2024 Softball Season Review: A New League

 

 

What you're looking at up there is a jersey for each of the three softball teams I've played for since getting back into the sport in 2018.

And to remind you where we last left off, I began the 2024 season searching for yet another team. The regular third baseman for the Stunners was ready to return from injury this year, so they no longer had a spot for me on the team. (No hard feelings, as many of those guys have played softball together for 15 or 20 years.)

 

Well, after scouring the local softball message boards and posting some information, I'm happy to report that I did find a new team for 2024. 

 

 

 

Not quite the feel-good moniker you'd be looking for, but hey, softball team names are known to be pretty wacky. And they needed a third baseman. Besides, not only would this be a new team, it would also be a new league. I went into it with a completely blank slate.

It turned out pretty well. Let's get right to the stats. 

 

The competition level in this new league fell right between the previous two I played in: Not as strongly challenging as the Stunners' league, but a little more competitive than the Wolfpack's league.

 

Ultimately, it was a tale of two seasons for me. Here's the TL;DR: 

 

  

The biggest difference for me was the Monday night games compared with the Sunday night games. Mondays are usually long, busy days at work for me. It can be pretty tough to finish at 5:00pm. Oftentimes my Monday nights involved rushing to finish up with work, grabbing a quick bite to eat, getting my uniform on, and zooming over to the fields to play a doubleheader. And as much as I like to say No excuses, play like a champion, I definitely showed up to some games during the Summer season feeling physically and mentally drained. (Just look at the difference in my batting average from the summer to the fall!) There were even a couple of games where I noticed the outfielders moving in on me, because I was making such weak contact.

In addition, our pitcher left the team pretty early on during the Summer season. And when our captain asked me if I had any pitching experience, I reluctantly said yes. Pitching is not my favorite thing. Combine that with some tough luck and rough defense, and it affected my enjoyment of the game. It's not to say that I didn't have some good outings where I managed to pitch well and keep our team in there, but let's just say I also had a couple of pretty big stinkers. I hesitate to share my pitching stats, but here you go.

 

 

  

I will say that pitching in this league was a lot more challenging than the fill-in pitching I did for the Wolfpack a few years ago, where most hitters were free swingers. I didn't walk many people at all in that league. But in this new league? Wow. Hitters have good eyes, and they're willing to take walks, as you can see by those numbers. And once they notice that you're struggling on the mound, they take even more pitches—even close ones! I can't tell you how many pitches I made that just missed landing past home plate for strikes. That's not to mention the couple of tournament teams we played against who had a few guys capable of rocketing balls over the fence, 300 feet away, even if your pitches were a little out of the strike zone. Oof.

In any case, for the Fall season we recruited an actual pitcher, picked up a few new players with skill and speed, and I went back over to third base. In my first game back at the hot corner I went 3-for-4 and made some good plays in the field, and felt much better about things for the rest of the season.

Speaking of third base, here are my fielding stats for the year.

 

Overall, I played fairly well at third, and made a few nice diving stops and double plays over the course of the year. I made a handful of errors as well. Some were throwing errors, and others were fielding errors. (It's the fielding errors that bother me more.) As a pitcher I also fielded well, snagging a few hot come-backers over the course of the season. I made just one silly throwing error when I cut off a throw to home plate from the outfield and tried to nail a baserunner who ventured too far off second base. As for those few innings at catcher, they were logged during a doubleheader when I tweaked my lower back early on, and just couldn't play third base for the rest of the day. Thankfully, that was the only weekend when I was more literally a member of the Walking Wounded.

Bonus Content: Playoff Stats!

We played well enough in the Fall season to make the playoffs. Impressively, this league holds a best-of-three series for each playoff round. (One round each Sunday for three consecutive Sundays.) We swept through the first two rounds, and then met up with a pretty tough team in the finals. We lost the first game, but came right back in the second game with a win. Unfortunately, they got the better of us in the final game with some timely hitting and fantastic fielding, so we finished runner-up. It was still a heck of a run, though, especially considering that we didn't even come close to the playoffs during the Summer season.

Here are my playoff stats.

 

 

 

A Deeper Dive

Just like last year, I kept a basic spray chart. Since we made the playoffs this year, I added those numbers to the totals. Have a look.

