All This Custom Card Needs Are Some Tasty Waves and a Cool Buzz

Ah, high school in Southern California, 1982. The mall. The retail jobs. The beach. The friends. The high jinks.

You could say they were fast times.

And although that wasn't my personal high school experience, there was a certain film released that same year which documented things fairly accurately. Or maybe not so accurately. Regardless, I felt the film and its major players needed a custom card.

 

 

 

As you might have already guessed, it's Fast Times at Ridgemont High!

 

You can't deny the big acting names up there. Sean Penn. Judge Reinhold. And do I even have to mention Phoebe Cates? The red bikini scene? Shopping malls everywhere must have been selling out of her posters on a weekly basis back in '82.

 

As for the character arrangement, Jeff Spicoli had to have the center position, of course. Brad Hamilton needed a spot on the bottom in order to accommodate his burger-flipping hat. Then I figured his little sister would be happy alongside him. That meant the top spots were open for Linda and Mike. 

 

I even thought about adding history teacher Mr. Hand to the card, squeezing him along the bottom between the Hamiltons. (One of the original 1963 Topps baseball cards does include six players.) However, I decided against it because things just looked a little crowded down there. Besides, Mr. Hand is a total downer compared to the rest of the crew.

 

To get back to some fun facts, this little subset of custom cards based on the '63 design is now three deep. The first card in the set featured the brave (or not-so-brave) knights from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The second card showed the fab five from The Breakfast Club. With the third card complete, they're looking pretty good next to each other in a binder.

Here's a peek at the card back.

 

 

 

 

I used the stat line again, which provides some interesting data about the film. Overall, Fast Times did pretty well at the box office, considering it had to contend with blockbusters like E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Rocky III. 

Now here's a little clip of Mr. Spicoli in action. (It helps explain the title of this blog post, too.)

 

 

Life's not that hard, right?

 

How about all of you? Can you relate to any of the zany experiences depicted in Fast Times? Did you have a teacher like Mr. Hand? Did you ever have a pizza delivered to your school, during class? If so, you've got to share the story here.

 

Thanks for reading, as always!

A Smorgasbord! Farmland Dairies/Junior Mets Club

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 Friday night, July 7th, 1989, and the Mets have just closed out the Cincinnati Reds at Shea Stadium by a score of 7–1. Sid Fernandez had the complete-game victory, and it keeps the Mets within 3.5 games of the first-place Montreal Expos. (Dad let you stay up for the whole game.) And even better, the next day at the local baseball fields, your friend—who's a Yankees fan—trades a few Mets cards to you, and he even throws in this beat-up beauty for free.

 

 

 

1989 Farmland Dairies/Junior Mets Club NNO Gregg Jefferies

"Ohh!" You exclaim, despite your confusion about what exactly you're holding in your hand. You look over at your buddy, who's more focused on flipping through the Yankees cards you gave him, so in an instant you go through the card manufacturers in your mind:

 

It's not Topps. It's not Fleer, Donruss, Score, or Upper Deck, either. It's definitely not those extra-large Bowman cards that came out earlier this year. It sure as heck isn't Sportflics. It's not even Sports Illustrated for Kids, for goodness sake. But it doesn't matter. You just can't hide your excitement when you look at the guy on the front of the card.

You see, back in 1989, Gregg Jefferies was the big name to collect—especially for kids in New York. (How many of you readers, New Yorkers or not, can still see an image of the 1989 Topps "Future Stars" Gregg Jefferies card in your minds?) 

 

And the fact that your buddy just threw this card into the trade for free is icing on the cake.

You flip it over, hoping you'll find some more information printed on the card back.

 

 

It's a Junior Mets Club card, sponsored by Farmland Dairies! Your mom buys that brand of milk all the time. (You run to the fridge as soon as you get home to see if there are any Mets players on the milk carton itself, but no such luck.)

At the time, Farmland was doing pretty well as a regional brand, however. They'd been around since 1914 in New Jersey, back when the milkman delivered glass bottles of milk and cream by horse and wagon to local subscribers. By the 1970s Farmland was known to be on the cutting edge of producing milk without the use of artificial hormones, which is a rather nice feather in their cap.

These days, they're known as Farmland Fresh Dairies, and if you live in many areas of the US, you might recognize their distinctive branding:

 

Seems like they're still quite determined to produce fresh, clean, hormone-free dairy as well. Good for them.

