju60tLH8iN52NIA9_vNlStD9_kVLIE1kqsv6-t3DjfPFhBqT45ao3UBlgfxjFUKt92eGgd7fs9Y3ZzEQW/s1600/1987_T_266_Jeff_Hamilton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4mwWAgqxFBnfnUxyPT5HZDvkbpxHfBcj4gIvBCPuFUR7Cv8IL1QvIeJs6LKju60tLH8iN52NIA9_vNlStD9_kVLIE1kqsv6-t3DjfPFhBqT45ao3UBlgfxjFUKt92eGgd7fs9Y3ZzEQW/s400/1987_T_266_Jeff_Hamilton.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<i>Special Cards</i><br />
<br />
<u>Checklists</u><br />
The wood grain looks nice as a backdrop to the checklists, if you're into baseball cards featuring nothing but a list of players' names.<br />
<br />
<u>Topps All-Star Rookies</u><br />
For the first time since the 1978 set, the Rookie Cup reappeared to honor selections to the annual Topps All-Star Rookie Team, which kicked off in 1959. It was a welcome return, and the cups look particularly nice in the context of the '87 design. The team Topps chose for the '86 season included four outfielders, for some reason, expanding the usual list from ten to eleven. But Topps failed to put the cup on third baseman Dale Sveum's card. American League Rookie of the Year Jose Canseco "highlighted" the ten-card subset, but Angels' first baseman Wally Joyner turned Southern California into Wallyworld that season.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi13cI7SM9j6foASfaRpdJuyfYhnZBIQG5LMDFfRMue2KfHPcGrEtwwc4RBAKUgTOFszzGlLsd-uVUkwk09z2L_Wjp47IRIWW7nndzp9ItnCvFzcM0E-eB0cxSE0DEaCbaFCpEg1tMV0Xrq/s1600/1987_T_080_Wally_Joyner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi13cI7SM9j6foASfaRpdJuyfYhnZBIQG5LMDFfRMue2KfHPcGrEtwwc4RBAKUgTOFszzGlLsd-uVUkwk09z2L_Wjp47IRIWW7nndzp9ItnCvFzcM0E-eB0cxSE0DEaCbaFCpEg1tMV0Xrq/s400/1987_T_080_Wally_Joyner.jpg" width="283" /></a></div>
<br />
<u>Future Stars</u><br />
Another concept making a return for '87, though in a drastically truncated form, was cards featuring prospects declared by Topps to be "Future Stars." The 1982 set marked the last time that often-dubious label was applied to up-and-comers. But, unlike previous incarnations, the 1987 Future Stars received cards of their own, rather than sharing them with a few other hopefuls. Also, rather than highlighting prospects from every major league team, Topps chose to predict stardom for just six players in this set. You would think that meant featuring only can't-miss prospects, but a 1987 Topps Future Stars card was probably <i>the </i>career highlight of first basemen Pat Dodson and Tim Pyznarski. Dave Magadan and B.J. Surhoff had fine careers. Rafael Palmeiro was a dirty cheat. But there was one genuine star in the bunch, and he got what would become an iconic card of the era.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqUWHmzaO8-4uYn3v-G1qLF1HMGy5VAo1ZBVv-E_0e027TsQHwACTs6OeYxq7cWCCS0n4CqAL9aVDPiW6VmB_6pV8GXwDcxDRWEdlaoyUcucgk8wQNiK1EpZIAa93jA76SMOHGlVW4f-Bt/s1600/1987_T_170_Bo_Jackson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqUWHmzaO8-4uYn3v-G1qLF1HMGy5VAo1ZBVv-E_0e027TsQHwACTs6OeYxq7cWCCS0n4CqAL9aVDPiW6VmB_6pV8GXwDcxDRWEdlaoyUcucgk8wQNiK1EpZIAa93jA76SMOHGlVW4f-Bt/s400/1987_T_170_Bo_Jackson.jpg" width="283" /></a></div>
<br />
<u>Managers</u><br />
Skippers once again play the role of keepers of the team checklist. Unless you wanted to know their height and weight (with questionable accuracy), whether they were a lefty or righty as players, where and when they were born or where they currently lived, you were pretty much out of luck. If you didn't know any better, Sparky Anderson might be in his first year as a manager and Pat Corrales might have eight world championships under his belt. You really had no way of knowing from these cards ostensibly featuring the men in question.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT4Sbz1DM1C9GQ10JpplitsqMXhyREhgLtnC2UGW62t8aeM2-ELsjIz1uPP6SKKFSAjJwjYE6jR03Rl79tro0s13jAr9pP2_dM1UaY2DCKd90Yv1YxLJfYASCjZCR3190O_YsUoAm1HNCt/s1600/1987_T_068_Tony_LaRussa_MG.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT4Sbz1DM1C9GQ10JpplitsqMXhyREhgLtnC2UGW62t8aeM2-ELsjIz1uPP6SKKFSAjJwjYE6jR03Rl79tro0s13jAr9pP2_dM1UaY2DCKd90Yv1YxLJfYASCjZCR3190O_YsUoAm1HNCt/s320/1987_T_068_Tony_LaRussa_MG.jpg" width="285" /></a></div>
<br />
<u>Team Leaders</u><br />
If you like cards featuring lots of people who you may or may not recognize standing around on a baseball field, inside of faded borders that make it all look like a half-forgotten memory, these cards are for you. The oft-repeated Topps "design" looks even more pointless when placed inside of '87's wooden borders. There was at least one card from this subset with a welcome and easily recognizable face (though in a strange uniform):<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM9vrDq6vqSJqK305kBMkzoEH7uESZ3dJ4jTtU5Fy5yjy-No0n4UMu79JU55pMzW9lHX4dA-mShJSbw-5oack-_8PBVbZdCU4rof2nGwFmONkuqsnB_Af3QbdiSh1eCp4DarjMZR1Xftf5/s1600/1987_T_531_Astros_Leaders.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM9vrDq6vqSJqK305kBMkzoEH7uESZ3dJ4jTtU5Fy5yjy-No0n4UMu79JU55pMzW9lHX4dA-mShJSbw-5oack-_8PBVbZdCU4rof2nGwFmONkuqsnB_Af3QbdiSh1eCp4DarjMZR1Xftf5/s320/1987_T_531_Astros_Leaders.jpg" width="283" /></a></div>
<br />
<u>Record Breakers</u><br />
Cards #1-7. As is often the case when Topps chose Record Breakers over Season Highlights, you get a few important records and a few that are really stretching the boundaries of what can be considered interesting. Naturally, we get another new single-season saves record (Dave Righetti, 46), with the bonus of a new rookie record (Todd Worrell, 36). The most impressive record has to be the 20-strikeout game by Roger Clemens. But there's no doubt about my favorite, considering that we have an all-time Dodger legend breaking an "old-guy" record.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUjKNw41DT8lAN11tqsv_OTsz53dzxcDet-oqX8FyHNN6a-eMR_neJHNtXM5znCnnGhgNPKBzHY-AmRq_QSEaM02cFRmVgdiSTUQe-hel4j3BmjBEz2r00emC8u5W107eMSZsL0o8n7Wee/s1600/1987_T_004_Dave_Lopes_RB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUjKNw41DT8lAN11tqsv_OTsz53dzxcDet-oqX8FyHNN6a-eMR_neJHNtXM5znCnnGhgNPKBzHY-AmRq_QSEaM02cFRmVgdiSTUQe-hel4j3BmjBEz2r00emC8u5W107eMSZsL0o8n7Wee/s400/1987_T_004_Dave_Lopes_RB.jpg" width="283" /></a></div>
<br />
<u>Turn Back the Clock</u><br />
Cards #311-315. Year two of the Turn Back the Clock project. These look really nice with the wood borders, and the selection of Topps cards displayed is top-notch. This is probably the best-looking group from the five-year run that began in '86. And, of course, I was happy that the twentieth anniversary of the last triple crown (at the time) meant an opportunity for a new (old) card of Yaz.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKdusfH1r-Pk0tcd192h6Wl0T-gaU9sOtP8Zpm-Qs6RUm2XSUGPZnkDgRtkZbqO9QJuqoxrfjc3SyviXWJ5HSQouhTDXb_Yu9FWJHoy54BfA8FdRVwCySkdkHFTzw1nB40cLPsYKzVS0Wc/s1600/1987_T_314_Carl_Yastrzemski_TBC.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKdusfH1r-Pk0tcd192h6Wl0T-gaU9sOtP8Zpm-Qs6RUm2XSUGPZnkDgRtkZbqO9QJuqoxrfjc3SyviXWJ5HSQouhTDXb_Yu9FWJHoy54BfA8FdRVwCySkdkHFTzw1nB40cLPsYKzVS0Wc/s320/1987_T_314_Carl_Yastrzemski_TBC.jpg" width="285" /></a></div>
<br />
<u>All-Stars</u><br />
Cards #595-616. The All-Star cards are among the best-looking in this classy set. The decision to employ the league logos, and to do so without using the circle that surrounds the team logos on the rest of the cards, really makes these stand out. Unfortunately, Topps continued to use the backs of these cards to awkwardly present statistical league leaders. But it's hard to hold that against cards that look this good.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhweMjBmQvP7FDHjzhTqBBCve2BvWTs2_KNnjvUfuANL6lYdaRJxa3KG4GWvrb1-rzcasNk5Az-_QWdG3M7nt5IYVj6wp8c84hojxL5-EZm-jbsZSj8FBJG7RwjT5eLMjdkL3laNmnUAaUj/s1600/1987_T_601_Darryl_Strawberry_AS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhweMjBmQvP7FDHjzhTqBBCve2BvWTs2_KNnjvUfuANL6lYdaRJxa3KG4GWvrb1-rzcasNk5Az-_QWdG3M7nt5IYVj6wp8c84hojxL5-EZm-jbsZSj8FBJG7RwjT5eLMjdkL3laNmnUAaUj/s400/1987_T_601_Darryl_Strawberry_AS.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLKW69Kd3819a_NizyS6pqOsNbhGtp8kiTzVT2e87fi59IXZhRQmzVqKocosqSjGHr2tZH8OXHo57s-UAlkLJc8_guJiIItUTWvKE6tNUHk8qsZekFWNO_CfcDEeyV5rhgln5LzCNpu4Rf/s1600/1987_T_609_Cal_Ripken_AS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLKW69Kd3819a_NizyS6pqOsNbhGtp8kiTzVT2e87fi59IXZhRQmzVqKocosqSjGHr2tZH8OXHo57s-UAlkLJc8_guJiIItUTWvKE6tNUHk8qsZekFWNO_CfcDEeyV5rhgln5LzCNpu4Rf/s400/1987_T_609_Cal_Ripken_AS.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-19041131406556858032013-07-24T23:59:00.000-07:002013-07-24T23:59:22.660-07:001987 Topps: Part II<b>THE CARDS</b><br />
<br />
<i>First Impressions</i><br />
<br />
I basically looked the other way. I mean, I was a teenager and this was the '80s. My bedroom was painted blue with red and yellow accents. The world was full of day-glow and neon and cool geometrical shapes and amazing new home computers. And here comes Topps with a set of baseball cards framed with simulated wood-grain paneling? What were they thinking? I still bought them, but it was more out of habit than excitement. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_zijlZdI4EPlR-hzvmuewbfTRCp-1YCvEAARC1ih9QECF0mcze1dgsaZXPmEPsGOgGp-KEMyfABZHgUTk63ET6wTTzfbSQmbHXah4q_jKhxTn5OhZ6wVDPSDcJhG9ZiG7a2a-qc7Q47qJ/s1600/1987_T_530_Tony_Gwynn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_zijlZdI4EPlR-hzvmuewbfTRCp-1YCvEAARC1ih9QECF0mcze1dgsaZXPmEPsGOgGp-KEMyfABZHgUTk63ET6wTTzfbSQmbHXah4q_jKhxTn5OhZ6wVDPSDcJhG9ZiG7a2a-qc7Q47qJ/s400/1987_T_530_Tony_Gwynn.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<i>26 Years Later...</i><br />
<br />
Whatever the rest of the world thought of these in 1987, today there seems to be a general consensus that this is one of the classic Topps sets. Although my opinion of the these cards has certainly moved in a positive direction over the years, I'm still not prepared to go that far. The design certainly benefits from the march of time, which has taken it out of the context of the 1980s. It never really belonged there. The '80s were not a time for the timeless. It was all about the here and now, then.<br />
<br />
One way to tell that this design is timeless is to look at cards of the White Sox. The Pale Hose tended to look great on the more '80s-centric designs of the era, in their crazy horizontal-striped, number-on-the-pants, softball uniforms. The even-yeared sets from '82 through '88 look like they might have been designed specifically with South-Siders in mind, they look so good. But when you put one of those unis inside of '87s wood-grain border, it becomes painfully obvious how time-locked that look really is.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ulmQo_QCZNyQqUSF8oIJmwWTl2kygktWFT3oJyEOe-trZr-PIc0mnqGB2T_sBiBqKWJQi1NDWd4TeE-QplmouYSXtwNzsU6VXJXzDRqcFk0Ba3ike9VQR1fpLiiFnLkJfwMqTo9IW2uG/s1600/1987_T_089_Ozzie_Guillen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ulmQo_QCZNyQqUSF8oIJmwWTl2kygktWFT3oJyEOe-trZr-PIc0mnqGB2T_sBiBqKWJQi1NDWd4TeE-QplmouYSXtwNzsU6VXJXzDRqcFk0Ba3ike9VQR1fpLiiFnLkJfwMqTo9IW2uG/s400/1987_T_089_Ozzie_Guillen.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
The classic uniforms tended to look best with this design. The Orioles, Pirates, Giants and Tigers look especially nice in their wooden frames. But one team with, shall we say, more modern sensibilities may have actually looked the best. That's because uniforms of the Oakland A's work really nicely in this context, the garish green transformed into something more reminiscent of a pine forest.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNnO3EWuzwYIk17E2bKOcwuTZAaHRlCQVDonnaZoFfauIhtwIuj2RzUQo19IHlYsAK1JRAfQNy93BF7pQiwzIQZ_Cn2ZQIH2jXyn5IraLPSVoBmUbmPZ1VWLE9hb7BtjZlSCZNwvg-IjRL/s1600/1987_T_014_Dave_Stewart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNnO3EWuzwYIk17E2bKOcwuTZAaHRlCQVDonnaZoFfauIhtwIuj2RzUQo19IHlYsAK1JRAfQNy93BF7pQiwzIQZ_Cn2ZQIH2jXyn5IraLPSVoBmUbmPZ1VWLE9hb7BtjZlSCZNwvg-IjRL/s400/1987_T_014_Dave_Stewart.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
In all, this is a fairly unobtrusive, utilitarian set of cards. There are few spectacular photos, but a lot of good ones and not many bad ones. The set is a real gamer. You get the usual mix of action and posed shots. With a few exceptions, there's a real sameness to the actions shots. Lots of conservative choices, befitting the conservative design. There is also a large population of close-up portraits among the posed shots, which look particularly good within the wood frame.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhINbz5klDZtAtF_vW0uardbyXYQH2XWRFC4D6fDh4lztA7fv3fjSopxXZBOxQ3ZAQ5mwW1QBqYevkN6S2RzgKLxVWnFvhai6OxPp6ORsoiVfGX4Nx_jO-YqgF3dhHVCkVq42tjrm0a79Xi/s1600/1987_T_672_Chili_Davis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhINbz5klDZtAtF_vW0uardbyXYQH2XWRFC4D6fDh4lztA7fv3fjSopxXZBOxQ3ZAQ5mwW1QBqYevkN6S2RzgKLxVWnFvhai6OxPp6ORsoiVfGX4Nx_jO-YqgF3dhHVCkVq42tjrm0a79Xi/s400/1987_T_672_Chili_Davis.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Speaking of Chili, there are nine other players in this set who share his name: Alvin, Eric, Glenn, Jody, Joel, Mark, Mike, Ron and Storm. Wonder if that's a record of some kind? Probably not, since nearly all of these guys hung around for several years. I never realized how Davis-filled the '80s were...<br />
<br />
It's hard to find much fault with the basic design (as long as you're cool with the whole wood thing). The circle with the team logo is a good size and in a good location. The name plate provides some team color coordination, and the font used is reasonable. The location of the Topps logo is excellent. The angles of the borders are interesting without drastically intruding on the space left for the photo. But there is one huge problem, in my opinion. For the first time since the psychedelic tombstones of 1972, the player's position is not displayed on the front of the card. This was to become way too common in the coming years, and I hold it against this set that it began that trend.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBv1Lg99LVyH_dHiQ4qE-yZvjXrEtoSHVI5UDNANXbuNA131VLWXEtRpiVElzdhKPQqaVJ7eESmFHnXoYBIvD52TIityScFmwLyePy6dAUD21QPwZBoIognMvqncqwVwbyS1tJ8PfT6Hwv/s1600/1987_T_746_Bob_Ojeda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBv1Lg99LVyH_dHiQ4qE-yZvjXrEtoSHVI5UDNANXbuNA131VLWXEtRpiVElzdhKPQqaVJ7eESmFHnXoYBIvD52TIityScFmwLyePy6dAUD21QPwZBoIognMvqncqwVwbyS1tJ8PfT6Hwv/s400/1987_T_746_Bob_Ojeda.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
On a positive note, the backs of the cards were among the most legible of the decade (although I'm not sure the blue and yellow really does much to create a unified theme with the wood grain on the front). The additional information Topps provided was some of the most interesting, as they chose to share personal information about the players. When there's room, they also give you some historical "On This Date" highlight featuring an unrelated player, punctuated by the Topps card number for that player in the year of the event discussed.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhULVjJpfoS8Y7wEoc-emaehxyFFlIYIo9ymIyfwAEdEChzusvGaLfb5_Xsz28k_cCGpjisAmdwJunlpozV-QLdXvFClXo2EK9W8_9gsybRgbzyxcUZe_5t3nebdQVpYixGkYyQDVstsgjw/s1600/1987_T_423_Jaime_Cocanower_back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhULVjJpfoS8Y7wEoc-emaehxyFFlIYIo9ymIyfwAEdEChzusvGaLfb5_Xsz28k_cCGpjisAmdwJunlpozV-QLdXvFClXo2EK9W8_9gsybRgbzyxcUZe_5t3nebdQVpYixGkYyQDVstsgjw/s400/1987_T_423_Jaime_Cocanower_back.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
In retrospect, the 1987 Topps design is a conservatively classic 25th-anniversary nod to their last wood-themed set from 1962. It may not have been a trendy choice for its time, but it holds up as a fine representative of the timeless Topps tradition.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit2fLQOB0BN4ui2K6uDrzZAmkPNqlrUdijyp-uy8ImHmoF-gYjrkfHU33x6sD-gyJCnUXFSgVLS38RC5Ic9KDdl5V0zQbuAtfda4UFKiNAko8K57gKuyzZr8ULbjxP7eZldJRNegpo3SAo/s1600/1987_T_030_Tim_Raines.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit2fLQOB0BN4ui2K6uDrzZAmkPNqlrUdijyp-uy8ImHmoF-gYjrkfHU33x6sD-gyJCnUXFSgVLS38RC5Ic9KDdl5V0zQbuAtfda4UFKiNAko8K57gKuyzZr8ULbjxP7eZldJRNegpo3SAo/s400/1987_T_030_Tim_Raines.jpg" /></a></div>
petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-6889438562099132782013-07-17T05:49:00.001-07:002013-07-17T05:49:46.031-07:001987 Topps: Part I<b>CONTEXT</b><br />
<br />
The summer of 1987 was to be the last opportunity of my childhood to listen to Vin Scully on a regular basis. Naturally, that's because my childhood was coming to an end. But also because (though I didn't know it at the time) my family was to move away from Hermosa Beach just as the next summer was getting started. Listening to Vin has been such a big part of my life that I've often said, and even more often thought, that his loss when it someday comes will hurt me as much as losing a member of my own family. And I know there are millions of people out there who feel the same way.<br />
<br />
Fortunately, thanks to modern technology, MLB Extra Innings and Gameday Audio, and Vin's legendary longevity, I again get to hear him regularly even after three decades have passed. Of course, even the lifetime I've spent enjoying his presence in my life only covers half of the story of his <i>sixty-four</i> years calling Dodger games. I get goose bumps every time I tune in and hear "It's time for Dodger baseball!" The sound of Vin's voice brings me back to a very different time in my life.<br />
<br />
I hear Vin's voice coming from the clock-radio on my Grandfather's night stand. I've quietly entered his bedroom while he sleeps early in preparation for work at 4:00 am, and I'm lying on the far side of his bed, listening through his snoring, enjoying the Dodger game he fell asleep listening to.<br />
<br />
I hear Vin's voice coming from the portable transistor radio we normally keep in the bathroom. I've taken it down the street, where I'm throwing a tennis ball against a brick wall, pretending that I'm pitching, or fielding infield grounders along with the players.<br />
<br />
I hear Vin's voice in the headphines of my Walkman. I'm riding my bike on the strand along the beach, either past King Harbor toward Palos Verdes or past Mahnattan Beach up toward Marina Del Rey. Hopefully I haven't been so engrossed in the action that I turned around too late to make it home before the game ends.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhXy5WG3UCwMaam2O6_zaCiaftjQHjMfEzt8xEOLEQWPbEm1IJ3oLBOrGx9_fNRZ6qDyCwYg71ylKsd-prmmasjw3EE65hv-uEXraJvLKIC5S8Mn3clYahN8gNWtzW3qs94arpcmP4pHvo/s1600/1987_T_431_Dodgers_Leaders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhXy5WG3UCwMaam2O6_zaCiaftjQHjMfEzt8xEOLEQWPbEm1IJ3oLBOrGx9_fNRZ6qDyCwYg71ylKsd-prmmasjw3EE65hv-uEXraJvLKIC5S8Mn3clYahN8gNWtzW3qs94arpcmP4pHvo/s400/1987_T_431_Dodgers_Leaders.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Here's how much Vin's presence has become a part of me over the years. When I look at this rather unremarkable Dodgers Leaders card (#431), featuring pitching coach Ron Perranoski leading a conference on the mound, it's the sound of Vin's voice that fills the emptiness inspired by the card's fuzzy lack of purpose. Scully explains that Perranoski is discussing whether to pitch to the left-handed hitting Ken Oberkfell with the tying run on second and two outs, or walk him and go after the righty Rafael Ramirez. Then Vin tells us to be sure to come out to the ballpark Friday night when the Blew Crew returns to Dodger Stadium. It will be a battle of left-handers as Rick Honeycutt will go up against Dave Dravecky in the first of a three-game weekend set with the Padres. Maybe he's also using this break in the action to extol the virtues of Farmer John beef franks. It doesn't really matter what he's saying. The voice of Vin Scully is magic to my ears, and will always be magic to my soul.petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-21374124740994600252013-07-11T21:53:00.000-07:002013-07-11T22:33:25.746-07:001986 Topps: Part IV<b>RANKING</b><br />
<br />
<i>Favorites</i><br />
<br />
<u>Oddball(s) of the Set</u><br />
A couple of all-time greats among the managerial ranks are featured in the Traded set. Hall-of-Famer Dick Williams gets his last shot with the Seattle Mariners, and longtime minor league manager Jim Leyland gets his first with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Unfortunately, neither is represented with much dignity here. I expect to see a giant pineapple in the kelp over Williams' shoulder, as the airbrush job makes it look like he was just hired to manage in Bikini Bottom. Meanwhile, Leyland is forced to run his team with a giant aviary perched on his head. You would expect to see a small bird take flight if he were to lift his cap, Casey Stengel style.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVZXjfda-vivmJHlIm4H5_0rjUtXJOOmN4gh28SrLfYGU4v_7osA64GIaly98ATedkWw8s2VWg2RMKj72HwZUPe5ceJWRXQiWJejW2GQFutilVof4ySypLi6BIXH61w7A4_znWDyt9toQi/s1600/1986_TU_124T_Dick_Williams_MG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVZXjfda-vivmJHlIm4H5_0rjUtXJOOmN4gh28SrLfYGU4v_7osA64GIaly98ATedkWw8s2VWg2RMKj72HwZUPe5ceJWRXQiWJejW2GQFutilVof4ySypLi6BIXH61w7A4_znWDyt9toQi/s400/1986_TU_124T_Dick_Williams_MG.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPrGm0o_SBKRD0PTmWd12BzsgMHprsstlCAlsW2ApEdgcnt9k1uTzJoX6jvFWxjhDoks6Z_vy7S2lTzCrYzMADM92DrxG8443IRY0bwbGNMeqY7dWia0kegdJCAxrHYFV0iHTESjxYmvkb/s1600/1986_TU_066T_Jim_Leyland_MG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPrGm0o_SBKRD0PTmWd12BzsgMHprsstlCAlsW2ApEdgcnt9k1uTzJoX6jvFWxjhDoks6Z_vy7S2lTzCrYzMADM92DrxG8443IRY0bwbGNMeqY7dWia0kegdJCAxrHYFV0iHTESjxYmvkb/s400/1986_TU_066T_Jim_Leyland_MG.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<u>Most Aesthetically Pleasing</u><br />
There are are ton of great shots in this set of pitchers in motion. But what really stands out is the number of excellent cards featuring catchers at work behind the plate. Among others, Tony Pena, Charlie Moore and Glenn Brummer are all featured with top-notch action shots. It's hard to choose the best, but you can't go wrong with Randy Hunt and his amazing flying cap (#218) or Bo Diaz tagging out Tommy Herr (#639).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI7bJf0VJ9YZlGfd7MeRL6TJ3TtqbrkhKutzvre1JckTCJSyxV9ist1zFhLBVT6pKpaTdm9UzhcborT8GEHFg_EA3iQ2-rfbYqiMP3wUd8U3g8nSqFG3j6muwnc4t886dJze4t1K3GioPm/s1600/1986_T_218_Randy_Hunt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI7bJf0VJ9YZlGfd7MeRL6TJ3TtqbrkhKutzvre1JckTCJSyxV9ist1zFhLBVT6pKpaTdm9UzhcborT8GEHFg_EA3iQ2-rfbYqiMP3wUd8U3g8nSqFG3j6muwnc4t886dJze4t1K3GioPm/s400/1986_T_218_Randy_Hunt.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUuQ-yfYrXDRli2PHaJ-3-dayAFYwUsbtfuGTqRrl4bn3nBhS-GQZQ6U1UvFB_Db7SB70taRo_WxL8AG7qfScMRdeIuqREhAaVgboiOEO37Y82fYpy26lM2kntustEXkOu8EJviSOAgjOY/s1600/1986_T_639_Bo_Diaz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUuQ-yfYrXDRli2PHaJ-3-dayAFYwUsbtfuGTqRrl4bn3nBhS-GQZQ6U1UvFB_Db7SB70taRo_WxL8AG7qfScMRdeIuqREhAaVgboiOEO37Y82fYpy26lM2kntustEXkOu8EJviSOAgjOY/s400/1986_T_639_Bo_Diaz.jpg" /></a></div><br />
As great as those are, and as much as I hate to admit it, this Jeff Leonard card (#490) is simply baaaaaad-ass! He's a Giant, and a loudmouth hot dog. But can you beat that black bat, helmet, eye black and 'stache matching up with the card's black border, then the orange of the Giants logo, the doughnut, the stripes on the bat, and the orange tint to the fans in the stands matching up with the card's accent color? Add in that "I'm about to step into the batter's box with bad intentions" glare and, grudgingly, I've gotta admit it's one Giant of a card.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-h1gP4YQeVc5UUbzU6eJGO22T_Q0ClIsIM5Bqd96A7ITrKTNYWWBIRNbisXvrgCwkD318YysJEM8yLi0YZZ8IsMbdJvuw5rbvNZE44NdcYpx5x4-3ypEXtsE0YzCQnt4N77oRHsVyK7qp/s1600/1986_T_490_Jeff_Leonard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-h1gP4YQeVc5UUbzU6eJGO22T_Q0ClIsIM5Bqd96A7ITrKTNYWWBIRNbisXvrgCwkD318YysJEM8yLi0YZZ8IsMbdJvuw5rbvNZE44NdcYpx5x4-3ypEXtsE0YzCQnt4N77oRHsVyK7qp/s400/1986_T_490_Jeff_Leonard.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<u>Favorite Non-Dodgers Card(s)</u><br />
