Completed Set: 1989 Topps Baseball

Quick: Imagine the most generic baseball t-shirt you can.

It probably looks something like that one, right?

Well, I'll tell you something. It's exactly what the 1989 Topps design reminds me of. Just look at the bottom of this next card, for example.

It's so generic that Dallas Green appears to be wincing with disappointment.

And if you want to get the full thrust of it, here are the logos from the t-shirt and the card together, matched for color.

Same thing? 

Yeah. Pretty much.

And listen. It's not necessarily a bad thing. Baseball cards are about fun. And familiarity. And baseball. So if you were a baseball-playing kid back in 1989 and saw that the script team name on your Little League jersey looked very much like the script team names on the new Topps baseball cards that you were pulling from packs, you might have been psyched about it. After all, you can't have too much baseball in your life, right? So again, not a bad thing.

But for the 1989 version of Gregory Ninepockets, the design did seem a bit plain.

He had just started getting into the sport of ice hockey, and Topps hockey cards were much more interesting that year, with the pushpin design in the top corner and the Roy Lichtenstein–style dotted background underneath the player name.

So that didn't help young Gregory's opinion of 1989 Topps baseball cards.

You know what else didn't help?

The Upper Deck company.

They released their inaugural baseball card set that same year. And it was not plain.

I wonder how closely the new company kept everything under wraps back then. Just imagine the team at Topps finishing up production of their 1989 baseball set and feeling pretty good about it. Then imagine them seeing Upper Deck's set for the first time, with its foil pack wrappers, bright white card stock, hologram technology, and full-color images on the card backs.

I can picture a Topps exec opening his first Upper Deck pack that year, and reacting like this as he flipped through each card:

I know many of us kids back then reacted in a similar way when we saw Upper Deck cards for the first time.

In any case, let's look at some 1989 Topps cards, because that's really what we're here for today. And there's some goodness to be had.

Topps was always solid when it came to providing us with some classic batting stance photos.

Same for the pitching poses. The photographers made Goose look 10 feet tall. And Jim Gott looks rather heroic from that angle, don't you think?

Headshots abound in this set, which might seem boring. But oftentimes the players are very happy. I like that in a baseball card. To reiterate: Baseball is fun.

You know what else is fun?

Subsets!

And 1989 Topps gives us a few good ones.

The #1 Draft Pick cards were pretty cool for young collectors, and showed players in their college uniforms. (Or in the case of Steve Avery, high school!) Topps earns a little bit of credit there.

The rookie cup subset featured some big names at the time, too. (See how nice it is when the cup is always tucked in the bottom corner like that?)

The All-star design continued the generic script theme, but fancied things up a little bit.

The Team Leaders subset returned, and for the fourth year in a row, Topps went with the same cloud-like border. But that repetitiveness almost doesn't matter, because these cards tell the story of baseball so well. Bonus points to the Topps photographer who captured the "Bash Brothers" doing their thing on the Oakland A's card.

Topps also brought back some other favorite subsets, like Record Breakers and Turn Back the Clock. As for the checklist, it felt slightly more modern than standard.

Speaking of more modern, the Future Star cards received a new design. Sheffield, Jefferies, and Alomar were all highly sought after back then.

And on the subject of young stars, Topps did get some good rookies into the base set. In addition to Sheffield and Alomar up there, Biggio, Johnson, and Smoltz would all end up having Hall-of-Fame careers. 

The glaring omission, of course, was Ken Griffey Jr. Most of the other major brands did manage to get him into their base sets, so it was disappointing to young collectors that Topps missed the boat there. (The Topps Traded set was where you'd find Griffey Junior, along with other stars like Deion Sanders, Tom Gordon, and Omar Vizquel.)

But let's get back to the good stuff.

There are some nice action shots to be found throughout the base set.

And some cool cards featuring players with their choice of lumber.

Players with glasses were still a thing, too.

In addition, some excellent color matching occurs in this set. I think a binder page filled with 9 players from any of the teams above would look pretty sweet. (Other teams leave something to be desired. For example, the Angels have a magenta-purple-yellow thing going on, while the orange and blue Mets almost had something special until Topps gave them a red border for some reason.)

Anyway, let's look at a card back now.