 

Unfortunately, Farmland only teamed up with the Junior Mets Club for three years—1987 through 1989—so there really weren't too many cards to add to your collection. (It seems like a 9-card perforated panel was issued for Junior Mets members during those years, including other great names of the time like Darryl Strawberry, Gary Carter, and Keith Hernandez.) Junior Mets members also received a bunch of other stuff back then, like a binder, a season schedule, some discount coupons to upcoming Mets games, and even a Junior Mets/Farmland digital watch.

It sure was fun to be a young baseball fan back then!

But let's get back to Gregg Jefferies for a moment. A lot of folks nowadays consider him a one-time prospect who fizzled out, but that's not a fair assessment at all. Mr. Jefferies had an excellent Major League career. Across 14 seasons, he put up 1593 hits, 300 doubles, 27 triples, 126 home runs, 663 RBI, 196 stolen bases, and a slash line of .289/.344/.421. He was also a 2x all-star, and cracked the top-10 in National League batting average for three consecutive seasons (1993–1995).

 

Back in 1989, however? Yeah, us kids just knew that Jefferies would be even more than that.

 

Anyone remember some other big rookies who never quite filled the enormous shoes that the media and baseball world created for them?

 

What about your regional milk brand when you were growing up?

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!

Pro Baseball, Hot Dogs, and Fireworks on the 4th

Fun story:

 

A couple of days before the July 4th holiday, one of my wife's good friends from Manhattan came to stay with us on Long Island for a few days. The week prior, we started thinking about what fun things we could do with her, and created a list of restaurants, vineyards, and attractions. One of those attractions involved baseball.

 

We don't live that far from the local minor league team—the Long Island Ducks—and we figured we'd see if the team was on a homestand. It turned out that not only were they at home, but they were playing on the 4th. And there would be a fireworks display after the game!

 

Baseball, hot dogs, and a fireworks show on the 4th? Absolutely.

Even though our friend is not a baseball fan, she was was excited. She'd only been to one game in her life, at Yankee Stadium, and that was about 20 years ago.

Well, game day arrived. We easily made it to the stadium, found parking (for free!), and got to our seats in a jiffy. There are only about 6,000 seats in the park, so even though we weren't at field level, our view was fantastic. 

 

Look here:

 

 

The Ducks opened up an early lead against their opponent, the Charleston Dirty Birds, and the capacity crowd was impressively engaged. As we continued to watch, we answered any questions that our friend had about baseball, and she gradually picked up on the uniqueness of the sport. By the 5th or 6th inning, after more observation and conceptualizing, she turned to us and made the following comment, which I think you'll agree is packed with much insight and wisdom:

Hitting a baseball is really hard.

 

Amen to that!

 

The game continued. And you know what? Although I haven't followed professional baseball very much over the past few years, I definitely recognized the names of a few players as the lineup turned over. And because this is a trading card blog, here they are, in the familiar scale of 2.5 x 3.5 inches:

 

 

2017 Topps Heritage Delino DeShields #648, 2016 Topps Heritage Jackie Bradley Jr. #91,
2020 Topps Heritage Chance Sisco #357

 

DeShields was in the starting lineup for the Dirty Birds, while Bradley and Sisco started for the Ducks.

 

I have to admit that I wasn't sure what level of minor league ball we were watching, but knew that all three players were in the majors not long ago. (Bradley Jr. was a gold glover and World Series champ in 2018!) 

 

It turns out the Ducks are part of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, a 10-team league that "offers an open classification of play, the highest level of professional baseball other than Major League Baseball. . . . Atlantic League clubs pay players to win baseball games, not apprentice in baseball’s developmental levels."

Interesting. So I suppose if DeShields, Bradley, and Cisco are trying to make their way back to the big leagues, the ALPB would be a decent option.

In any case, the game continued, all three of us had a hot dog (with sauerkraut), and day turned to dusk. The field looked pretty sharp with the lights on.

 

 

 

Charleston mounted a comeback, getting to within one run thanks to a Ducks error and an absolute moon shot home run from a big first baseman named Keon Barnum. But the Ducks were able to hold it together for the win.

It made the fireworks all the more fun for the home crowd. A bunch of the players sat on the field and watched with their families too, which was a nice touch.

 

 

 

All in all, great seats and great entertainment for about $25 a ticket. 

How about you readers and collectors? If you've got a minor league team nearby, have you ever gone to a game? How have your experiences been?

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!

Completed Set: 1983 Topps Baseball

When I shared my completed 1984 Topps baseball set here on the blog a couple of years ago, I mentioned that it was the very first set of cards I remember opening packs of and eagerly collecting. 

 

However, the first set of cards I have any memories of at all might be this one.