This set is all about the aesthetics, and no team's cards look nicer than those of the Yankees. It's a colorful set, but it's the stark black and white, of the card design and of the classic pinstripes, that make the Yanks' cards really stand out. Ken Griffey has a nice portrait shot. The Niekro brothers, Phil and Joe, look good as teammates for the first time in over a decade. Eddie Whitson may have had a tortured tenure in pinstripes, but he has a fabulous '86 Topps card. Frankly, they all look great. But my favorites are the real Bronx Bombers of the set: Dave Winfield (#70) and Don Mattingly (#180), both shown doing what they did best (among a great many other things on the diamond).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUx3O6uo8qNcK3y6oC69tpUCsPp7C1KNR2-4WmITtr2Ty5LS7aPneuKHtpHXs0Md-gfJslSuGjBhFNzECsJCwOEIoJFYoh70NK_Jg8YMaDLbiJJ6_d7JvevKfMidYKLgr8yUjaqTuMsM7C/s1600/1986_T_070_Dave_Winfield.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUx3O6uo8qNcK3y6oC69tpUCsPp7C1KNR2-4WmITtr2Ty5LS7aPneuKHtpHXs0Md-gfJslSuGjBhFNzECsJCwOEIoJFYoh70NK_Jg8YMaDLbiJJ6_d7JvevKfMidYKLgr8yUjaqTuMsM7C/s400/1986_T_070_Dave_Winfield.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEZQCO8NPZxXBufunBBFmh34MaEQ4-SWDRXRXXVi7kXPywTpFuAVOOv1Xmmv3RoKn9rCewooLQQV5QOuRUEiv3Od65YCqjjf7q7Rb7Fl_rA2WCNSptL7jWXpUQklWA7Hu5XMSVhB0sCWqM/s1600/1986_T_180_Don_Mattingly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEZQCO8NPZxXBufunBBFmh34MaEQ4-SWDRXRXXVi7kXPywTpFuAVOOv1Xmmv3RoKn9rCewooLQQV5QOuRUEiv3Od65YCqjjf7q7Rb7Fl_rA2WCNSptL7jWXpUQklWA7Hu5XMSVhB0sCWqM/s400/1986_T_180_Don_Mattingly.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<u>Favorite Dodgers Card(s)</u><br />
Fernando Valenzuela may have had his finest season in 1985, and his '86 Topps cards do that justice. In an echo of the historic start to his rookie season in 1981, Fernando set a big-league mark for consecutive scoreless innings to begin a season. In the most interesting card of the bunch, they Turn Back the Clock to highlight that rookie year. The thing about this card, which makes it my favorite of the set, is that the card depicted on the front is not the card that came out in the Traded set in 1981. (You can view <a href="http://topofthetopps.blogspot.com/2013/05/1981-topps-part-iv.html">1981 Topps: Part IV</a> to see that card.) It's remarkably similar, the only difference being that Fernando faces the camera squarely on this card, while he stands sideways on the original. Why Topps did this is a mystery to me, but for what it's worth I think it's kinda neat.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglse9AbfohV_NCkiqdRFrDd9Yj17z2K7aAzd2jJFqH5AiVQ1rBsz92Vc9mKvteGvdP6pxpolMytGztBwW5uQFzA-QuOnCmCRpYmaNNOwE0c0Mz4_zNhhQTwijDX7cYoaVvjN0LB1fgSZ8q/s1600/1986_T_630_Fernando_Valenzuela.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglse9AbfohV_NCkiqdRFrDd9Yj17z2K7aAzd2jJFqH5AiVQ1rBsz92Vc9mKvteGvdP6pxpolMytGztBwW5uQFzA-QuOnCmCRpYmaNNOwE0c0Mz4_zNhhQTwijDX7cYoaVvjN0LB1fgSZ8q/s400/1986_T_630_Fernando_Valenzuela.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwpcrJqWD9IHicmWGLW3SablxGQe7ldhvNjshELi0d0wnwbV_d5mGtTysaP3uMxH2l3RPsxysp1CT658P2lfIWv6CtQaR23KSioRRoSW2fhqBqXoPsQOFNY6dLNdU0w9YHP-p9EjAvIO5D/s1600/1986_T_207_Fernando_Valenzuela_RB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwpcrJqWD9IHicmWGLW3SablxGQe7ldhvNjshELi0d0wnwbV_d5mGtTysaP3uMxH2l3RPsxysp1CT658P2lfIWv6CtQaR23KSioRRoSW2fhqBqXoPsQOFNY6dLNdU0w9YHP-p9EjAvIO5D/s400/1986_T_207_Fernando_Valenzuela_RB.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCSv14Z0nH2MZdqrCIuot5db5-limDDxpNPnLGXUwdR88z1V-z3idm26L-HA-_J-wmcxn9pglRrDlDAK7ita47zuSrnPrC40DZv2KCJAFnoMoXoz36L6PoU879R_4tIH8y3NGRDjpdcy5M/s1600/1986_T_401_Fernando_Valenzuela_TBC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCSv14Z0nH2MZdqrCIuot5db5-limDDxpNPnLGXUwdR88z1V-z3idm26L-HA-_J-wmcxn9pglRrDlDAK7ita47zuSrnPrC40DZv2KCJAFnoMoXoz36L6PoU879R_4tIH8y3NGRDjpdcy5M/s400/1986_T_401_Fernando_Valenzuela_TBC.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<u>One Final Thought</u><br />
1986 Topps may have unofficially been the "Pete Rose Set," but Charlie Hustle wasn't the only ancient first baseman playing for the Cincinnati Reds to get some Topps love in '86. Hall-of-Famer Tony Perez, who hit .328 at the age of 43 in a loose platoon with Rose, gets two great pieces of cardboard of his own. His base card (#85) is one of the nicest in the set, featuring a changing-of-the-guard moment with young Eric Davis. And any Record Breaker card that begins "Oldest Player to..." is automatically among my favorites.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVWzQFJyyCNoFUPwA6xs2X0SL5drxOBdN8wT-Fdw3CLwJ69fa4E4o5uk1Tpzo55xKwphFASMgB2qY4sjQIa2yURu_JxN_xAZ8RkIv630fEFTzNzxJmfX5D6x6M0ADBcbasBzfloH6339B1/s1600/1986_T_085_Tony_Perez.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVWzQFJyyCNoFUPwA6xs2X0SL5drxOBdN8wT-Fdw3CLwJ69fa4E4o5uk1Tpzo55xKwphFASMgB2qY4sjQIa2yURu_JxN_xAZ8RkIv630fEFTzNzxJmfX5D6x6M0ADBcbasBzfloH6339B1/s400/1986_T_085_Tony_Perez.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3itnXsSejveDPe9PA8EmIzwYxJp2qViDJsGRFfHMsLumsagEqzIq_9lZbyfI0qYfT5aua3irWLCVH5fwNJDtlqyjDhY6f5TcdJpSQjLYyATP-cXSEVkFWwBnlbbb-p8ZgqXe3SPA9_PLg/s1600/1986_T_205_Tony_Perez_RB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3itnXsSejveDPe9PA8EmIzwYxJp2qViDJsGRFfHMsLumsagEqzIq_9lZbyfI0qYfT5aua3irWLCVH5fwNJDtlqyjDhY6f5TcdJpSQjLYyATP-cXSEVkFWwBnlbbb-p8ZgqXe3SPA9_PLg/s400/1986_T_205_Tony_Perez_RB.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<i>The Big Picture</i><br />
<br />
This boils down to a race with 1984 for second place. In the 1986 set's favor: A beautiful card design, the nifty Pete Rose Special tribute, the introduction of the five-year Turn Back the Clock plan, and an incredible crop of rookies in the Traded set. Working against '86: Managers as checklists, All-Stars as League Leaders, the introduction of the ghostly and ghastly Team Leaders card design, bland subset designs, in general, and a tendency toward blotchy printing issues. The devil's in the details, and as great as the base cards look, those details push 1986 Topps into the #3 spot with seven sets reviewed, after 1984 and ahead of 1981.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjenTAWj2Wx24HIbCfxOIYqQgTyzEd3-i7tCGEuJY96owR5vqxINyvYD3BxI7wQ2SSNeEFV-aUaWbfa3RJY5y6GP9xp_5caWZzRUfv0r3dcu2kE_nnT_ozZPi2FjBUWzT7BGEfShpcMaC9w/s1600/1981_T_550_Tommy_John.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjenTAWj2Wx24HIbCfxOIYqQgTyzEd3-i7tCGEuJY96owR5vqxINyvYD3BxI7wQ2SSNeEFV-aUaWbfa3RJY5y6GP9xp_5caWZzRUfv0r3dcu2kE_nnT_ozZPi2FjBUWzT7BGEfShpcMaC9w/s200/1981_T_550_Tommy_John.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqW1ifyxs4F50iNeEdRn6XKYXVux5nHJx617CatjGAGgfAv09ttCOLbe8NkurnKRthUZ8Nhi_KfDuxZ-cAVUCfmfDv0q3jUsQfpOcMtloBT77kIQwqcB97Maq3x46W0lf20vxwLDdm5CiY/s1600/1984_T_655_Amos_Otis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqW1ifyxs4F50iNeEdRn6XKYXVux5nHJx617CatjGAGgfAv09ttCOLbe8NkurnKRthUZ8Nhi_KfDuxZ-cAVUCfmfDv0q3jUsQfpOcMtloBT77kIQwqcB97Maq3x46W0lf20vxwLDdm5CiY/s200/1984_T_655_Amos_Otis.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRktAnBjnJ-_8sBrsKF4sXN1Gp8P9kJ3cZDGXRgnLWhmFTUwm5HjiCHspKP1deQGO6g6NfDCikYz5MggGFTeXGTT7t9w5O1OY82U8WEvsSf1xU0fRvALRXppCQy1Nc4bUuj80n8Uk4oC59/s1600/1986_T_270_Jack_Morris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRktAnBjnJ-_8sBrsKF4sXN1Gp8P9kJ3cZDGXRgnLWhmFTUwm5HjiCHspKP1deQGO6g6NfDCikYz5MggGFTeXGTT7t9w5O1OY82U8WEvsSf1xU0fRvALRXppCQy1Nc4bUuj80n8Uk4oC59/s400/1986_T_270_Jack_Morris.jpg" /></a></div>petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-64946537937701569472013-07-05T20:18:00.000-07:002013-07-05T21:09:55.015-07:001986 Topps: Part III-T<b>TRADED</b><br />
<br />
Harbingers of darkness...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeBvnLnLWhylUDEYgkYEfPRukEp8EsrFunsbAg0TcCPyKOwcQtlIguykqkNOsWMiwjuelijShoio8IZSd6KS57qRmeVcglSXR79ylYMKNH0VIOn6CwEJTs6xRuytTYQq6vwJ3o7gUn_38z/s1600/1986_TU_011T_Barry_Bonds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeBvnLnLWhylUDEYgkYEfPRukEp8EsrFunsbAg0TcCPyKOwcQtlIguykqkNOsWMiwjuelijShoio8IZSd6KS57qRmeVcglSXR79ylYMKNH0VIOn6CwEJTs6xRuytTYQq6vwJ3o7gUn_38z/s400/1986_TU_011T_Barry_Bonds.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_zpcoHdVykIiFCE9igvy0qY7DO982_QDFRZjHvgcEbB26Hr7xP7xcKEs7NZnmO2j9kVT8P1vapGuWnyo2FfUW9hkA_sQWfeyTcLYqzRO4hyphenhyphen57qdpXfp8a94O-OY_dkExozuphUSCNrrxz/s1600/1986_TU_020T_Jose_Canseco.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_zpcoHdVykIiFCE9igvy0qY7DO982_QDFRZjHvgcEbB26Hr7xP7xcKEs7NZnmO2j9kVT8P1vapGuWnyo2FfUW9hkA_sQWfeyTcLYqzRO4hyphenhyphen57qdpXfp8a94O-OY_dkExozuphUSCNrrxz/s400/1986_TU_020T_Jose_Canseco.jpg" /></a></div><br />
This set is the complete opposite of the previous year's Traded set. In '85, the biggest rookies were Vince Coleman, Ozzie Guillen and Teddy Higuera. In addition to Bonds (#11T) and Canseco (#20T), the 1986 Traded set marked the debut of, among others, Bobby Bonilla, Will Clark (#24T), Mark Eichhorn, Andres Galarraga, Pete Incaviglia, Bo Jackson, Wally Joyner, John Kruk, Kevin Mitchell, Dan Plesac, Bip Roberts, Kurt Stillwell, Dale Sveum, Danny Tartabull, Bob Tewksbury, Robby Thompson, Mitch Williams (#125T), Bobby Witt and Todd Worrell. Not to mention one of the best baseball names of the '80s (though a bust on the field), Billy Jo Robidoux.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlCcYqGuTs4AS-RXEsGKxpHqVdU9ibHD5xXd8tSvrbYwsXC4Z46i1ke76piSzbAjlXFHVp2i_rprUyWZMdf2Ngp5MRb_QN0x__HiU9WaVpEaDTWwPMNEhpN96wtns-23ZpS5PhzD53jRXb/s1600/1986_TU_125T_Mitch_Williams.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlCcYqGuTs4AS-RXEsGKxpHqVdU9ibHD5xXd8tSvrbYwsXC4Z46i1ke76piSzbAjlXFHVp2i_rprUyWZMdf2Ngp5MRb_QN0x__HiU9WaVpEaDTWwPMNEhpN96wtns-23ZpS5PhzD53jRXb/s400/1986_TU_125T_Mitch_Williams.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXZf884f38EbRMDb5jXn_wOicBULTfOYpUb-pwKC4LThL8_XQiMdJ-5rlzj6-6fTlG-HGnrfUksnDXzaB8S8AVL1uHsixDbnrbVVzFmaL0E85OK5g4ZOGmZhVu2SacF8GpET_9W6SuQRpU/s1600/1986_TU_024T_Will_Clark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXZf884f38EbRMDb5jXn_wOicBULTfOYpUb-pwKC4LThL8_XQiMdJ-5rlzj6-6fTlG-HGnrfUksnDXzaB8S8AVL1uHsixDbnrbVVzFmaL0E85OK5g4ZOGmZhVu2SacF8GpET_9W6SuQRpU/s400/1986_TU_024T_Will_Clark.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Sweet Lou Piniella, who appeared as a player as late as the 1984 set, shows up here (#86T) as the latest of George Steinbrenner's managerial whims.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw_uZ_d1uAWElaX45fEBUiM0o5VGkkrbJDVvduRlK-zptxfy_pqj7i45bZXy9AadB6jsjtWxhx3E2hQf9uBxrP06-VllB3w0HdvIxLnc0T_QsOB4OL2LIsA1GysDZAxRP9I2aimi0pSqhV/s1600/1986_TU_086T_Lou_Piniella_MG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw_uZ_d1uAWElaX45fEBUiM0o5VGkkrbJDVvduRlK-zptxfy_pqj7i45bZXy9AadB6jsjtWxhx3E2hQf9uBxrP06-VllB3w0HdvIxLnc0T_QsOB4OL2LIsA1GysDZAxRP9I2aimi0pSqhV/s400/1986_TU_086T_Lou_Piniella_MG.jpg" /></a></div><br />
One of my favorite stories here is that of the "Rooster," Rick Burleson. The Angels' shortstop had missed most of the past four years, and all of 1985, due to a torn rotator cuff and a dislocated shoulder. He kept battling and finally made it back to play an important role on the '86 division championship team, hitting .284 in 93 games as the Angels' utility infielder.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH0bX7-2ah8rmRV0xD-OkmyMKkWV7Qhdb_q1fW_SeWAAdJexXWCJih2jSWX02UBO6KSU4r3vq6wRP6aJqL8i29MmXnNP5SuGiXBlVkleno_l_bp1kRIdgdAJMJ7KRJ-xGjHbA72XFrY4KH/s1600/1986_TU_016T_Rick_Burleson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH0bX7-2ah8rmRV0xD-OkmyMKkWV7Qhdb_q1fW_SeWAAdJexXWCJih2jSWX02UBO6KSU4r3vq6wRP6aJqL8i29MmXnNP5SuGiXBlVkleno_l_bp1kRIdgdAJMJ7KRJ-xGjHbA72XFrY4KH/s400/1986_TU_016T_Rick_Burleson.jpg" /></a></div><br />
We're once again treated to "premium" card stock for the Traded set in '86. I guess I'm starting to warm up to this... a little. I still don't like that it makes for a big difference between base set and Traded set cards. But I have to admit that they look pretty good again, and that the backs are particularly enhanced.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoTLy7S-1WCv4glR5ilVuEyn9HcUtF33e5Snw5QFdwbiobAl-qhDWr-napsZTnJYXek45T8QksS2cDHczdkuoX8bwKLII3n-22tEGEA_00itc6x_-1kMO9FWpp9_xjELylGsuw332kLhhN/s1600/1986_TU_067T_Steve_Lyons_back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoTLy7S-1WCv4glR5ilVuEyn9HcUtF33e5Snw5QFdwbiobAl-qhDWr-napsZTnJYXek45T8QksS2cDHczdkuoX8bwKLII3n-22tEGEA_00itc6x_-1kMO9FWpp9_xjELylGsuw332kLhhN/s400/1986_TU_067T_Steve_Lyons_back.jpg" /></a></div><br />
So, what happens to the Blue Crew in the '86 Traded set? They get a couple of veteran role players: catcher Alex Trevino and lefty reliever Ed VandeBerg. The set also marks the arrival of the fourth future star first baseman since the departure of Steve Garvey three years ago. There was Mike Marshall, Greg Brock, Sid Bream, and now Franklin Stubbs. All had solid major league careers. None became a star hitting away from the thin Albuquerque atmosphere. As for departures, we get another long-time Dodger in an unfamiliar uniform. After fourteen seasons in Los Angeles, Playgirl pinup model and catcher's mask throat guard inventor Steve Yeager moved up the coast to the Pacific Northwest for a year before hanging up the spikes for good. Not quite as torturous as previous losses, given the established presence of Mike Scioscia behind the plate.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv3cKNI9I-GQWivB9KepBu7e_rPZnMpVFbBVqf0bAG6KZCjGXO-BbDR7ELDG-t6OkvOZaHdgWXjF2gvp7l4qBHIjvfhr97FGJ4G79LkvQQg6ecveLZ7QDesrOWlnRGKxqkEls8Ja-EdMi3/s1600/1986_TU_130T_Steve_Yeager.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv3cKNI9I-GQWivB9KepBu7e_rPZnMpVFbBVqf0bAG6KZCjGXO-BbDR7ELDG-t6OkvOZaHdgWXjF2gvp7l4qBHIjvfhr97FGJ4G79LkvQQg6ecveLZ7QDesrOWlnRGKxqkEls8Ja-EdMi3/s400/1986_TU_130T_Steve_Yeager.jpg" /></a></div>petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-42279707182067442262013-06-30T23:35:00.001-07:002013-06-30T23:35:57.207-07:001986 Topps: Part III<b>THE SET</b><br />
<br />
<i>Vital Statistics</i><br />
<br />
You know the drill: 792-card base set, 132-card Traded set.<br />
<br />
A notable Dodger newcomer from this set is four-time batting champ Bill Madlock. Mad Dog was acquired for the stretch run in 1985 and hit a blistering .360 in 34 games for LA as they cruised to another NL West title. He stayed hot in the NLCS against the Cardinals, batting .333 with three homers and seven RBI. But he had to watch Jack Clark's backbreaking blast sail into the left field pavilion, taking a shot at riding his hot bat into the Fall Classic along with it. Madlock would have a decent year with the Dodgers in '86, but would get off to a bad start in '87, prompting his release and sending the revolving door at third base back into motion for the Blue Crew.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA07fOCJeJBrMWlf9gK8elMF0exqZ87MVZZchwvq8JS986nIhyphenhyphenNYthm26-HubwwtTty3sEENP6HnI6nR7EYHRHdaaGbolDjuq6_j5kyRM-dOdnY6aB8ltLEJdW79smRubxJctmOBZCIGx4/s1600/1986_T_470_Bill_Madlock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA07fOCJeJBrMWlf9gK8elMF0exqZ87MVZZchwvq8JS986nIhyphenhyphenNYthm26-HubwwtTty3sEENP6HnI6nR7EYHRHdaaGbolDjuq6_j5kyRM-dOdnY6aB8ltLEJdW79smRubxJctmOBZCIGx4/s400/1986_T_470_Bill_Madlock.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<i>Special Cards</i><br />
<br />
In 2013 Topps notoriously refused to use Pete Rose's name in its Chasing History blurbs on the backs of its cards. But 1986 Topps could rightfully be referred to as the "Pete Rose Set." We've already seen card #1 from this set, featuring the awesome 1B-MGR position designation. But that's just the beginning.<br />
<br />
<u>Managers</u><br />
They're in the set again. Very good. But their cards are used as team checklists again. Not so good. Always glad to see them included though.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinToQjunxX1q9klJWrbdKOWRMls2BCZZEc9q5PV0pdhTcOla-LKYoPJEYs7ZJAtD-8IthMGKLphl9RB6dYBaoSu7gBx8hL1Flf2HJ9WGJFcLi3Es9S_Mj06WStnoL1M03M1yaxVy3anV7V/s1600/1986_T_199_Dick_Howser_MG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinToQjunxX1q9klJWrbdKOWRMls2BCZZEc9q5PV0pdhTcOla-LKYoPJEYs7ZJAtD-8IthMGKLphl9RB6dYBaoSu7gBx8hL1Flf2HJ9WGJFcLi3Es9S_Mj06WStnoL1M03M1yaxVy3anV7V/s400/1986_T_199_Dick_Howser_MG.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXyUxroeLWEpec_H0bf-MwPr0YkgUGxp5m6EabNmNECXG9JBLFQZOz8scaWw0Ti3SOU6Lap7uht-SoCqiR5lWUkVeKyqPb9koVJ5WqlawQ_qg50SMN1YtMxTrQ0hSzi9pLm9WpRtAI1xnM/s600/1986_T_741_Pete_Rose_MG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXyUxroeLWEpec_H0bf-MwPr0YkgUGxp5m6EabNmNECXG9JBLFQZOz8scaWw0Ti3SOU6Lap7uht-SoCqiR5lWUkVeKyqPb9koVJ5WqlawQ_qg50SMN1YtMxTrQ0hSzi9pLm9WpRtAI1xnM/s400/1986_T_741_Pete_Rose_MG.jpg" width="284" /></a></div><br />
<u>Record Breakers</u><br />
Cards #201-207. The reason, of course, that Pete Rose is featured so prominently in this set is that he broke one of the game's most hallowed records, becoming baseball's all-time hits leader. At the other end of the spectrum, Topps recognized Keith Hernandez for breaking the record for a stat that had been in existence for just six years, and which would be abandoned by the end of the decade. But any excuse to use that great photo of him losing his batting helmet is worthwhile. Other cards in this subset include Dwight Gooden becoming the youngest 20-game winner and Phil Niekro becoming the oldest pitcher to throw a complete game shutout.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOZsSrmdPkwx2KeyrbwkQd0nnR3oPaLiRyys3DYKf1BHcEzdyOYQSYJQXNajGRJTMVb-2MSVttPZPsckTGLFxhcVBfDUj7fYh9oWcdbQvecZxkobfEkWYNICIGKWCsjY1fxJ5m_0vP24qx/s600/1986_T_206_Pete_Rose_RB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOZsSrmdPkwx2KeyrbwkQd0nnR3oPaLiRyys3DYKf1BHcEzdyOYQSYJQXNajGRJTMVb-2MSVttPZPsckTGLFxhcVBfDUj7fYh9oWcdbQvecZxkobfEkWYNICIGKWCsjY1fxJ5m_0vP24qx/s400/1986_T_206_Pete_Rose_RB.jpg" width="285" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjskHsp_Fx3UGhPImsNLatPw3lGdd1BhsMe5VsBGxyNTQSwLoOo3XO4iJOOTY4j1ZBeXyo4h4eAz8gjedDEgqL_ir5yHp7hE4V7x7DBZoOI5_0gz05iyLKS0WguPvHqnVBaGt6MVL_ozq57/s1600/1986_T_203_Keith_Hernandez_RB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjskHsp_Fx3UGhPImsNLatPw3lGdd1BhsMe5VsBGxyNTQSwLoOo3XO4iJOOTY4j1ZBeXyo4h4eAz8gjedDEgqL_ir5yHp7hE4V7x7DBZoOI5_0gz05iyLKS0WguPvHqnVBaGt6MVL_ozq57/s400/1986_T_203_Keith_Hernandez_RB.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<u>Pete Rose Special</u><br />
Cards #2-7. Topps broke out a classic tribute, previously used only for Hank Aaron in the 1974 set in honor of his becoming the all-time home run king. Depicting all of his Topps cards over the years, from 1963, through the crew-cut years and the bowl-cut years, up until 1985, the Pete Rose Specials feature yearly career highlights on their flip sides. On the final card (#7), Charlie Hustle is shown honoring the memory of Ty Cobb, the man he supplanted as the hit king.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAxifRGNmmxpIG3J11RTxhoN3QTEb79BMXyWEDPiS1zVLPqIPikw_X1CT4f1ghy0UWJaG2rnL8py9crH9CSPqzWT0KrtHotNJhTpYGfUtZ061nfWHq8xAWQs-OeJ1kbhljVNRc9jlUFp6m/s1600/1986_T_007_Pete_Rose_Special_83-85.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAxifRGNmmxpIG3J11RTxhoN3QTEb79BMXyWEDPiS1zVLPqIPikw_X1CT4f1ghy0UWJaG2rnL8py9crH9CSPqzWT0KrtHotNJhTpYGfUtZ061nfWHq8xAWQs-OeJ1kbhljVNRc9jlUFp6m/s400/1986_T_007_Pete_Rose_Special_83-85.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<u>Checklists</u><br />
These use the black frame along the card tops, with a yellow-backed checklist where the photo would be. A nice use of the set's motif, for what it's worth.<br />
<br />
<u>All-Stars</u><br />
Cards #701-722. Other than the checklists, none of the subsets here uses the black border of the player/manager cards. That serves to set these cards apart, but none of the design concepts is very inspired. The All-Star cards are particularly spartan, but pleasantly so, with most featuring classic posed shots. The player names are bold along the top, but I wish the team name font would have been incorporated into the subset designs. The card backs are again used to display league leaders, which is not one of my favorite choices from this era.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMFO_XQkgquqhAQ2gpClx27ftmjeqZbsyOxXJxyyCzQLDQZG6CDLQMpK0HbEd6K2hQtBX7u-TALTrUAjLwCuEnEjsi6R35ZZjwHIi9QNqmNCM9OXOhhltQEz1p4f3VW1by4He5dOcEpciZ/s600/1986_T_705_Dale_Murphy_AS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMFO_XQkgquqhAQ2gpClx27ftmjeqZbsyOxXJxyyCzQLDQZG6CDLQMpK0HbEd6K2hQtBX7u-TALTrUAjLwCuEnEjsi6R35ZZjwHIi9QNqmNCM9OXOhhltQEz1p4f3VW1by4He5dOcEpciZ/s400/1986_T_705_Dale_Murphy_AS.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br />
<u>Team Leaders</u><br />
After a one-year hiatus, Team Leaders return, but in a completely different form. Whereas these had been used as team checklists from 1982-1984, the backs of these cards show the team's leaders in a number of batting and pitching categories. The cards, rather than showing batting average and ERA leaders for each team, depict the dean of each team, with the date from which their continuous service with the team began indicated on the back. The design, which was to persist in one form or another for several years, is one of my least favorite. The photo is turned into an amorphous blob, fading to oddly-shaped white borders, giving the impression that you're looking at a heavenly tribute to a deceased player. One of the few good-looking cards from this subset is big Lee Smith (#636), whose imposing presence manages to break through the fuzzy haze.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUAdKMK4IjjFq0VNggj1T1CdwtYMVjJie6R08T7iOaouHX_GTjiG7xXQznsrJzwlxtjI_GBO_fPokGYhgNcW0ymMQBXEroAvQLLeYqyZiE8QLKVK-kIzvI4SN6n0mpljONo3uQRPIt5EbZ/s1600/1986_T_636_Cubs_Leaders_Lee_Smith.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUAdKMK4IjjFq0VNggj1T1CdwtYMVjJie6R08T7iOaouHX_GTjiG7xXQznsrJzwlxtjI_GBO_fPokGYhgNcW0ymMQBXEroAvQLLeYqyZiE8QLKVK-kIzvI4SN6n0mpljONo3uQRPIt5EbZ/s400/1986_T_636_Cubs_Leaders_Lee_Smith.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<u>Turn Back the Clock</u><br />
Cards #401-405. Reviving a concept first used in 1977, Topps gives us a little history lesson. These cards "Turn Back the Clock" in five-year increments, discussing the highlights of each season on the back. Unlike the '77 edition, these use Topps cards from the year in question as the graphic feature. Getting some baseball history is always a positive, but the thing that elevates this concept to something really special is that Topps stayed with it for the next four years, creating a multi-year subset that ends up covering 25 seasons.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNQ8HHho2xYWQ75ZdHabRAQEhYgLR18JecfazoSy0fm-WCXZai3X-yTGFEf-Tl9bjbmhk_iafUSZyejWCiZE606o5xwMkpoUJvhzLJ2eduBguSwvl8lk79xWkOy-AEVwD2a-UN3vZ1eM63/s1600/1986_T_403_Willie_Mays_TBC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNQ8HHho2xYWQ75ZdHabRAQEhYgLR18JecfazoSy0fm-WCXZai3X-yTGFEf-Tl9bjbmhk_iafUSZyejWCiZE606o5xwMkpoUJvhzLJ2eduBguSwvl8lk79xWkOy-AEVwD2a-UN3vZ1eM63/s400/1986_T_403_Willie_Mays_TBC.jpg" /></a></div>petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-20170301869994663962013-06-26T11:09:00.000-07:002013-06-26T11:09:15.667-07:001986 Topps: Part II<b>THE CARDS</b><br />
<br />
<i>First Impressions</i><br />
<br />
Mired in the first collecting slump of my lifetime, although a minor one, my appreciation for this set was muted at the time. I was just too busy with sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll to bother. That is, if you count just thinking about sex... all of the time... and substitute comic books for drugs (it was a serious addiction). Also, my Dodgers were muddling through their worst season since I became a fan. And the whole black and white border thing just didn't grab my attention, either.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhelbjqazDzikNYifMjsdPSZ-tD2Hqki-8p7konU9ZWIeIqEBDvmP0t5_bvEv-tAXHXRv2xxjnQ7mrbkx4iQldjQLIMvqWqugwaiUQABjqSfwddskCC4DmTNy6dhJ1nFerQ2N_zHIS3G6Z7/s1600/1986_T_410_Dave_Kingman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhelbjqazDzikNYifMjsdPSZ-tD2Hqki-8p7konU9ZWIeIqEBDvmP0t5_bvEv-tAXHXRv2xxjnQ7mrbkx4iQldjQLIMvqWqugwaiUQABjqSfwddskCC4DmTNy6dhJ1nFerQ2N_zHIS3G6Z7/s400/1986_T_410_Dave_Kingman.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<i>27 Years Later...</i><br />
<br />
