I look at all of my Kellogg's cards frequently but not many other cards from my collection. I decided that I will look at all 11 of those sets since I haven't looked at them in a long time. I am starting with 1981 which is one of my favorite sets. Without looking I knew what my favorite card was in this set, but I took one quick look at pulled out a few other favorites.
I loved the all-star ribbon on these cards. Since packs from this year are still cheap, I bought one a few years ago and it was great to get an all-star card. I like the Reggie Smith even more since he has the glove in his pocket.
Yaz. I don't even mind that the photographers weren't able to get a great view of everyone's face. We already knew what he looked like from other years. Who is that in the background, Carlton Fisk? The number makes sense and the high socks certainly help.
Why Wayne Nordhagen? I liked these uniforms that they wore for a handful of years.
Paul Molitor's card shows me something that I didn't see on old cards very often. He is definitely reflecting on something that just happened. That just makes me feel like this was a big moment during a game.
It was always good to get a Mike Schmidt card. I like the action shot with the crowd in view instead of seeing left field.
Why did the Cubs team photo always look like this? I could do some research, but I really don't need to know. I grew up with it like that so I love the special attention. The Cubs were quite special during the years I was making sets.
I remember Carter bunting in a game at Wrigley Field. Two Cub errors later on the play and he had circled the bases.
Lastly, my favorite 1981 Topps card - Bruce Sutter. Why? I don't have any exact reason but this card has always been a favorite. Odd for that to be my favorite card since Sutter was traded by the Cubs before this card even came out of a pack.
I didn't go through all of the card backs because that takes along longer. Here are a few that I liked. Something I saw online suggested that Trammell is still married to that high school sweetheart.
It's great that he sang O-Canada before a game with the BlueJays. Especially since he is from Georgia. Waits didn't pitch. The Indians won by getting a run in the ninth off of Dave Stieb. The Indians starter, Rick Wise, also pitched the entire game.
I did a quick search to find out if Waits was a singer. What I learned was that he pitched the last game of the 1978 season and by defeating the Yankees it allowed the Red Sox to tie for first. That led to the Bucky Dent homer in the playoff game.
It would be great if I had planned to talk about the Waits-Dent tie-in but it happened by chance. How could I pass up the cartoon on Dent's card? Not many players would turn that job down. Dent hit .372 vs. Waits in 53 plate appearances. Not bad for a guy with a .247 career average.
Maybe it is more cool now to collect cards, but we all knew Carter collected back then.
The leader cards from this era were awesome. My friends and I poured over these and discussed everything about the guys who made this list. There were certainly some surprises on this list. Four Cardinals and no more than one other NL team represented on this list. Three Rangers too.
Thanks to George Brett, the Royals edged the Rangers (.286 to .284) for the highest team average. The Cardinals were the NL's highest with a .275 average.
Those averages led the Royals to the World Series where they lost to the Phillies. The Rangers (76 wins) and the Cardinals (74) were far behind the division winners.
The Schmidt is a classic card. I also really like Willie Stargell's card too.
ReplyDeleteThat is indeed Carlton Fisk in the background of Yaz's card!
ReplyDelete