The good stuff continues here. Not only is the black text fairly easy to read on that light pink background, but Topps added an interesting little table at the bottom of many cards. The "monthly scoreboard" section allowed us to go a little deeper into the stats of our favorite players, showing total home runs and RBI per month. For pitchers, the table displayed wins and strikeouts per month.

So that's 1989 Topps baseball. Fun, and some good qualities, but if I'm completely honest? A little bit underwhelming.

Regardless, I'm happy to have this set completed and checked off the list. 

How about you readers? If you were collecting back in 1989, how did you feel about the Topps baseball release? And how do you feel about it these days?

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!

More Adventures from a Time Gone By

A few months ago here on the blog, I shared four cards that I'd picked up from a 1956 set called Gum Inc. Adventure.

Combine the fantastic artwork on the fronts, the captivating stories on the backs, and the era in which the cards were released, and you get a set that I think quite a few of us would have been all over, had we been kids back then. (I know I would have!)

And actually, I'm kind of all over it now—so much so that I picked up a few more cards recently. So transport yourself back to 1956, and get a load of these five gems:

That's America right there, baby.

Just imagine a bald eagle (and its 7-foot wingspan) swooping down to land on your arm. That guy's leather glove had better be pretty thick and tough.

The write-up on the card back mentions how the bald eagle's territory and numbers had been in decline, and how it could only be found in Florida, and around the Great Lakes and the New England coast. I'm happy that things have noticeably improved for our national bird over the past decade or so. We've seen quite a bit of them here in New York.

The heading on the back of this card reads, "Mobile St. Bernards". Here are the details that appear underneath:

Negotiate 20-foot drifts, climb the steepest hills, slide and skid along impassable highways to effect rescue of many who find themselves snowbound in the north country—in the Rockies, the high Sierras, or New England’s wind-swept hills. Powered by mighty engines and propelled by cleated tracks, machines reduce blizzards to naught.

Now look at that image on the card front again—but this time do it as a kid in 1956 who's growing up in a warm climate like Southern California or Texas—and imagine you're plowing through a blizzard in that machine to rescue those folks in the background.

You're a hero.

 

I can't even describe the awesomeness shown on this card front, so I'll just share the entire card back.

 

A one-man flying platform could conceivably be the much desired airplane in every man's garage.

Imagine reading that as a wide-eyed kid in 1956? Outrageous!

If you've ever flipped through an issue of Popular Mechanics magazine from back in the day, this kind of stuff will feel familiar. If you haven't, I highly recommend finding a copy and giving it a read.

Here in 2026, some sort of committee would immediately flag about 35 safety violations evident in this illustration. And those two guys steering the bobsled would have immediately replied by saying, Outta the way, squares!

The card back mentions the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, and refers to its bobsled track, complete with S-shaped curves and walls of ice banked to heights of 20 feet, as "spectacularly dangerous". I like how the two men pictured on the card front look more like everyday guys out to test their mettle than they do professional bobsled racers.

And finally, the scene on this card has everything fantastical to a kid who would have been growing up far from the ranches of the American West, tuning in to programs like The Roy Rogers Show and The Lone Ranger. 

Here's the card back:

Man, if I were a kid in 1956 I would have been all over this story, imagining myself on a ranch with some horse-breaking do to. Taming a horse seems like such a cool, noteworthy thing to accomplish. They're amazing creatures.

 

 

Anyhow, there you have it. Another five Gum Inc. Adventure cards for my collection.

 

There are other interesting and artful cards in this set as well, including a hockey version and some boxing stars. So at some point I might add a few more to the collection. Thankfully, many of them are fairly affordable, especially if you don't mind off-center cuts or a few little dings and creases. (None of the cards you see above cost more than $7.00, for example.) 

 

Ultimately, these Gum Inc. Adventure cards are the kind that energize my collecting batteries these days. 

 

How about you readers and collectors? Have any of you picked up some interesting or obscure vintage cards lately? Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!

The 1989-90 OPC Hockey Sticker Album Project: Packs 7–12

We're going back to the 1989-90 NHL season, where young Gregory Ninepockets has been bitten by the hockey bug and is attempting to complete the current year's hockey sticker album. Previous entries in this series available here.