Turns out that I managed to let a minor gem slip through the massive cracks in my attention span. This is one of the more beautiful sets of the decade. What I'd considered to be a set lacking in color as a teenager is actually one of the more colorful. The use of black to frame the top quarter of the card with the team name actually serves to make the color that's used really pop. The team names are featured in a fabulously bold '80s-rific neo-futuristic font, which is so great that it manages to pull off the trick of also being timeless. These are stretched to cover the tops of each card, except, for obvious reasons, in the case of the A's. Bright coordinated team colors are used for the team names, as well as a small circle in the lower left corner of the photos displaying the player's position. The Topps logo again appears in an upper corner of the photo. The player's name anchors the bottom in black.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTMkehVV598MfHhSHDyf8c6x2yfUxIKZCpmYtwTq4yuzk56beNBMOTAtgvS2TP10YoKS5LT0MkeozxBHK6yx5mEyrx8CCLVlD2e2Eope9KZr535XZKSDfmAOwKvOs5pJKFphFWfC5P5fuY/s1600/1986_T_565_Tom_Brunansky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTMkehVV598MfHhSHDyf8c6x2yfUxIKZCpmYtwTq4yuzk56beNBMOTAtgvS2TP10YoKS5LT0MkeozxBHK6yx5mEyrx8CCLVlD2e2Eope9KZr535XZKSDfmAOwKvOs5pJKFphFWfC5P5fuY/s400/1986_T_565_Tom_Brunansky.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The beauty of this set's design is that it makes the color of the photos grab the attention all the more. And, unlike with the designs of previous few years, the space left for the photo lacks odd angles or major obstructions. This allowed Topps to simply choose the photos they felt looked the best, and crop them without being restrained by awkward border considerations. As a result, the set features an excellent balance between different types of action shots and the kind of classic baseball poses that were prevalent in its '70s issues. The variety is the best of the decade, including a mix of posed and candid head shots, warm-up/batting cage shots, medium-distance action shots, and a good amount of quality full-body action shots.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA3Qwnp9Ma9hrS35SI2wXDbQXlDOUb0j6vtEwjt5XzVwNL-bfVRCb9z9lW2hwShuySpP0qL_rpyl8zsnmCKjMZCcN0jOQ2K4iRa32bNkE4_NNv56syfQnyIMdltzYj5JShV9yz2FHTLGkp/s1600/1986_T_478_Andy_Hawkins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA3Qwnp9Ma9hrS35SI2wXDbQXlDOUb0j6vtEwjt5XzVwNL-bfVRCb9z9lW2hwShuySpP0qL_rpyl8zsnmCKjMZCcN0jOQ2K4iRa32bNkE4_NNv56syfQnyIMdltzYj5JShV9yz2FHTLGkp/s400/1986_T_478_Andy_Hawkins.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I'm not sure about this, but it's my impression that the card stock is once again a little thinner, similar to that of the 1984 set. Of the sets reviewed so far, the '84 and '86 sets are the only ones that tend to have a natural curve to the stock. The other sets tend to hold nicely in a flat position. But this doesn't take away from the set's appearance. One of the big concerns with cards that are printed with black borders is the potential for chipping. It's difficult to find 1971 Topps cards, for example, with really pristine edges. However the black doesn't seem to chip as easily on the '86s, and they seem to hold up well over time.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgffUL_UABhQCU5EKS9h6tujSkLBCvZJT40pC9LShDbXe5bo7QAjpRGmRubcJwzA2M0mHIPZ0AGzWtx3MLvtogmai7Z_R2tw5ugRl9vBTBmWQi_qDVB3g92gOaplJ1lPK3GbTRCeDR7Xvup/s1600/1986_T_650_Dave_Stieb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgffUL_UABhQCU5EKS9h6tujSkLBCvZJT40pC9LShDbXe5bo7QAjpRGmRubcJwzA2M0mHIPZ0AGzWtx3MLvtogmai7Z_R2tw5ugRl9vBTBmWQi_qDVB3g92gOaplJ1lPK3GbTRCeDR7Xvup/s400/1986_T_650_Dave_Stieb.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The backs are nothing spectacular, but they look nice enough. The black framing technique is echoed at the top with the vital statistics. The player names are pleasantly bold. The card number and Topps logo, in the upper corners inside of diamond shapes, make for nice symmetry. The theme for the additional information displayed, when the stats allow room, is "firsts." The Talkin' Baseball boxes, featuring a few different versions of an anthropomorphic baseball, tell you about firsts in the player's franchise's history. Additional blurbs tell you about some of the player's own firsts, sometimes including the year and number of their first Topps card. Although kinda neat, this information gets to be monotonous. The black and red color scheme is a nice one, though the stats can be a little hard to read at times, especially for veterans with long careers. For the first time, game-winning RBI numbers are added at the bottom of the career stat line for batters. It was a dubious statistic, that didn't officially survive the '80s, but Topps would continue the practice for the remainder of the decade.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQwvGAl55GOZsP0bsFnUQyQ4YBRaxLV_9pUdNfW2LRUShnMz8lySQx8Se4nHkHCsOWEPE8PJaBVV-OUkrTBFy283OPAJsNAAoRG0xE13TEuiqlFdnT7fc2w9pLx-IMrLOeP-9dhsEBUvbm/s1600/1986_T_010_Tony_Gwynn_back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQwvGAl55GOZsP0bsFnUQyQ4YBRaxLV_9pUdNfW2LRUShnMz8lySQx8Se4nHkHCsOWEPE8PJaBVV-OUkrTBFy283OPAJsNAAoRG0xE13TEuiqlFdnT7fc2w9pLx-IMrLOeP-9dhsEBUvbm/s400/1986_T_010_Tony_Gwynn_back.jpg" /></a></div><br />
In all, it's a simple design that really allows for some spectacular results. With 1988 as perhaps its only competition, I would say that of the Topps sets from this decade, 1986 is the design that would best translate into giant-sized wall posters. It certainly makes for a fabulous collection of little hand-held works of art.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjufq3X84l_fSpeC4bAsjeKIGjzNXS7qYJL7UWiHo-lElJ6YVBES2tEUMkJz0eP2vlEfhJlaOtgUgpkq5Rr-Ge5qwJ2gH7FsLMHRsr68xd5YhmuEa4uiaGYP09wEDeTouPEOqOr-mQ6UCJ/s1600/1986_T_077_Charlie_Leibrandt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjufq3X84l_fSpeC4bAsjeKIGjzNXS7qYJL7UWiHo-lElJ6YVBES2tEUMkJz0eP2vlEfhJlaOtgUgpkq5Rr-Ge5qwJ2gH7FsLMHRsr68xd5YhmuEa4uiaGYP09wEDeTouPEOqOr-mQ6UCJ/s400/1986_T_077_Charlie_Leibrandt.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeRcsS23vGtGjpss55qFI8GxlNwAe_tff7TOyrO97oAWbNre071okux-Vhnvff8gtda3XoIiOebWR7KYRilPYmUU0nDhvJMWRid11m76S-uy7ilhI8z971i-_Ousv6RMdFNXCwPujJWpp-/s1600/1986_T_555_Hubie_Brooks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeRcsS23vGtGjpss55qFI8GxlNwAe_tff7TOyrO97oAWbNre071okux-Vhnvff8gtda3XoIiOebWR7KYRilPYmUU0nDhvJMWRid11m76S-uy7ilhI8z971i-_Ousv6RMdFNXCwPujJWpp-/s400/1986_T_555_Hubie_Brooks.jpg" /></a></div>petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-3232073016095625002013-06-23T21:15:00.000-07:002013-06-26T11:02:05.104-07:001986 Topps: Part I<b>CONTEXT</b><br />
<br />
Black & White.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_0i6k8zWKCbmhNtTx5DfzHFg8O1NnMc1xxBWNExZh3Dft6L9fnlKw3DN80YylDQWuZlSGETMBjUF9dmWtbjh9Zfoo3vCk1UVD__4HchXA2mR1DTimbLTR4yht6nmfwhZoS_A15i3GI177/s1600/1986_T_651_Billy_Martin_MG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_0i6k8zWKCbmhNtTx5DfzHFg8O1NnMc1xxBWNExZh3Dft6L9fnlKw3DN80YylDQWuZlSGETMBjUF9dmWtbjh9Zfoo3vCk1UVD__4HchXA2mR1DTimbLTR4yht6nmfwhZoS_A15i3GI177/s400/1986_T_651_Billy_Martin_MG.jpg" /></a></div><br />
February 28 - Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth suspends 11 players who had testified to cocaine involvement in the Pittsburgh drug trials of 1985: Joaquín Andujar, Dale Berra, Enos Cabell, Keith Hernandez, Jeffrey Leonard, Dave Parker, Lonnie Smith, Al Holland, Lee Lacy, Lary Sorensen and Claudell Washington.<br />
<br />
April 29 - Boston Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens strikes out 20 Seattle Mariners to become the first pitcher in major league history to reach that mark in a nine-inning game.<br />
<br />
May 1 - Former MLB Rookie of the Year Steve Howe, playing for the class-A San Jose Bees, tests positive for cocaine and is suspended from the California League.<br />
<br />
June 4 - Barry Bonds of the Pittsburgh Pirates launches his first career home run at Fulton County Stadium against Braves pitcher Craig McMurtry.<br />
<br />
August 10 - Billy Martin has his number 1 retired by the New York Yankees and a plaque dedicated in his honor in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium.<br />
<br />
August 14 - Pete Rose enjoys a 3-for-4 day, the last hit being the 4,256th and final hit of his career.<br />
<br />
August 22 - Mark McGwire makes his major league debut for the Oakland A's in New York against the Yankees.<br />
<br />
August 27 - Darryl Strawberry hits his 100th career home run helping the New York Mets beat the San Diego Padres 6-5.<br />
<br />
October 12 - With the California Angels one out from reaching the World Series, Dave Henderson crushes a pitch from California's Donnie Moore into the center field stands for a 6-5 lead. The Red Sox would go on to win the game and the Championship Series.<br />
<br />
November 25 - Jose Canseco of the Oakland Athletics, who hit .240 with 33 home runs and 117 RBI, wins the American League Rookie of the Year Award with 16 of 28 first place votes.<br />
<br />
December 16 - San Diego Padres pitcher LaMarr Hoyt is sentenced to 45 days in jail following his third arrest on drug possession charges.<br />
<br />
(Most of this text paraphrased from Wikipedia.)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVf321BviBGYGPQebJ5dycFkVKykr92mN0avveS69ZUZScg8Yowwz5qyEsABcjbkBFbQIBJDLPF3o8C7hcxNTxC-leWrpb7O_yeRBTbCAEUReHb-3Mu8_2HgJPYw9LCBNXKeEHJXte_LRw/s1600/1986_T_345_Donnie_Moore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVf321BviBGYGPQebJ5dycFkVKykr92mN0avveS69ZUZScg8Yowwz5qyEsABcjbkBFbQIBJDLPF3o8C7hcxNTxC-leWrpb7O_yeRBTbCAEUReHb-3Mu8_2HgJPYw9LCBNXKeEHJXte_LRw/s400/1986_T_345_Donnie_Moore.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Even as a 16 year old, things were still pretty black and white to me. The names above meant nothing to me other than as people involved in a game that I loved. It didn't cross my mind that things could be anything but perfect in the lives of people blessed with the opportunity to play baseball for a living. A big part of baseball's appeal will always be that all problems go away (at least in my mind) when the players take the field. Baseball lets you turn back the clock and be a kid again, no matter how old you are, if just for nine innings.<br />
<br />
And so do baseball cards.<br />
<br />
What's black and white and Red all over?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3NStExIuz5uKyiXSCRUS-SEOUoohJzlOgDa6SNlo4FTZPgTs14GENtyBmBtpWiaih_ARDVeEfkj5jMuzsV-1S8Pcf_6KHoHN_OTN9aIKTkqjslv55Y5KIFglt4dfqY3keUYv2v-cS_2f8/s1600/1986_T_001_Pete_Rose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3NStExIuz5uKyiXSCRUS-SEOUoohJzlOgDa6SNlo4FTZPgTs14GENtyBmBtpWiaih_ARDVeEfkj5jMuzsV-1S8Pcf_6KHoHN_OTN9aIKTkqjslv55Y5KIFglt4dfqY3keUYv2v-cS_2f8/s400/1986_T_001_Pete_Rose.jpg" /></a></div>petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-67539119217066978782013-06-21T11:24:00.000-07:002013-06-21T11:24:03.942-07:001985 Topps: Part IV<b>RANKING</b><br />
<br />
<i>Favorites</i><br />
<br />
<u>Oddball(s) of the Set</u><br />
Between the airbrush job that makes it look like he's wearing a porcelain jacket and the giant magnifying glasses on his face giving him bug-eyes, Fred Breining's is a card (#36) that only a mother could love. Unfortunately for Gary Pettis' mom, she would have no such luck finding something to put in a frame on the mantelpiece in the 1985 Topps set. Sure, that's her son's name on the front. Those are his stats on the back. But what is ostensibly the speedy center fielder's rookie card (#497) does not, in fact, feature his picture. Then who is that playing tricks on the Topps photographer? It's his little brother! Oh, wait, I guess it <i>can </i>go on the mantelpiece, after all...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4vdAdiI4xT2Z9BqdRBbRirfp_Ac_qO4AjyPH3auIHeA60VIkgVZIY7Fm047qynl3jHcxhyN0X1ew1K39-hz22iNv1GnokNNhbGUcH6HWtIeqevgqmOK1F2SBt_DA2xW_eQeL9cBkPonF-/s1600/1985_T_036_Fred_Breining.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4vdAdiI4xT2Z9BqdRBbRirfp_Ac_qO4AjyPH3auIHeA60VIkgVZIY7Fm047qynl3jHcxhyN0X1ew1K39-hz22iNv1GnokNNhbGUcH6HWtIeqevgqmOK1F2SBt_DA2xW_eQeL9cBkPonF-/s400/1985_T_036_Fred_Breining.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvACC0XIo9aECwANpU2dDG9LRh_Mh631xgqL6Ib3MF2sEu1RQ1d6mVV4Tr8reCaRSygKg8JZgQJ9CT9zcVOigXtveMZdOwD95b81RFvbzAh0VCw0xFrmukMPOdfrfqwg1mPV7EYrCCNU4P/s1600/1985_T_497_Gary_Pettis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvACC0XIo9aECwANpU2dDG9LRh_Mh631xgqL6Ib3MF2sEu1RQ1d6mVV4Tr8reCaRSygKg8JZgQJ9CT9zcVOigXtveMZdOwD95b81RFvbzAh0VCw0xFrmukMPOdfrfqwg1mPV7EYrCCNU4P/s400/1985_T_497_Gary_Pettis.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<u>Most Aesthetically Pleasing</u><br />
This set is the polar opposite of the previous year's in that it was difficult to find cards that were particularly exceptional in appearance. Honorable mention goes to Yogi and Dale Berra (#132) from the Father & Son subset. There were a few really nice pairings in this subset, but I like this one the best. You have the lefty Yogi facing the righty Dale, both with powder blue sky, puffy clouds, and green grass to frame them. The red of the header matches with the border of Yogi's card, while the yellow backdrop echoes Dale's uniform. And, for one time on a colorful piece of cardboard at least, the undistinguished and troubled son is elevated to the level of his iconic Hall-of-Fame father.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZic17-feyR-hzi7oF4aU9GyOdtyk4bAPZNF5qvEnDJzgn7sWm7tTOymWZmcGfKRC5S7YuMSMfyZ7h_hWTU7sA-WiEle-cidQixpCNd-FNYCs9xnoXa6_oGWgJ0LX6C_bZd_qq_zu_lIrf/s1600/1985_T_132_Father_Son_Berra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZic17-feyR-hzi7oF4aU9GyOdtyk4bAPZNF5qvEnDJzgn7sWm7tTOymWZmcGfKRC5S7YuMSMfyZ7h_hWTU7sA-WiEle-cidQixpCNd-FNYCs9xnoXa6_oGWgJ0LX6C_bZd_qq_zu_lIrf/s400/1985_T_132_Father_Son_Berra.jpg" /></a></div><br />
As much as any player at this point in baseball history, Dwight Gooden seemed to represent a changing of the guard. It was an unprecedented era for veteran pitchers, with an abundance of all-time greats in the twilight of their careers. Ryan and Carlton were still working to establish the all-time strikeout mark, with Seaver, Sutton, Blyleven and other K-artists still plying their trade. But Dr. K looked like he was on track to perhaps blow right by all of them in time. Though he was to have a fine career, that kind of greatness was to elude his grasp. But you can still see in these cards the promise of immortality. The seriousness of purpose evoked by his base card (#620) and the kinetic energy of the Record Breaker card (#3) both exude the aura of dominance that Gooden projected when his future still seemed destined to include a plaque in Cooperstown.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0qU0fQUeu9H-BSdxvZXxvdb_Y2WOKtRnS8Bd-eMhQ2DISl4OrG3x0qqEcGwBeUXoZJYF8Q07KRYe9OB9vSHi-DxLf4CTuCESUE4wEOddS2Ci1h-7PjPA8DcGS104babT2AFKtBiUsR4To/s1600/1985_T_620_Dwight_Gooden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0qU0fQUeu9H-BSdxvZXxvdb_Y2WOKtRnS8Bd-eMhQ2DISl4OrG3x0qqEcGwBeUXoZJYF8Q07KRYe9OB9vSHi-DxLf4CTuCESUE4wEOddS2Ci1h-7PjPA8DcGS104babT2AFKtBiUsR4To/s400/1985_T_620_Dwight_Gooden.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEaG53hOY0vIMGFjK0WFqb_R5rhyphenhyphenCiWNqNZm2Q4fhctef2W8Zl2ixvL8NfdsEtGNx0LIJoPg0kPXIykDlx4G1_fvNf6ftK5wAX0V5sBPUwu4WpqYJksMEZuIyAr3HtQIlRsr06JW61G6my/s1600/1985_T_003_Dwight_Gooden_RB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEaG53hOY0vIMGFjK0WFqb_R5rhyphenhyphenCiWNqNZm2Q4fhctef2W8Zl2ixvL8NfdsEtGNx0LIJoPg0kPXIykDlx4G1_fvNf6ftK5wAX0V5sBPUwu4WpqYJksMEZuIyAr3HtQIlRsr06JW61G6my/s400/1985_T_003_Dwight_Gooden_RB.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<u>Favorite Dodgers Card</u><br />
This spot is likely to be occupied more than a few times by my favorite player of all time (unless and until Kershaw overtakes him), Orel Hershiser. And the Bulldog's rookie card appears in this set. The fact that I don't consider that card my favorite here tells you something about how little I tend to glorify rookie cards. He certainly didn't make any impact on me when the card came out. My favorite Dodgers card from this year instead reflects my bias toward veterans. And I've always been excited about players who make their mark with other teams, but then get a little time in Dodger Blue toward the end of their career. It doesn't really matter how well they played. It's just fun to see them added to the all-time Dodger roster. Among my favorite examples are Juan Marichal and Greg Maddux. But I'm also willing to give a hitter some love, and I've always liked Al Oliver. This card from the Traded set (#88T) is his only Topps card in Dodger Blue, and he's still the only Dodger to wear the number zero (representing O for Oliver).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQoAkVR-HfJZkqV9Kw7GqUhX3K6ZNfL5NpCAzx25Qh2knKFFtKaXLTPU264KQ7VptaFWVco6CaZtn-kTA1oQnYy4qLXUYxFLjofWBOV4reByky-n1tRiCFm6ZiHIla0O7GfTGMaAomEkzs/s1600/1985_TU_088T_Al_Oliver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQoAkVR-HfJZkqV9Kw7GqUhX3K6ZNfL5NpCAzx25Qh2knKFFtKaXLTPU264KQ7VptaFWVco6CaZtn-kTA1oQnYy4qLXUYxFLjofWBOV4reByky-n1tRiCFm6ZiHIla0O7GfTGMaAomEkzs/s400/1985_TU_088T_Al_Oliver.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<u>Favorite Card</u><br />
Remember that 1984 exhibition game between the Dodgers and the USC Trojans that I mentioned earlier? It's probably my most vivid memory of Dodger Stadium from my childhood. I didn't go to a huge number of games before moving away in 1988. I probably didn't average more than two games a season, because the logistics just weren't on my side. Nonetheless, other than a couple of unremarkable trips to Anaheim to see the Angels, those rare pilgrimages to Dodger Stadium were my introduction to live baseball, and Chavez Ravine will always be my mecca. I took the new camera that my Grandparents got me to that USC game in '84 and got a few nice shots, including Terry Whitfield and Mike Marshall warming up in front of the dugout. I also got my only MLB baseball, which was tossed to me by Fernando Valenzuela as he was returning to the dugout. And I got my first autograph, having the ball signed by Rod Dedeaux, the legendary coach of the USC Trojans. I've never much followed the sport at the amateur level, but my Grandfather was a huge USC fan and made sure that I knew how special Dedeaux was, so I was excited to get that autograph for him as much as for myself. And I got to relive that excitement the following season with the surprise of opening a pack of Topps cards and finding Dedeaux. The icing on the cake? Dedeaux actually played in two major league games, way back in 1935... for the Brooklyn Dodgers, under manager Casey Stengel.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig00cPxCtp5OKIuLLz0CVnwI_w80wSq0OPJ_ppgTlbgBrcC17dZPw9eJePqTkARW_n9aA59-f8YjptuF7CsB2tPkAT23dcbsjigLxA3KpaJLjgX90ljbTdO4noR07WP7IoVYDNHqIOSKgi/s1600/1985_T_389_Rod_Dedeaux_USA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig00cPxCtp5OKIuLLz0CVnwI_w80wSq0OPJ_ppgTlbgBrcC17dZPw9eJePqTkARW_n9aA59-f8YjptuF7CsB2tPkAT23dcbsjigLxA3KpaJLjgX90ljbTdO4noR07WP7IoVYDNHqIOSKgi/s400/1985_T_389_Rod_Dedeaux_USA.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSG-C9fdGoTYz5DrFlxJtFSMejgK0JMcaZOtc6BWEFdfK9CDGOyD0gEE4_J3HitTk9em_mh4vh7Zl3Lyr4FkgMfcwe_4Aodjplklm0sr34wL3MZsLe0mQr1w1nW7xhixihlIB7VO-C9j1o/s1600/1985_T_389_Rod_Dedeaux_USA_back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSG-C9fdGoTYz5DrFlxJtFSMejgK0JMcaZOtc6BWEFdfK9CDGOyD0gEE4_J3HitTk9em_mh4vh7Zl3Lyr4FkgMfcwe_4Aodjplklm0sr34wL3MZsLe0mQr1w1nW7xhixihlIB7VO-C9j1o/s400/1985_T_389_Rod_Dedeaux_USA_back.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<u>One Final Thought</u><br />
Don't let the serious young Dwight Gooden fool you. This set is chock-full of smiley faces. It seems like Topps hired a new photographer for 1985 who employed the time-honored "Say Cheese!" technique. It may not be the most exciting set that Topps produced, but it might be one of the most cheerful. Just look at Julio Franco (#237) beaming from ear to ear about being a big leaguer. Time would certainly prove his love for the game to be genuine. And, hark, gaze upon the beatific visage of the formerly-scowling Cecilio Guante! Did Topps hire Morgana the Kissing Bandit to attend their photo shoots or something...?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQlE-SYcvgftQpy7tll5bdiK4bcpRbcEqD5QATdMNxEQg5YUCueWA_Q_3zntJ637OsDJhyphenhyphen2s0eY0Ktzm-zjMTGfEjRmjdpKvM7xgBXrOVN8bez53L8EZJYcplE66jI4u58Cdr0_uwek5Av/s1600/1985_T_237_Julio_Franco.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQlE-SYcvgftQpy7tll5bdiK4bcpRbcEqD5QATdMNxEQg5YUCueWA_Q_3zntJ637OsDJhyphenhyphen2s0eY0Ktzm-zjMTGfEjRmjdpKvM7xgBXrOVN8bez53L8EZJYcplE66jI4u58Cdr0_uwek5Av/s400/1985_T_237_Julio_Franco.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5bwoidzpF5E8U_6GT7OgF8tIDb8ZMCESsEd7bdclYkgzH8G2cwd2nPzlb-zE-C3_3O_AEMa3Z6l5WQCSHLLcEkZJpAMUDCgx0lnhgAxlwVUNs_l8ndHWS808-UH6qmuN1oAq8VpW5bfWO/s1600/1985_T_457_Cecilio_Guante.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5bwoidzpF5E8U_6GT7OgF8tIDb8ZMCESsEd7bdclYkgzH8G2cwd2nPzlb-zE-C3_3O_AEMa3Z6l5WQCSHLLcEkZJpAMUDCgx0lnhgAxlwVUNs_l8ndHWS808-UH6qmuN1oAq8VpW5bfWO/s400/1985_T_457_Cecilio_Guante.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<i>The Big Picture</i><br />
<br />
I start each of these posts with a template that includes the headers, and then I type "blah" where the text is supposed to go when my brain gets around to forming words. I was tempted to leave this portion of the page unedited, as "blah" kinda sums things up for this set. Again, it's not terrible. But, frankly, it's a little boring compared to other sets from the decade. The design is uninspired. The card backs are washed-out mush. The subsets look okay. But the decisions to eliminate League Leaders cards, put the team checklists on the manager cards, and continue to ignore the post season are all strikes against the set. Add to that one of the least interesting Traded set checklists, and 1985 Topps fails to grab one's attention. With the first six sets of my collecting lifetime reviewed, 1985 Topps sits at the bottom of the list, behind 1980 and 1982.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPL09yWvWITu29RfOVY1GzIF8HxwTQXu6o5dF_pKN6boKL01Dehq3kPEKtNFHn3uO1ntk7DA0erzFo1lHkIwT2sEvcsuixaQOubSqFPabkBvlESixcaa_1HACwdS6PKAnw9ltgTmYFd0BH/s1600/1985_T_575_Pedro_Guerrero.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPL09yWvWITu29RfOVY1GzIF8HxwTQXu6o5dF_pKN6boKL01Dehq3kPEKtNFHn3uO1ntk7DA0erzFo1lHkIwT2sEvcsuixaQOubSqFPabkBvlESixcaa_1HACwdS6PKAnw9ltgTmYFd0BH/s400/1985_T_575_Pedro_Guerrero.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt4KYtkbj0y2LY2wFaXoSj3B0n2DYk1QhfWvTpJMFqGNnqLmZxNjnju3k3YkS87ZIjWewIg5o7z82GcXsMT_fnnb8w7P33Cs3ypkYsFMyJ7N3Q8kHAOmBDtl8YOlKpuWo9sdJkwQYJi7l6/s1600/1980_T_380_Garry_Maddox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt4KYtkbj0y2LY2wFaXoSj3B0n2DYk1QhfWvTpJMFqGNnqLmZxNjnju3k3YkS87ZIjWewIg5o7z82GcXsMT_fnnb8w7P33Cs3ypkYsFMyJ7N3Q8kHAOmBDtl8YOlKpuWo9sdJkwQYJi7l6/s200/1980_T_380_Garry_Maddox.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyz1kAIQ6aWZH1Ri0bosz1j_7ugc8OD5hmdvc8c9sg3Rcx-PgZhXAl7HbtYH6dwpR4A8FdrdiJ1EkAlL3GHYn1aTF158oMJXu5NfujWBmK9E5D3Y_9Od5ZrHVlRn9IB4QlRLjvPzf_1-oi/s1600/1982_T_251_Fred_Lynn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyz1kAIQ6aWZH1Ri0bosz1j_7ugc8OD5hmdvc8c9sg3Rcx-PgZhXAl7HbtYH6dwpR4A8FdrdiJ1EkAlL3GHYn1aTF158oMJXu5NfujWBmK9E5D3Y_9Od5ZrHVlRn9IB4QlRLjvPzf_1-oi/s200/1982_T_251_Fred_Lynn.jpg" /></a></div>petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-46028200905797700952013-06-19T11:33:00.000-07:002013-06-19T11:33:33.477-07:001985 Topps: Part III-T<b>TRADED</b><br />
<br />
In 1980 I stayed home from school to watch the Dodgers' miracle comeback against the Astros come to an end with a defeat in a one-game playoff for the division championship. Five years later, I had high hopes for a better outcome when I came home from lunch on a Wednesday afternoon and didn't return to school. The Dodgers were down three games to two in the best-of-seven Championship Series against the Cardinals. But they were back home at Dodger Stadium, and they had Orel Hershiser, 19-3 on the season, taking the mound. The Bulldog pitched well, but got into some trouble in the seventh and was replaced by closer Tom Niedenfuer, who couldn't hold the lead. Mike Marshall broke a 4-4 tie with a lead-off homer in the eighth. But with runners at second and third in the ninth, and one out away from forcing a seventh game, Tommy Lasorda opted to let Niedenfuer pitch to this guy...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh6FJh5Ul3j22eKsf5gEKrh8p39vjpkTyCKKZTa78DetMS8B_kTaztZub_3JOkEfSXOsDfNsAJBJeyQUtx-zdJLzAZ0JITA3W8KXq2ddu16E4A_DYWO2yJebGC0Jj6K9LQggbDVFpumpC0/s1600/1985_TU_022T_Jack_Clark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh6FJh5Ul3j22eKsf5gEKrh8p39vjpkTyCKKZTa78DetMS8B_kTaztZub_3JOkEfSXOsDfNsAJBJeyQUtx-zdJLzAZ0JITA3W8KXq2ddu16E4A_DYWO2yJebGC0Jj6K9LQggbDVFpumpC0/s400/1985_TU_022T_Jack_Clark.jpg" width="287" /></a></div><br />