 

 

 

Last year, 50% of my hits went the opposite way (left field), 29% went to center, and 21% went to my pull side (right field). This year I spread things out a lot better, and I'm pretty happy about that. As for the ratio of fly balls to line drives to ground balls, I definitely leaned more heavily toward grounders and less toward line drives this year. (Last year it was 40% grounders, 55% line drives, and 5% fly balls.) 

 

Now part of that is because I collect some singles by deliberately slapping grounders through the hole, just to get on base. But I'd be fooling myself if I didn't acknowledge that a swing flaw revealed itself in 2024—especially during the Summer season. A pretty good percentage of those ground balls probably came from swings where I was trying to hit a line drive, and just got on top of the ball. It's lucky that some of them found a hole in the infield. 

 

Bu there's a positive to share. Throughout the Fall season and into the playoffs, I really started to figure things out and hit more line drives again. That helped to restore my confidence. We'll see what kind of work I can put in during the off-season, and hopefully I can start out next season on a similar roll.

More Bonus Content: League Leaders!

Speaking of confidence, I got my swing working well enough during the Fall season to lead the team in hits (31) and batting average (.721). In addition, across the 9-team league I was ranked #5 in batting average for all batters with a minimum of 25 at-bats. (I had 43 at-bats, which tied for 9th overall.) Yeah!

 

Okay, analysis over. 

 

Now I'm going to look at the goals I set at the end of last year, and give myself a letter grade for each one.

Learn How to Pull the Ball Again (B+)

I'm pretty happy here. It took me a while to really nail things down, but once I did, I started recognizing inside pitches and turning on them more confidently. I hit a few solid line drives into right field, including a rocket shot that drove in the winning run from third base in extra innings during a Fall season game. This also kept defenses a little more honest with me. There were times when I pulled the ball in a couple of consecutive at-bats, and when the opposing team put the lefty shift on me the next time I was up at bat, I went oppo for a hit. That felt pretty good.

Stop Lunging at Short Pitches (B)

Not bad here, either. I did develop a better eye for short pitches (those that fall short of the plate, or on the plate) over the course of year, and my higher number of walks is evidence of that. I also noticed that I took more pitches in general, and took some at-bats deeper in the count than normal. That's very good for me, because I'm a bit of a free swinger. I've got more work to do here, but overall, it's a definite improvement.

 

Figure Out a Way to Produce on Bad Days (Incomplete)

Last year I posited that my bad days on the softball field were, in part, the simple result of getting older (I'm firmly entrenched in my mid-40s). After another year, I'm more confident that's the case. Some days you just feel tired, and not quite sharp physically or mentally. And like I mentioned already, that summer schedule—6:00pm doubleheaders every Monday right after work—didn't do me any favors. 

 

But really, those are all excuses. I've just got to do a little better at getting on base and playing good defense on those bad days. I'll make this a goal again for next year, and we'll see what I can do. I don't know. Maybe it's time for an over-40 league? Maybe I should start drinking coffee before games?

 

It's all stuff to think about. For now, let's keep the good mojo going. Here are a couple of things I'd like to work on for next year.

 

Keep that Swing Flaw Away

Like I mentioned a little while ago, I struggled with my swing during the Summer season. I was seeing the top of the ball too much and hitting it into the ground, even when I felt like I was trying to make a level swing. I think a decent part of this was a result of all the golf I played during the year, and how I spent much more time on my golf game than my softball game. (Being a two-sport guy has its challenges, for sure.) Recognizing the softball swing flaw and fixing it during the Fall season was a big win for me. So now it's just a matter of taking down some notes and reminding myself of the solution. Let's go hit!

 

Get Back in the Gym

This is more of a general life goal, but the fact remains that I've hardly worked on my strength and flexibility over the past couple of years. Getting back into that routine will certainly help my softball game, both at the plate and in the field.

I'm writing these goals down on the blog because I think doing so will help keep me accountable. Let's see what happens!

And that's my assessment of the 2024 season. Overall, I enjoyed the year. I got out there and met even more new people and made some new friends. And although the level of competition in this league is a step below last year's league, I think it's a pretty good fit for me. I like to challenge myself and work to improve my game, but I also just like enjoying some weekend softball. So I wouldn't mind joining the same team again, especially if they choose the Sunday afternoon time slot again. However, I'll also keep my eyes open for other teams and leagues, including over-40 leagues. We'll see. Maybe I'll have yet another jersey to add to my collection next year.