It's Sunday morning, and young Gregory has woken up early. Will he go into the kitchen to pour himself a bowl of cereal?

No.

Will he go into the living room, turn on the TV, and look for some cartoons?

No.

He's going straight over to his desk, where the 1989-90 O-Pee-Chee hockey album sits. The box of sticker packs is in the top-right drawer, and when he opens it up, he grabs 6 packs from the top-right segment of the box.

 

It's very quiet in the house, but young Gregory knows that wax packs aren't very loud if you open them carefully. So he gets right to work.

 

Pack 7

 

Sweet! A Brett Hull sticker, a Mario Lemieux Art Ross sticker, and a Mario Lemieux all-star! 

What did Super Mario do in order to win the Art Ross trophy the previous season? Are you ready for these numbers? 85 goals, 114 assists, 199 points. A remarkable 31 of those goals came on the power play, and another 13 came shorthanded. The total of 85 led the league, and the 114 assists tied for the lead with Wayne Gretzky. In his final game of the season, Lemieux scored 2 goals against the Flyers in a 6-5 overtime win. You'd have to imagine his teammates tried their hardest to get him to the 200-point mark. It's too bad they came up one point short!

As for Brett Hull, while young Gregory was finding sticker #22 above, The Golden Brett was starting to come into his own. He'd lead the entire league in goals with 72, which would be 10 more than his nearest competitor, Steve Yzerman.

  

 

Pack 8

 

Yes! A Wayne Gretzky base card! During the season these stickers were released, Mr. Gretzky (40 G, 102 A, 142 PTS) would reclaim the points leader position from Mr. Lemieux (45 G, 78 A, 123 PTS). And if these sticker hits keep coming, young Gregory might wake up the rest of the family. And the dog.

 

 

 

Pack 9

 

Alright! A Patrick Roy all-star sticker back, and a Chris Chelios all-star subset sticker! The Canadiens were popular at this time, and they had a very good team. Patrick Roy was a sensation in goal.

 

 

 

Pack 10

 

No way! It's Patrick Roy's base sticker! Hockey is awesome! The dog is now awake, and sniffing outside of Gregory's door.

 

 

 

Pack 11

 

There was nothing of much interest in this pack, and young Gregory is totally fine with that. He's found enough superstar stickers already this morning. He does notice that some of the stickers have trivia printed on the back, however. Some of the backs contain questions, while other backs contain the answers. It's just more hockey knowledge for Gregory to soak up. 

 

 

Pack 12

 

A Joe Sakic rookie base sticker? This is just too much, already. As for Guy Lafleur over there on the right, he came out of retirement for the 1988-89 season. Did three years away from the NHL slow his production down? Not much. He totaled 18 goals, 27 assists, and 45 points in 67 games played for the Rangers.

What a great run of 6 packs! 

 

 

Favorite Page

 

  

Young Gregory added the Wayne Gretzky base sticker to the Kings page, and the Wayne Gretzky all-star sticker to the all-star page across from it. Hard to beat that! 

Now here's the updated summary for the set build:

Main Set (182 total panels)

 

New panels: 33

New duplicates: 3

 

Total panels: 69

Total duplicates: 3

 

Panels needed: 113

Set completion: 38%

 

 

Future Star/All-Star Card Backs (34 total)

 

New backs: 4

New duplicates: 0

 

Total backs: 13

Total duplicates: 0

 

Backs needed: 21

Set completion: 38%

So far, the quest to complete this set is going rather well. I'm 38% of the way there—both for the main set and the sticker back set—and I've only opened 25% of the total packs. As I continue to fill the album, I'm sure the law of diminishing returns will make its appearance. But so far it seems like O-Pee-Chee did really well with the collation of their packs in 1989-90. A total of only 3 duplicate sticker panels across 12 whole packs is excellent!

Best Stickers

Wayne Gretzky, Joe Sakic, and Patrick Roy base stickers; Patrick Roy all-star sticker back; Mario Lemieux all-star sticker.

 

Which were your favorite stickers this time? Share in the comment section, and thanks for following along! 

These Binders Were Too Cool for School

Back in the 1980s, there was a particular type of binder that schoolkids everywhere wanted. I mean, really wanted.

The Trapper Keeper.