I should have stayed in school.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, the annual Traded set exodus of Dodgers favorites continued with Burt "Happy" Hooton taking his rhythmic delivery and knuckle-curve to Texas.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRrVEy5nLrKOCtWchvW4e95uTOZvRv1V-um_GEgjz6PotOp2tc4I1qopbc-1gEZcES8wl7aK7zOcwDEVqogBZy_F4IA1GyqKeSvFCwOFfCPIF_-itqZEpLBAk_ZVi3BHJrF1FiCfNHfQZo/s1600/1985_TU_056T_Burt_Hooton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRrVEy5nLrKOCtWchvW4e95uTOZvRv1V-um_GEgjz6PotOp2tc4I1qopbc-1gEZcES8wl7aK7zOcwDEVqogBZy_F4IA1GyqKeSvFCwOFfCPIF_-itqZEpLBAk_ZVi3BHJrF1FiCfNHfQZo/s400/1985_TU_056T_Burt_Hooton.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
It was another big Traded set for managers. Longtime organizational guys like Eddie Haas, John Felske and Jim Davenport were given their shots. Buck Rodgers took over in Montreal. Earl Weaver was brought back to Baltimore, and Billy Martin made yet another cameo in Yankee pinstripes. Bobby Valentine began his eventful career as a manager. And the masochistic Gene Mauch signed on for another helping of heartbreak by taking over the California Angels.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioXQrUhd2KC6X8xRJMEzglR5KBohGfhdwAZ516uc6piIWB4rp3PjyRZbob3rSOLG7ProxeGdDOPyGh98n3kAlxFhlBV0Njna3y36efN_bbUmZu8-tCkFGZIv2OCM9DT7uMwEKlhyH4FGyr/s1600/1985_TU_081T_Gene_Mauch_MG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioXQrUhd2KC6X8xRJMEzglR5KBohGfhdwAZ516uc6piIWB4rp3PjyRZbob3rSOLG7ProxeGdDOPyGh98n3kAlxFhlBV0Njna3y36efN_bbUmZu8-tCkFGZIv2OCM9DT7uMwEKlhyH4FGyr/s400/1985_TU_081T_Gene_Mauch_MG.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Again, the Traded set is printed on bright card stock, which works better with this set than it did with any other in the decade. That's mainly because it helped to brighten up a fairly bland set, and because it actually made the backs legible, which isn't something the base set could claim.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipDVwcRxYL62TtUkcSs66IcoJ7SBE6HvH48ObJGs4OKFCuOjla4ZpUxluS8s5Ly_LBhzrZZARIZg0lYzyfzB_gYPY1Ml2OjVLBGyo_ZdvNoXuJXcTosyQP0qALf6-F9XNeh3nhyphenhyphenxEd77Bu/s1600/1985_TU_024T_Vince_Coleman_back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipDVwcRxYL62TtUkcSs66IcoJ7SBE6HvH48ObJGs4OKFCuOjla4ZpUxluS8s5Ly_LBhzrZZARIZg0lYzyfzB_gYPY1Ml2OjVLBGyo_ZdvNoXuJXcTosyQP0qALf6-F9XNeh3nhyphenhyphenxEd77Bu/s400/1985_TU_024T_Vince_Coleman_back.jpg" /></a></div><br />
But even the content of '85's Traded set was fairly bland. The biggest name rookies were Vince Coleman, Teddy Higuera and Ozzie Guillen. The set featured Rickey Henderson and Cary Carter moving to New York within their respective leagues. But there just wasn't a lot of excitement to be found in this set, which was overrun by the Donnie Hills and Gene Nelsons of the world. An appropriate cap to a less-than-stellar year for Topps baseball.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilIAweB_1u2rqyMeVk6P4RcidUxkZwTOimUQxWygE8H7d9Y1weskf-Y72owrUzf80QaNkWUvvHiGe5NMyoR7JEk2Vt1scfNarEn_HZNTLqEhcppY0or5x8LjR2b3IIif8FjSnjeccXEfPM/s1600/1985_TU_049T_Rickey_Henderson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilIAweB_1u2rqyMeVk6P4RcidUxkZwTOimUQxWygE8H7d9Y1weskf-Y72owrUzf80QaNkWUvvHiGe5NMyoR7JEk2Vt1scfNarEn_HZNTLqEhcppY0or5x8LjR2b3IIif8FjSnjeccXEfPM/s400/1985_TU_049T_Rickey_Henderson.jpg" width="286" /></a></div>petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-21847386124439835522013-06-16T12:46:00.000-07:002013-06-30T23:30:00.285-07:001985 Topps: Part III<b>THE SET</b><br />
<br />
<i>Vital Statistics</i><br />
<br />
A 792-card base set, plus 132-card Traded set, equals the norm for the era.<br />
<br />
He didn't play a particularly key role for the Dodgers, but Terry Whitfield was the player who made me realize that major leaguers sometimes went to play in Japan, and sometimes came back to play at home. And I thought that was a pretty cool concept, so he's the featured Dodger newcomer of the '85 set. I also liked Whitfield because he was the subject of one of the few good-looking pictures I managed to snap with my spiffy new Cannon camera at the Dodgers-USC Trojans exhibition game at Dodger Stadium before the 1984 season. (More on that game later.) Of course, my picture didn't look nearly as good as the one on this card (#31), one of the better action shots in the set.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju2XLVIDP5tsf3nF3WPNu122L7_N9GBHWekWWYiCCQOPsSHGdoVUqSy5P8xD13QRbu7bP0wcfwWGy-T6JtoEtzTvmUdXbDM8ZpIx4nKtJjy1xRfjKW3ERfDpc4jghyw-QpZe6wQgAHGUBU/s1600/1985_T_031_Terry_Whitfield.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju2XLVIDP5tsf3nF3WPNu122L7_N9GBHWekWWYiCCQOPsSHGdoVUqSy5P8xD13QRbu7bP0wcfwWGy-T6JtoEtzTvmUdXbDM8ZpIx4nKtJjy1xRfjKW3ERfDpc4jghyw-QpZe6wQgAHGUBU/s400/1985_T_031_Terry_Whitfield.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<i>Special Cards</i><br />
<br />
<u>Checklists</u><br />
Yellow-backed, generic wastes of cardboard.<br />
<br />
<u>Managers</u><br />
The 1983 and 1984 sets did this right, returning managers to their rightful place in the base set. Those cards featured stats from their careers as both players and skippers on the back. Unfortunately, beginning with this set, Topps began a run of making the manager cards serve as team checklists, which seems a little disrespectful. Maybe that's too harsh a word for it. But I think the managers should be the focus of their own cards as much as the players are of theirs. I'll certainly take manager cards with team checklists over no manager cards. But it's a shame they didn't keep up with the good thing they had going the previous two years.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihjkCRvdx_3RfmKPav87NXQokTDUSkncJ5SuJCEV4sWcxyR94P5Ke6Xpa1p5JtJmlF2yWYCl_Q0hykpdNebObCGW_z5nHsQe80cx3lOEYFeg2fJdXrCyeaJs7y9vLQgnqweoPJA_o0wKUD/s1600/1985_T_492_Dave_Johnson_MG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihjkCRvdx_3RfmKPav87NXQokTDUSkncJ5SuJCEV4sWcxyR94P5Ke6Xpa1p5JtJmlF2yWYCl_Q0hykpdNebObCGW_z5nHsQe80cx3lOEYFeg2fJdXrCyeaJs7y9vLQgnqweoPJA_o0wKUD/s400/1985_T_492_Dave_Johnson_MG.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<u>Record Breakers</u><br />
Cards #1-10. This is a case where there were enough interesting records broken by good players to make a Record Breakers subset that can hold its own with a Season Highlights subset. In fact, Topps felt compelled to make this a ten-card run, whereas they had typicality consisted of six cards, and no more than eight, since the dawn of the Reagan Era. Naturally, there's a new NL single-season saves record (Bruce Sutter, 45), since it's a record that gets broken every other year (or at least it seems like it). You get Nolan Ryan passing Steve Carlton, for good, in their race to be the all-time strikeout king. Don Sutton passes the century mark in Ks for the 19th straight season. Carlton Fisk catches a 25-inning game. Steve Garvey sets a standard for consecutive errorless games at first base. Pete Rose becomes the career singles leader. There are a couple of rookie season marks set (Juan Samuel, stolen bases; Dwight Gooden, strikeouts). And little Joe Morgan (#5) becomes the slugggin'est second baseman ever (while wearing unfamiliar green).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPGahP4FyQGyoSVkJbxlvxynwbRhjNGIvEyyH1lgdFldmzVFxFIpzcnXyJRFEymN2tA5nrQ6fLQfGP7MD8eY5-yoCE7mmcG58f_Ofq76It8s9-WATh7ak3U9wBgGn4H3so4kW1G7AhFjC-/s1600/1985_T_005_Joe_Morgan_RB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPGahP4FyQGyoSVkJbxlvxynwbRhjNGIvEyyH1lgdFldmzVFxFIpzcnXyJRFEymN2tA5nrQ6fLQfGP7MD8eY5-yoCE7mmcG58f_Ofq76It8s9-WATh7ak3U9wBgGn4H3so4kW1G7AhFjC-/s400/1985_T_005_Joe_Morgan_RB.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<u>All-Stars</u><br />
Cards #701-722. These are again some nice-looking cards, which diverge only subtly from the base design. In this case a large yellow star replaces the circle with the team logo, with the player name and position moving into the tilted rectangular box. We get the classic posed shots here, which I greatly prefer on All-Star cards. But, in another interesting and unpleasant shift, Topps chose to use the backs of these cards to display the last season's statistical leaders. I'm not sure exactly how long it had been since there were no true League Leaders cards in a Topps base set, but this may have broken a run of more than two decades. I didn't typically love League Leaders cards when I pulled them out of packs as a kid. But, in retrospect, they're among the best cards for creating context and a sense of history after a few years pass by. So they're definitely missed. And using All-Stars for League Leaders creates some annoying incongruities. For example, George Brett's card lists the top-ten AL batting average leaders. But he didn't make the cut, having hit just .284 in an injury plagued season. Also, since there are eight position players and just three pitchers per league, the stats you get are skewed toward a focus on offense. While you get obscure batting leaderboards, such as for the dubious (and deceased) game-winning RBI, you just get wins, (oddly) shutouts, and saves for pitchers. No strikeout or ERA leaders. Don't like this at all.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicQCQ_Lu5_YxwGuIGg2Np4gl4SZbZEDf0lMRPEYbUYovzD2pM69HMNngUMvJlHkMlAJIzRP1lWfWandz2mqstyZof7DYanGfH49-37XwNlCldUCVeY2oYD01wzVvXqqEHNgStlqFIvFOOp/s1600/1985_T_715_Ozzie_Smith_AS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicQCQ_Lu5_YxwGuIGg2Np4gl4SZbZEDf0lMRPEYbUYovzD2pM69HMNngUMvJlHkMlAJIzRP1lWfWandz2mqstyZof7DYanGfH49-37XwNlCldUCVeY2oYD01wzVvXqqEHNgStlqFIvFOOp/s400/1985_T_715_Ozzie_Smith_AS.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br />
<u>No. 1 Draft Picks</u><br />
Cards #271-282. Topps decided to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the amateur draft by including a subset featuring number one draft picks throughout the years. But rather than include all nineteen seasons to date, they chose to only produce cards of then-active players. That means we miss out on Rick Monday and David Clyde, among others. No major losses, but the whole run would have been nice. Darryl Strawberry is probably the biggest name in a surprisingly lackluster collection of, supposedly, the top amateur talent throughout the years. Tim Belcher, who was drafted by the Twins in 1983, but didn't sign until the Yankees drafted him the following year, is pictured with the A's, for whom he never played before being traded to the Dodgers for Rick Honeycutt. So that's kinda interesting to me, as a Dodger fan. But my favorite card here has to be that of Harold Baines (#275), in which he's sporting his early-'80s White Sox leisure suit, accented by a silver chain and impressive sideburns.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcY33Wq-nRa1g0Gqxih3sKw5doINNpOej3SCJImaUwKQGzvyhOe594GqZAbDAsU-rCBq9ty1z255j9-StYBLcpsp0QTHMB1hweO35EweWQ_Ty0eN14AGSKOomRJ-MJSMecEHoFHdArjYgU/s1600/1985_T_275_Harold_Baines_DP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcY33Wq-nRa1g0Gqxih3sKw5doINNpOej3SCJImaUwKQGzvyhOe594GqZAbDAsU-rCBq9ty1z255j9-StYBLcpsp0QTHMB1hweO35EweWQ_Ty0eN14AGSKOomRJ-MJSMecEHoFHdArjYgU/s400/1985_T_275_Harold_Baines_DP.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br />
<u>Team USA</u><br />
Cards #389-404. Growing up in Southern California, I got to see Olympic mania first-hand in 1984, though I didn't catch the fever myself. In retrospect, it would have been nice if my 14-year-old self had decided to watch players like Will Clark and Barry Larkin (neither of whom appear in this 16-card subset) play at Dodger Stadium as amateurs. These cards look nice. They take the bar and circle and raise them to the top, turning the circle into a baseball emblazoned with USA. Though, oddly, instead of red, white and blue, the cards tend to look orange, white and purple. USC's Mark McGwire (#401) would ultimately be the big fish here. I'm not over it when it comes to the distortion of the game's history perpetrated by the Bash Brothers' ilk, so you'll probably not see a lot of him around here, despite the fact that he's currently wearing a Dodger uniform.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrrup5ZgORX1_-8x0QxaVhUQquPFM13ppbgGE0KEyWhdTmPiS2x0Gqqj13ANqMPRXyZ2oD-gKI060g_PaeKyrMzXuP3Wv09_xALw7hSSuO3o_Di9cwrAybyMQtRbfbwfhBulcrLXz12ovx/s1600/1985_T_401_Mark_McGwire_USA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrrup5ZgORX1_-8x0QxaVhUQquPFM13ppbgGE0KEyWhdTmPiS2x0Gqqj13ANqMPRXyZ2oD-gKI060g_PaeKyrMzXuP3Wv09_xALw7hSSuO3o_Di9cwrAybyMQtRbfbwfhBulcrLXz12ovx/s400/1985_T_401_Mark_McGwire_USA.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<u>Father & Son</u><br />
Cards #131-143. With league leaders stuck on the backs of All-Stars and team checklists going to the managers instead of a Team Photo or Team Leaders card, these are the only multi-player cards in the set. Fortunately, they provide a little spark in a set lacking a strong personality. These cards mark the first of the decade in which Topps gets self-referential in its base set by depicting its own past cards on current ones. It's an idea that may have been done to death by this point, but it's always fun to see the older cards, many of which were beyond the means of young collectors to get their hands on for themselves. It's always good to get a dose of history, especially when it includes baseball card history. And the subject matter is a personal favorite of many fans, including myself. Seeing the generational timeline of the game mirrored by actual family history always seems to strike a chord with fans, and Topps does a nice job of that here.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbSceNOrsha1jQQQpBTK7l8Wo94cYtnmBTXNodN4UTJ1rxMmmDPUidAxEqsToe276KeV7WKZredFWDJI876OtwaxEZB2GLb_liYDlu4YlB2tOOvTu4GLBocNPSZFGv0e3G1LvAZdoAo_6W/s1600/1985_T_133_Father_Son_Boone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbSceNOrsha1jQQQpBTK7l8Wo94cYtnmBTXNodN4UTJ1rxMmmDPUidAxEqsToe276KeV7WKZredFWDJI876OtwaxEZB2GLb_liYDlu4YlB2tOOvTu4GLBocNPSZFGv0e3G1LvAZdoAo_6W/s400/1985_T_133_Father_Son_Boone.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Happy Father's Day, everyone.petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-83203781470476016302013-06-13T11:10:00.000-07:002013-06-13T11:10:00.324-07:001985 Topps: Part II<b>THE CARDS</b><br />
<br />
<i>First Impressions</i><br />
<br />
Given that my (incredibly limited) attention span was being seriously divided for the first time, it was a bad year for Topps to issue a fairly bland design. Nothing about this set grabbed my attention at the time. In recent years, there had been more colorful sets, sets with better photo choices, sets with more interesting content. This was the Topps set for the year, though, and that still meant something to me. But for the first time since I'd begun collecting these things, I did so with slightly limited enthusiasm.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT7Tbf8-wlA_Dnh3rAq0DRyaRXX-f0892Snws50JPCO5DofcImIbi4zFAQ5m7v09rpLkob5GMbChg6sIgiB9UdVtA2O3Joh_WZduzDVMnmudYc1XiNxgKYZUKE6V69tQQy0pq3t8GhUJlm/s1600/1985_T_515_Dave_Concepcion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT7Tbf8-wlA_Dnh3rAq0DRyaRXX-f0892Snws50JPCO5DofcImIbi4zFAQ5m7v09rpLkob5GMbChg6sIgiB9UdVtA2O3Joh_WZduzDVMnmudYc1XiNxgKYZUKE6V69tQQy0pq3t8GhUJlm/s400/1985_T_515_Dave_Concepcion.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<i>28 Years Later...</i><br />
<br />
There's not a lot to make me change my initial opinions of this set. There's nothing seriously <i>wrong </i>with it, mind you. It just seems generally uninspired in the context of its contemporary Topps releases. The design elements consist of a clunky slanted rectangle with the team name, a circle with a team logo, and the player's name and position in the space left beneath them. The fonts used are about as generic as possible. And the Topps logo gets into the picture this time, appearing in an upper corner in black or white, depending upon the background it finds itself sitting on.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw3isQnrrGZJcGYof5bUDTkLW4uwvbVbDbzA1b_0Sc9Edj4w9l7f2hNezBbStNThZcW3at7s497IcrmahR_7pAe7MSyHrtSFDhKaCqaM9deSMQ9w0SB9A84HuWSHyyo_d5WjQO5760MyIs/s1600/1985_T_300_Rod_Carew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw3isQnrrGZJcGYof5bUDTkLW4uwvbVbDbzA1b_0Sc9Edj4w9l7f2hNezBbStNThZcW3at7s497IcrmahR_7pAe7MSyHrtSFDhKaCqaM9deSMQ9w0SB9A84HuWSHyyo_d5WjQO5760MyIs/s400/1985_T_300_Rod_Carew.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br />
The cards are colorful but, unlike the Topps standard of the late '70s/early '80s, the colors are coordinated with those of the teams, so no pink (although there's an odd overuse of yellow). The coordinating colors and the large unobstructed space for the photo above the nondescript design elements make for cards that are, if not exciting, pleasant on the eye. And there's something to be said for that. If the 1984 set is a bases loaded rally in the bottom of the ninth, 1985 might be the pitcher bunting a runner over to second in the fourth inning. But, you know what? It's all baseball, so it's all good.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnjQeMGvrDFr-tGJAZ2BvjjKQUWzfFX07uo2OOAcDucbOBfEe-L5MurdIqhDROFAeZu9JIc0T_JsKB_Enj-NgjXJCBByFY84_91Guk2ucQyghopzE58GLbBsHMhyphenhyphen6Qx_9uINAi_AS-3FYa/s1600/1985_T_290_Cecil_Cooper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnjQeMGvrDFr-tGJAZ2BvjjKQUWzfFX07uo2OOAcDucbOBfEe-L5MurdIqhDROFAeZu9JIc0T_JsKB_Enj-NgjXJCBByFY84_91Guk2ucQyghopzE58GLbBsHMhyphenhyphen6Qx_9uINAi_AS-3FYa/s400/1985_T_290_Cecil_Cooper.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br />
Simplicity can be a good thing. At least they're uncluttered. Interestingly, if ever there was a design that could almost benefit from facsimile autographs, it's this one. But I'm still glad they're not there. It seems like it would be a nice set for autograph hunters. Maybe the biggest problem with the design is the odd nooks and crannies left for the photo to accommodate at the bottom. It's like playing a ball in right-center at Fenway. As a result, this design works particularly well for old-school posed shots, and we get plenty of them in this set. It's actually kind of a nice change of pace after two years of portraits being relegated to miniature accompaniment for an action photo.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3qD5ssZ-y-M8Joa9YQSDw22rb7dXOhOU7xKUSdomKhsxvc3_Rl0aTV7MTk2ijUnoNpsUsX6CKJQI118VQTDu2r8TXjoWsS29pXFeFNpGiUkVnAGV9cAVXSfMMdX0HqU-BULOPORFmO_ZU/s1600/1985_T_735_Garry_Templeton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3qD5ssZ-y-M8Joa9YQSDw22rb7dXOhOU7xKUSdomKhsxvc3_Rl0aTV7MTk2ijUnoNpsUsX6CKJQI118VQTDu2r8TXjoWsS29pXFeFNpGiUkVnAGV9cAVXSfMMdX0HqU-BULOPORFmO_ZU/s400/1985_T_735_Garry_Templeton.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
Unfortunately, the action photos in this set contain less action, on the whole. There's an abundance of batters waiting for a pitch, and fielders doing the same. There are very few cards showing a player's entire body. Instead, Topps opted for a lot of medium-distance cropping, probably both to accommodate the design and to make sure we get a look at the players' faces in the absence of secondary portraits. There tends to be a bit of monotony as a result, but there does seem to be a sense of unity and purpose that almost adds up to give the set some personality.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt4YyQLarpkSSz7t3IkIjKDQuEvb7KPqhOWpRwEB0qiIPw3SuBiyQZN718tiR_Mu4gtKFGiRxOuZfFQnkrjPFHCTznqU1vGF6NcupaHYXNZT5Qnta-i3NOUtXr-QgLgSEvY3g4ZVArcw2o/s1600/1985_T_044_Dickie_Thon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt4YyQLarpkSSz7t3IkIjKDQuEvb7KPqhOWpRwEB0qiIPw3SuBiyQZN718tiR_Mu4gtKFGiRxOuZfFQnkrjPFHCTznqU1vGF6NcupaHYXNZT5Qnta-i3NOUtXr-QgLgSEvY3g4ZVArcw2o/s400/1985_T_044_Dickie_Thon.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br />
One of the biggest problems with the set is the illegibility of the card backs. The green and brown combo is a pleasant one, evocative of the grass and dirt stage the game is played on. But the brown tends to be so washed out that there's very little contrast with the card stock. A look at the back of one of these cards tends to make the eyes go blurry and sap you of the will to investigate further. If you were to do so, you would find trivia questions on cards where there's room to display one. They all pertain to (then) current teams, players and events, or generic baseball questions. No history lessons to be found. When there's room to say something about the player, it's usually an interesting personal tidbit, which I much prefer to generic "big game" information. For example, we learn that Steve Sax was a Giants fan growing up. If you ask me, that's the <i>real </i>Steve Sax Syndrome.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Q1r60LGNxaZ1q49kdMCnjFoN2umdLTcP443SRQUEBpoT3mkUTb5SIKGXFNdKSlB9mfvlKVC0ofsWrGYt-5JiJ-7sa7N1r9FTBWuepfw7_N-AYlIWqgULl3mTKPGRRaqjxnOeJBswwYxV/s1600/1985_T_470_Steve_Sax_back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Q1r60LGNxaZ1q49kdMCnjFoN2umdLTcP443SRQUEBpoT3mkUTb5SIKGXFNdKSlB9mfvlKVC0ofsWrGYt-5JiJ-7sa7N1r9FTBWuepfw7_N-AYlIWqgULl3mTKPGRRaqjxnOeJBswwYxV/s400/1985_T_470_Steve_Sax_back.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Pleasant. Unobtrusive. Inoffensive. Acceptable. This is hardly a set that evokes heaps of praise. But it's a dignified representative of the Topps flagship brand. And it could certainly have been a lot worse.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi2bwSJZrxdbLo4elDj6q04uKecK1VyzlIUA4LFjdiauKM0Q2MsFmUmRHR1OmxkOvjwBiHPQx6kScarVPW8GmnNkZK7aK-cl86-ypGRofYEHdyA8JLAiDv5cy9DjpAxG11OyScDauHLUPi/s1600/1985_T_549_Mike_Scioscia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi2bwSJZrxdbLo4elDj6q04uKecK1VyzlIUA4LFjdiauKM0Q2MsFmUmRHR1OmxkOvjwBiHPQx6kScarVPW8GmnNkZK7aK-cl86-ypGRofYEHdyA8JLAiDv5cy9DjpAxG11OyScDauHLUPi/s400/1985_T_549_Mike_Scioscia.jpg" width="285" /></a></div>petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-78339622387610865712013-06-11T09:42:00.000-07:002013-06-11T09:42:28.362-07:001985 Topps: Part I<b>CONTEXT</b><br />
<br />
Baseball players were my first superheroes. And they were unrivaled as such from ages ten through fourteen. But in 1985 serious competition arrived on two fronts.<br />
<br />
First of all, after years of pestering me to share his particular addiction, my friend Greg finally managed to get me interested in comic books. So actual superheroes were to arrive on the scene. As with just about anything that I become interested in, it became not just a hobby but an obsession. I was a Marvel Comics guy, particularly excited about the Fantastic Four, then written and drawn by John Byrne. But I didn't stop there. Because all of their exploits took place within the "Marvel Universe," I felt the need to collect <i>every </i>mainstream Marvel comic. And my compulsion to collect would eventually see my Fantastic Four collection stretch, completely, back to about 1965. One of the things that I loved about collecting comic books, which baseball cards couldn't offer, was that new releases were available every week. Talk about instant gratification!<br />
<br />
The other heroes to take the stage for me around this time were rock stars. I had halfheartedly been listening to pop music since about 1981, but as the digital age dawned, compacts discs became another item to pursue with my paper-route money. Naturally, my OCD tendencies drove me to acquire all of the albums, singles and bootleg recordings that I could find from my favorite artists. I became particularly obsessed with Peter Gabriel and early Genesis. Although my musical tastes would expand greatly as a matured, my interests at this point were decidedly uncool. It is only because I am quite comfortable with who I've become that I feel free to share with you the fact that I could be spotted in these days walking down the street with a boombox on my shoulder blasting Wham! And that I had cats named after the members of Duran Duran. (I am actually more than a little tempted to abort these particular disclosures.)<br />
<br />