 

I look forward to checking back on this post at the end of next season to see if I made some of the improvements that I laid out here. For now, I'm going to enjoy a little time off for the holidays. 

 

Thanks for reading along and following my experiences. 

 

Did any of you get out and join a softball league this past year? Or play any other sport?

 

Feel free to share some of your own experiences in the comment section.

Packs at the Golf Course: I Return the Favor

Around this time last year, my brother surprised me after a round of golf with a couple of packs of hockey cards. They were both from the early 1990s, which was right around my peak hockey card–collecting time, so the nostalgia levels were high. 

 

Right then and there, I took one pack and he took another, and we opened them. Only two or three stars showed up inside, but it was still a fun experience.

Well, this is the time of year when golf season and hockey season overlap, and a few weeks ago I found myself thinking about that pack rip. I figured that the next time my brother and I played golf, I'd go into my stash of early '90s hockey packs and return the favor with a little surprise after the round.

 

When he surprised me, it was one pack of 1990-91 Upper Deck and one pack of 1992-93 Upper Deck.

 

This time, I split the difference.

That's 1991-92 Upper Deck. Many would argue it was the best hockey set of the year, far and away. And I'd agree. Just looking at those foil packs reminds me of a monthly card show back then that was held at a local Holiday Inn. My hockey buddy and I would walk over to the show, buy some packs, and then head back to my house where we'd open them and play NHL Hockey on Sega Genesis. Man, those were fun times.

 

Fast-forward more than 30 years, and let's have a look at the cards my brother and I pulled from those two packs.

First, my brother's pack.

The first card out of the pack was part of the popular Canada Cup subset, which contained quite a few notable rookies and stars. I mentioned to my brother that Mr. Garpenlov went on to have a serviceable NHL career after coming over from Sweden. He replied by saying that those uniforms definitely looked Swedish. In the middle there we have goalie Bill Ranford, who won the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe Trophy (playoff MVP) with the Oilers in 1989-90. As for Russian legend Igor Larionov, look—he's doing battle with another legendary Russian player, Sergei Fedorov! Great action shot from a pretty cool and unusual angle.

Next up we've got Rob DiMaio. Yvon Corriveau, and yet another great Russian player in Sergei Makarov. More excellent action, don't you think?

Dan Quinn was a very good hockey player (and golfer). He even played in some professional golf tournaments after finishing his hockey career. In the middle, Mr. Zalapski shows off the classic Whalers logo, and look on the right! It's a Russian legends hot pack with the addition of Alexander Mogilny! My brother actually saw the back of the Mogilny card first, and got a kick out of the subject matter, considering where we were standing at that moment:

He's on the golf course!

Last three cards of the pack: Marty McSorley was a protector for Wayne Gretzky, both in Edmonton and Los Angeles. I like how Upper Deck showed him doing what he did best on the card front. And we finish off the pack with two looks at team Canada's uniforms. Two very solid players, as well.

 

Oh, and at the back of the back, you have the NHL All-Star fan ballot insert. As you can see by the text on the front, this card takes us back to a time of 1-900 numbers. $0.95 for the first minute, $0.55 for each additional minute. Yeesh. You'd better choose your all-stars quickly.

Now here's my pack.

 

 

We started off hot with a Zigmund Palffy rookie card and a Brett Hull/Eric Lindros Canada Cup checklist. Palffy was a superstar on Long Island during my college hockey days in the late-1990s, putting up 40+ goals a year for a while there.

Nothing too memorable here, although Dave Tippett was an excellent defensive forward who had a long playing career. He coached in the NHL for more than 20 years, as well.

Adam Graves helped Bill Ranford and the Oilers (see above) win that Stanley Cup in 1989-90. He then went on to the Rangers, where he was a big part of their 1994 Stanley Cup season. Ulf Samuelsson was known to be a big hitter and rough guy. See that Stanley Cup patch on his right shoulder? He helped the Penguins to their back-to-back cups in 1990-91 and 1991-92. As for Michel Petit, I remember him playing for the Rangers when I first got into hockey around 1989 or so.