In fact, if you were to create a list of the most popular items of the decade, the Trapper Keeper might find itself pretty high up there, alongside items like Swatch watches, Bubble Tape, Transformers, the Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Walkman.

Now, the particular Keeper you see above is not an original. It's a reproduction. Around the year 2021, the Mead company decided to release some new designs inspired by the originals. As of this writing, it seems like they're still at it. 

The 1980s rule!

I won that Trapper Keeper in a contest a few years ago. And for a while after that, it just sat around with nothing inside. But recently the muses fell upon me:

Why not fill the Trapper Keeper with cards from the era?

It's only fitting, right?

I gave it a little more thought, and narrowed down the options. A complete set of 1980s sports cards wouldn't work, because the rings of a Trapper Keeper have a very small diameter. They just wouldn't be able to hold so many 9-pocket pages.

And actually, sports trading cards in general didn't seem like a very novel idea, because I had so many of those in binders anyway.

But what about non-sport cards?

Yeah, that put me on the right track. The 1980s boasted quite a lot of iconic non-sport and oddball sets, along with some multi-sport sets and food-issue sets. And I already had a bunch of examples in my collection, just sitting in boxes, in the closet, in the dark. How much better would it be to keep them in pages—in this binder—so I could rip open that trademark Velcro flap and enjoy them every once in a while?

So, I started looking through my collection on TCDB. Soon enough, I found some excellent candidates for the binder. Want to see the results so far?

Let's roll.

 

 

  

I'm going to start off by sharing a reproduction of one of those classic Trapper Keeper–branded folders. So far, the only thing I have slotted into this one is my Project P.R.I.D.E. police workbook from 6th grade. (Complete with "hockey guy" illustrations by young Gregory Ninepockets.) 

I'm wondering if I have any other schoolwork saved somewhere in a box in the attic. If I do, that's the sort of thing that I'd also slot into this folder.

Next up, we have the cards. And there was no doubt about which ones I'd display in the first few pages.

I'm not sure if there's a brand of non-sport trading cards more synonymous with the 1980s than Garbage Pail Kids. I've got such good memories of opening packs with my sister and my mom, and laughing at all the zany—if not mildly rude—illustrations and names. You just never knew what you'd uncover in those packs. 

All the cards in my collection are from Series 2 (1985) through Series 7 (1987), and I enjoy them so much that I've got six full pages in the Trapper Keeper. All the card brands that follow are limited to one page each.

How many of you '80s kids were psyched when Sports Illustrated for Kids magazine debuted in 1989? I'm pretty sure I had a subscription for part of that first year, and I remember wondering with excitement about which athletes would be featured on the perforated 9-card insert that was placed inside each issue. 

Unfortunately, none of the cards you see on the page above are originals from my childhood collection. On the positive side, this has allowed me to select the cards that you do see above based on personal nostalgia. For example, I remember Carl Lewis being one of America's darlings during the 1988 Summer Olympics. And if you were into skateboarding back then, Mike McGill was a hot name, right alongside guys like Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, and Christian Hosoi. (Note: I kind of cheated a little bit with that Boris Becker card in the bottom right corner. It's from the 1990 set, so it's technically not an '80s card.)

 

The first five stickers on this page are from the 1983 Topps Video City set, and feature classic arcade games of the era like Donkey Kong, Zaxxon, and Frogger. The last four are from the 1980 Fleer Pac-Man set. Even though my young collecting days wouldn't start until a few years after the Pac-Man wax packs were available for sale in stores, I do remember having some of them in my collection. I don't know how. Maybe I got them from an older kid in the neighborhood. Regardless, it's a good indication of how wildly popular the arcade game was back then.

 

I didn't have any of these 1985 Hasbro Transformers cards when I was a kid. In fact, I didn't even know they existed back then. But a few years ago, I discovered them and added a handful to my collection. I'm not sure an '80s binder would be complete without a page of these. As for the little guy in the bottom right pocket? That's an example of a sticker that was issued one per hanger pack.

 

These 1987-88 New York Islanders Police cards certainly don't fall into the non-sport category, but they were the cards that came along with that Project P.R.I.D.E. police workbook I mentioned earlier. I was a young kid who was just getting into the sport of hockey back then, so these cards bring back enough fun memories to grant them a spot in the Trapper Keeper.