Of course, the reason that this has anything to do with baseball cards is that a paper route didn't exactly provide the kind of income capable of sustaining three obsessive collections. I didn't abandon baseball cards. But this is the first Topps set since before 1980, my first year buying cards, that has fairly significant gaps in my collection. If I had to guess (which I do at this point because my multi-decade sorting project remains perpetually in progress), I'd say that this set is only about 90% complete for me. Looking through the set at the <a href="http://www.guitar9.com/bccm.html">Baseball Card Cyber Museum</a>, I'm seeing a fair number of cards for the first time. Or at least I think I am. It's been nearly thirty years, after all.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir8wGKq1FVUIbDXubw5fZ8Vtdhd40c8fwCUrDNPT0GWZMvsqZZzh5qv2e1iC-GbWRuamQNQ-5MYWbvf1uqlht-dEUTIS_aC-W_DuCTelkHaHP2cpuedwAnUUSyZ_WaBd97gpMP2vtwAp6r/s1600/1985_T_425_Mike_Hargrove.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir8wGKq1FVUIbDXubw5fZ8Vtdhd40c8fwCUrDNPT0GWZMvsqZZzh5qv2e1iC-GbWRuamQNQ-5MYWbvf1uqlht-dEUTIS_aC-W_DuCTelkHaHP2cpuedwAnUUSyZ_WaBd97gpMP2vtwAp6r/s400/1985_T_425_Mike_Hargrove.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br />
Anyway, in honor of my two new 15-year-old obsessions, here's Mike Hargrove (#425). Why Mike Hargrove? Because he had a nickname like a comic book super-villain, "The Human Rain Delay." And because he played for Cleveland, home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Also, his is a fairly unexceptional card (#425) in a somewhat bland set. There's some context for ya.petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-4908654631930072092013-06-08T10:41:00.000-07:002013-06-08T10:41:50.561-07:001984 Topps: Part IV<b>RANKING</b><br />
<br />
<i>Favorites</i><br />
<br />
<u>Oddball of the Set</u><br />
Pretty standard looking card (#353)... until you notice Jim Anderson's positions. There may be another Topps card of a big-leaguer in its sixty-plus years of producing pretty cardboard with the position designation "C-SS," but I tend to doubt it. What makes it all the more odd is the fact that Anderson played a grand total of <i>one inning</i> behind the plate in 1983, and just five games and fifteen innings in his 419-game career. He was your standard utility infielder who obviously served as his teams' emergency catcher. Why Topps chose to list that as not only one of his positions, but as his <i>primary </i>position, is a complete mystery to me.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipFg6D1yPsjIW4ZMgxaeSxg7dCwnxEFz9cFtj_EQdTR1eAxo10yDK2ISGn6kNmtTmBwCcMXVMokrotQ8J4yLN_Nv6YonCAR27T46zQtz8MSC24pF4MFlfY5z0Foymggs7Yn18IcfOY5ETj/s1600/1984_T_353_Jim_Anderson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipFg6D1yPsjIW4ZMgxaeSxg7dCwnxEFz9cFtj_EQdTR1eAxo10yDK2ISGn6kNmtTmBwCcMXVMokrotQ8J4yLN_Nv6YonCAR27T46zQtz8MSC24pF4MFlfY5z0Foymggs7Yn18IcfOY5ETj/s400/1984_T_353_Jim_Anderson.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br />
<u>Most Aesthetically Pleasing</u><br />
As I've mentioned, choosing the best-looking cards from this set was tough because there are just so many. In the end I've decided to go with a couple of veteran pitchers (bias alert), righty Tom Seaver (#740), and "Lefty," Steve Carlton (#780). For one thing, it's just cool to see Seaver in a Mets uniform, where he belongs. But the main reason I like these two cards is the bunting in the background. That always ups the ante. You know it's a big game when the stadium gets the bunting treatment. I'm guessing that both pictures were taken on Opening Day at Shea Stadium in 1983 when the future Hall-of-Famers were pitted against each other. For the record, Seaver tossed six shutout innings in a no-decision, as the Mets beat Carlton and the Phillies 2-0. Of course, I'm just guessing here...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXqij9VQmGIwexTwIo5TTXAKhPEiOp4ulMEo0RLTMj1hQyZ6YMmSDLiMZ3DaOG3n3jL5r_bTw_36w-JcuiYsAi2XbWCjo8BRaGfqjekAc3WKu7U2_ppM0_f8YoOE1RYqRjQqn6fhxU4KNH/s1600/1984_T_740_Tom_Seaver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXqij9VQmGIwexTwIo5TTXAKhPEiOp4ulMEo0RLTMj1hQyZ6YMmSDLiMZ3DaOG3n3jL5r_bTw_36w-JcuiYsAi2XbWCjo8BRaGfqjekAc3WKu7U2_ppM0_f8YoOE1RYqRjQqn6fhxU4KNH/s400/1984_T_740_Tom_Seaver.jpg" width="285" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtbunz5MQx-i5qfoyHox0qwtdBk74aYkwslTf445W-2wneqY0o6OhCfanz6S3XoDC2x9mcQdoUzeZ6lkn9IwHMVwpan-_CO6ZinydqPjl88ouD53hJXhZa26tRaoojuTs8OdMpkMau7Dj8/s1600/1984_T_780_Steve_Carlton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtbunz5MQx-i5qfoyHox0qwtdBk74aYkwslTf445W-2wneqY0o6OhCfanz6S3XoDC2x9mcQdoUzeZ6lkn9IwHMVwpan-_CO6ZinydqPjl88ouD53hJXhZa26tRaoojuTs8OdMpkMau7Dj8/s400/1984_T_780_Steve_Carlton.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
<u>Favorite Dodgers Card</u><br />
The Dodgers lost the services of Mike Scioscia for the remainder of the 1983 season when he tore his rotator cuff in May. But they still had veteran backstop Steve Yeager to take the reigns. Until he managed to break his wrist with two months left on the schedule and the Dodgers a season-worst 6.5 games out of first place in the NL West. Thus was born a folk hero. Twenty-four-year-old Jack Fimple was summoned from Albuquerque to take over a key job for a team expected to win. And he got the job done, throwing out 44% of would-be base stealers and driving in a respectable 22 runs down the stretch, as the Dodgers fought their way back to earn the division title. That would prove to be the only significant playing time that Fimple would receive in his brief major league career. But I'll always remember him as the guy who came out of nowhere to save the season for my Dodgers.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHUdmKiq_Hub4ZMRaMETqSJiQbvrcv0s_MXqZK-j_2FRpbhk6UdGxVNtserGAEqzmu59VWbhzVpstlf8q5A7yE22jyl9mBfPjqyc4x-bPErBT2lFWgfpHfAhxSCqFhFzAj4MIW4TV33Pg5/s1600/1984_T_263_Jack_Fimple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHUdmKiq_Hub4ZMRaMETqSJiQbvrcv0s_MXqZK-j_2FRpbhk6UdGxVNtserGAEqzmu59VWbhzVpstlf8q5A7yE22jyl9mBfPjqyc4x-bPErBT2lFWgfpHfAhxSCqFhFzAj4MIW4TV33Pg5/s400/1984_T_263_Jack_Fimple.jpg" width="287" /></a></div><br />
<u>Favorite Card</u><br />
I'm sorry to be so predictable, but how can this (#6) not be my favorite card in this set? A farewell to Yaz, the first player I would ever call my favorite. A reverent sendoff to three future owners of Cooperstown plaques. Two players who spent their entire careers helping to define the history of their respective franchise. The other a pitcher crafty enough to ply his trade for 22 years... and get Reggie Jackson to entertain us with a public nervous breakdown. Come on. Was there ever any doubt?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjYtxMHKtQ5Fbr_M15IJGS2ZyK1GmiUzSi1ZAuosHbDyKAqZqzH8Mk9z3b9TlpLlLpVy8K3VAgMXk2rLuyrpmUTbBTmdsftx1oMd0D6kdByUK_Nh69iMBjd8GSTczj7fnrWqIHyVSUXEzn/s1600/1984_T_006_Bench_Perry_Yastrzemski_HL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjYtxMHKtQ5Fbr_M15IJGS2ZyK1GmiUzSi1ZAuosHbDyKAqZqzH8Mk9z3b9TlpLlLpVy8K3VAgMXk2rLuyrpmUTbBTmdsftx1oMd0D6kdByUK_Nh69iMBjd8GSTczj7fnrWqIHyVSUXEzn/s400/1984_T_006_Bench_Perry_Yastrzemski_HL.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br />
<u>One Final Thought</u><br />
I was to purloin the basic design concept from 1984 Topps four years later as the sports editor of my high school yearbook for a feature about our championship baseball team. This was the olden days, kids. I took the photos, developed them in the darkroom, set the type with a linotype machine, created the card frames with border tape, cut up the photos and put it all together. In other words, I had to be a human Photoshop. The cool thing about covering this team is that our star, Scott Davison, would eventually make it to the big leagues. He floundered at the plate when the Expos organization tried to make him a shortstop. But he still had a big arm, and after a career shift he would spend some time in the Mariners bullpen in 1995-1996 before injuries derailed his career for good. So I actually made the first baseball "card" (XRC) of a big-leaguer's career!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2clO4JXqWnZzL21T7JB74GkA42KpOW2229wPbRU03lC2VPC_vaHUvwHvLYHe674Ufl8FdCsevU0jE2cEhyphenhyphenYlBGo6UzYm22WE8QYs7CdcFbW3a24dIkaNGabp7jTnHIO-zYgH64rHvnpu2/s1600/1984_T_Scott_Davison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2clO4JXqWnZzL21T7JB74GkA42KpOW2229wPbRU03lC2VPC_vaHUvwHvLYHe674Ufl8FdCsevU0jE2cEhyphenhyphenYlBGo6UzYm22WE8QYs7CdcFbW3a24dIkaNGabp7jTnHIO-zYgH64rHvnpu2/s400/1984_T_Scott_Davison.jpg" width="291" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<i>The Big Picture</i><br />
<br />
A bit of a dark horse coming in, long suffering in the shadows of the superb 1983 set, I'm a little surprised to find that 1984 Topps falls only slightly short of the benchmark set the previous year. The basic two-photo idea is a good one, and this set boldly and colorfully enlivens the concept. It may be 1983's obnoxious little brother, but its charms have grown on me over the years. With five sets reviewed, 1984 currently ranks as the second best Topps set of my collecting lifetime, behind only 1983 and ahead of 1981.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMwKng6OIZUApnq63qsgYYS1Z6t0svFfYMgtYvMT1D-DigmFxvjF8R0a4pKdL5dyeFaITLZrufFMHvp8YBqYSS1Pzqd1YNc2I0qjFzIuxsnYHrZCEeUtfLA3iW56t0hJ1gWb4F2oMKUfVP/s1600/1981_T_280_Ken_Griffey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMwKng6OIZUApnq63qsgYYS1Z6t0svFfYMgtYvMT1D-DigmFxvjF8R0a4pKdL5dyeFaITLZrufFMHvp8YBqYSS1Pzqd1YNc2I0qjFzIuxsnYHrZCEeUtfLA3iW56t0hJ1gWb4F2oMKUfVP/s200/1981_T_280_Ken_Griffey.jpg" width="142" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCIK7qoxRgSI4slz0TblN1OwW7mNrjUgfh87dYZIYPRQhlKGj4C0wqyzlXIovX1WUYsKp8e-aibIOZjz9EA3OM7iYVxnD7-WAKDeudZSUsPW1EF3wiF7_A0lXQp1biObqtsCywKQntQ-TO/s1600/1983_T_463_Gaylord_Perry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCIK7qoxRgSI4slz0TblN1OwW7mNrjUgfh87dYZIYPRQhlKGj4C0wqyzlXIovX1WUYsKp8e-aibIOZjz9EA3OM7iYVxnD7-WAKDeudZSUsPW1EF3wiF7_A0lXQp1biObqtsCywKQntQ-TO/s200/1983_T_463_Gaylord_Perry.jpg" width="141" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqxIMTwezgcrTginLvGxudvvHFflVC-J5MkBESUa27x-Wft7OVwf6AtcrcI7dktva00ALmiwz-ZmeYkHplXZjHdGATU3sN8dsrsFw0OQYaXwGT0g2GReHjnXTnRxU9ANqWTKkx4zDBrWN_/s1600/1984_T_100_Reggie_Jackson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqxIMTwezgcrTginLvGxudvvHFflVC-J5MkBESUa27x-Wft7OVwf6AtcrcI7dktva00ALmiwz-ZmeYkHplXZjHdGATU3sN8dsrsFw0OQYaXwGT0g2GReHjnXTnRxU9ANqWTKkx4zDBrWN_/s400/1984_T_100_Reggie_Jackson.jpg" width="285" /></a></div>petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-52204549417619818652013-06-05T17:25:00.000-07:002013-06-06T11:49:58.979-07:001984 Topps: Part III-T<b>TRADED</b><br />
<br />
You're kidding me, right...?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv8QfrPj-KYkWNs1MQu8NghqHPSOQlpWb-RG9xVaKkGHz4NtfgYlMQ6_q35GJAmsEXDoLWBKY0vi9ArmoGAtwAKeGwqBKbLSaDCNyhNbN2f7p_Tkk7YBcRY7iX7WlzknlJdtq3bk6AxJl2/s1600/1984_TU_005T_Dusty_Baker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv8QfrPj-KYkWNs1MQu8NghqHPSOQlpWb-RG9xVaKkGHz4NtfgYlMQ6_q35GJAmsEXDoLWBKY0vi9ArmoGAtwAKeGwqBKbLSaDCNyhNbN2f7p_Tkk7YBcRY7iX7WlzknlJdtq3bk6AxJl2/s400/1984_TU_005T_Dusty_Baker.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
So in my brief collecting lifetime, I had seen the Traded sets mock me with the loss of two-thirds of the Dodgers historic infield, and now I had to suffer the indignity of Dusty Baker in a friggin' Giants uniform. (By the way, that's the way I see the Giants uniforms in my head. The script across each hated player's chest reads "Friggin' Giants.") So who did the Dodgers get in this set to balance the scales? Bob Bailor, Carlos Diaz and Mike Vail. I sense a franchise slump coming on...<br />
<br />
It was, however, another big Traded set for the ascending New York Mets, as they brought along a couple of rookie arms for their rotation in Dwight Gooden and Ron Darling, and got the right man to put it all together in manager Davey Johnson.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisEkQ-SGmVRJmDVEfzG1dno8Q-RlbgWdggg8Gfb9OcLoQuTNAOf5U8bRSuAh5X919Houz7HiVqInlIB5_B0Yq-7JVfRV4X629S8Pwajblx-P9QLxi53Ef9cJV59W0FpR1QCKsa39ArUnjK/s1600/1984_TU_042T_Dwight_Gooden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisEkQ-SGmVRJmDVEfzG1dno8Q-RlbgWdggg8Gfb9OcLoQuTNAOf5U8bRSuAh5X919Houz7HiVqInlIB5_B0Yq-7JVfRV4X629S8Pwajblx-P9QLxi53Ef9cJV59W0FpR1QCKsa39ArUnjK/s400/1984_TU_042T_Dwight_Gooden.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br />
And here we see another big piece that was added for the impending Mets success (sorry, Bill).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGY391LQWlolOxPagqP2JeVdW03vpwQ6ufPGg0s5Z5GEquPbVg3xxY090B4uJRjDjQsSc5I9mRMQwsdtDNwFMHZDhLA3_Yh4p6dp4wlSB75TKndGXtRsEJ3ZWr520NvViMBGR4PS74WNl2/s1600/1984_TU_017T_Bill_Buckner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGY391LQWlolOxPagqP2JeVdW03vpwQ6ufPGg0s5Z5GEquPbVg3xxY090B4uJRjDjQsSc5I9mRMQwsdtDNwFMHZDhLA3_Yh4p6dp4wlSB75TKndGXtRsEJ3ZWr520NvViMBGR4PS74WNl2/s400/1984_TU_017T_Bill_Buckner.jpg" width="287" /></a></div><br />
The crosstown Yankees would have considerably less success with their multi-annual managerial change, but any opportunity for a new card featuring Yogi Berra in pinstripes is cause for celebration. (Given that this picture was taken on the road, those would be metaphorical pinstripes, of course...)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguq7-ZsCa0Wy6vM0uiL3iHKQCGlhfDkpRFQ3sr0j3Rw6e1nHKbvqzIiic3H4ro6mcaRrqYd-GVVRvOauRlKX3dfSCR66c-Ypd2PJqfE3PBg3mCuTtnw3iwTBIcPiegZ6ITEocbdCOPs2ri/s1600/1984_TU_013T_Yogi_Berra_MG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguq7-ZsCa0Wy6vM0uiL3iHKQCGlhfDkpRFQ3sr0j3Rw6e1nHKbvqzIiic3H4ro6mcaRrqYd-GVVRvOauRlKX3dfSCR66c-Ypd2PJqfE3PBg3mCuTtnw3iwTBIcPiegZ6ITEocbdCOPs2ri/s400/1984_TU_013T_Yogi_Berra_MG.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
You know, if I had Superman's ability to fly around the Earth fast enough to turn back time, one thing I'd try to accomplish is to get Topps to abandon its idea of printing its Traded sets from this era on "premium" stock (if that's what it was supposed to be). I have no idea why they felt this was an appropriate place to experiment with something different. It's clear that the concept of the Traded set is to act as an extension of the base set. And the original Traded set in 1981 worked beautifully in that regard. But their experimentation made subsequent sets feel gimmicky. I wish they had reserved this impulse for their Purina Dog Chow cards and had let the Traded sets retain their dignity.<br />
<br />
In the case of the '84 cards, the goofy stock they chose tended to make the white borders fade to a dull cream color. The way the ink stuck to the stock and/or whatever coating they may have applied to prevent the cards from sticking together created an annoying gravelly feel when flipping through them in a stack. And they smelled bad. I will admit, however, that unlike the bright pink of the 1983 Traded set, the two-color card backs of the '84 set actually look really nice on the brighter stock. But it's not enough to redeem the misguided decision to try to get fancy.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjm0jL_w49DGwhkgnhOZwRFVq6iouB4LgQ1B5I1o1LW9c1LnnJD1MT1ejjaWgLdrQKIyIHlcc2XS05MXnuFpwIzxxMgpTtSefFrqkyWbIUuvo2scQ-s8IS5NEmqR8qcxZEUbxxHYjCZXMI/s1600/1984_TU_062T_Jimmy_Key_back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjm0jL_w49DGwhkgnhOZwRFVq6iouB4LgQ1B5I1o1LW9c1LnnJD1MT1ejjaWgLdrQKIyIHlcc2XS05MXnuFpwIzxxMgpTtSefFrqkyWbIUuvo2scQ-s8IS5NEmqR8qcxZEUbxxHYjCZXMI/s400/1984_TU_062T_Jimmy_Key_back.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I'm definitely digging the Montreal Expos jerseys now that they've been relegated to retro. This Pete Rose card (#103T) has to be a cardboard highlight for the international portion of the Nationals' franchise history.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSka3Pl5z0InojHERBilUrFgLMsJuKjXbx4qlLB4AFM_6fKcTxrQbDGKaYR_1S3TBR7je43K8Fd3EtkTv26BC2EUBNTchLSr6NcFObOtattrPuAUj5P-KPGLjdrZJaPcCZmn5BrHwRkIgr/s1600/1984_TU_103T_Pete_Rose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSka3Pl5z0InojHERBilUrFgLMsJuKjXbx4qlLB4AFM_6fKcTxrQbDGKaYR_1S3TBR7je43K8Fd3EtkTv26BC2EUBNTchLSr6NcFObOtattrPuAUj5P-KPGLjdrZJaPcCZmn5BrHwRkIgr/s400/1984_TU_103T_Pete_Rose.jpg" width="287" /></a></div>petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-37461852348074727392013-06-04T11:21:00.000-07:002013-06-30T23:29:24.436-07:001984 Topps: Part III<b>THE SET</b><br />
<br />
<i>Vital Statistics</i><br />
<br />
Topps in '84 holds to what had become the decade-standard formulation of a 792-card base set and a 132-card Traded set.<br />
<br />
New to the Dodgers in the 1984 set was trade deadline acquisition Rick Honeycutt, for whom LA had sent Dave Stewart to the Texas Rangers in mid-August of '83. Honeycutt's 2.42 ERA at the time of the deal would stand up as the American League's best for the season. Unfortunately, he would manage just a 2-3 record with a 5.77 ERA down the stretch, and was rocked for four runs in two brief relief appearances in LA's NLCS loss to Philadelphia's "Wheeze Kids." Apparently, Topps was able to capture one back-lit shot of the lefty late in the season, but couldn't be bothered to snap the shutter twice, as evidenced by the airbrush job on the smaller photo. Honeycutt would later be reinvented by Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan as a key piece of the bullpen for the Oakland A's late-80s mini-dynasty. Today, of course, he is the Dodgers' pitching coach, which has to be among the best coaching gigs in the bigs.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ExncpjzbRKeGfMyU98bVjTbCvwm66vTVGKiAiCXWUpxzkns8YyF5RCOMN96pm299ZrqImWtu7-EYVLZ4XWXArK8ikB6eZe5RcUxnLWIVb46MHRqlii9EJRvb1aDPsCAWY6-yrwtsnBX0/s1600/1984_T_222_Rick_Honeycutt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ExncpjzbRKeGfMyU98bVjTbCvwm66vTVGKiAiCXWUpxzkns8YyF5RCOMN96pm299ZrqImWtu7-EYVLZ4XWXArK8ikB6eZe5RcUxnLWIVb46MHRqlii9EJRvb1aDPsCAWY6-yrwtsnBX0/s400/1984_T_222_Rick_Honeycutt.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaDacCxiVmwAjDJcb6zpSnMBWvlvoPv-2MU4vsoPXcUgPMsVjRktbMFyMIVjQgb2cWef0BeHTqelCuPuIRkZwgzL7F2VXoipU94EM8looI82fp9S0JyGZnV9IaFxFHtZTjHpy-gZAGNeMO/s1600/1984_T_137_ERA_Leaders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaDacCxiVmwAjDJcb6zpSnMBWvlvoPv-2MU4vsoPXcUgPMsVjRktbMFyMIVjQgb2cWef0BeHTqelCuPuIRkZwgzL7F2VXoipU94EM8looI82fp9S0JyGZnV9IaFxFHtZTjHpy-gZAGNeMO/s400/1984_T_137_ERA_Leaders.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<i>Special Cards</i><br />
<br />
<u>Checklists</u><br />
Not bad. Nice box in the bottom left with a baseball under the text "1984 Baseball Checklist." Bright green backgrounds with little yellow check boxes. Inoffensive for their type.<br />
<br />
<u>Managers</u><br />
After their return in 1983, managers continue a long stretch of rightful inclusion. Team logos take the place of the secondary photo, which is a nice touch. The backs again feature playing and managerial records. It's always good to see the skippers receive the dignity that they deserve.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBHcPmKrtyyMUtPuYmebwqILVXfNj-b1fdfjgERKk7D1RaHhPXAgc33X7k7N-9PalxbMgTP9i76UqgVqpL08jc4KWKXDroaJbGozXWi3TRo4P6nDUl0z3JEvsoFuJVan-GuWc4GGL8k-sY/s1600/1984_T_259_Sparky_Anderson_MG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBHcPmKrtyyMUtPuYmebwqILVXfNj-b1fdfjgERKk7D1RaHhPXAgc33X7k7N-9PalxbMgTP9i76UqgVqpL08jc4KWKXDroaJbGozXWi3TRo4P6nDUl0z3JEvsoFuJVan-GuWc4GGL8k-sY/s400/1984_T_259_Sparky_Anderson_MG.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br />
<u>Season Highlights</u><br />
Cards #1-6. Back to highlights rather than Record Breakers, with predictably positive results. This subset is made a little more interesting than usual by its division into two groups of three cards. The first three feature individual players, including a couple of perennial highlight subjects. Steve Carlton is saluted for winning his 300th game and jockeying with Nolan Ryan for the top position (temporarily) on the all-time strikeout list. And Rickey Henderson gets a nod for his third straight 100-steal season. Dan Quisenberry receives this card (#3) for being one in a long line of closers over the past few decades to establish a new single-season saves mark (39, for the record). One flaw of these cards is that they don't explain the highlight on the front of the card. That keeps the design uncluttered, but it's not the most inspired design to begin with. The next three cards in the subset each feature three players, and take some space to explain themselves on the front. One has the authors of the three no-hitters thrown in 1983, Dave Righetti, Bob Forsch and Mike Warren. Then Carlton gets more recognition for surpassing Walter Johnson at the top of the strikeouts list, along with Ryan and Gaylord Perry. We will see the final card in this series later.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE5o2KQaxQ_QvEXZlwHmMxfqk6O5RbeQQ5Gn45QY76v7VJmA0HIPmNqD_qyy2WaPwTP5zA_Jnk5yz-xWbuz4jmZ_ziL4l5Cbr0Uo8kIFEjXQPsB_-QpQYFv3wwj6ldiaVwfQN3PdnaQM2r/s1600/1984_T_003_Dan_Quisenberry_HL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE5o2KQaxQ_QvEXZlwHmMxfqk6O5RbeQQ5Gn45QY76v7VJmA0HIPmNqD_qyy2WaPwTP5zA_Jnk5yz-xWbuz4jmZ_ziL4l5Cbr0Uo8kIFEjXQPsB_-QpQYFv3wwj6ldiaVwfQN3PdnaQM2r/s400/1984_T_003_Dan_Quisenberry_HL.jpg" width="287" /></a></div><br />
<u>All-Stars</u><br />
Cards #386-407. Topps comes up with another nice design for its All-Star cards. You really should feature stars as design elements for these, and Topps doesn't disappoint. They actually deviate very little from the base card design, as the all-star designation replacing the inset portrait is the only difference. The backs are excellent, sharing "Personal Data" about the players. We got to find out that Mike Schmidt enjoys electric train sets, Steve Rogers is partial to Indian arrowheads, Jesse Orosco paints and sculpts, Ted Simmons likes to go antiquing, and Cary Carter collects baseball cards! We were also informed of each player's marital status. Cal Ripken is single, ladies!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivFXZAeaFnmVo4f3rL2UDbrFyMN1iPaADxPzl7M_oGaxbcA06ykNEF0mvIYw0-xgO5vI9nbArL_zsIk4R4Fu_QR1Hpsg7-Qr6-stsiToAoYVAxSlnOPEY-NE7M-3sEXSFgZ_aFyZnYNeEk/s1600/1984_T_404_Ted_Simmons_AS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivFXZAeaFnmVo4f3rL2UDbrFyMN1iPaADxPzl7M_oGaxbcA06ykNEF0mvIYw0-xgO5vI9nbArL_zsIk4R4Fu_QR1Hpsg7-Qr6-stsiToAoYVAxSlnOPEY-NE7M-3sEXSFgZ_aFyZnYNeEk/s400/1984_T_404_Ted_Simmons_AS.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br />
<u>Team Leaders</u><br />
For the third year in a row, team checklists come in the form of Team Leader cards. Not much to say about these except that the photo cropping is generally better than it had been the previous year.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ-yZVK371wq7AZgiVE64_rwUMI5FL1iq1p59djY9x3bVBYPPv5_voLJVwU2nUVUYu6FinpEFUhH7XKgvWpcxA204Tx8ZUxZS0pnMVmCNPiT6bfgitWfyEd6ugm0ZPlG8X4RspUi8_B0ej/s1600/1984_T_066_Astros_Leaders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ-yZVK371wq7AZgiVE64_rwUMI5FL1iq1p59djY9x3bVBYPPv5_voLJVwU2nUVUYu6FinpEFUhH7XKgvWpcxA204Tx8ZUxZS0pnMVmCNPiT6bfgitWfyEd6ugm0ZPlG8X4RspUi8_B0ej/s400/1984_T_066_Astros_Leaders.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<u>League Leaders</u><br />
Cards #131-138. The photos are also improved from a year ago on the League Leaders cards. I'm beginning to suspect that with the more intricate design and additional photo to deal with, Topps was a bit rushed toward the end in 1983 and the subsets suffered a bit for it. They were a little more on top of their game with these in '84. Though I can't say I love the design choice for the boxes indicating NL and AL, its a pretty good-looking subset. I particularly like the Batting Leaders card (#131) because it represents a kind of changing of the guard, featuring Bill Madlock's last of four batting titles and the first of five for Wade Boggs.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkINsELqNUIRq1_ex6BPz7fFUkEgHvTzRHpifKq5walUjzYJuo8VlynFWKJIuBv3q5s54LMUa5O_i28VlrIosyTQ6AzF-p9x9y1wx_8KaG6xMrOgfCBlPNFRfBotuK1VG12icPS_HoNIdM/s1600/1984_T_131_Batting_Leaders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkINsELqNUIRq1_ex6BPz7fFUkEgHvTzRHpifKq5walUjzYJuo8VlynFWKJIuBv3q5s54LMUa5O_i28VlrIosyTQ6AzF-p9x9y1wx_8KaG6xMrOgfCBlPNFRfBotuK1VG12icPS_HoNIdM/s400/1984_T_131_Batting_Leaders.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<u>Active Career Leaders</u><br />