That Brett Hull insert came out of the pack with the back of the card showing. Before we started the rip, I'd told my brother that Mr. Hull had signed a small number of the cards, which were then randomly inserted into the packs. We were hoping this would be one of them, but alas, it wasn't to be. Nice Cooperalls, though. Tom Barrasso was the starting goaltender on those Cup-winning Penguins teams with Ulf Samuelsson. As for Tomas Forslund, he played just a couple of NHL seasons in Calgary before going to Europe and playing in the Swedish and German professional leagues.

Pretty good pack, overall. And instead of the All-Star fan ballot, I found this at the end of the pack:

 

One of the randomly inserted holograms! You can't go wrong with Ray Bourque, who won the Norris Trophy (top defensive player) five times during his career.

This was a pretty fun pack rip. I think my brother and I might have to make this an annual tradition—at least one pack per year, that is.

Do any of you have a pack-ripping tradition, either on your own or with family and friend collectors? What's your favorite card from the two hockey packs?

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!

 

From the Favorites Box: Rickey Henderson, 1984 Topps #230

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

 

 

I always like it when trading card companies use a photograph that shows the player on the card doing what he does best. 

 

Enter Exhibit A.

 

 

In 1983, the year this photo was likely taken, Rickey Henderson piled up 108 stolen bases. (Unsurprisingly, that number was best in the majors.) Do you think one of those 108 swipes occurred shortly after that photo was taken? 

 

I think it's a good possibility. It almost looks like Rickey is taking a walking lead—sneakily—as the pitcher has perhaps zoned out or lost focus. But it's hard to imagine something like that happening to a pitcher at any point during the 1980s when a guy like Rickey, or Raines, or Coleman was on first base. Do you remember how exciting it was?

 

You'd watch those guys take a lead, and then expand it a little more. Then the pitcher would throw over to first to check that lead. Then that dance would happen again. And maybe again after that. But the whole time you'd be waiting on the edge of your seat for those speedsters to finally take off for second base. 

 

And how about that split-screen they'd put up during the broadcast, where the left side of your TV showed the pitcher, and the right side showed the runner on first base taking his lead?

 

There he goes!

 

Man, baseball was so fun back then. And Rickey Henderson, the Man of Steal, provided entertainment in more ways than one. Many consider him the greatest lead-off hitter of all time. 

 

Here's why:

 

He could lead off with a walk. (2,190 career walks: second-most of all time) 

He could lead off with a hit. (3,055 career hits: 27th all time)

He could even lead off with a home run. (81 career lead-off home runs: most of all time)

 

And if you think that's impressive, here's what happened on the basepaths after he led off the game:

 

Rickey Henderson is the all-time leader in runs scored (2,295), the all-time leader in stolen bases (1,406), and, interestingly, the all-time leader in times caught stealing (335). That's a career stolen base percentage of .8075.

 

He's also the all-time leader in stolen base attempts, with 1,741. Lou Brock is second with 1,245.

I guess you can't steal bases if you don't try, right? And at an 80% clip, I'll absolutely take those odds. Especially as a fan of the stolen base, and of risk/reward baseball.

And for giving millions of us fans an instant dose of excitement as soon as he led off first base, Rickey Henderson's 1984 Topps card #230 has a spot in my box of favorite cards. 

 

 

PS: If you'd like base stealing to make such a large comeback that network TV brings the split-screen back to baseball broadcasts, give me an "amen" in the comment section.

More Custom Cards about Nothing

A couple of years ago, I designed a custom card featuring Cosmo Kramer on the 1973 Topps design. Right then and there, I was inspired to do a separate custom card for Jerry Seinfeld on the "Field Leaders/Manager" card design from the same set.

 

I'd run out of time and energy after that, but made a little note to myself about creating more Seinfeld cards using the '73 design at some point in the future—at least a standalone card for the other two members of the fab four (George and Elaine). 

 

Well, it took quite a while to get to it, but I've finally made good on that note. In fact, there aren't just four cards in the set now. There are six!

As a refresher, here are the Kramer and Jerry cards.

If you note the palm trees in the background, you'll gather that Kramer is depicted here in a spring training location. (Quite possibly Del Boca Vista.)

