There was the MLB player strike, which wiped out almost two months of the season—right in the middle of summer, no less. That might have left you feeling disgruntled and disenchanted about baseball.
On the other hand, two new trading card companies, Donruss and Fleer, entered the arena. If you were a baseball card fiend, this would have flipped your emotions to the opposite end of the spectrum.
On the other, other hand, it turned out that the debuts from Donruss and Fleer left a little bit to be desired. The card stock for Donruss in particular felt quite thin and cheap, and both companies seemed to have trouble generating consistent, high-quality photographs. So now if you were that baseball card fiend, you might have been frustrated again. Feels like quite the roller-coaster ride.
So yes, when 1982 rolled around, maybe you were ready to put 1981 behind you. The strike was over, baseball was back in full swing, and Donruss and Fleer were ready for their second efforts.
I wonder if Topps was worried about that. Did they feel like they needed to step up their game with the new competition getting a second crack at it?
Let's look at some cards from my newly completed set and find out.
As always, Topps made sure to include some classic poses. Nothing but good vibes here. Baseball is all about green grass, sunny skies, and happy players.
You'll also find a lot of headshots in the 1982 set. Some of them are quite pleasant, like Palmer, Lynn, and Garner. . .
. . .while others are of the "invading my 16 inches of personal space" variety. How close was the photographer actually standing to these players when he clicked the shutter? Bonus points to Mike Ivie for almost showing a smile there, despite the encroachment.
Good-mannered ballplayers like Mr. Ivie seemed abundant back then. Just check out these three guys, always happy to sign an autograph.
Sometimes pros would even just chat it up with the fans. You've got to love that level of accessibility.
Speaking of which, they were always ready for an interview with the local or national broadcast team. (How great are those microphones, by the way?)
And you know what? All that pro-player coolness rubbed off on us Little League kids.
We couldn't wait to put a donut on our bat and swing it around. When we were all warmed up, we'd hold the top of the bat and bang the knob on the ground to shake the donut off. Total boss move.
Then we'd take a knee in the on-deck circle and study the opposing pitcher. Also a total boss move.
And if we ever did get to the big leagues, we'd have to know how to sign our names. Interestingly, 1982 Topps showed us that we had some options. On the left, Tito Landrum signed with his actual full name, Terry Lee Landrum. In the middle, future Boston Celtics star Danny Ainge was a bit more formal, going with Daniel M. Ainge. And on the right, Shooty Babitt highlighted his nickname by signing as Mack "Shooty" Babitt. (It's notable that this was the last time Topps would add facsimile autographs to cards until their 1989 Bowman release.)
So, we had the weighted donuts. We had the pose in the on-deck circle. We knew how we were going to sign our names. If only we had some stylish satin jackets like these three guys, we'd be all set!
On the subject of style, let's talk about the card design a little bit. I think Topps did
pretty well here, and stayed a step ahead of Donruss and Fleer in the
originality and creativity departments. Those racing stripes bring some
good action down the left side of the card and across the bottom. And even though the colors don't often match the team colors, I'm totally fine with it. You have browns and oranges that hearken back to the '70s, plus some
neon-type magentas and cyans that would soon take hold in the '80s. (Just think about MTV, Miami Vice, windbreakers, and Swatch watches, and the
colors used in this set will start to make good sense.)
Something else that makes good sense is the "In Action" subset. It's where the racing stripes really put in the work. Just check out George Brett's version on the right side below, and follow his name down from the top left of the card.
George Brett (zoooooooom) in action!
I added the base card there because this is how you'd see both cards in a binder. In other words, Topps decided to number each player's In Action card right after his base card. There are a whopping 40 In Action cards in all, and they're sprinkled throughout the set. You'll find many big stars, such as Mike Schmidt, Reggie Jackson, Johnny Bench, Steve Carlton, and Rich Gossage.
And the subset isn't the only place you'll find action.
Some of the base cards captured it pretty well, too. I really like all three cards above, but my favorites are the next two when they're arranged side by side.
Do you remember this little dance between pitcher and runner?
It
happened all the time back then, especially with young, fleet-footed phenoms
like Rickey and Raines in the league. When runners like those guys reached first base, pitchers would
look over there again and again, and throw the ball over there again and again
too, until the crowd started booing. To heighten the suspense of the almost inevitable stolen base attempt, TV broadcasts would even put up a split screen, with the pitcher on the left side, and the runner on the right. We couldn't wait to see that runner finally make a break for second base. It was glorious.
You know what else was glorious back in 1982?
The uniforms.
The script "Giants" font in San Francisco. The wacky polo shirts with huge lapels in Chicago. Pittsburgh's mustard yellows and pillbox hats. The tequila sunrise stripes in Houston. The Rangers' powder blues, and that classic logo of the baseball wearing a cowboy hat. The Swinging Friar. All glorious. I didn't even include the Mariners' trident "M" logo, which is just as fantastic.
There are also some nice rookies in the 1982 set.
Righetti, Smith, and Stewart had excellent careers. Smith is a Hall of Famer.
But this guy takes the cake.
If I were to create a list of the most iconic rookie cards of the 1980s, I think Mr. Ripken's card would be in my top 5.
Now here's a card back.
Topps gets a pretty good score for legibility here, with the dark blue text on top of light green. Add some bonus points for the cartoon and the baseball facts that run across the top. They do push the card number down to a somewhat inconspicuous area, but I think it's fine.
Let's get to the subsets now.
Besides the In Action cards, you'd get the standard Batting & Pitching Leaders, which featured a team checklist on the back. (This was often a nice way to find your favorite stars on a card other than their base card.)
Topps also gave us the League Leader cards, which featured the National League and American League leader in various categories.
And finally, you had a few Highlight cards to start off the first page of the binder, the standard checklist cards, and the All-Star subset. I like how all the subset cards tie in some variation of the racing stripe theme.
Oh, and there's one other notable thing.
Inside every 1982 Topps wax pack you'd find one sticker for that year's sticker album! The company selected one or two players from each team—48 players in all—and printed a special "albums coming soon" message on the back. This was excellent cross-marketing. (They did a similar thing with their football set that year, as well.)
And that's 1982 Topps baseball. I think the company put forth a pretty solid effort with this set. Good colors, good content, and very reliable. Just what baseball fans and card collectors needed at the time. I'm happy to have completed it!
How about you readers and fellow collectors? What are your thoughts on this set?
Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!
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