 

 

There's something about that circle graphic in the bottom corner and the contrasting lines of color surrounding it. They stir up some very early memories. In fact, even 40 years later, I still have this niggling notion that I had a few little stacks of 1983 Topps baseball cards (and 1982 Topps football?) in a shoebox back then—my very first stacks of cards ever. I also have a notion that somehow my mom or dad stashed that shoebox in their bedroom closet, up through a little hatchway in the ceiling that provided access to the interior of the roof. I was very young in 1983, and we moved out of that house just a few years later, so that mysterious box became an afterthought rather quickly. But I wonder if it actually ever was in that little crawl space. Maybe it still is.

 

Regardless, I never replaced those [unverified] '83 Topps cards at any point during my childhood collecting days. And that means for a long while, I didn't have many cards from this set at all in my collection.  

 

So I decided it was time to right that wrong.

 

Because looking back, it was such a fun era for young card collectors. Baseball card designs were bright and kid-friendly. This Week in Baseball was must-watch TV, giving us glimpses of the biggest stars from around the league. And other shows, like The Baseball Bunch, taught us about the fundamentals of the game.

 

You know what else taught us about the fundamentals of the game? 

 

The 1983 Topps baseball set, that's what! And I think it does it better than most sets of the decade.

 

 

Here's what I mean:

 

 

 

Are you up at bat with a runner on first base? First thing you've got to do is loosen up and gain your focus with a couple of practice swings.

 

 

 

Now you're ready. But forget about swinging for the fences all the time. It's 1983. Just slap that ball on the ground, through the big hole on the right side of the infield, and advance the runner to second base. If a hit-and-run play is on, he'll make it to third. You're looking at textbook form up there from Larry Herndon, Ellis Valentine, and Pete Rose. 

 

 

 

 

Not confident with your hitting at the moment? No problem. Just bunt the guy over to second!

 

 

As for good defense? 1983 Topps had you covered. Enos Cabell and Guy Sularz both show solid technique, staying low and fielding the ball in front of them, with the right hand ready to trap that ball in the glove. And on the right, look at four-time Gold Glover Bobby Grich on his toes, ready to move in any direction for those hard-hit grounders and line drives.

Topps also reminded us that even though catching a pop-up isn't the most glamorous thing in baseball, every out is important. Every. out.

 

 

You know what else is important? Pitching. Look at the balance exhibited by these pitchers during their wind-ups. Work on that technique, young pitchers out there. And trust the fielders behind you.

But hey, for all of the small-ball and fundamentals, Topps also included images that showed hitters taking big cuts, of course.

 

 

 

 

 

There were some power pitchers, too, lookin' mean.

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking of mean, check out Mike Armstrong on the left. He's looking mean in the main photo and even meaner in the headshot! As for a couple of other photos I found interesting, there's legend Carl Yastrzemski in the middle, giving his fielders some practice, while George Brett on the right demonstrates how players celebrated a home run back then. Simple handshake. Amen.

 

 

And we can't forget about the three big rookies: Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs, and Ryne Sandberg. Add in Willie McGee and Frank Viola, and I think only 1985 Topps competes with them for best rookie group of the decade. (Roger Clemens, Kirby Puckett, Mark McGwire, Dwight Gooden, Eric Davis, Orel Hershiser.)

Now let's talk about the design. 

 

Topps hadn't put a photo insert on the front of their cards since 1963. The new generation of card-collecting kids must have really gotten a kick out of it. Aside from that feature, I do like the way the two-toned borders separate the image on top from the text on the bottom. 

 

As for the color combinations, they're interesting, if not a little abstract. I like the light blue and purple on the Royals cards, for instance. The green and magenta for the A's is a trip, for sure. The Mets received a somewhat disappointing blue and red, while The Indians were given a wacky purple and orange. Overall, we get lots of fun '80s colors. (Plus some holdover oranges and yellows from the late-70s.)

 

It's a really solid look—so much so that Topps would borrow from it just a year or so later for their 1984-85 hockey set!

 

 

Now here's a card back

 

 

 

Black text on a light orange background. That ranks pretty high on the legibility meter. If there was room underneath the stats, like on Lloyd Moseby's card, Topps added some of the player's highlights from the previous season. There are no cartoons, which is usually a minus with me, but this time I don't mind it quite as much. I like how the hitter silhouette at top left and pitcher silhouette at bottom right help anchor everything.

 

 

Back to the set now. Subsets, to be more specific.

The Super Veterans subset was a whopping 35 cards deep, and featured players who'd been in the league for at least 10 years or so. (Gaylord Perry was the super-est Super Vet, with 24 years of service!) 