 

And here's Jerry, as "manager". I figured Newman would be a good 4th member for the "coaches" section of the card. You've got to have an antagonist, right? He'd be like the one coach on the team that no one really liked.

Now here are the new additions to the set.

 

 

 

This image was a natural fit for a baseball card. Not long after the photo was taken, George would step up to the plate, hit a deep drive to the outfield, sprint around the bases, and barrel over opposing catcher Bette Midler to score a big run. (Clean play.)

 

Elaine gets a headshot, wearing the Orioles cap, of course. She's already in disbelief that someone has asked her to remove it. (Also, note the silhouette above her position of "Little Kicker".)

And that completes the four main character cards. The next thing I wanted to do was include some of the other memorable characters from the show. There are so many good ones—too many for standalone cards. But the 1973 Topps set did contain a bunch of three-player rookie cards, and this provided the perfect solution. Here's my first version: 

 

 

It features Uncle Leo (Jerry, hello!), Frank Costanza, and Newman. I did some research, and I don't think Newman's first name was ever revealed on the show. Or maybe Newman is his first name, and we don't know his last name? Regardless, I think the card works better with just "Newman", even with the blank space above it. 

 

 

 

And any Seinfeld set wouldn't be complete without J. Peterman, the Soup Nazi, and David Puddy (high five!) They're absolutely classic characters. I could have also gone with folks like Kenny Bania, Jackie Chiles, crazy Joe Davola, Estelle Costanza, or Helen and Morty Seinfeld, to name a few. Maybe even a trio of Jerry's girlfriends. But I think the six I've chosen are pretty solid.

Now here are all the cards, together.

I'm happy that I was able to showcase characters on the base card, the manager card, and the rookie combination card. There's also the playoffs/World Series card design from the '73 set, and I suppose I could find three "action" shots from certain Seinfeld episodes to make this a 9-card set. I could even stick to baseball-themed images. For example, there's Kramer getting hit with the foul ball at Yankee Stadium, Elaine refusing to take her Orioles cap off during that same game and getting into a scuffle, or even the aforementioned George Costanza knocking over Bette Midler on the softball field. But I don't really think adding three more cards to the set is necessary. It might also be difficult to find a clear image of those events. I don't know. I'll think about it a little more.

For now, I'm happy with the six cards. Hope you're enjoying them, too! If you have a favorite, or would like to see other characters or scenes, let me know in the comment section.

Thanks for reading!

A Smorgasbord! Kraft Dinners (Hockey)

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.

 

 

Picture a November weekend in Canada, circa 1990. It's getting cold outside.

If you're a kid from the nation up north, could anything be more comforting on a cold weekend like this than a bowl of mac & cheese and a hockey game on TV? 

 

Actually, yes. 

 

There's one more thing you can add to that list.

 

 

  

Hockey cards!

 

And you won't even have to go to the local card shop, drug store, or toy store to get them, because you'll find two cards printed on the back panel of every specially marked box of Kraft Dinners, such as this one:

 

 

If you go to the supermarket with mom next weekend, you'll see that the cards are also available on specially marked boxes of Kraft Spirals, Kraft Noodles, Kraft Singles, and another tasty product that's now made by Kraft...

 

JELL-O!

But let's get back to the pasta. Here's the back panel of a Kraft Dinner box, showing the cards.

 

 

 

 

All you have to do is take out your pair of scissors and cut on the dotted line. (But finish your mac & cheese first.)

 

The initial set, released during the 1989-90 season, was 64 cards deep. It consisted mainly of players from the 7 Canadian NHL teams the existed at the time.

For the next season, Kraft expanded the checklist to include the rest of the league, and the set topped out at a whopping 115 cards, including the ones you see above.

 

Here's a shot of the card backs.

 

 

 

The difference in color is a result of the type of cardboard used for the different boxes.  (Modano is from a Kraft Spirals box, while Vanbiesbrouck is from a Kraft Dinner box.)

 

The next season, 1991-92, saw the checklist reduced to 92 cards. But it was still a thorough set. Here are a couple of examples from my collection:

 

As you can see, the NHL was working hard to promote their 75th anniversary. Not only did they place the official "75" NHL logo on the bottom of each card, but if you look at any player's jersey that season, the logo was there as a shoulder patch, too. On top of that, the original 6 teams (Canadiens, Bruins, Rangers, Black Hawks, Red Wings, and Maple Leafs) wore some pretty cool throwback jerseys on a few special nights during the season to honor the anniversary.