Cards #701-718. As you can imagine, I <i>love</i> these. In fact, I may love them as much as 1983's Super Veterans. They provide an opportunity to feature not only future Hall-of-Famers, but to recognize the excellence of other great veterans nearing the end of their playing days, like Bert Campaneris, Ted Simmons and Jerry Koosman. The longtime Mets' lefty counterpart to Tom Seaver is seen here (#716) with a pair of Cooperstown inductees in this set ripe with celebrations of strikeout artists. The backs of these cards show a list not only of the league's active leaders, but also the all-time career leaders, making this a perfect concept for placing (then) current stars within a historical context. And that's one of the greatest things to appreciate about the game of baseball. I'm just glad they got this idea in before the friggin' steroid era.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghwnd0mvHW7jcBWOxRoj4aXPn7UfLkQzPBI69Wfdz3XC4WEokpoqJOq_O0_nGKNKp6bmm_jE3gl_c5t0JdOA9d1fafvo_2ByKW86eUWqixcjSlzrL8YKdXSwcX_QAwXfDQCJV1_y6aXtX6/s1600/1984_T_716_Active_AL_Strikeout_Leaders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghwnd0mvHW7jcBWOxRoj4aXPn7UfLkQzPBI69Wfdz3XC4WEokpoqJOq_O0_nGKNKp6bmm_jE3gl_c5t0JdOA9d1fafvo_2ByKW86eUWqixcjSlzrL8YKdXSwcX_QAwXfDQCJV1_y6aXtX6/s400/1984_T_716_Active_AL_Strikeout_Leaders.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXpRf2udau_XEuWYo64livZHNp_qUNASorprtxA2HvhhzeekgbLr_PaznHTPcAofdPE-D111EOw1dJBCRSTgNeI7Fqm_QqyY_327SHGhGbfYnQyPkzz_LHudPJ56bNE6lMxnWrMm_bd4Lc/s1600/1984_T_716_Active_AL_Strikeout_Leaders_back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXpRf2udau_XEuWYo64livZHNp_qUNASorprtxA2HvhhzeekgbLr_PaznHTPcAofdPE-D111EOw1dJBCRSTgNeI7Fqm_QqyY_327SHGhGbfYnQyPkzz_LHudPJ56bNE6lMxnWrMm_bd4Lc/s400/1984_T_716_Active_AL_Strikeout_Leaders_back.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-82528143635022254932013-06-01T20:43:00.000-07:002013-06-01T20:45:26.616-07:001984 Topps: Part II<b>THE CARDS</b><br />
<br />
<i>First Impressions</i><br />
<br />
Like the 1982 set, this was definitely a design that reflected the tastes of its times. As a fourteen year old, I loved them. In fact, at the time, I liked this set more than the '83 set, which I've grown to consider the benchmark for quality. The cards were colorful and flashy. And since I'd decided to go back to collecting the set through packs, I was once again treated to cards that smelled like gum. Don't underestimate the allure of that particular treat for the senses.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-70O8wVSrEey7ke9XYqCz6LxF83PSeYkrQDNxDrjbIxK5NqtKK4a-jQxM9BmTmMZi2hfCKz5k3_E6PMlsmB-SQP5YzAw-PSotxysFPvWiSz1aZK7ScSuPxWM-eetYkLrk7zJw7wlYCtpM/s1600/1984_T_720_Dwight_Evans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-70O8wVSrEey7ke9XYqCz6LxF83PSeYkrQDNxDrjbIxK5NqtKK4a-jQxM9BmTmMZi2hfCKz5k3_E6PMlsmB-SQP5YzAw-PSotxysFPvWiSz1aZK7ScSuPxWM-eetYkLrk7zJw7wlYCtpM/s400/1984_T_720_Dwight_Evans.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<i>29 Years Later...</i><br />
<br />
Throughout the years there have been a few back-to-back Topps sets that have enough similarities that I consider them siblings, and the 1983 (sister) and 1984 (brother) sets might be the closest thing to fraternal twins that the company had produced since 1955/1956. The 1983 set exuded class and subtlety, with its bright yet reserved color scheme, its tight curves and its compact text. Like an energetic (or even slightly obnoxious) younger brother, the 1984 set was clearly of the same family, but there was nothing subtle about it. Its bright primary colors were gaudy, its angles sharp and its text big and bold. Two specific design decisions are at the heart of their differences. The first is the use of marquee-sized block type for the team name running down the side of the cards. The second is the transformation of the portrait section of the cards, opting for a silhouette technique with the player's head popping out of a box filled with bright color.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtKVDeISj8-NzQUfNnFqxJ67ZImrap2Q67mv1C3R3Myz2Zw4PteK5LE0QLHCPtDo6d9qT628LUHegYXSOxPn5AuAg_TTHc2R90BFJQdMFUKg7pY8jmczOpkntYHSPeB52dzUmJIP6fNhxt/s1600/1984_T_028_Frank_Viola.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtKVDeISj8-NzQUfNnFqxJ67ZImrap2Q67mv1C3R3Myz2Zw4PteK5LE0QLHCPtDo6d9qT628LUHegYXSOxPn5AuAg_TTHc2R90BFJQdMFUKg7pY8jmczOpkntYHSPeB52dzUmJIP6fNhxt/s400/1984_T_028_Frank_Viola.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br />
While the 1983 set seemed solid and sturdy, the quality of the '84 set was slightly diluted. The card stock seemed a little thinner and prone to bowing in a way that recent Topps sets were not. Though the colors were vibrant, the printing seemed less precise and sometimes splotchy, with more irregularities appearing. I got the impression that these cards were much more plentiful (i.e., had a higher print run) than those of the previous few years, which may have something to do with my perception of a dip in quality. But I can't be too sure of this impression, given that I had ordered complete sets the previous two years. Perhaps the impression was simply formed by the fact that I was once again inundated with duplicates by collecting through packs.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmMHZ13lxmiRkGLDJif980yh9isBE_syVj7_XXL8bYQmAkkB-ufRDm-5WVXyFkJn_t6hvAY_ONGxz1CY5eJT_O77WBzkiblRODDEa8lD-y9zaQjKC1P_kiSgFnaZX5k3rHjYa5xMRt0_Dk/s1600/1984_T_010_Robin_Yount.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmMHZ13lxmiRkGLDJif980yh9isBE_syVj7_XXL8bYQmAkkB-ufRDm-5WVXyFkJn_t6hvAY_ONGxz1CY5eJT_O77WBzkiblRODDEa8lD-y9zaQjKC1P_kiSgFnaZX5k3rHjYa5xMRt0_Dk/s400/1984_T_010_Robin_Yount.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
When it came time to chose the "Most Aesthetically Pleasing" cards, there were more candidates from this set than in any of the previous sets I've examined. And that really astonishes me, because I've always kinda taken this set for granted. To my surprise, the photos in the '84 set are more consistently excellent than those in the beautiful '83 set. Despite the seeming disadvantage of locking the portrait to the left side of the cards, rather than reserving the option to choose left or right as in 1983, this set seems to do a better job of accommodating the shape of the space left for the action photo. Also, though the same effort is made to use action shots, those in the '84 set tend to be cropped closer than those in '83, which contributes to their bold look.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1AR2JsA1KC1di6sDhVObIYJFckBXSiJXv4LpoxJ6_0kHF606ddpnZCGNMPvxhIZz9YI2npzz3Zgh7E7gr3PYvR0_G6hJcPfxToJj3-w20hQBmFKlU7Ryu41NGHpkQfBGM3yrL8hYfuHx5/s1600/1984_T_230_Rickey_Henderson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1AR2JsA1KC1di6sDhVObIYJFckBXSiJXv4LpoxJ6_0kHF606ddpnZCGNMPvxhIZz9YI2npzz3Zgh7E7gr3PYvR0_G6hJcPfxToJj3-w20hQBmFKlU7Ryu41NGHpkQfBGM3yrL8hYfuHx5/s400/1984_T_230_Rickey_Henderson.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
Adding to the boldness of this set is the use of color on the card backs. Recent sets had also used two colors (with black often being one of them), and even different shades of single colors. But none had used the two colors as creatively as in this set. Echoing the box on the front for the player portrait is a box featuring a team logo in the upper right corner. In many of the logos the red and blue are used to good effect, with the Dodgers logo being one of them, given the bonus of the design decision matching the team's actual colors. For that reason, the Yankees, White Sox, Expos and Blue Jays cards, among others, also have some really nice-looking backs. Unfortunately, this was one of the years in which Topps chose rather generic game highlight information to feature, with the "Dateline" section being not at all different in content from any additional blurbs on back. Still, it's a really nice-looking design that neatly pairs with the set's overall look.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHyprdhiW4qWdofASUtPhJXJIDFsymQWXKlO1AiiLlWR6L1OuYPWzzpvhl6_eanlYfUgbgGLCzs2I32Ghz-70DFNKNZGBUrSWKr2JxoYeItmSn8_F_by3-UwZruKntt0KJ5zNkQPTMLcFZ/s1600/1984_T_064_Mike_Scioscia_back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHyprdhiW4qWdofASUtPhJXJIDFsymQWXKlO1AiiLlWR6L1OuYPWzzpvhl6_eanlYfUgbgGLCzs2I32Ghz-70DFNKNZGBUrSWKr2JxoYeItmSn8_F_by3-UwZruKntt0KJ5zNkQPTMLcFZ/s400/1984_T_064_Mike_Scioscia_back.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
The more closely that I look at these early 80s sets, the more I get the feeling that the people at Topps really put a lot of thought into imbuing each set with a unified purpose in its presentation, in a way that perhaps they failed to do for a while in the years ahead. I guess we'll see for sure in the coming weeks.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi10zf4zNpTLYmjp2nVHpSL90_CG-dvE7Ki-f1fjlSGxuuy34ZegwkaIn_ddi0m6OTjHprG-2R7oVuZHp6f5UYAltFi2DdsVJkmQIoRHQjw4RyOVNZ2prbYZiF0w5pIkPIuywEGWxlzbfbs/s1600/1984_T_170_Jerry_Reuss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi10zf4zNpTLYmjp2nVHpSL90_CG-dvE7Ki-f1fjlSGxuuy34ZegwkaIn_ddi0m6OTjHprG-2R7oVuZHp6f5UYAltFi2DdsVJkmQIoRHQjw4RyOVNZ2prbYZiF0w5pIkPIuywEGWxlzbfbs/s400/1984_T_170_Jerry_Reuss.jpg" width="286" /></a></div>petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-71190769999456823472013-05-29T21:25:00.001-07:002013-05-29T21:27:14.097-07:001984 Topps: Part I<b>CONTEXT</b><br />
<br />
In 1984 I found myself at a crossroads. And the devil on my shoulder nearly sent me down the wrong path. How did I find myself facing this decisive moment? There were two causes. One benign, one decidedly malignant.<br />
<br />
After two years of buying complete sets through the mail, I returned to the joys of ripping open packs when 1984 Topps hit the shelves. This was a very good thing. But it would lead to temptation.<br />
<br />
And the devil on my shoulder was... Don Mattingly?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgckvz-dYF_9dIMEtBm3mck1fQiDh_mHiPVo5jGsoPmxsNQxC6puoeUAxR5v9f5YRLTMT1OchXcbVfZdoWLpAUcvSQSohMCwqs-rVBoErR_UoZ1znup2YwW1bTyRl2vGseACwx9E28WVG4s/s1600/1984_T_008_Don_Mattingly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgckvz-dYF_9dIMEtBm3mck1fQiDh_mHiPVo5jGsoPmxsNQxC6puoeUAxR5v9f5YRLTMT1OchXcbVfZdoWLpAUcvSQSohMCwqs-rVBoErR_UoZ1znup2YwW1bTyRl2vGseACwx9E28WVG4s/s400/1984_T_008_Don_Mattingly.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
Actually, I can't blame Donnie Baseball. But I can blame his 1984 Topps rookie card (#8). They meant little to me when I began pulling them out of the copious packs flooding the market. I was a Dodger guy, and Mattingly played in that backwater New York place, far enough away that it may as well have been another country. And in a league that didn't even play by real baseball rules.<br />
<br />
But his card had created a buzz, a stir, a disturbance in the force, and a shift in people's perceptions about baseball cards. Overnight (at least to naive, fourteen-year-old me it seemed that way), buying these nifty, colorful images of ballplayers went from being a hobby to being an investment strategy. And since this was the 80s, the whole greed thing had a nefariously broad cultural appeal.<br />
<br />
I wish I could say that I immediately saw the inherent evil in the trend and tried to rally support for the simple joys of collecting for... well, fun. But I'm a little ashamed to say that, at least for a summer, I was one of those people who would come to see dollar signs instead of ballplayers.<br />
<br />
Cecilio Guante, you have a bad-ass card (#122), peering in for a sign in your black and gold Pirates uni with the pillbox cap, your sweaty scowl accentuated by the devilish red framing your portrait.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgha8998yelzVdCaSEtt2RrfbI5IBr2xmIObLX_QWJ_-Vzi7fbPH_28djKAZIcOPhqxaRX_210bHtdzBpgVlJUPTh719hv7XxiBTTFpsWP66jFX8ppgeIF4XC46fO_94kCybgrhN_XEADTq/s1600/1984_T_122_Cecilio_Guante.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgha8998yelzVdCaSEtt2RrfbI5IBr2xmIObLX_QWJ_-Vzi7fbPH_28djKAZIcOPhqxaRX_210bHtdzBpgVlJUPTh719hv7XxiBTTFpsWP66jFX8ppgeIF4XC46fO_94kCybgrhN_XEADTq/s400/1984_T_122_Cecilio_Guante.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
Don't care. You're a middle reliever with no investment value whatsoever. You're wasting a potentially valuable space in my pack of cards. You mean less than nothing to me.<br />
<br />
Except as filler in my own ingenious money-making scam. I made my own packs. I would put twelve cards in a clear plastic bag, put pseudo-stars that I had tons of duplicates of on top and bottom (think Ron Kittle, Manny Trillo, Ken Singleton), and then stuff the pack with the Cecilio Guantes of the world in between. I hadn't really thought things through enough to realize I was unlikely to get any return business once someone opened a pack. But I didn't have to worry about that since I could never convince anyone to buy one.<br />
<br />
Thankfully, this was the beginning and the end of my days as a card investor, rather than collector. Today I don't keep a single card behind plastic. I'm happy to hold the Mattingly rookie in my hand, risking corner damage or scuffing or what have you, and ponder on his great career as a player and his legacy-in-progress as the manager of my Dodgers.<br />
<br />
And I've come to enjoy pulling the supporting players out of packs just as much as the "valuable" superstars. Who would have thought, with a mug like that, that Cecilio Guante would turn out to be the angel on my shoulder?petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-91766843362937979392013-05-26T12:12:00.000-07:002013-06-01T17:27:47.825-07:001983 Topps: Part IV<b>RANKING</b><br />
<br />
<i>Favorites</i><br />
<br />
<u>Oddball(s) of the Set</u><br />
The goofy airbrush jobs weren't confined to the Traded set. One of the best (worst) I've seen is this John Denny (#211) monstrosity. He was a trade deadline pickup in '82 who would come out of nowhere to win the 1983 NL Cy Young Award for the "Wheeze Kids," making this quite the undignified portrayal of the league's top hurler.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-wdVu2ZsnKP2HE2b51CK2kcDLy_GBX3dBdEstO9pZq_jd39QLqVyslzjnMtr_8hpRSHZH9yaA56t56zMm7Jxc9gM2x2K6FPzJ7uUfeFz0blKMxUYQ5SKlUbhbdSjI1qCCymts60uqSJMs/s1600/1983_T_211_John_Denny.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-wdVu2ZsnKP2HE2b51CK2kcDLy_GBX3dBdEstO9pZq_jd39QLqVyslzjnMtr_8hpRSHZH9yaA56t56zMm7Jxc9gM2x2K6FPzJ7uUfeFz0blKMxUYQ5SKlUbhbdSjI1qCCymts60uqSJMs/s400/1983_T_211_John_Denny.jpg" width="281" /></a></div><br />
Unfortunately for Denny's Cy Young counterpart in the AL, he was not immune to undignified treatment by Topps. On this White Sox Leaders card (#591), the photos are cropped in such a way that LaMarr Hoyt appears to be a moody teenager with premature facial hair when placed next to the giant Greg Luzinski.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJHubfe2c-WXmhqs62zAun2wDMLzCTVjmhragVY-c0ECsHgQglw0pg7Er3y5MuxUMib0s7W8KCXM9HZ7_gBPuPJN6-vPl_o5xqAVlsZJZAfFHpCxfD-UXskruk4iYXj_RhGZlitzUS52SV/s1600/1983_T_591_White_Sox_Leaders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJHubfe2c-WXmhqs62zAun2wDMLzCTVjmhragVY-c0ECsHgQglw0pg7Er3y5MuxUMib0s7W8KCXM9HZ7_gBPuPJN6-vPl_o5xqAVlsZJZAfFHpCxfD-UXskruk4iYXj_RhGZlitzUS52SV/s400/1983_T_591_White_Sox_Leaders.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<u>Most Aesthetically Pleasing</u><br />
The Orioles and Royals had been given very complementary color combos in recent Topps designs, and 1983 was no different. In fact, there were a number of really nice O's cards in this set, including Earl Weaver in a jovial moment on a bad hair day, Gary Roenicke tossing the bat aside on the way to first base, Floyd "Honey Bear" Rayford ready to pounce on anything headed his way at third base, and an eyeblacked Ken Singleton taking a lead off of second base. But the perennially photogenic Eddie Murray takes the cake with this high-contrast, geometrically-balanced beauty (#530). That said, the top spot has to go to Frank White (#325), busting out of the box, muscles tensed, dirt flying, powder-blue sky framing his smiling portrait. Nice.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbi5nCz7EzG56A8TuOuzWoJOfvVGAg23ooVCy6iI8lgzJ9Dbb2MP5TNkdbXTF3rm_yDT3GuJudNZFhOquwEx1K5jBBuhS3ui5tNp_yaTP9KguHtUDtdDP-5kmFq5JiJkfecZJP3cuS8jZ2/s1600/1983_T_530_Eddie_Murray.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbi5nCz7EzG56A8TuOuzWoJOfvVGAg23ooVCy6iI8lgzJ9Dbb2MP5TNkdbXTF3rm_yDT3GuJudNZFhOquwEx1K5jBBuhS3ui5tNp_yaTP9KguHtUDtdDP-5kmFq5JiJkfecZJP3cuS8jZ2/s400/1983_T_530_Eddie_Murray.jpg" width="285" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0h4-eYitn48PG1F8ZLE4A-ctgZIt_ZtzULJ7uMJyGaC3iU3xkYadNQF3k5cP2gbycNXr-SVX9cu5ic5x-IHmh3mlPqnfLZUuM4eomeF6v6ObEvEUrpWJpmruGiP98SsC-yGWgl8zhm7F4/s1600/1983_T_325_Frank_White.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0h4-eYitn48PG1F8ZLE4A-ctgZIt_ZtzULJ7uMJyGaC3iU3xkYadNQF3k5cP2gbycNXr-SVX9cu5ic5x-IHmh3mlPqnfLZUuM4eomeF6v6ObEvEUrpWJpmruGiP98SsC-yGWgl8zhm7F4/s400/1983_T_325_Frank_White.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
<u>Favorite Dodgers Card</u><br />
With managers making their first Topps appearance of my collecting lifetime, Tommy Lasorda (#306) has to be my favorite here. With decades of hindsight, it's easy to nitpick about Lasorda's skills as a field general. He probably held the pedal to the metal a bit too much with the arms of his aces, Fernando and the Bulldog. And he had Niedenfuer pitch to Jack Clark for some reason. But there was no greater motivator. They probably don't win in 1988 under another manager. And as a kid I couldn't have asked for a more entertaining skipper to lead my favorite team. He had me believing that I, too, bled Dodger Blue!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjezhPu1PpAU1hFbJA2T75ax63GDnOzG1ex3dxQY-G0jRlSKZ1E-34PnTV5lVU9C7s5VkT07UutcsI4X2PhermudlXVXLZLSnNLC7H3-pgrkb5246JXqDaTB_oEVUETx1GylUW0GyuynHQu/s1600/1983_T_306_Tom_Lasorda_MG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjezhPu1PpAU1hFbJA2T75ax63GDnOzG1ex3dxQY-G0jRlSKZ1E-34PnTV5lVU9C7s5VkT07UutcsI4X2PhermudlXVXLZLSnNLC7H3-pgrkb5246JXqDaTB_oEVUETx1GylUW0GyuynHQu/s400/1983_T_306_Tom_Lasorda_MG.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
<u>Favorite Card(s)</u><br />
Yaz cards would always be among those that I most looked forward to each year. But these are special, coming in his 23rd and final season. You have gotta love the fungo hitting on the base card (#550). How sweet is that!? And, of course, he's the dean of the Super Vets (#551).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhircuLCsQTtMlrulBR1YtBtab2YopvZX970zKXl_iWXfECIpdPjBKK3EhNpB0NTDsMjhuhEG2VD4_txov4PLy6ZrlxQ1bycc3iIT8LsdKo2bVGgOJ2Q00zLaWlLqm8FT8P7b1vqpOq7uY9/s1600/1983_T_550_Carl_Yastrzemski.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhircuLCsQTtMlrulBR1YtBtab2YopvZX970zKXl_iWXfECIpdPjBKK3EhNpB0NTDsMjhuhEG2VD4_txov4PLy6ZrlxQ1bycc3iIT8LsdKo2bVGgOJ2Q00zLaWlLqm8FT8P7b1vqpOq7uY9/s400/1983_T_550_Carl_Yastrzemski.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc6yZoPb5_diEUL31Yns-xrJlkerROBJEVZKjWSns_-KebsBMP1YCR3U2Z9a1mbHylGPfLKwYujLUO0iVBooykG4orhDVUlZuu3EBjGRxMa-0lKPGEAnSwyFEcoAPes-Bjy99Jb_axZvGB/s1600/1983_T_551_Carl_Yastrzemski_SV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc6yZoPb5_diEUL31Yns-xrJlkerROBJEVZKjWSns_-KebsBMP1YCR3U2Z9a1mbHylGPfLKwYujLUO0iVBooykG4orhDVUlZuu3EBjGRxMa-0lKPGEAnSwyFEcoAPes-Bjy99Jb_axZvGB/s400/1983_T_551_Carl_Yastrzemski_SV.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<u>One Final Thought</u><br />
I love this card design so much that I'm always using the template to make virtual cards of anything that's of interest to me at the moment. For example, when I was all excited about the World Baseball Classic in March I whipped up a bunch of WBC cards, with the added bonus that they came on the 20th anniversary of this set. I wish Topps had made something real like this. I got the Upper Deck set in '06 and the Topps set in '09, but unless I'm missing something there doesn't seem to be a 2013 WBC set, which is a shame. I also couldn't resist making a card of my daughter, Jana, who's a slick-fielding shortstop in ASA Softball.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDojHPwQ-0C1n_rnlX5IGXY7D2rd9AvpB9Cbqafi7DWgblVUPkk6RCEAQb8sPl0pRf-4lPVbA9FGfEV_OOjuLB3kbFYDXPCvK8WHTUgFQ37A2pfykEkAIQf-CXujxhBvKBzqvVDnjSmwtm/s1600/1983_MEX_Gonzalez_Adrian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDojHPwQ-0C1n_rnlX5IGXY7D2rd9AvpB9Cbqafi7DWgblVUPkk6RCEAQb8sPl0pRf-4lPVbA9FGfEV_OOjuLB3kbFYDXPCvK8WHTUgFQ37A2pfykEkAIQf-CXujxhBvKBzqvVDnjSmwtm/s400/1983_MEX_Gonzalez_Adrian.jpg" width="283" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUbIeV8yJM1Ru6KbIxPIetEeCdyhLLELvMVDs-0xBa1vYXp5qZoY8lca4ccPrGbKOgRCNZq9yxXQqy8GIF4YgKbZ4TBtIw3bMpoAhTLsMlXaueuAWNyZJpvyrs8QmzAjDqBURkYJZnnnfN/s1600/1983_Jana_Lapat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUbIeV8yJM1Ru6KbIxPIetEeCdyhLLELvMVDs-0xBa1vYXp5qZoY8lca4ccPrGbKOgRCNZq9yxXQqy8GIF4YgKbZ4TBtIw3bMpoAhTLsMlXaueuAWNyZJpvyrs8QmzAjDqBURkYJZnnnfN/s400/1983_Jana_Lapat.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<i>The Big Picture</i><br />
<br />
The bar is set. Classy, timeless, tight design that shows the players to best advantage. Colorful, yet understated. Great photography. A set that emphasizes veterans. Beautiful. With four sets reviewed, 1983 Topps ranks as the #1 set of my collecting lifetime, ahead of 1981 and 1980.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHPU7qZCcC-xw2JOHGLDLMUKH5HgC8ulE-GOCbKitQd9w0OEUeFN9hdG92QW-EoeGJDN-BgARqAarYxnoJHoiRSx884LDYwDTZWnafXNjVI3okiZUvInEu2oKeZ9ad3Lm1jjQ_R8lTm4SB/s1600/1980_T_410_Bobby_Bonds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHPU7qZCcC-xw2JOHGLDLMUKH5HgC8ulE-GOCbKitQd9w0OEUeFN9hdG92QW-EoeGJDN-BgARqAarYxnoJHoiRSx884LDYwDTZWnafXNjVI3okiZUvInEu2oKeZ9ad3Lm1jjQ_R8lTm4SB/s200/1980_T_410_Bobby_Bonds.jpg" width="143" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixNfwWSNtXpydX9aVW10WeFYQkjRWSudmx1yqxuVuJ3UNv_H2xijGAoccOxqyV7YBNxW6FLaTSoQusdXvhJZJRY-jZ34liRRa_CteRxCrzy8pHSgWiGB97sL9Z5_6UrlHi9z3JFYutOoiq/s1600/1983_T_440_Ron_Guidry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixNfwWSNtXpydX9aVW10WeFYQkjRWSudmx1yqxuVuJ3UNv_H2xijGAoccOxqyV7YBNxW6FLaTSoQusdXvhJZJRY-jZ34liRRa_CteRxCrzy8pHSgWiGB97sL9Z5_6UrlHi9z3JFYutOoiq/s400/1983_T_440_Ron_Guidry.jpg" width="285" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRLGyspjvQKcR7VNVGmSN2RBGMd1Lw6SnkUZpitgVHp5N8vUuMO-98vj7Z7k7Bx5ZODjq0dgTpj52HUHjFxp_izdHxtDh6xmJKEJkBGwCStzzMr83m7S82COGZv_JEawSg1W7vVDCmPUX1/s1600/1981_T_700_George_Brett.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRLGyspjvQKcR7VNVGmSN2RBGMd1Lw6SnkUZpitgVHp5N8vUuMO-98vj7Z7k7Bx5ZODjq0dgTpj52HUHjFxp_izdHxtDh6xmJKEJkBGwCStzzMr83m7S82COGZv_JEawSg1W7vVDCmPUX1/s200/1981_T_700_George_Brett.jpg" width="143" /></a></div>petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-42435699226211714042013-05-23T11:52:00.000-07:002013-05-23T11:52:11.811-07:001983 Topps: Part III-T<b>TRADED</b><br />
<br />
It seemed to me like the first few Traded sets were all about the dismantling of my Dodgers. In 1982 I was forced to accept a green-clad Davey Lopes. In 1983 I was treated to Steve Garvey in a McDonald's uniform and Ron Cey with a cute little teddy bear on his arm. Not cool.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimkMM0AdZ0uXzie1lqog_z4RkxoPlejMuhqvGETKQWgEkUdfpQFX1XgBXJyDfzfsvK0xQ0CiRkJXD5g1N9uH-jqB38tcEpWZe8K9MfXZdGxtgs0oHG9h3qdPQ0fV0JqSAVrFWzLqknr_gU/s1600/1983_TU_037T_Steve_Garvey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimkMM0AdZ0uXzie1lqog_z4RkxoPlejMuhqvGETKQWgEkUdfpQFX1XgBXJyDfzfsvK0xQ0CiRkJXD5g1N9uH-jqB38tcEpWZe8K9MfXZdGxtgs0oHG9h3qdPQ0fV0JqSAVrFWzLqknr_gU/s400/1983_TU_037T_Steve_Garvey.jpg" width="285" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyQwx-ZUwD2-vGN_6GcyMqPd3UsyH9ZltPXwlfyX-KZBmL9puihd08Qn4bxV0UeCZOzxD6na6aEjvn3-Ojm8nLLGmcyFjMDGTUa2IK9mljE2Bro9uVpeEU3X-Am3nL-4X0lyet73r7fM10/s1600/1983_TU_019T_Ron_Cey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyQwx-ZUwD2-vGN_6GcyMqPd3UsyH9ZltPXwlfyX-KZBmL9puihd08Qn4bxV0UeCZOzxD6na6aEjvn3-Ojm8nLLGmcyFjMDGTUa2IK9mljE2Bro9uVpeEU3X-Am3nL-4X0lyet73r7fM10/s400/1983_TU_019T_Ron_Cey.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