And what would an '80s binder be without some wrestling cards? I mean, sheesh, that era had so many larger-than-life characters. Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Andre the Giant, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Jake the Snake Roberts, Jimmy Superfly Snooka, King Kong Bundy, The Honky Tonk Man, Ric Flair. The list goes on and on. The first few cards you see on the page are from the 1987 Topps WWF set. The bottom three are from 1989 and 1990 Classic WWF. And that Ric Flair card? 1988 Wonderama NWA. Woooo!

I know, I know. This is not a 1980s set. But I had to include these 1977 Topps Three's Company cards and stickers in the binder anyway. I have some pretty special memories of sitting on the living room floor, watching reruns of this show with my mom and sister back in the mid-80s. John Ritter was so brilliant with his physical comedy. 

How popular was the mascot featured on the first three cards of this page? Well, Donruss decided to include him in their flagship set for three years running! The San Diego Chicken was (and still is) baseball mascot royalty.

Speaking of royalty, the next three cards feature some guys who briefly fit that description in the late-80s. They're from the 1988 Zoot The California Raisins World Tour set. If you like dad jokes and corny puns, this set is for you.

As for the three 1990 Confex Fun Stuff and Nasty Tricks cards on the bottom row, I know they're not from the 1980s, but they FEEL like they are. If I did have some of these cards in my collection back then, they would have definitely been in the Trapper Keeper. Young Gregory appreciated that brand of humor. 

 

 

  

 

Years ago on the blog, I mentioned how some of the light cycle cards from this 1982 Donruss Tron set are more like little pieces of futurist art. I still feel that way, and I think the original film maintains enough cachet to earn some representation in this '80s binder.

 

 

Super Mario Brothers, The Legend of Zelda, and Mike Tyson's Punch-Out were all made legendary by the Nintendo Entertainment System, so these cards from the 1989 Topps Nintendo set were absolute must-haves for the binder. I can still hear the soundtracks to all three of these games in my mind, and it's not just because I spent quite a number of hours playing the video games. The music itself holds more than enough merit. I mean, various professional orchestras have covered the soundtracks to Mario Brothers and Zelda over the years. That should tell you everything you need to know.

Speaking of memorable music, can you hear the theme song from this franchise? The 1989 Topps Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cards you see on this 9-pocket page are taken from a set that's fun, action packed, and actually tells a story as you progress through it. I was a touch too old to be consumed by Turtle-mania when this set of cards was released. My stepbrother, on the other hand, was a few years younger than me, and he had some of the action figures and was really into it. Apparently, so was my dad. It's all given me a solid appreciation for how Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo captivated so many people at the time.

 

And that's my 1980s binder so far. There's still room for a few more pages, and there are plenty of other iconic 1980s sets out there, so we'll see where I go next. 

Until then, I've got a couple of questions for you readers and collectors:

(1) If you were to put together a Trapper Keeper full of non-sport cards from the era, which sets would you include?

(2) If you went to school during the '80s, did you have a Trapper Keeper? If so, what design did you have? (I had the one with the red Lamborghini on the front.)

Let me know in the comment section. I'm looking forward to your answers!

A Smorgasbord! Gardner's Bakery Milwaukee Brewers

From the 1970s through the 1990s, it seemed like you could find your favorite baseball stars on food product packaging everywhere you looked: supermarkets, corner stores, restaurants, and beyond. This past year, in an effort to capture a little more nostalgia, I set a goal to expand my own collection of these "food-issue" cards. In this series I'll show the specific examples I've acquired, and share a little bit of history about the food or beverage sponsor as well. 

Previous entries can be found here.

It's the beginning of May, 1985. Spring has officially arrived here in Milwaukee, and your Brewers are about a month into the season.

They're a few games below .500, but it's fine. You started collecting baseball cards a couple of years ago, and you're not slowing down now. The new 1985 Topps cards are pretty cool-looking. And that was the only thing on your mind as you went to bed last night after a good, hard week of school. 

Now it's early Saturday morning. The sun hasn't even risen yet, but an enticing aroma has started to fill the air about a half-mile away. Soon it twists, turns, and swirls its way through the quiet streets of your town, until it reaches your open window and comes through the screen. It's such a delightful smell that it wakes you right up and you take a deep whiff.

