Completed set & “master set” – one last look at 1981 Topps

The 1981 Topps and Traded set is my fourth set completed!  I’ve also completed my “personal master set” for this year as well – which I’m defining as the base set, the traded set, and any regular inserts.  Here’s the “look back” I do for each completed set.

Info about my set:

How I put the set together:

405 cards from the wax box

193 cards from a vending box

10 cards from a rack pack

111 cards from the trades

1 card from the Diamond Giveaway (Phil Niekro)

6 cards purchased from Sportlots

Card that completed my set: #218 – Paul Splittorff (the last of 6 cards I purchased from Sportlots)

Set composition: 726 cards (648 individual player cards*, 26 Manager/TC, 26 Future Stars tri-player, 6 Checklists, 4 Post-season Highlights, 8 Record Breakers, 8 League Leaders)

Representation of ’80 MLB season: There are 726 different players represented in the set – 648 individual player cards, and 78 players from the Future stars subset.  Out of those 726 players, 709 played in MLB in 1980.  Out of the 17 who didn’t play in the majors in 1980, 3 players were injured (Andre Thornton, Tom Poquette and Doug Rau), 3 players had played in the majors in 1979 but spent the rest of their careers in the minors (Eric Wilkins, Phil Huffman and Mike Colbern) , Gene Nelson was a pitcher who didn’t make the majors until 1981, and 10 were players from the future stars subset that didn’t reach the big leagues in 1980 (Brian Milner, Chris Bando, Dave Engle, Dave Steffern, Ed Miller, Greg Biercevicz, Jim Wright, Pat Dempsey, Tim Ireland, Tom Brennan).  The 709 players represent 77.3% out of the ~917 players who played in MLB in 1980.

Last active player from this set: #261 – Rickey Henderson

Rickey played his last major league game on 9/19/03 for the LA Dodgers.  He came in as a pinch hitter against the Giants in the 7th inning, was hit by a pitch, and came around to score the 2,295th run of his career (still the MLB standard) on a single by Shawn Green.  Henderson kept trying to catch on – he played 2 more seasons of professional baseball in the minors with the Newark Bears in 2004 and with the Independent San Diego Surf Dawgs in 2005.

Player with the most cards in the set: Mike Schmidt*** and Steve Carlton – 4 cards

The NL teammates won the MVP and Cy Young.  Both were featured on 2 league leader cards, a “record breaker” card, and, not coincidentally, both guys have the “All-Star” designation on their base card.  Schmidt led in HR & RBI while setting the single season HR mark for third basemen, while Carlton led in Wins and ERA while breaking Mikey Lolich’s strikeout record for lefties.

Schmidt – #2-3 (League Leader) #206 (Record Breaker), #540

Carlton – #5-6 (LL), #202 (RB), #630

***It was just pointed out to me after the fact that Schmidt is also featured on the NL Champions card #402.  I actually looked at that card and didn’t realize it was him – but it is, he’s there in the very back right.  It’s a team card that isn’t really listed as any one player, so it’s certainly a debatable point.  I’ll leave it to you to decide if this breaks the tie!

First Card and the Hundreds: #1 – Brett/Buckner LL, #100 – Rod Carew, #200 – George Foster, #300 – Paul Molitor, #400 – Reggie Jackson, #500 – Jim Rice, #600 – Johnny Bench, #700 – George Brett

Highest book value: #261 – Rickey Henderson (see above)

Most notable card: #302 – Perconte/Scioscia/Valenzuela RC

There aren’t any cards from this set (or Topps Traded, either), that made the Topps 60.  I think the Valenzuela is the winner here, but his Topps Traded card is probably more notable.  I think you’ve got to take his card over the RC for Raines or Gibson, just because of “Fernando-mania”.  Plus, Mike Scioscia will probably be in the HOF as a manager someday.

Best card (my opinion): #404 – Tug McGraw HL

I’m not a Phillies fan, and some of picking this card boils down to the fact that this isn’t the greatest set in general.  But I can certainly appreciate this moment.  For all the talk of the Red Sox and their 86 years, at the beginning of the 1980 season, the Philadelphia Phillies had NEVER won a World Championship of any type in the franchise’s 97-year history.  Only the Cubs, Braves, Cardinals, Reds and Pirates are older franchises than the Phillies – so showing the pitcher after his strikeout of Willie Wilson ended the game is really capturing a big moment in baseball history.