But with the changing of the guard I was treated to another "win" over my Grandfather in our friendly battle of the freeways rivalry. It wasn't a huge victory, though. Greg Brock didn't do a whole lot more to fill Garvey's shoes than Daryl Sconiers did to fill those of the aging Rod Carew for the Angels. But at the time these cards came out, the promise of future stardom made it seem like there would be no break in the greatness. Lesson learned.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0vvQELwj4iGA5jEmM8pKrq6EeRlqsYei3_Cg1V6_vXpq6PuQ9-soIbIWeuSnugjanhrB4PrgD5fk-omtIwk2iCoY3sqWxxF-RDxspOWCFMznv-iw2x-LdY2XpIvmt-n45scsi_Au6FXvl/s1600/1983_TU_014T_Greg_Brock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0vvQELwj4iGA5jEmM8pKrq6EeRlqsYei3_Cg1V6_vXpq6PuQ9-soIbIWeuSnugjanhrB4PrgD5fk-omtIwk2iCoY3sqWxxF-RDxspOWCFMznv-iw2x-LdY2XpIvmt-n45scsi_Au6FXvl/s400/1983_TU_014T_Greg_Brock.jpg" width="285" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZjhNwYXL1VMFYkH0e35FyG8UXBNXCgNAcC5aQD6QWNTqrjYQCEuDLzEAxr8aXqzd3ZkxylHbmFp9UPJrZamL9lDCJooWPKdUNmgIH7zD6ApsFHZnGLGCLjSBGR5dBVY0hHA_p1fbu3mpu/s1600/1983_TU_099T_Daryl_Sconiers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZjhNwYXL1VMFYkH0e35FyG8UXBNXCgNAcC5aQD6QWNTqrjYQCEuDLzEAxr8aXqzd3ZkxylHbmFp9UPJrZamL9lDCJooWPKdUNmgIH7zD6ApsFHZnGLGCLjSBGR5dBVY0hHA_p1fbu3mpu/s400/1983_TU_099T_Daryl_Sconiers.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br />
Despite all containing 132 cards, featuring the same basic design as their base set, and with the same purpose of updating the current set to reflect player movement, the Traded set had undergone a noticeable evolution in its first three years. In 1981 the cards were indistinguishable from their counterparts, and the numbering indicated that they represented an extension of the base set. In 1982 they received their own separate numbering system and the backs were printed in red rather than the green used in the base set. Topps went even further in 1983, printing the cards on completely different card stock that was brighter and thinner and smelled weird. (Don't tell me you don't smell your cards...?) It was probably supposed to be "premium," in some way, but it just felt cheap and wrong to me, even then. The backs may have been more legible, but their bright pink on white just looks <i>wrong</i>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjPwFxmW2WR2qBUtucjXfzze_ohAIadEiC6N_IYAkTKDgohTFm8CZsIGlGz9v6kbgCfiIlEEPram_0u6v59V6TIP_A4vDeGLw5LqxuufVseTn2Gh1uSV_So_X3HlBJfJKdJZ-68F9wUym9/s1600/1983_TU_108T_Darryl_Strawberry_back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjPwFxmW2WR2qBUtucjXfzze_ohAIadEiC6N_IYAkTKDgohTFm8CZsIGlGz9v6kbgCfiIlEEPram_0u6v59V6TIP_A4vDeGLw5LqxuufVseTn2Gh1uSV_So_X3HlBJfJKdJZ-68F9wUym9/s400/1983_TU_108T_Darryl_Strawberry_back.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
The card design posed a challenge for the Traded set by requiring (or at least strongly favoring) the inclusion of an action shot. The previous two Traded sets relied heavily on posed spring training photos. So the Topps photographers had to get out there and shoot some spring training action, with decent results. It also meant the Topps airbrush specialists had twice the work to do, with typically less-impressive (though always entertaining) results.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGE0UWDCSBY_p-XdNB-naMuaQLaPx68pJoGWM6FqmPDhzXNIeqo_U2Xw-dync_UX0rpHnV0i9A_ROdBg50BZ9XeyYXNR3LeiHx8x5u5hZYq3n3lH1fOUKWJAOOQG88KY26UOqNiL-HIW8q/s1600/1983_TU_001T_Neil_Allen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGE0UWDCSBY_p-XdNB-naMuaQLaPx68pJoGWM6FqmPDhzXNIeqo_U2Xw-dync_UX0rpHnV0i9A_ROdBg50BZ9XeyYXNR3LeiHx8x5u5hZYq3n3lH1fOUKWJAOOQG88KY26UOqNiL-HIW8q/s400/1983_TU_001T_Neil_Allen.jpg" width="285" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBaSR1WgpzTrjyr3kdJzVK1cB8U0wOcoGbjnqbu8clYfvE_xFixWN4dwWo_gFWvQ6i4U4QJS4XQllRKyBE_vsTum6atzWGOXc4AGtz_U5uZ9phQAgN4Qtdj5DgFdE4D_vCxxfVx4zp6ODB/s1600/1983_TU_096T_Leon_Roberts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBaSR1WgpzTrjyr3kdJzVK1cB8U0wOcoGbjnqbu8clYfvE_xFixWN4dwWo_gFWvQ6i4U4QJS4XQllRKyBE_vsTum6atzWGOXc4AGtz_U5uZ9phQAgN4Qtdj5DgFdE4D_vCxxfVx4zp6ODB/s400/1983_TU_096T_Leon_Roberts.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
The inclusion of managers this year meant manager updates here, with six more skippers joining the impressive list on offer, including Joe Altobelli, Frank Howard and John McNamara. Billy Martin (#66T), goes from the A's in the base set to his 37th stint working for George Steinbrenner over the past few seasons. Am I the only one who thinks the Yankees helmet in the upper left of the photo makes this card? I know, I'm weird.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSz33z4iObK6ELiiWlX5xr1aV2ZCgZ3MwOpz19tDaO6vBSozgN-0if5rHMN5cUoU1gyQY4nn6bRCGnEZOcDM_MiCyh4sorZvONy5_aEjqd3KuyPq6KgxDFMTQu_EfQt3x_qHYFyonX4T2X/s1600/1983_TU_066T_Billy_Martin_MG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSz33z4iObK6ELiiWlX5xr1aV2ZCgZ3MwOpz19tDaO6vBSozgN-0if5rHMN5cUoU1gyQY4nn6bRCGnEZOcDM_MiCyh4sorZvONy5_aEjqd3KuyPq6KgxDFMTQu_EfQt3x_qHYFyonX4T2X/s400/1983_TU_066T_Billy_Martin_MG.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
The big attraction in the set was the Darryl Strawberry rookie card but, as you know if you've been reading, I am partial to the veterans. This set included the final touches the Phillies would make in assembling the "Wheeze Kids" (an all-time great team nickname!) who would go on to beat the Dodgers in the NLCS before losing to Ripken and Murray's Orioles in the World Series.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJBS74zQdlQxY7nM0CuDaCYYwD2KCxnE502wRk3s-zX4rIGcxFeXrRLwSf_BsIsCEVzcWrKqKpZh9eSnauTXhIr7KDRUOWas-pkVsV4MjW5ARA-51Blm59SLZEyKqL4j0_6AoMIZ5teTNc/s1600/1983_TU_077T_Joe_Morgan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJBS74zQdlQxY7nM0CuDaCYYwD2KCxnE502wRk3s-zX4rIGcxFeXrRLwSf_BsIsCEVzcWrKqKpZh9eSnauTXhIr7KDRUOWas-pkVsV4MjW5ARA-51Blm59SLZEyKqL4j0_6AoMIZ5teTNc/s400/1983_TU_077T_Joe_Morgan.jpg" width="286" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEFLYil59t-i6XHc8vdHpPQXZmLiAWL710Wq-Nt3YWha8HN20R8AkLSvwaCTA4jVzp2HBkFCDdGtS1jtf3mVbFbnXIhW6vhg9zFkmP3QiF0spmkDWc3UpfmPM4tIBWqndeLj_WgWScuFln/s1600/1983_TU_085T_Tony_Perez.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEFLYil59t-i6XHc8vdHpPQXZmLiAWL710Wq-Nt3YWha8HN20R8AkLSvwaCTA4jVzp2HBkFCDdGtS1jtf3mVbFbnXIhW6vhg9zFkmP3QiF0spmkDWc3UpfmPM4tIBWqndeLj_WgWScuFln/s400/1983_TU_085T_Tony_Perez.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
It was also a big set for Mets fans. In addition to Strawberry, the set included the return of Tom Seaver to Shea and the more substantive acquisition of Keith Hernandez. There's a lot to like in the set's composition and the great design continued from the base set. I just wish it would have been printed on baseball card stock, instead of the cheap milk carton stuff they used.petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-47484342450641466402013-05-21T11:40:00.003-07:002013-05-21T11:40:59.480-07:001983 Topps: Part III<b>THE SET</b><br />
<br />
<i>Vital Statistics</i><br />
<br />
The set again contains 792 cards, printed on sturdy cardboard like that which Topps had been using for years. This was again appended by an additional 132 in the Traded set, not afforded the same dignity in terms of card stock.<br />
<br />
I am going to discontinue the practice of listing all of the Dodgers cards in a set. That's just encyclopedic info that can be found anywhere, and these "set" posts are pretty long as it is. But I'm not gonna abandon my Dodgers focus altogether. I will use this space instead to feature one Dodger "newcomer," as defined as someone who wasn't in the previous year's Dodgers team set. And we've got a pretty fascinating guy to look at here. Technically, he wasn't a newcomer at all, but a returning veteran. Returning not just to the Dodgers for the first time since 1968, but to Major League Baseball for the first time since 1974! Vicente Romo (veteran pitcher alert!) spent the intervening seasons playing in his native Mexico. In fact, he's a member of the Salón de la Fama del Beisbol Profesional de México (Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame), who sported a career 2.49 ERA in the Mexican League, the best in its history among pitchers working at least 2,000 innings. ¡Viva Los Doyers! Dig the airbrush job on the small portrait portion of the card (#633), which may very well have been taken several years earlier in the mid-70s. Would love to know for sure.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsMBdgIRcTlDAr0qIS84O3J5FnqGiy5uyHH8xwMS1QpzrLVzEHn00Wq0NDD7ZacuGhoQmQnwWpQGViTgU0hiSZk4l0AxfSM9g7TrRE4kaYMlmKrvYQqD84OsEQhSpGdEdY7DsWT97lIccI/s1600/1983_T_633_Vicente_Romo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsMBdgIRcTlDAr0qIS84O3J5FnqGiy5uyHH8xwMS1QpzrLVzEHn00Wq0NDD7ZacuGhoQmQnwWpQGViTgU0hiSZk4l0AxfSM9g7TrRE4kaYMlmKrvYQqD84OsEQhSpGdEdY7DsWT97lIccI/s400/1983_T_633_Vicente_Romo.jpg" width="282" /></a></div><br />
In addition to Ryne Sandberg, the set contains three other key rookies, Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs and Willie McGee, which is not usually of the greatest interest to me. But I am a little fascinated by the odd confluence of photo choices among the three. All are shown running the bases, and all three photos are from strange angles, or at least cropped in a slightly odd way. Weird.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>Special Cards</i><br />
<br />
First of all, here's what the set doesn't include. There are no Future Stars cards, or prospect cards of any kind for the first time since... I'm not sure, but certainly sometime before 1970. And I'm really okay with that (especially since the Dodgers were done producing Rookies of the Year, at least for a while). I'm less okay with the fact that there are no post-season cards here. Not as big a deal as last year's snub of the Dodgers, but I see no good reason to fail to acknowledge the champs each year. And Whitey Ball vs. Harvey's Wallbangers made for an exciting World Series.<br />
<br />
Okay, so what does the set feature?<br />
<br />
<u>Managers</u><br />
For the first time in my collecting lifetime, managers receive their due with their own cards in the 1983 Topps set. This is a huge decision in favor of this set's greatness. I don't know that leaving out managers might actually be worse than skipping a post-season recap. Managers have as much to do with a team's on-field personality as anyone. Not giving them a card means leaving out a big part of the story that a set should be trying to tell. They were relegated to tiny pictures on team photo cards in 1980 and 1981, then ignored completely in 1982. What a difference it makes to have them here. And it's a seriously impressive group of baseball people to be featured in this set, including Billy Martin, Gene Mauch, Dick Howser, Dave Garcia, Harvey Kuenn, Chuck Tanner, and Ralph Houk, plus Hall of Famers Sparky Anderson, Earl Weaver, Whitey Herzog, Dick Williams and Tommy Lasorda, and future inductees Joe Torre, Bobby Cox and Tony LaRussa... not to mention Hall of Fame player and the first African-American big-league manager, Frank Robinson (#576)! Wow. Why would you pass up the opportunity to put that much great cardboard out there in the world? Way to go, Topps.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzpVvA2nL8sk_6ejotjP1KyJuiccBWeEqexnrKp8etbjTSQJ2-8OB12k22BGX4S7rp588nMY3TKliMIE-eypjKX-P7pcUg4iCdC60rvxRAlc0_ZMFlyvutJZ13o8SuHFLBZxHXa62o29te/s1600/1983_T_576_Frank_Robinson_MG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzpVvA2nL8sk_6ejotjP1KyJuiccBWeEqexnrKp8etbjTSQJ2-8OB12k22BGX4S7rp588nMY3TKliMIE-eypjKX-P7pcUg4iCdC60rvxRAlc0_ZMFlyvutJZ13o8SuHFLBZxHXa62o29te/s400/1983_T_576_Frank_Robinson_MG.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
<u>Checklists</u><br />
Nice for their type. Yellow background, easy to read, tight design, not cluttered. Still the closet thing to disposable as a baseball card can get, though.<br />
<br />
<u>Record Breakers</u><br />
Cards #1-6. Back to Record Breakers instead of Season Highlights, and the selection really suffers for it. The "Greatest of All Time," Rickey Henderson (#2), is certainly a worthy candidate for celebration, having established a new modern single-season stolen base record that stands to this day. The rest? Hardly worth a special piece of cardboard, and I won't bore you with discussing them here. The design is a little odd, too. I'm not sure if that arrow/wedge deal that says "1982 Record Breaker" is supposed to represent anything other than a rather random geometric shape. If so, it escapes my powers of deduction. Not horrible, but not up to the standard of the majority of cards in this great set.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn_pxcvPbFUsn1ylml6w2sFoXY90ZII5L0jxdaAYrBkrAo8QtbmS9TtjzFiycwa5fRQ_CKzUsc2fz23zgv8TBgwTq-k4JPYDC5w0Wclj6ctsOPgf7MkvMfnNZbF93Sxl614DZ22qTF1UUN/s1600/1983_T_002_Rickey_Henderson_RB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn_pxcvPbFUsn1ylml6w2sFoXY90ZII5L0jxdaAYrBkrAo8QtbmS9TtjzFiycwa5fRQ_CKzUsc2fz23zgv8TBgwTq-k4JPYDC5w0Wclj6ctsOPgf7MkvMfnNZbF93Sxl614DZ22qTF1UUN/s400/1983_T_002_Rickey_Henderson_RB.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
<u>All-Stars</u><br />
Cards #386-407. Once again All-Stars get special recognition with an additional card. The giant star is fun, and the design fits nicely with the tenor of the set. Unfortunately, the photo choices in this subset are slightly subpar, this great dramatically-lit Robin Yount card (#389) aside. The backs feature a series of write-ups about "Great All-Star Games," which is nice. Always good to get some history into a set.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7AfCCCgtyHLOJYrHfQQbeyRObtbf2vX4ptj0-8YmZH09x1v6y59m3mdhvgnnGOX4Net2ueGMpXRXbPCP7WpTD1yUgmk8clyNgcKQ21deUqgfQlft_2aCFaTlOEuvGB_M2zcCkg0oy7Xab/s1600/1983_T_389_Robin_Yount_AS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7AfCCCgtyHLOJYrHfQQbeyRObtbf2vX4ptj0-8YmZH09x1v6y59m3mdhvgnnGOX4Net2ueGMpXRXbPCP7WpTD1yUgmk8clyNgcKQ21deUqgfQlft_2aCFaTlOEuvGB_M2zcCkg0oy7Xab/s400/1983_T_389_Robin_Yount_AS.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
<u>League Leaders</u><br />
Cards #701-708. The photos are even worse in this subset. It's as if the effort that Topps made with its base card photos was so onerous that they ran out of steam when it came to the subsets. The Stolen Base Leaders card, featuring Rickey Henderson and Tim Raines (a redundant statement in the 80s), would be a classic if not for the fact that Rickey's photo is as blurry as Liz Taylor in a White Diamonds commercial. And it looks like we're supposed to be examining Dan Quisenberry for lice on the Leading Firemen card. About the only well-balanced and aesthetically-pleasing card is the one featuring ERA Leaders Rick Sutcliffe and Steve Rogers (#707). (At least the Dodgers got Jack Fimple in the deal that exiled the Red Baron to Cleveland...) The card design here is again solid, sticking with the tight and uncluttered look.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu3B2S_nIeOFDbVfIhmC7DiVf7Nrf-Bd5_kh7g6-nLbIRhL53KiP7TgUvDOS1ho_45Y7yjOgaLMCD0Ml-pFyLZv5i4iiKhUqe71fDADy63L5Ru142xPtdlK3b6lK3PBERAsZB21VZ44VnR/s1600/1983_T_707_ERA_Leaders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu3B2S_nIeOFDbVfIhmC7DiVf7Nrf-Bd5_kh7g6-nLbIRhL53KiP7TgUvDOS1ho_45Y7yjOgaLMCD0Ml-pFyLZv5i4iiKhUqe71fDADy63L5Ru142xPtdlK3b6lK3PBERAsZB21VZ44VnR/s400/1983_T_707_ERA_Leaders.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<u>Team Leaders</u><br />
For the second year in a row we get Team Leaders for team checklist cards. These stick closely to the design for the League Leaders, with a team logo taking center stage in place of the AL/NL designations on their counterparts. The photo choices seem generally to be a bit better, but there's still an unusual sloppiness in terms of cropping the two photos on some of these cards to create symmetry and balance. Not so, fortunately, with the Dodgers Leaders card (#681), although we do get a bit uncomfortably close to Pedro and Fernando.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-NjtGvaIEs_VYD434wm0OJ0hiraLs9PhlGmO2kG17oJGsfMR3hTSTECZu9Ae-hZYT12nH-RYLTmE0HAURKjaU3rBBLtOoisaIe74Z5pxdciORY_WH-rIbWDcRxmnbSR8WXGNr6xnqqe7U/s1600/1983_T_681_Dodgers_Leaders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-NjtGvaIEs_VYD434wm0OJ0hiraLs9PhlGmO2kG17oJGsfMR3hTSTECZu9Ae-hZYT12nH-RYLTmE0HAURKjaU3rBBLtOoisaIe74Z5pxdciORY_WH-rIbWDcRxmnbSR8WXGNr6xnqqe7U/s400/1983_T_681_Dodgers_Leaders.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<u>Super Veterans</u><br />
Finally, here's another big reason that this set strikes a chord with me. Instead of fetishizing what might be with Future Stars cards, this set celebrates that which had been accomplished by some of the game's greats as their fantastic careers reached their latter half. There are 35 players to receive Super Veteran recognition, ranging from 22-year veteran Carl Yastrzemski to seven-year big-leaguer Bruce Sutter. The cards show a black-and-white photo which (supposedly) was taken in the player's debut season, next to a color photo representing the current year. In some cases, the photos and cropping make for wonderfully balanced cards. In other cases, not so much. But the concept is so good that each is a treasure. You get to see some players, such as a clean-shaven rookie Rollie Fingers, undergo massive transformations. The Don Sutton card, featuring his giant rookie ears and his gray veteran afro is a hoot. Other players, such as Kent Tekulve, seem not to have aged at all. The card backs display milestone dates, the year the player debuted and his big-league service time, some season-best totals and career ranking in a few statistical categories, and career highlights that mention awards won. It's a shame that Topps hasn't seen fit to reprise this idea. Something around the turn of the century, featuring some of the younger players to be found in this set (Gwynn, Ripken, Raines, Henderson, Boggs, etc.) would have been great.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDq1pu4jy1kUJ2lJTCfON-oMNZQq7s8bbk63VxGOowuTJ_uyiuh5Ok2Y4KaWKzW2jCu58_yoLasLRfEqMq5RF24QVnwRnfGm__Fn3MRDKwx68nrflEUqVtYHguTu-EeY6YXWHPkY3hwvuz/s1600/1983_T_301_Mike_Schmidt_SV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDq1pu4jy1kUJ2lJTCfON-oMNZQq7s8bbk63VxGOowuTJ_uyiuh5Ok2Y4KaWKzW2jCu58_yoLasLRfEqMq5RF24QVnwRnfGm__Fn3MRDKwx68nrflEUqVtYHguTu-EeY6YXWHPkY3hwvuz/s400/1983_T_301_Mike_Schmidt_SV.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
So, to go along with what could possibly be the best card design of my collecting lifetime, Topps assembled a set in 1983 that comes pretty close to perfection. I could quibble (and have) about the choice of Record Breakers over highlights, and the repeated exclusion of post-season recaps. But the inclusion of managers and the fabulous Super Vets more than makes up for any deficiencies. Front runner, no doubt.petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-34404865404081773992013-05-19T19:46:00.000-07:002013-05-19T20:26:55.833-07:001983 Topps: Part II<b>THE CARDS</b><br />
<br />
<i>First Impressions</i><br />
<br />
This was the second straight year that I opted to send away for the complete set, rather than engage in the fun of discovering the set a pack at a time. It would prove to be the last time I would do so in the 80s. Once again, Topps blew my young mind with something new and different. There had always been a blend of posed and action shots in the sets that I'd collected. This set gave you both on <i>each card</i> (or nearly each). So you got some baseball action, always welcomed, but you also got to see what the guy looked like. And the action shots seemed... more active, somehow. So much so that I asked by comic book fan/artist friend, Greg, to draw a few of the players depicted for me as a way to confirm my impression of their superhero status.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJi95hw5XGp2z5QPRzb-a5ihdjuseguSogfs33JNFnBTjLTWSdtizqR6Lk9dqDL_PoWyGpZUYqeR4pli-uYahyphenhyphen4JhTGCBy3VUL5gjd9OW1kmgcrTfp0hg8SHj_YaV1P5rEruDx98KdRfcX/s1600/1983_T_370_Gary_Carter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJi95hw5XGp2z5QPRzb-a5ihdjuseguSogfs33JNFnBTjLTWSdtizqR6Lk9dqDL_PoWyGpZUYqeR4pli-uYahyphenhyphen4JhTGCBy3VUL5gjd9OW1kmgcrTfp0hg8SHj_YaV1P5rEruDx98KdRfcX/s400/1983_T_370_Gary_Carter.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<i>30 Years Later...</i><br />
<br />
I have a confession to make. I think this is the set that will come out on top when all is said and done. I've said that I'm trying to come at this without preconceived notions. But, of course, that's just rhetoric and wishful thinking since today isn't the first day of my existence. I'm going to look at this with an open mind, but I know already that there's a <i>lot </i>that I like about 1983 Topps.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiblJGkiMS5x0mDQYSpxkJ3hVxrxDQPmgGkmiFrvBheI6VHpoC4uOz0Mng0xuAKdPRpbhBK4F1rZZ2lRFV7e5M0vtZDSKm8SDSFSKE9-QjfLWOh2ilnaXsvXdFEb51hOEx3GY7mvOAUujLc/s1600/1983_T_055_Mookie_Wilson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiblJGkiMS5x0mDQYSpxkJ3hVxrxDQPmgGkmiFrvBheI6VHpoC4uOz0Mng0xuAKdPRpbhBK4F1rZZ2lRFV7e5M0vtZDSKm8SDSFSKE9-QjfLWOh2ilnaXsvXdFEb51hOEx3GY7mvOAUujLc/s400/1983_T_055_Mookie_Wilson.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
This has to be the tightest design Topps produced in the decade. There are no messy fake autographs. The type is small, compact and professional, without being boring. The Topps logo is a much more reasonable size than in the previous year's set, and incorporated slickly into the photo's border in just the right place. The white border around the card is the perfect size. The space between the color frames and the photos is tight. The colors are again vibrant, but the color schemes take on a slightly more mature shift. (For the first time since 1978, there's not a drop of pink on the Dodgers' cards!) I don't know how much of this anniversary stuff was intentional on the part of Topps over the years, but the 1963 cards were by far the most similar in design to this set, making for a nice twentieth-anniversary nod.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_EqCBg6Yri1zUAWd_OdwOA5e3n-6ccEFjiqdHlaSUlSw8Fy4-NsYlzO3gBkDfzuM1zHtE4dK3F0ovyqcZ6vU_TUlAOOE6S4J-menGQIPr3Pg__bnLez1YAG4A8-RW6p_3bNos47l_OzZb/s1600/1983_T_765_Bob_Boone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_EqCBg6Yri1zUAWd_OdwOA5e3n-6ccEFjiqdHlaSUlSw8Fy4-NsYlzO3gBkDfzuM1zHtE4dK3F0ovyqcZ6vU_TUlAOOE6S4J-menGQIPr3Pg__bnLez1YAG4A8-RW6p_3bNos47l_OzZb/s400/1983_T_765_Bob_Boone.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br />
The photography in this set is by far the best that Topps had come up with to date. The focus is sharp, the contrast is higher, and the colors are clean and natural. You get game action on more than 90% of the base cards, with a large number of photos cropped to show the player's entire body. These excellent long-distance shots are made ideal by the inclusion of the player portraits, of just the right size, in the circle formed where the primary photo's border meets the player info border at the bottom. Those portraits are done in the classic Topps style of years past, with a mixture of bats on shoulder, gazing into the distance, etc., with spring training field or big-league stadium backdrops. Frankly, I think this set might be the one I'd pick to represent the history of baseball cards in a time capsule.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiIgo9pWLcJ2hKT1VPqxgCdZltbnCPdXXdS_sSkZNwNiNjqnIa_A54AbR0OkRQpNjFSjOnztSp1FqOQDGM9QXiT5Hmi-gcKI1j9130mZ7mQ9NMRq-spKZCSdNQ3LaSw507bu9XJwVXpZ82/s1600/1983_T_270_Dennis_Eckersley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiIgo9pWLcJ2hKT1VPqxgCdZltbnCPdXXdS_sSkZNwNiNjqnIa_A54AbR0OkRQpNjFSjOnztSp1FqOQDGM9QXiT5Hmi-gcKI1j9130mZ7mQ9NMRq-spKZCSdNQ3LaSw507bu9XJwVXpZ82/s400/1983_T_270_Dennis_Eckersley.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
The backs are also the best looking of those examined so far. The two-toned salmon color, with the type in a solid, deep black makes for the most legible backs of the bunch. The batter silhouette framing the card number and Topps logo and the pitcher graphic used in the 1982 Highlights section are classy, and a nice anniversary nod to the similar graphics used on the fronts of their 1973 cards. The only quibble I have here is that the 1982 Highlights (when there's room to include them) tend to be boring and monotonous, and therefore easy to ignore. But, honestly, that's the only flaw that I can find with this set's base card design, and it's a minor one.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsJx_3AV3e02LTLcP-F-KUynVUyi8A_TU_e3wnk5gCZZlRyAPusPh2gSeAmjZDtMYPML2xkcxnA0G5ZadxGdUTtFtXvtEp5V5fB8e6sl5QSaS_EFYQYYjBAC9NNRjWNnPjM1oJboVSHL4e/s1600/1983_T_083_Ryne_Sandberg_back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsJx_3AV3e02LTLcP-F-KUynVUyi8A_TU_e3wnk5gCZZlRyAPusPh2gSeAmjZDtMYPML2xkcxnA0G5ZadxGdUTtFtXvtEp5V5fB8e6sl5QSaS_EFYQYYjBAC9NNRjWNnPjM1oJboVSHL4e/s400/1983_T_083_Ryne_Sandberg_back.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