 

Here are the 1991-92 card backs.

 

 

 

The design is a bit neater and cleaner than the 1990-91 set, but I have to say that I kind of miss the illustrated headshots and facsimile signatures. Regardless, With so many Kraft cards on the checklist, you can bet kids across Canada in the early '90s were busy at work cutting them out, trading them, and putting them in binders.

In the sets that followed the 75th anniversary season, Kraft's hockey card totals would fluctuate. It doesn't seem like they ever reached the gaudy numbers from the first few years, but the important point is that Kraft and the NHL would partner up in some way from 1989-90 all the way through 2001-01, consecutively. That's a lot of hockey cards!

 

As for the Kraft company, they go back a long way.

 

In the early 1900s, James L. Kraft and his brother Charles had a cheese delivery business. As you can imagine, transporting cheese without refrigeration and modern preservation techniques was difficult. The product was prone to spoilage.

Out of necessity, the brothers began working on ways to help cheese become more shelf-stable. The result, after much melting, mixing, blending, and experimentation, was a "processed" cheese that was pasteurized and could travel long distances. (And just in time for World War I. A good deal of this cheese was sent overseas to our boys in the service.) Stemming in part from that success, The Kraft company would soon acquire some smaller companies and processes that eventually led to brand names we still know today, such as Velveeta, and Philadelphia cream cheese.

One more note of interest to tie this all together: 

 

During the Great Depression, Kraft rolled out a new product. It was a box that contained dried pasta along with a little packet of processed cheese powder. It was called "Kraft Dinner". There was enough product in each box to serve 4 people, and at a super-affordable price, a whopping 8 million boxes were sold in the first year. The product became even more popular when folks discovered that it helped feed US soldiers overseas during World War II. Pretty amazing result.

Since then, a lot has changed. The Kraft company has gone through numerous mergers and acquisitions, and it's currently known as Kraft Heinz—the 5th largest food company in the world. Yeesh.

 

But Kraft Dinners are still going strong, and the brand's hockey cards that I've got in my collection are a nice way to give a nod to such an iconic product. 

 

Do you think Kraft will ever issue trading cards on their boxes again? Do any of you have Kraft hockey cards, or Kraft baseball cards?

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!

Completed Set: 1982 Topps Football

 

 

My earliest memory of opening any kind of collectible pack is from 1983, when my dad brought home a copy of that year's Topps Baseball sticker album and some packs of stickers. Despite that, I do somehow have even earlier memories of the football card design you see above, which is from the previous year, 1982. I don't think I ever opened packs of those cards, but the classic banner and football helmet design is just etched into the deepest parts of my collecting mind. I may have only had a handful of those cards, and I'm not sure where they came from, but I know I had a few.

 

The football helmet design reminds me of something else from that time, too: The rows of coin-operated vending machines you'd often find near the exit of supermarkets or department stores. Because it seems like one of those machines always looked like this:

 

 

Mini football helmets! If you were a '70s or '80s kid, do you remember the excitement that came when you put the quarter in that slot, twisted the dial, heard those mechanical sounds that opened the chute, and then lifted the metal flap underneath to reveal which helmet you received?

 

 

 

That little plastic container with a random mini helmet inside was your reward for walking through the big store with mom or dad and helping them run their errands. And man, there was nothing like it. You even got to clip on the face mask and adhere the logos and stripes on the helmet yourself.

 

The finished product was a thing of beauty.

 

 

 

 

So re-enter 1982 Topps Football and that classic helmet art. You'd also see some classic uniforms. And classic dudes. Gritty, hard-nosed dudes. Just have a look at these three:

 

 

 

What a time to be a little kid watching football.

 

Ultimately, I'll put it this way: 1982 Topps is the first football set I've ever put in a binder. They're the first football cards of any kind—full sets, team sets, or singles—I've put in a binder. It's that nostalgic for me.

 

So let's jump into more.

 

For those of you who love orderliness and organization, you'll love this set. First off, it's arranged by team. Secondly, the teams are arranged in alphabetical order, by city. And on top of that, the players on each team are arranged in alphabetical order, by last name. Clean as a whistle.