Second best card (also my opinion): #110 – Carl Yastrzemski

There isn’t a lot of really good photography in this set.  This is a good one, though – Yaz nearing the twilight of his career.

Best subset card: #404 – Tug McGraw HL (see above)

Favorite action photo: #695 – Kent Tekulve

The submariner following through, decked out in Pirate Gold.  Plus, they capture the Mets runner in the background checking in on the pitch from 2nd base.  There’s also a really picture of Tekulve’s teammate, Willie Stargell, following through on what might be a home run.  Ozzie Smith has a good shot as well.

Favorite non-action photo: #636 – Al Hrabosky

Not counting Yaz here; I wanted to go with another photo.  I don’t think I need to explain this one.  Andre Dawson has a pretty good stare down on his card, as well.

My Favorite Reds card: #201 – Johnny Bench RB

There really aren’t many good Reds cards.  It wasn’t the greatest group, and there aren’t any good photos.  So I went with the one commemorating Bench for passing Yogi Berra for the most homers as a catcher.

Topps Reprints:

• 1999 Ryan reprints – Nolan Ryan
• 2001 Through the Years – Mike Schmidt
• 2001 Archives – Kirk Gibson, Sal Bando, Mark Fidrych
• 2001 Topps Traded – Carlton Fisk (’81T), Tim Raines (’81T), Dave Winfield (’81T), Joe Morgan (’81T)
• 2002 Archives – Rollie Fingers
• 2005 Rookie Reprints – Lonnie Smith
• 2010 CYMTO – Eddie Murray, Rickey Henderson, Ozzie Smith
• 2011 60YoT – Andre Dawson, Jim Palmer
• 2012 Archives Reprints – Willie Stargell, Tom Seaver

no duplicates yet

Other Notable Cards: #315 – Kirk Gibson RC, #347 – Harold Baines RC, #479 - Tim Raines RC

To call these notable is stretching it a bit…

My “Master” Set Info:

858 cards – 726 “base”, 132 “update”

• Update set: Traded

How I put the other sets together: I purchased the Traded set at the 2010 National convention in Baltimore

Update set composition: 132 cards (131 players, 1 checklist)

In the update set not in the base set: 3 players – Danny Ainge, Gene Nelson and Gary Gray

Total in base and update sets: 729 players, 26 managers

Highest book value in the update set: #850 – Fernando Valenzuela

Most notable card from the Update set: #850 - Fernando Valenzuela

This was easy. Tim Raines had the better career, but Fernando-Mania made this card extremely popular when he was hurling shutouts en route to the Rookie of the Year award.

1981 & 1982 Topps odd-ball sets

Continuing with what I went over yesterday – here’s some of the odd-ball sets Topps issued from 1981 and 1982 that I hadn’t covered before.  I only have one to add from each of these year.

Other releases associated with the Topps flagship – 1981

#1 – Topps issued a 11 team sets in 1981 as a promotion with Coca-Cola.  Each of the 12-card sets features 11 players from the team and an advertising card.  The sets have the exact same design and photo as the base Topps cards, except there is a Coca-Cola logo in the upper right-hand corner.  The teams featured are the Reds, Tigers, Red Sox, Cubs, White Sox, Astros, Mets, Royals, Phillies, Pirates and Cardinals.

I remember having the Reds set of these cards, and particularly remember the Johnny Bench.

Other releases associated with the Topps flagship – 1982

#1 – Topps again issued a couple of team sets as a promotion with Coca-Cola, though it was only 2 teams this year – the Reds and Red Sox.  The cards carry an extra Coca-Cola logo on them, but are otherwise the same as the base set.  The Red Sox set was issued in Brigham’s ice cream stores and also carry their logo.  Each set contains 22 players and 1 header.  Cards of the Yankees were going to be issued – there are a few known in existence according to the SCD Standard Catalog (Gossage, Reggie, Cerone).

’90 Reds Catchup Post – 1980-1981 Topps

As mentioned in the last post, I’ll be scanning in players from the 90 Reds postseason roster. Here’s the lone 1980 card – though it’s not even really a 90 Reds. Sweet Lou still playing in pinstripes!