It's simply a beautifully designed and executed set of baseball cards. To quote Al Michaels, out of context, "You're looking at one for the ages here," folks!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeu6ML2muSfaBXAFDPM5vaAnVFAMEzB1gsovdsjoM1X7DU7PuIYv1MCRToTz0eaqP7F6548vqPb2diE2QDAOwuJqkEroZKxGn_xD638ffWM6x4RGEslEwkV4qTJGHX6J52fltuRhS7u3si/s1600/1983_T_532_Dave_Stewart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeu6ML2muSfaBXAFDPM5vaAnVFAMEzB1gsovdsjoM1X7DU7PuIYv1MCRToTz0eaqP7F6548vqPb2diE2QDAOwuJqkEroZKxGn_xD638ffWM6x4RGEslEwkV4qTJGHX6J52fltuRhS7u3si/s400/1983_T_532_Dave_Stewart.jpg" width="283" /></a></div>petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-80345202765574604912013-05-16T21:32:00.000-07:002013-05-17T11:33:38.069-07:001983 Topps: Part I<b>CONTEXT</b><br />
<br />
The 1983 Dodgers benefited from my veteran leadership. I wasn't the hitter that I had once been, but I could still pick it at shortstop. And I had learned a thing or two during my career that I could pass along to the kids on the roster. Actually, we were all kids. I was thirteen years old and in my fifth and final year at Mira Costa Little League in neighboring Manhattan Beach.<br />
<br />
Those five years would turn out to be the entirety of my "career" as a ballplayer. The growth spurt that had made me almost athletic at the age of thirteen would prove to be a aberration. By the time I made it to high school I had returned to my accustomed roundish shape, and it was clear that I was better off writing about baseball than playing it. So I settled for becoming the sports editor of my high school newspaper.<br />
<br />
I will always look back at my little league days, though, as something like a big-league career. After all, it's as close as I got. And I packed an eventful career arc into those five years. Indulge me while I relive them in a short recap:<br />
<br />
1979 Red Sox. Tee Ball. I was a bench-warmer/"rover" (that's the bonus player who floats around at no discernible position because, well, someone paid for him to play so he's got to play). I don't remember much about this season because I barely wanted to be there. I wasn't even a baseball fan yet. My Grandparents, bless 'em, just somehow knew it was where I belonged. (Especially after that year at Ms. Billie's Tap Dancing Studio that we will <i>not </i>be talking about.)<br />
<br />
1980 Dodgers. Not as exciting as it sounds. I still didn't really care. I was a few months away from the real Dodgers catching my eye and changing my world. The mental picture I get from this season is of sitting in the dugout having non-baseball conversations with a tomboy with big round glasses who was our team's co-bench-warmer.<br />
<br />
1981 White Sox. Things start to get interesting, mainly because now I'm interested. Still not very good, though, so I don't land a starting gig. But when our third baseman gets hit in the face with a ball and the coach asks who wants to replace him, I make my move. I cleanly field my first two chances, throwing the runner out each time, which in this league was like channeling Brooks Robinson. So I Wally Pipped the kid and took his job. The coach came to realize that I knew what I was doing and I also became our primary third base coach, a fact that was mentioned in the big article in the community weekly newspaper when it reported our league championship.<br />
<br />
1982 Phillies. This is the year I became a star. I played mostly first base and batted cleanup. At one time I knew my final batting average, but now I only remember that it topped .700. I never did hit a home run over the fence though. My biggest hit was a walk-off triple, which felt pretty damned good. I also vividly remember making a cool play at first base on an errant throw, coming off the base to make the catch and tagging the runner going by while in mid-air. Good times.<br />
<br />
1983 Dodgers. This was the real deal, mainly because our kindly old coach had decided that it would be his last year and he bought us all custom big-league replica jerseys with our names on the back. It was so sweet! Getting into uniform for a game was like a religious experience. I played shortstop, and I played it well. (Although I did have a game where I dropped back-to-back grounders and I wanted to dig a hole in the field to hide in.) Unfortunately, I couldn't hit the ball to save my life. It wasn't until the end of the season and a trip to the optometrist that I learned what the problem was. The glasses came too late to help, but I'll always look back at that season as the most fun I'd had on a diamond. After all, I got to wear <i>real </i>Dodger Blue!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwRbDqGP_Fj05PLCdijpdwwYl6qUvg1xA1aXGrZLuPmn0-D0az64-ZV9POHwvuWeZYy5AceqLWCNt0fb3KIcHh1Yz2A7KnOnfbjtBkuOZQhS9adgeGcnQp50z6j9t6a9yoLGLOcrkSnWCS/s1600/1983_Topps_273_Mark_Belanger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwRbDqGP_Fj05PLCdijpdwwYl6qUvg1xA1aXGrZLuPmn0-D0az64-ZV9POHwvuWeZYy5AceqLWCNt0fb3KIcHh1Yz2A7KnOnfbjtBkuOZQhS9adgeGcnQp50z6j9t6a9yoLGLOcrkSnWCS/s400/1983_Topps_273_Mark_Belanger.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
That's why when I think of the 1983 Topps set, this Mark Belanger card (#273) is the first thing that comes to mind. Like Belanger, I was a "veteran" slick-fielding, no-bat shortstop who wore #8 for the Dodgers, and whose career had come to an end. When I first laid eyes on this card, when the complete set arrived in the mail, I was still young enough to imagine that I could have a card like that of myself someday. And how cool is that?petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-61450093185801854682013-05-14T15:54:00.000-07:002013-05-15T10:11:14.000-07:001982 Topps: Part IV<b>RANKING</b><br />
<br />
<i>Favorites</i><br />
<br />
<u>Oddball(s) of the Set</u><br />
Topps seemed to use some kind of green filter on many of the backgrounds of the photos in this set, sometimes with the result that the player looks like they're on some Star Trek world where dancing green women kill the guys in the red shirts. Here are a couple of the more egregious examples. From the base set we have future Cubs manager (poor guy) Jim Essian (#269), who not only gets the martian treatment for his background, but also appears to have been clumsily cut out in silhouette, probably from an even more exiting photo with <i>multiple </i>players standing around doing nothing. Then, from the Traded set, we have Mick Kelleher (#53T), who gets a lousy haircut from the silhouette man at Topps, and appears to be on a planet that patterned its architecture after that of France (the way Star Trek taught us that all alien races emulated specific Earth features). Fittingly, neither player looks too happy with what Topps has done to them.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLweMkfbF1zjPNa89D2-stMImuDhSy7Z9hQW5R7WRU2moftOUL_6cH-2eVg8sL5i4ck1xkBlMs3P1wubO8fLoQvFbAQ4ldu80qhkwDfqaDpHBneoBDRG_W_fve43pFtHYmCGtlmKM9FQiU/s1600/1982_T_269_Jim_Essian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLweMkfbF1zjPNa89D2-stMImuDhSy7Z9hQW5R7WRU2moftOUL_6cH-2eVg8sL5i4ck1xkBlMs3P1wubO8fLoQvFbAQ4ldu80qhkwDfqaDpHBneoBDRG_W_fve43pFtHYmCGtlmKM9FQiU/s400/1982_T_269_Jim_Essian.jpg" width="285" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinKpGWxpu1XPOXAqc1FY5c86wnGtLGdTEeqBpEv6e_5Qx9GfAo73LtL75ogJM8JE2xHHEsyIgCWRnc7W_YEi1m-3M273UxOhsq5Ij5MoImOBhpBHLDHtpYReSztmBhLFhJZlB6Jsc4Qwhn/s1600/1982_TU_053T_Mick_Kelleher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinKpGWxpu1XPOXAqc1FY5c86wnGtLGdTEeqBpEv6e_5Qx9GfAo73LtL75ogJM8JE2xHHEsyIgCWRnc7W_YEi1m-3M273UxOhsq5Ij5MoImOBhpBHLDHtpYReSztmBhLFhJZlB6Jsc4Qwhn/s400/1982_TU_053T_Mick_Kelleher.jpg" width="282" /></a></div><br />
<u>Most Aesthetically Pleasing/Favorite Non-Dodgers Card(s)</u><br />
This may be a bit of a cop out, but if I were to try to name a non-Dodger favorite, it would be an arbitrary choice. I don't have an emotional attachment to any specific card. My favorites in this set are all based on how they look, so I'm just gonna show a few of the best. I'll start with a Giant (so definitely more appreciation of aesthetics than favoritism). One of the things that I've learned so far from this project is that I love the use of green in the design elements of a card. It's actually somewhat rare, probably because it's no team's color and because card makers figure you already get enough green from the grass in the pictures. But it's exactly that synchronicity with the grass of the field that strikes a chord for me. I'd never thought of it before, and it isn't obvious given all of the other colors associated with uniforms and logos, but green really is the universal color of baseball, the one color that ties every team together. Now, pair that with the orange of the Giants uniforms, put criminally underrated third baseman Darrell Evans in a classic take-a-knee baseball pose, and you have one hell of great looking card (#17).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkrx3wYveO2h3z5pvozuXVRqu1-AKPbKk_iV9_kgBW11cIj8zjZTr363cGB0aGWtCSmXnXirVYxrza_a-ntnjntSQzkLtUW_rASCLKliqKHDdUcuddh0a1OWp_FBEl_Zma-Fpx22azaR04/s1600/1982_T_017_Darrell_Evans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkrx3wYveO2h3z5pvozuXVRqu1-AKPbKk_iV9_kgBW11cIj8zjZTr363cGB0aGWtCSmXnXirVYxrza_a-ntnjntSQzkLtUW_rASCLKliqKHDdUcuddh0a1OWp_FBEl_Zma-Fpx22azaR04/s400/1982_T_017_Darrell_Evans.jpg" width="280" /></a></div><br />
Next up we have one of those newfangled Team Leader cards, which didn't particularly grab my attention at the time. But after taking a new look at this Phillies leaders card (#636) I couldn't help but fall in love. First of all, you've got two Hall-of-Famers... well... you know what I mean. You have perfectly cropped photos, with both players gazing in the same general direction, looking downright heroic. (Remember, this is about looks, not substance.) And you've got that classic Phillies logo, with its curves mirroring the curved stripes up the right-hand corner of the card. It's a piece of cardboard that looks so good you almost want to eat it!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBWT1c5U5uD_Iz3iZBo64-RfpGt2tevlbSq7ueFxmCH2ZECFmwQZy1McwQIiIVkIaSxQ0DcqNL3MjmTPiNOh9YXKP_w2b5b3xHkvpm6Fu3-F1DRr_Dp8Th7cp1hNMQKQlcRfPFDZBqJxrm/s1600/1982_T_636_Phillies_Leaders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBWT1c5U5uD_Iz3iZBo64-RfpGt2tevlbSq7ueFxmCH2ZECFmwQZy1McwQIiIVkIaSxQ0DcqNL3MjmTPiNOh9YXKP_w2b5b3xHkvpm6Fu3-F1DRr_Dp8Th7cp1hNMQKQlcRfPFDZBqJxrm/s400/1982_T_636_Phillies_Leaders.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Finally, we have a veteran pitcher who spent his entire career with one team (surprise!). I love these two cards because, unlike most of these pairings in the set, they best echo the spirit of the 1972 set's In Action innovation. For the base card, we get the underwear model showing why his face, unlike that of many ballplayers, was well-suited for advertising. I mean, you want to buy something from this guy, right? He's sure selling something, anyway. Plus Topps gives the Orioles the classy matching color treatment for the stripes. Even Palmer's sunburn matches the color scheme. And I'm actually okay with the fake autograph on this one. Just a classic baseball portrait card (#80). Then you couple it with an In Action card (#81) that displays Palmer's beautiful windup. The guy could have been a terrible pitcher and still been a joy to watch. In this shot you get a great angle of his delivery at the point where he's extended in every direction, with the ball framed in the crook of his leading glove hand. Perfect.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3tTf9gWduYbX1EPgLuBjLhDXP9bzlX-ziTEszAo2mgI6ox7LQtpE6LPUazMySAqxLwECm_SqogCaSRB21JDEqSYX8XpkO18U3Is_2orlaNN1fHf1AT-3Krsj7irU9pwfJ-0DKLiO2RBah/s1600/1982_T_080_Jim_Palmer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3tTf9gWduYbX1EPgLuBjLhDXP9bzlX-ziTEszAo2mgI6ox7LQtpE6LPUazMySAqxLwECm_SqogCaSRB21JDEqSYX8XpkO18U3Is_2orlaNN1fHf1AT-3Krsj7irU9pwfJ-0DKLiO2RBah/s400/1982_T_080_Jim_Palmer.jpg" width="283" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsFx441IZCOLGaFt8kGheAFgvnizTqj5DZVqXsdO25DDkYpKAbzZQYtgDCvN3BlfClDqeAgR1nAxCABj0ffdgLecVW_-FIbc5YF7tFnzStmSJkpqKK6ElTFkqaBtgzz-uF5jcTCcZLVcmz/s1600/1982_T_081_Jim_Palmer_IA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsFx441IZCOLGaFt8kGheAFgvnizTqj5DZVqXsdO25DDkYpKAbzZQYtgDCvN3BlfClDqeAgR1nAxCABj0ffdgLecVW_-FIbc5YF7tFnzStmSJkpqKK6ElTFkqaBtgzz-uF5jcTCcZLVcmz/s400/1982_T_081_Jim_Palmer_IA.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br />
<u>Favorite Dodgers Card(s)</u><br />
I've mentioned that the Fernando Season Highlights card is probably my favorite. But as a sendoff to one of the original Dodger heroes (of my fandom, that is), the three cards that Davey Lopes got in the base set are hard to top (and almost make up for that green-uniformed monstrosity in the Traded set). You get the heroic portrait pose on the base card (#740), which features his final career statistics as a Dodger on the back, and mentions his place as the second leading base stealer in LA Dodgers history, behind only Maury Wills. A great posed batting shot graces his All-Star card (#338). As I've mentioned, I love the design of these cards, and this is a fabulous one. Finally, we get to see him in his stance at the plate on his In Action card (#741).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm2kKkpAm3CZIyJ-Ay-Kj0q8BZr1nSErnBJhl3Nd72mGyhyphenhyphen8FcICk4sUfNdwtr-ysV-9bw_ILWKwM__DgXFIZKTL1NvHwbb_1vbMa-sG1s4lLrsUCDkkJTRSjSH7ovX9JH8jfIabVZObly/s1600/1982_T_740_Dave_Lopes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm2kKkpAm3CZIyJ-Ay-Kj0q8BZr1nSErnBJhl3Nd72mGyhyphenhyphen8FcICk4sUfNdwtr-ysV-9bw_ILWKwM__DgXFIZKTL1NvHwbb_1vbMa-sG1s4lLrsUCDkkJTRSjSH7ovX9JH8jfIabVZObly/s400/1982_T_740_Dave_Lopes.jpg" width="287" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNJB9aEJvPwfKqI0-2PHN2B6sF3l2JQVd47OCpTW-DSMw0SIfcHZqB42SFxWvDmsXR1BZob8QeFZEb3i2nZ4jwmferUw8Pm4h7P7lpXOpFLlwWGE_SZYvkeCagpYHqbtv0efYWY2tW4X4s/s1600/1982_T_338_Dave_Lopes_AS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNJB9aEJvPwfKqI0-2PHN2B6sF3l2JQVd47OCpTW-DSMw0SIfcHZqB42SFxWvDmsXR1BZob8QeFZEb3i2nZ4jwmferUw8Pm4h7P7lpXOpFLlwWGE_SZYvkeCagpYHqbtv0efYWY2tW4X4s/s400/1982_T_338_Dave_Lopes_AS.jpg" width="286" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpGj04gocpn3ydzH_EPEv9QkUK-pbfi_3r3hf8yce2LgAfKybCLpK_eKGwvH1rAhUuEv0mqxbrbruM9mcAttHO6DYCP8hTp3SZL4HMYzzZEBTEaKxh98utcjLGjB0bdKxoFZ_LodiGviis/s1600/1982_T_741_Dave_Lopes_IA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpGj04gocpn3ydzH_EPEv9QkUK-pbfi_3r3hf8yce2LgAfKybCLpK_eKGwvH1rAhUuEv0mqxbrbruM9mcAttHO6DYCP8hTp3SZL4HMYzzZEBTEaKxh98utcjLGjB0bdKxoFZ_LodiGviis/s400/1982_T_741_Dave_Lopes_IA.jpg" width="288" /></a></div><br />
<u>One Final Thought</u><br />
There would have been little question about my favorite card in the set had Topps not dropped the ball. Why, Topps? Why did you choose to forego including post-season cards in a set recapping a championship year for my Dodgers? Why did you force me to have to make one of my own, with no back, and no actual corporeal presence other than this trick of light on my computer screen? Not cool, Topps. Not cool.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAm7BbuZws78Bg0shzeCuVkdc0EWTDnmjTYVadq-TVYSZ2UGbOgFItrAelHm4R8B-9V3-_5ylSuFfNvSP0LVU3FiqNX3K0BwlbMtAkiUhkAixAm0sCxrbPhT-b6UaDeDnHYOabB8oMvdAC/s1600/1982_T_World_Series.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAm7BbuZws78Bg0shzeCuVkdc0EWTDnmjTYVadq-TVYSZ2UGbOgFItrAelHm4R8B-9V3-_5ylSuFfNvSP0LVU3FiqNX3K0BwlbMtAkiUhkAixAm0sCxrbPhT-b6UaDeDnHYOabB8oMvdAC/s400/1982_T_World_Series.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<i>The Big Picture</i><br />
<br />
Okay, I'm starting to see that this ranking thing is nowhere as easy as I'd expected it to be. Fortunately, the fun comes from the process of taking a closer look at the cards, not from the final ranking. Still, the ranking is the nominal purpose of this exercise so I've got to take it seriously (at least as seriously as you can take "playing" with baseball cards, as my Grandma would always say, to my great consternation).<br />
<br />
Like first two sets reviewed, this one has a lot going for it. It was a step forward in a few respects. There was the expansion of the set to 792 cards. There was the replacement of fairly disposable team photos with Team Leader cards. There was the clean, sleek, "modern" design. But they went back to fake autographs. There were some odd color issues, particularly in the Traded set. They also emphasized awkward candid shots, which showed neither action nor professionally posed goodness. And, worst of all, there's no card celebrating the World Champions. On the whole, I like this set a good deal. Just not as much as I like the previous two.<br />
<br />
With three sets reviewed, '82 ranks as the #3 Topps set of my collecting lifetime, behind '81 and '80.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5CPB0VuQiQSANheryowP6oTtOv-SJwfeq9_cQhygotXOvJ5XS2NfvYCqRstcIzFO20sAmlH9XgWthr0PhYdpq8CAGQJjUqB7U8nvcrFHT1kKSDOHeHa65fZVLWndWBNYWfEvBnrn7z7L-/s1600/1982_T_600_Dave_Winfield.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5CPB0VuQiQSANheryowP6oTtOv-SJwfeq9_cQhygotXOvJ5XS2NfvYCqRstcIzFO20sAmlH9XgWthr0PhYdpq8CAGQJjUqB7U8nvcrFHT1kKSDOHeHa65fZVLWndWBNYWfEvBnrn7z7L-/s400/1982_T_600_Dave_Winfield.jpg" width="288" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWPf__lprmqBDSAoJJMcNlFfbtzYJdB1Yqdg1ZUsB_Uap-85hP5mrwVWZ9MtFPNtoCrdzxY1edpCmo-fU8yyqH1_2OaPpchJ-DZaTXT6D1r0AXvtpybx1U-tELBaD0KpcdYtWG_n0EWgdj/s1600/1981_T_240_Nolan_Ryan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWPf__lprmqBDSAoJJMcNlFfbtzYJdB1Yqdg1ZUsB_Uap-85hP5mrwVWZ9MtFPNtoCrdzxY1edpCmo-fU8yyqH1_2OaPpchJ-DZaTXT6D1r0AXvtpybx1U-tELBaD0KpcdYtWG_n0EWgdj/s200/1981_T_240_Nolan_Ryan.jpg" width="141" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQOr7AOEALWXFMW0FU1thpqXbBHuiz9IstzTSKLw3Q73NEMLnKuMf5SxhwVLjKLr1IEqIzhGkmjKwMyeDhfal_qMEr0Eyi1tFhNAFiLbqF4yPLmg4Kxrsi87_cWt3Xw__YWkLFB4Oy9hlM/s1600/1980_T_235_Andre_Dawson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQOr7AOEALWXFMW0FU1thpqXbBHuiz9IstzTSKLw3Q73NEMLnKuMf5SxhwVLjKLr1IEqIzhGkmjKwMyeDhfal_qMEr0Eyi1tFhNAFiLbqF4yPLmg4Kxrsi87_cWt3Xw__YWkLFB4Oy9hlM/s200/1980_T_235_Andre_Dawson.jpg" width="141" /></a></div> petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093667364554939764.post-71055113347085333452013-05-13T19:26:00.002-07:002013-05-13T19:26:43.253-07:001982 Topps: Part III-T<b>TRADED</b><br />
<br />
Unlike with the debut Traded set the previous season, it seems as though Topps went out of its way to differentiate the 1982 Traded set from the base set. Rather than number the cards to pick up sequentially where the base set ended, they numbered the cards in this set as 1T-132T. The other way in which these cards struck their own identity was in their use of color. The checklist card was green, not yellow. The backs were red, not green. And, more subtly (and perhaps not intentionally), the photos seemed to be tinted in a slightly different way than those in the base set. The blues seemed to be more purple, and the greens more intense. Spring training posed shots still predominate, with very few action photos. But the poses look classier than the many awkward attempts at candid shots in the base set, so that gives a sense of some improvement in quality from the base set to the Traded set. But for all of that, it was still clearly a continuation of the original set.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ92voJ3j6Q9V2dTEai1053W4L-dPjkMxlb_TnAnUavdm7u5ovq80h36YqbMPhvHOBYmtbWVRPWayXJBDUx3Nb2BfPNaqrBUXQPXfNHO2uP0vvBwhBdnDgrz3Xh1xlr8hiseN8H3DwW2oI/s1600/1982_TU_109T_Ozzie_Smith.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ92voJ3j6Q9V2dTEai1053W4L-dPjkMxlb_TnAnUavdm7u5ovq80h36YqbMPhvHOBYmtbWVRPWayXJBDUx3Nb2BfPNaqrBUXQPXfNHO2uP0vvBwhBdnDgrz3Xh1xlr8hiseN8H3DwW2oI/s400/1982_TU_109T_Ozzie_Smith.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtazMmqizbJoap85jiMVIYiWHlWgBO-9rZRW8475INP6bPc26n7AWTNJ2tWCUDd6U56FZCl6ynRQUdlOnw8mFNoRqMlUzSZ02iYHNS6lFj71TYrbHTiDfqhvKXLFO2uYPeOTFxiwdUPADU/s1600/1982_TU_Ozzie_Smith_back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtazMmqizbJoap85jiMVIYiWHlWgBO-9rZRW8475INP6bPc26n7AWTNJ2tWCUDd6U56FZCl6ynRQUdlOnw8mFNoRqMlUzSZ02iYHNS6lFj71TYrbHTiDfqhvKXLFO2uYPeOTFxiwdUPADU/s400/1982_TU_Ozzie_Smith_back.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
The set is still primarily concerned with the relocation of veteran players, but there are a few more rookies here than in the previous year's effort. Key newcomers include Chili Davis, Von Hayes, Kent Hrbek, Johnny Ray, and some kid named Ripken. And let's not forget Jack Perconte, getting his shot with the Indians, while another kid was handed the job for the Dodgers.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxR-F1mr-sW2uQbX414MGqkyI7z07oN2tWjP79UeYnxyXgyMNBrKdqDBavsq0eTNYOVfPo6KH6QXVAxjKs960t1Dq7_nxi2zK9fcLu4TCLKIPiCPtwRxAJNUe7j5BgB46h_DWHfGVA5p_Z/s1600/1982_TU_103T_Steve_Sax.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxR-F1mr-sW2uQbX414MGqkyI7z07oN2tWjP79UeYnxyXgyMNBrKdqDBavsq0eTNYOVfPo6KH6QXVAxjKs960t1Dq7_nxi2zK9fcLu4TCLKIPiCPtwRxAJNUe7j5BgB46h_DWHfGVA5p_Z/s400/1982_TU_103T_Steve_Sax.jpg" width="277" /></a></div><br />
One of the fun things to do with a Traded set was to compare your favorite team's lost players to the ones they gained. The Dodgers may have been champions in 1981, but the team's ledger in the 1982 Traded set did not bode well for their chances to repeat. We get our MLB-mandated Rookie of the Year winner in Steve Sax, but... other than that it's three aging veterans: two pinch hitters (Jose Morales and Jorge Orta) and one no-bat glove man (Mark Belanger). On the other hand, we lose former Rookie of the Year Rick Sutcliffe, bullpen stalwart (and the man who taught Fernando the screwball) Bobby Castillo, a couple of bigger-name veteran pinch hitters in Jay Johnstone and Reggie Smith, the budding star second baseman (at least according to my Grandpa) Jack Perconte, and... worst of all... the Dodgers All-Star second baseman since 1973, breaking up THE Infield, Davey Lopes, now wearing <i>green</i>. Yikes!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcmsC0P5SwUXApumJ1BYZFG4aqtKRcrP2cFWPr60W4gsa0E72rGwEly32LjulsIXyJW6a-Q9btC7AZCXmk3ztm9c_8uUfO23WGdIK_n99_IhSVuv5_-YkHMp7xlXOcN-YseoPITs8rXVRJ/s1600/1982_TU_064T_Dave_Lopes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcmsC0P5SwUXApumJ1BYZFG4aqtKRcrP2cFWPr60W4gsa0E72rGwEly32LjulsIXyJW6a-Q9btC7AZCXmk3ztm9c_8uUfO23WGdIK_n99_IhSVuv5_-YkHMp7xlXOcN-YseoPITs8rXVRJ/s400/1982_TU_064T_Dave_Lopes.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />
Actually, the disturbing trend that this set revealed to me was that my Grandfather's team, the lowly California Angels, had added so much veteran star power that they were threatening to become a better team than my Dodgers. Doug Corbett, Tim Foli, Bob Boone, Doug DeCinces, and Reggie Jackson were just some of the additions the crosstown rivals had made. Seeing the Angels in the playoffs and the Dodgers knocked out upended my baseball worldview. I didn't know bad teams could become good, just like that. As a Dodger fan, I sure hoped things couldn't go the other way as well.<br />
<br />
Not sure there's much else to say about this set. The bottom line is that the Traded set means more cards. And you can never have too many cards, can you? I know I can't.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimVvZrNgr2KQH-zThYfGwCiR1s2zcuk0SPhRDlG4u2LCWDgAwb9JN6mWHzP84iFgNA-ljomnOs3NtsB9VcM0GTTvEMAYg9GjTTWFZ5TlUn4vYba1mI0eM1Pis8A7vigpHLgSd21bTS2xCt/s1600/1982_TU_117T_Frank_Tanana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimVvZrNgr2KQH-zThYfGwCiR1s2zcuk0SPhRDlG4u2LCWDgAwb9JN6mWHzP84iFgNA-ljomnOs3NtsB9VcM0GTTvEMAYg9GjTTWFZ5TlUn4vYba1mI0eM1Pis8A7vigpHLgSd21bTS2xCt/s400/1982_TU_117T_Frank_Tanana.jpg" width="281" /></a></div>petethanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222725895895580850noreply@blogger.com0