 

Card backs include some milestone dates, seasonal bests, and highlights for the player featured on the front. Each Super Veteran card was numbered so it would appear right after the player's base card in the set, which is fine. However, I kind of wish Topps would have run the 35 cards consecutively. It might have been cool to see 4 straight pages of these guys in a binder.

 

 

 

Team Leaders cards were done well, featuring the team's batting average and ERA leader on the front, and a team checklist on the back. 

 

 

 

 

 

The League Leader cards in this set could have been better. It's a pretty small 8-card subset, toward the end of the binder. The overall design is a little plain.

 

 

 

 

 

Like a few other Topps sets of the 1980s, the record breakers were in the lead-off spot. (The 1983 set had six record breaker cards in total.) Players selected for the 1982 All-Star Game received a separate all-star card. I like the big, bold star design in the corner. As for the manager cards, they were cool, because they listed the manager's playing stats on the back (if they were MLB players) as well as their managerial stats.

 

 

 

 

Topps put out some bright checklists throughout the decade, but this set must have some of the brightest ones.

 

 

 

 

And finally, a winning line-up game piece, one per wax pack.

 

 

So that's 1983 Topps baseball. I'm very happy to have completed this well-designed, well-regarded set. The cards are already in a binder, and I'm going to have to remember to take it off the shelf and flip through the pages every so often—maybe before softball games—to remind me of the fundamentals.

 

So where does the 1983 Topps set rank among all the sets of the decade for you? Do you have any favorite cards from the set?

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!

The Old Norris Division, in Sticker Form

Back in the late 1980s, the NHL's conferences and divisions were named differently than they are today. You had the Clarence Campbell Conference (i.e., today's Western Conference), which was separated into the Smythe and Norris Divisions. Then you had the Prince of Wales Conference (i.e., today's Eastern Conference), which was separated into the Patrick and Adams Divisions. All those names refer to men who made early contributions to the league. It was just one way that young hockey fans like me could learn about the history of the game. It also made for some great-looking 1980s all-star uniforms.

 

 

 

Another interesting thing about the NHL back then is that there were only 21 teams in the league, believe it or not. This means teams played each other a lot more during the season than nowadays—especially if they were in the same division. And this created some big rivalries. 

 

In the Adams Division, you had Boston vs. Montreal. You also had Montreal vs. Quebec, which was serious.

 

In the Patrick Division, you had Islanders vs. Rangers, and Flyers vs. Penguins.

In the Smythe Division, you had the battle of Alberta (Calgary vs. Edmonton).

And in the Norris Division? Well, all five teams—the Blackhawks, Red Wings, North Stars, Blues, and Maple Leafs—just beat up on each other. It was such a tough division that longtime football sportscaster Chris Berman still sometimes refers to NFL matchups that share the same geographical region as the NHL teams, like Vikings vs. Bears, as an "NFC Norris Division battle".

Why am I detailing all this information about a time in the NHL that's quite a ways in the rear-view mirror?

 

Well, recently Mark from the Chronicles of Fuji posted some flea market finds. And amongst his haul was this:

 

 

 

A sheet of 1980s puffy stickers from the old Norris Division!

 

Hockey fan that I am, I left a comment on that post to express how cool the stickers were, and guess what arrived in my mailbox not long after?

 

Yep. The very same sheet of stickers. Mark, you're a legend.

 

It turns out the company made stickers for all NHL divisions, as well as individual player stickers. There was even an album with designated spots to adhere each sticker! I'm tempted to open the wrapper of mine and stick some of those classic logos on an old hockey card binder, but I'm going to resist the urge. Maybe if I pick up some duplicates. (You can find some listed on ebay.)

 

And you know what else I've got to do? Be more like Mr. Fuji and send out some RAKs to fellow collectors. If you're reading this and we haven't sent some cards to each other in a while, feel free to leave a comment or send an email. I'd really like to get some good hobby mojo going.

Thanks again for the sweet RAK, Mark. And I've got something to send to you in return, so stay tuned.

From the Favorites Box: Nolan Ryan, 1975 Topps #5

A series where I post some thoughts about favorite cards. Previous cards in the series are available here.

 

 

I like this highlight card for two reasons: 

(1) 300 strikeouts for three consecutive seasons? Holy cow. 

(2) The camera angle makes Nolan Ryan look 100 feet tall. 

Look behind him. There’s nothing but blue sky, because trees and houses simply don’t go that high. The only thing you can make out is the top of a light pole down there in the left corner. Ryan is wayyy taller. 