 

However, despite all that solid orderliness throughout the set, 1982 Topps is also a set of polar opposites. To explain:

 

Just as with many football sets of the era, it features lots of headshots and photos of guys standing around on the sidelines. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot. Like, all 10 Baltimore Colts cards that start off the set. Here are just a few of them.

 

It's so pervasive that you won't see a base card that shows genuine game action until card #35, Fred Smerlas of the Buffalo Bills. 

 

 

 

Great photo. It just takes a long time to reach it. And the game-action photos after that follow a similar trend: few and far between.

 

However, before you get too down, here's the polar opposite part of it: The In Action subset. 

 

Behold these gems.

 

 

 

If you asked a kid in the 1980s to describe the game of football in one play, in one action, it might very well be a running back leaping over the pile at the goal line, like you see in the bottom center card. They might have even mentioned Walter Payton, specifically.

 

And those are just a few of many great-looking examples. The In Action subset is a whopping 66 cards deep, and if you were to put them consecutively in nine-pocket pages, you'd see definitively that Topps was capable of taking amazing photos back then. 

 

So maybe we give the company a little leeway when it comes to all the boring cards in the set.

 

But it's still disappointing that Topps seemed to reserve almost all the action photos for the In Action subset. Flip through the binder and you'll see page after page of static photos. So let's make the best of the situation, and try to find some variation and entertainment within all those boring "players on the sideline" cards.

 

 

 

Some of them were happy.

 

 

 

 

Some were bummed out

 

 

 

 

Some were just trying to cool off.

 

 

 

 

And some were stylin', profilin', or just chillin' out and enjoying the sunny afternoon.
(Looks like Reggie Rucker is about to put on the headphones and listen to some tunes.)

 

 

 You also have kickers and punters, of course. 

 

 

Those little one-bar face shields were so dorky.

 

But then there's also this guy:

 

 

 

Barefoot kicker Tony Franklin, in action! And look at the base card on the right to see what the guy actually looks like. You know he brings a lunch pail to the stadium every day that contains a couple of bologna sandwiches with mustard and a thermos of hot instant coffee. Maybe an individually wrapped Ding Dong or Ho Ho for dessert.

 

 

Next, here are a couple of horizontal subsets: League Leaders and Football Brothers.

 

 

Both subsets have a fairly simple yet effective designs. I like the big, bold "football brothers" banner, for sure.

On the subject of design, let's look at an example of a card back.

 

 

 

That brownish-yellow color could be a little lighter, which would have made the dark blue text easier to read. But all in all, it's not bad. I like how the football helmet design from the card front continues on the card back (top left). The "team record" section is a nice touch, even if Topps had to turn it sideways to fit.

And now, a fun fact: From 1970 through 1981, Topps did not have the license to use team logos on football cards. But as you can see, in 1982 that finally changed. Collectors must have been absolutely overjoyed to be past all those years of airbrushed helmets. Just look at these next three glorious old-school examples and tell me this set wouldn't have made you way more interested in collecting football cards if you were a kid back then. 

 

Collectors might have also been excited to get their hands on the very first cards issued of these three big studs and their all-pro status:

 

(Honorable mention to fellow rookies Cris Collinsworth and Freeman McNeil.)

 

And here are some of the other card types in the set.

Customary for Topps cards of the '80s, the set begins with a few record breakers like the one you see on the left. In the middle, you have an example of a team leaders card. I like how they gave space for two offensive and two defensive categories. (Rushing, receiving, interceptions, and QB sacks.) And on the right, a checklist. Those orange and brown colors feel like holdovers from the 1970s, but it was only 1982 here, so that makes some sense.

Finally, and interestingly, Topps did some promotional work for their other big football product of 1982—the sticker album and stickers. One sticker with a "coming soon" message on the back was inserted in each wax pack of 1982 football cards. Topps chose 16 foil stickers for the special promotion, including some big names like Dan Fouts, Joe Montana, and Lawrence Taylor. I've added those three to my collection, and placed them in a page at the end of the binder. Here's what they look like:

So that's 1982 Topps football. I'm very happy to have completed this set. I think I'll be taking the binder out and flipping through the pages more than I do some other sets I've got in binders.

How about you readers and collectors? What are your thoughts on '82 Topps football? Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!