1989 Topps Football: A Redesign

A couple of months ago I completed the 1989 Topps football set, and noted how the "tube sock" stripe design on the card borders is both fun and fitting for the era. See?

Since then I've looked a little more closely at that design element, and a couple of questions have come to mind.

(1) How did Topps decide on those color combinations for the stripes?

(2) Why didn't they just match the stripes to each team's official colors instead?

Well, the first thing I thought I'd do is count up all the different color combinations that Topps used. It turns out there were 11 different stripe patterns used throughout the set. Eleven.

Here they are.

(1) purple / orange / purple
(2) black / red / black
(3) red / yellow / green / yellow / red
(4) magenta / cyan / magenta
(5) orange / red / orange
(6) light blue / orange / light blue
(7) green / yellow / red / yellow / green
(8) red / yellow / light blue / yellow / red
(9) green / red / green
(10) red / light blue / purple / light blue / red
(11) light blue / yellow / red / yellow / light blue


You'll note that many of those combinations are quite different than any football team's colors. And that part of it I do understand. I mean, if you're going to assign color combinations randomly to cards in the set, it's better that the colors don't look like they're from a particular team. Think about how confusing and upsetting it would have been for a Packers fan if one of their player's cards ended up with Bears colors, or for a Jets fan if one of their player's cards ended up with Giants colors. 

That answers the first question. Now for the second question: matching the stripes to each team's official colors.

After giving it a little more thought, I think I understand why Topps didn't go that route. There were 28 teams in the NFL at that time, which would have meant 28 different designs to come up with.

Now that doesn't exactly seem like a daunting task. It's only three stripes per card. But I suppose coming up with 11 random stripe designs is still easier and quicker than 28. Maybe it was more efficient when it came to ink distribution, too. (And perhaps cheaper? I don't know.)

In any case, even if that does answer the second question, I couldn't just leave it there. I wanted to see what the cards would have looked like if the stripes did indeed match each team's colors.

For one example, have a look at David Little here.

Not a bad-looking card of the big, hulking linebacker by any means. But look at him after the redesign.

The black and gold stripes make him look even more menacing, don't you think?


And here's veteran receiver Steve Largent in those classy Seahawks uniforms.

After the redesign?

Classier still.

And those two samples turned out well enough for me to want to run the full gamut. So here's one card for each of the 28 NFL teams, in alphabetical order by city. I tried to choose images that had a true, classic "football card" look to them. Hopefully I did your favorite team justice.

 

 

I think my favorites at the moment include Denver, Green Bay, Minnesota, and Philadelphia.

BONUS

Similar to the Fleer baseball sets of the era, the cards in the 1989 Topps football set are arranged by team. To get the full effect of the stripes, I thought I'd mock up a couple of nine-pocket pages.

First, here's a page of Pittsburgh Steelers with their original (and random) stripes.

And now here they are featuring the matching team colors.

 

Same thing for the Broncos. Here's the original page.

And the redesign.

What are your thoughts? Would this set have been more appealing back in 1989 if Topps had color-matched the stripes to each team? Or were the random stripes kind of fun and fitting for the decade? Maybe both can be true.

Let me know in the comment section. And thanks for reading, as always.

Completed Set: 1989 Topps Football

I didn't collect football cards when I was a kid. Dad might have bought me a pack or two when I was very young, but that was about it. I was too interested in baseball—and later hockey—to fit another sport in there, collecting-wise.

Back in 2019, however, I thought it might be fun to put together a football set from the decade of my childhood: The 1980s. I wanted a set that was affordable and not enormous in size (the 1980, 1981, and 1982 sets top out at 528 cards). I also wanted a set that displayed a good combination of '80s star power, design, and photography.

Seemed like it'd be a tough ask, but after searching through each year's offering, I found a set I was happy with. And as you can see from Mike Singletary's card up there, it's 1989 Topps.

The set checks all the boxes. 

• Affordable (even in wax pack form 30 years later)

• Lots of stars, but not super-pricey rookies

• Manageable size of 396 cards

• And perhaps best of all, a very appropriate design for the time

Have a look at Mike Singletary's card up at the top again. If you're an '80s kid like me, what will the stripes on the left and right card borders remind you of?

Tube socks! I did have quite a few pairs of tube socks when I was a little tyke. Maybe that's another reason why I gravitated toward this set. (The socks pictured above are not mine, but they sure do look familiar.)

In any case, let's get to the rundown. Here are some of my favorite cards from the set.  

It's always fun to see players on telephones. (Look, phones still had cords!) Ronnie Lott's card tells us he's a Topps All Pro, the first of two special designations that we'll see on cards in this set.

Who else enjoys a good parka card? There were a few of those in the '89 set as well.

And here we have Lonzell, Simon, and Bennie reminding us of the importance of pre-game stretching.

Quick break to talk more about the card design: Aside from the tube sock stripes, there's really not much else to it. There's no team logo or banner or anything. You just have a player name in a cloud-like bubble across the bottom, then a smaller-sized team name and position underneath. Other designs from the decade are miles ahead of this one, but there's still value here, as you'll see with the next bunch of cards.

Many of the star players received good action shots. Example number one? Action quarterbacks. At left, Joe Montana warms up on the sidelines. On the right, Jim Kelly tries to get his team off the goal line. As for Warren Moon, I wonder just how deep he went with that throw.

Example number two? Running backs and receivers. There's Bo about to protect the ball and power through some defenders. Mark Jackson is about to snag a pass. (Good technique, Mark.) And Kevin Mack just did snag one—in full stride, too!

Even some of the kickers and punters received nice action shots. Rich Karlis (barefoot!) tries for the field goal, while teammate Mike Horan and L.A. Ram Dale Hatcher prepare to boot one into the stratosphere.

Aside from the action shots, there are some other memorable and/or quirky cards in this set. Here are three of them. Brian Bosworth is looking tough, Chris Chandler is keeping warm, and one of the big rookies in this set, Thurman Thomas, shows us the other special card designation (Super Rookie) as he stretches out before the game.

It is important to note, however, that this is an '80s set, which means there are plenty of cards that feature guys just standing around. The most striking example? Here are four consecutive Buffalo Bills. (Cards 50 through 53.) Oof.

Strangely, Robb Riddick got the blue text treatment for his name instead of the red there. Seems like red would have been more readable against the blue jersey.

The whole thing just bums these next three guys right out.

 

 
Now let's look at the card backs.

Pretty good readability with the dark green text atop a yellow background. There were two slightly different designs, which was common for Topps football cards of the decade. On the left, you have the more standard card back that features a blurb along with career stats, season by season. On the right, you have the other design—just a pure blurb with no stat line. Interestingly, it seems like Topps often used the full blurb for players who'd been in the league for years, like Anthony Munoz there.

 

Returning to the fronts now, with an example of a league leaders card that shows two absolute stud running backs of the decade. Next to those guys, a card commemorating the previous year's Super Bowl champions.

Each team also received a horizontal card that features good action. On the back you'd see a few team leaders at the top (rushing, receiving, etc.) and then the team's full schedule and results from the previous season, week by week.

And finally, one of the checklists.

Overall, I do like this set. Many of the stars appear in well-framed action shots, both on their team card and their individual card. The design fits the era, and it's affordable. An excellent entry-level type of set, you might say. 

I'm happy to have finished it up, because I think there might be bigger football fish to fry next. Probably another set from the 1980s.

What are your thoughts on 1989 Topps Football? 

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading along!