1980 – Lou Piniella

Ron Oester’s RC was in 1979 – he was shown on the Reds’ 3-player prospect card. However, he didn’t have a card in 1980. Rick Mahler, along with Oester, was the elder statesman on the Reds’ 1990 championship team. He saw (limited) MLB time in 1979, though he didn’t have RC until 1982.

1981 – Lou Piniella, Ron Oester

Pack Promotions

I haven’t really mentioned much in previous posts about what pack promotions Topps had in previous years. I’m updating those previous posts with that info, but here’s a quick summary:

1980 Topps

• You could send in for information on personalized trading cards, “just like cards in this pack”, except supposedly “with your personal data on the back”
• For 1 Topps baseball wrapper and 50 ¢, you could send in for an uncut sheet of all the Team Checklist cards.
• Topps also issued some “test” wrappers with the “Hit to Win” promotion that was available in every wax pack in 1981 - I would presume this was issued later in the release run
• You could send in 1 Topps wrapper (any sport), plus $5.25 plus 75 ¢ S&H to receive a Topps Sports Card Locker that held 1300+ cards

1981 Topps

• Every pack contained a scratch off game called Topps “Hit to Win”, where various hits would win you prizes ranging from a Wilson Jim Rice model glove to various supersize glossy photos of “top players”
• You could again, (though for 75 ¢ now) Send in 1 Topps baseball wrapper for an uncut sheet of all the Team Checklist cards
• For $1 and a baseball wrapper, you could receive a collecting box with 5 “easy-to carry files”
• For $8 bucks and a wrapper, you could get a “classic stripes cap” of an MLB team of your choice

1982 Topps

• The back of packs advertised buying an album for the insert stickers where Topps cards were sold.
• For $2 + 60¢ S&H, you could send in for 10 “Official Topps Sports Card Collectors Sheets”; these are 9-card sheets to store your cards, similar to what Ultra-Pro has today
• Again, for $5.75 plus 75¢ S&H and 1 Topps (any sport) wrapper, you could send for the 1982 version of the Sports Card Locker
• You could send in for the collecting box for the same cost as the year before

1981 Topps Traded

As mentioned, I’m going to collect the Traded sets each year. In 1981 was Topps added a new twist to an old idea. Topps had created updated “Traded” cards in 1974 and 1976. In those years, Topps Traded represented players who were traded or signed with new teams in the offseason. The sets totaled 44 cards – 43 players and 1 checklist; the players’ cards had the same numbering as their base set, however they had a “T” designation at the end of the card # and were noted as “Traded” on the front. These cards were inserted in packs at the end of the production run.

In 1981 Topps issued a 132 card set numbered as an extension of the set – #726-858 and organized in alphabetical order. As before, the set includes players who switched teams, however it also includes players who made their rookie debuts early in the year. The set was issued in a factory box, and has the same design as the base set (see to the left for examples – my obligatory big red machine guys).

Danny Ainge has an XRC, so there is one future NBA General Manager in this set. Fernando Valenzuela and Tim Raines, who had “future stars” rookie cards in the base set, also have cards in this set. There are 7 Hall of Famers in this set.

• Cartlon Fisk is featured in his first card with the White Sox,
• Rollie Fingers as a soon-to-be MVP and AL saves leader with the Brewers,
• Joe Morgan is shown with the Giants (above),
• Gaylord Perry began a 1-year stint with the Braves, teaming with another future 300-game winner Phil Niekro,
• After leading the NL in saves with the Cubs in ’80, Bruce Sutter switched over to bitter rival Cardinals to …. lead the NL Saves yet again
• Don Sutton traded in Dodgers blue to also pitch with another 300-game winner (Nolan Ryan) for the Astros
• Dave Winfield began his stint with the Yankees – that equals 2 former NBA draft picks in this set

 

 

Sutter is the only player depicted in the team whose cap he bears on his Hall of Fame plaque.

Bert Blyleven will likely make it next year, and Raines qualifies as my “should be in” list. Since Morgan was in a previous scan, I decided to add one more on here. Leon Durham in his first card with the Cubs. I don’t know why, but “Bull” was a favorite of mine when I was pretty young. Was never the greatest player, but I think the Cubs were my 2nd favorite team then because I could watch Harry Caray on WGN. Maybe I knew he was from Cincinnati originally? Maybe it’s because his nickname matched the movie? Either way, this is a solid card.