From here, you have to wonder if he's going to complete his pitching motion and fire a fastball under your chin, or if he'll just keep his fist in that glove, bring both hands down together, and give you a good old-fashioned pounding.

 

But let's get back to Nolan Ryan, the pitcher. Aside from his league-leading 367 strikeouts in 1974, how about some other stats from that season? Ryan led the majors in innings pitched (332.2), walks (202), batters faced (1,392), and strikeouts per 9 innings (9.9). Do the math, and that means he struck out every 3.79 batters he faced that year. He went 22-16 with 26 complete games, 3 shutouts, and a 2.89 ERA.

And get this: if it weren't for a string of injuries in 1975 that left him with only 186 Ks in 28 starts, Ryan could have put together six straight seasons of 300 strikeouts. Look here:

 

1972: 329 Ks

1973: 383 Ks

1974: 367 Ks

1975: 186 Ks

1976: 327 Ks

1977: 341 Ks

 

It's also worth noting that he led the entire majors in strikeouts all five of those years surrounding 1975.

No wonder he's 100 feet tall on that card.

 

And for defining pure dominance and intimidation with a single photo, 1975 Topps #5 has a spot in my box of favorite cards.

Board Advertisements on Cards, Episode 6: Amtrak

Way back in 1978, the NHL allowed teams to start selling advertising space along the boards of their rinks. By the time I was a hockey card–collecting kid in the late 1980s, the trend had caught on. From snack foods to car manufacturers to banks to fast food restaurants, board advertisements really ran the gamut—and they still do.

This series will explore some of the advertisements that also managed to make their way onto hockey cards.

 

Previous entries are available here.

1991-92 O-Pee-Chee #201,
Wayne Gretzky Highlights

Here's Wayne Gretzky in that classic Los Angeles Kings uniform, sporting that silver Easton aluminum hockey stick. He's positioned along the boards, no doubt ready to receive a pass and set up yet another scoring opportunity.

 

The card commemorates Gretzky scoring his 2,000th NHL point. No one has done it since. (Jaromir Jagr is the closest, with 1,921.) The feat was accomplished against the Winnipeg Jets on October 28, 1990. However, the photo on the front of the card is not from that game. How can we tell?

Have a look just over Mr. Gretzky's right shoulder. I see a little piece of a New York Rangers jersey there, to the side of the mustachioed guy's face.

Additionally, have a look at the advertisement on the boards behind Mr. Gretzky.

 

It's for Amtrak. And I know for certain that an Amtrak advertisement was plastered on the boards at Madison Square Garden back then. You see, the Garden is right on top of Penn Station, which offers Amtrak train service to various parts of North America. (Winnipeg does not.)

 

I wonder if the folks at MSG were kind enough to cut them a deal on the advertising fee.

 

Even if they didn't, let's talk about Amtrak. 

 

In theory, it's great. Ride by rail. See the country, from the mountains to the prairies, etcetera. Enjoy our café car. And our bar car. And for the really long trips: our sleeper cars!

 

In practice, however, the experience can be less than ideal. Delays. More delays. Inadequate luggage space. Crowded cars. Inconsiderate passengers. (One time, the guy in the seat across the aisle from me immediately took off his shoes upon boarding, and stretched his bare, stinky feet out into the aisle.)

 

It's not all bad, of course. Sometimes Amtrak really does live up to its potential. The scenery as you look out the windows can be truly beautiful. And I've got some great memories of taking Amtrak from Penn Station to the Adirondacks in the summers as a young teenager, by myself, toting along a duffel bag and a guitar, to spend time with my family up there. Nothing else quite like it.

 

Speaking of nothing else quite like it, I'm not sure we need to mention much about Wayne Gretzky's hockey history in this post: the 61 NHL records that he still holds to this day, or the 4 Stanley Cup rings he owns, or the 18 All-Star games he appeared in, or the many times he suited up for Team Canada, or anything else. Instead, how about we link the guy to the board advertisement?

 

Here is a list of the four NHL cities Mr. Gretzky played for, along with just some of the Amtrak lines that run to and from each city. (I've included links that provide more information, for those of you who might fancy traveling by rail):

Edmonton: None

Los Angeles: Pacific Surfliner, California Zephyr

St. Louis: Missouri River Runner, Texas Eagle

New York: Adirondack, Northeast Regional, Vermonter, Carolinian/Piedmont

Everything else aside, you've got to admit that the folks at Amtrak have come up with some great names for their train lines. Who wouldn't want to take a ride on the California Zephyr, or the Missouri River Runner?

 

So how about you readers? Have you ever traveled by Amtrak or any other scenic railway? If so, what was your experience like?

 

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!