Freshly baked bread.

The guys in that little bakery down the road get busy pretty early. It's almost like they're fanning the steam from the ovens straight into your bedroom.

Well, it's not long before you're walking downstairs and into the kitchen. There isn't any fresh bread straight from the bakery down there, but you do have the next best thing: A loaf of bread from Gardner's. And some butter.

You take out a butter knife and a slice of bread, and you butter that thing up without even toasting it. And just when you thought things couldn't get much better, you see a little cellophane packet tucked inside the bread wrapper. The detective work that your brain does for you provides  the memory instantaneously. Last year, the Gardner's loaves came with a similar little packet. Cramming the first bite of buttered bread in your mouth, you quietly slip back upstairs and pull a shoebox from your closet. Soon enough, you confirm what was in that cellophane packet last year.

Baseball cards!

And what about the year before?

Yep! You had a couple of those, too. I mean, how could you forget? It was your first year of collecting.

You stack those four cards neatly in one hand, take another bite of bread from the other hand, and trot back downstairs. The Brewers cards in that new cellophane pack are waiting to be freed, and you waste no time peeling open the wrapper.

Whoa.

You weren't expecting something that resembled a TV set with red borders! But looking back at the 1983 and 1984 designs, you at least appreciate the originality.

What about the backs?

You flip the cards over.

Okay, they're just like the regular 1985 Topps set—only it's blue with black text, instead of green with red text. That's within your threshold of comprehension.

Then you flip them back over to the front, and take another look at those red TV sets. It's still kind of weird. But a baseball card is a baseball card, and they'll be joining your other Gardner's Bakery cards. I mean, are you going to say no to that awesome mustache on 1985 Rollie Fingers? Not a chance.

So, overall, you're feeling pretty good. And now that the sun has risen, you hear the neighborhood lawn mowers start to hum their familiar Saturday morning tune.

Soon, the aroma of freshly baked bread is replaced by what could be the second sweetest smell for a baseball-loving kid like you.

Freshly cut grass.

Dad's been teaching you how to use the mower in the backyard, and you can't wait to be the designated lawn-cutter on a regular basis. You're going to mow those stripes into the grass so perfect, your backyard will look just like the outfield at Milwaukee County Stadium.

Saturday morning. Fresh bread. Mown outfield grass. Baseball cards.

Life is good.

Now let's talk about Gardner's Bakery.

As evidenced by this example of a company truck, Gardner's got their start quite a while ago—in 1928, to be exact. Based on the scant information I've come across, they were a well-loved institution in the Madison/Milwaukee area for decades. But as too many of these stories go, Gardner's was seemingly absorbed by the Sara Lee Corp., which was eventually acquired by Bimbo Bakeries USA. Bimbo is very large baking group that owns numerous brands you've probably heard of, such as Arnold, Thomas', Entenmann's, Stroehmann, and Freihofer's.

Then, in January 2019, after more than 90 years of business, the Gardner's facility was closed down. Bimbo noted that production was going to be moved to other locations in order to optimize something or other. You know how it goes.

Here's an image from a happier time in the company's history.

But let's get back to the cards for a moment.

I find it so interesting that Topps and the Brewers decided to team up with one bakery in the Wisconsin area for three straight years. It's not that similar things didn't occur with other food-issue sets at the time. (Think of the Coca-Cola Topps cards from 1981, for example.) But in this case, it wasn't a collaboration with a huge, national brand like Coke or Burger King. It wasn't even a regional thing. It was just one team, and one local bakery. 

And then you have the card design. Topps didn't just stamp a Gardner's logo on the front of their flagship cards and re-number the backs, like those Coca-Cola cards. They created an entirely different design for the front. All for Gardner's Bakery!

Maybe some of the head honchos at Topps really loved bread.

Whatever forces combined to create these Gardner's cards, I'm happy they did. And if this is the first time you're seeing them, I hope you got a kick out of them.

Now I've got two questions for you:

Have you ever lived, worked, or gone to school close enough to a bakery to smell that wonderful aroma of baked goods?

If you were to compile a "best smells" top-10 list, would freshly baked bread find its way in?

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!