I picked up the set at the National. Going through it, I was surprised to see that it was not organized in order – the set order was completely randomized. This seems unusual for a factory set. I also got a pretty poorly centered Valenzuela. That’s fine for this set, but I may be careful when I buy more expensive sets. It’s probably worth another 10 bucks to know my ’82 Ripken is centered OK.

More ’81 Topps Scans

Here are some of the more prominent cards and rookie cards, including the ’81 League MVPs:

As mentioned in an earlier post – here’s the main card I’m missing:

The next few scans are some of the other cards I liked the best, be it because of the picture, the player or historical significance. One thing I noticed in the ’81 set – I think it has significantly better than photography than the previous year’s set. The Dawson picture below is just, at least to me, a really good picture. I thought his ’80 Topps photo was one of the better ones, but like most of that set, it was a standard posed shot. The other cards are all great action shots. Now maybe they aren’t nearly as good as the pictures got in the 90′s and beyond, but seeing both Sutter as he releases the ball, and Tekulve with his unique follow-through is pretty cool. The Pacella card below was the first card I saw when opening the first pack of the wax box – he threw so hard his cap fell off!

Yet again – here’s 3 guys I think should be in the HOF. Definitely Murphy and Trammell. I could buy no Whitaker, but it’s a tough sell. And he should at least have been able to garner the 5% to stay on the ballot! Oester is one of my favorite players from when I was younger – a staple at second base for the Reds in the 80′s. The other cards are neat subsets – the McGraw pic is an iconic image from the Phillies championship, the Bench HR record was a really big deal, the Ozzie assist record is something I didn’t know about, and the Average leaders commemorates Brett’s .390 season.

The next scan is the all facial-hair team from this set, and the following are some other funny pictures from the set.

Buck Showalter would not have approved of these guys. I guess people did wear their hats backward before Griffey Jr.

I didn’t realize this guy was a player in the 80′s – I thought the term came from a much earlier time period.

"The Mendoza Line"

According to Wikipedia (which means it must be correct, right?), the Mendoza Line is an informal term used in baseball for the threshold of incompetent hitting. Even though Mario Mendoza’s lifetime batting average is .215, the Mendoza Line is said to occur at .200, and when a position player’s batting average falls below that level, the player is said to be below the Mendoza Line. It is often thought of as the offensive threshold below which a player’s presence in MLB cannot be justified despite his defensive abilities.

The “Mendoza Line” was created as a harmless clubhouse joke amongst friends. “My teammates Tom Paciorek and Bruce Bochte used it to make fun of me,” Mendoza said in 2010. “Then they were giving George Brett a hard time because he had a slow start that year, so they told him, ‘Hey, man, you’re going to sink down below the Mendoza Line if you’re not careful.’ And then Brett mentioned it to Chris Berman from ESPN, and eventually it spread and became a part of the game.”

They also had a reference to this in an early “How I Met Your Mother” episode – the baseball and Star Wars references in that show make it pretty much “Legen” … wait for it … “dary”!!!

1981 Topps vending box break

I opened a 1981 vending box, which I bought along with another ’82 vending box in an eBay auction. The “500 card box” had 513 cards. Numbers below don’t include the ’81 wax box, this gives a feel for how close the vending box got to completing a set:

24 doubles (no triples / quads)

489 of the 726 card set. (67.4% set completion)

I was again pretty shocked at how good the collation was for a vending box. Between the wax and vending boxes, I think the only key card I didn’t get for this set was the Tim Raines rookie card.

Again, though, the crossover between the wax and vending boxes wasn’t bad, in fact it was terrible this time. I’m 128 cards short out of 726 after opening both boxes. Some of this definitely relates to the wax box having two gum stains per box – I think I’d be under 100 if it wasn’t for that. But that’s still some pretty bad luck with almost 400 doubles.

1981 Topps cards of the Big Red Machine

Three players and the manager already gone (and Perez is on his 2nd team since)

1981 Topps – family ties

Brothers – I didn’t pull card #623 Sal Bando, so I didn’t scan that or his brother’s RC (Chris), but that’s one more pair.

Name their MLB father and/or son:

Future managers – 81 topps

Only the first 3 are current managers…

Trivia question – how many of these guys managed the Reds?