Tuesday, December 9, 2008

24-Year Old Stains

About a week ago I posted the first of five packs of 1984 Topps that I got from a card show last month over on A Pack A Day. I wasn't entirely sure that I wanted to post the rest of the packs, considering how awful that first pack was, but the people spoke and here are the rest of the packs. Okay, fine, just one guy requested it, but that's enough for me. I'm sure there's nowhere to go but up from here.

Pack 2:
73 - Jody Davis (A fixture on WGN broadcasts of the '80s.)
14 - Tom Brookens

306 - Dodgers Batting & Pitching Leaders Pedro Guerrero / Bob Welch (These cards double as team checklists. Bonus.)
758 - Bill Stein

398 - Lou Whitaker (Marital Status is the first "stat" on the backs of these All-Star cards. Seriously.)
554 - Ted Power
581 - Jose DeLeon (He played for the Portland Beavers when I was 6 years old, but I know I attended a few games back then. Maybe I saw him pitch. He later became a strikeout leader for the Cardinals. This is his rookie card, so that's kinda exciting. The photo is really, really odd. I am going to set this card aside as I am thinking it deserves its own post one of these days.)
629 - Rick Langford (Complete with wax stain on the back)
- All-Star Baseball Game Sweepstakes card - 1 run
47 - Rudy Law
725 - Cesar Cedeno (Long time Astro who I had thought had finished up his career as a Cardinal. Baseball-Reference.com says otherwise. But he signed with the Cardinals after he had played his last major league game with the Dodgers? I'm confused.)
682 - Dan Morogiello
747 - Pat Zachry
164 - Scott Sanderson
305 - Roy Smalley (I love '80s Yankees cards.)
533 - Ken Landreaux (Complete with gum stain)

Pack 3:
551 - Scott Ullger
748 - Jeff Leonard (Before he became "One Flap Down" Jeffrey Leonard. He looks badass on the card, but I ain't scared of him.)
62 - Dave Hostetler (Didn't he play backup QB for the Giants?)
697 - Dale Murray
430 - Rusty Staub (Anyone who had stats on the back for the Colt .45's fascinated me as a kid.)
774 - Tom Gorman
319 - Al Bumbry
189 - Tim Conroy (wax stained)
- All-Star Baseball Game Sweepstakes card - 5 runs
729 - Gene Tenace (Is his last name pronounced "tennis" or "ten-ah-chee"? For some reason I don't know.)
315 - Bob Grich

702 - NL Active Career Hits Leaders Rusty Staub / Pete Rose / Tony Perez (Rose's hit total makes the other guys look silly. I'm more of a "Pete Rose should be in the Hall" type of guy, but maybe that's because the year I started collecting, 1986, was the year of Rose Hero Worship by Topps.)
503 - Elias Sosa

81 - Billy Martin (One of my lasting memories of watching baseball on TV in the '80s was some sort of parody song based on "Charlie Brown" that was done about Billy Martin and his "Billy Ball." It was either shown on This Week in Baseball or the NBC Game of the Week or both. Can't seem find it on YouTube, unfortunately.)
431 - Chris Bando

713 - AL Active Career RBI Leaders Ted Simmons / Reggies Jackson / Graig Nettles (Reggie Jackson was my favorite player until a guy named Osborne Earl Smith came along and stole my baseball-loving heart. And my little league glove was a Graig Nettles glove. This card has a little bit of a gum stain, but not enough for me to toss it in the damaged beyond hope pile.)

Pack 4:
667 - Vance Law
687 - Roy Howell
761 - John Montefusco

186 - Cardinals Batting & Pitching Leaders Lonnie Smith / John Stuper (I really should take advantage of the team checklist on the back here to find out what cards of Cards I'm lacking. Topps is trying to give me a freebie here.)
646 - Checklist
303 - Marty Castillo
734 - Odell Jones

637 - Phillies Batting & Pitching Leaders Gary Matthews / John Denny (Wax stained)
- All-Star Baseball Game Sweepstakes card - 1 run
522 - Dave Bergman
161 - Junior Ortiz
342 - Tim Foli
723 - Rich Dauer

92 - Lloyd Moseby (One of the talented Jays players that my best friend was always hyping, even though he was into the Cardinals first.)
746 - Mickey Hatcher
414 - Mitchell Page (Gum stained)

Pack 5:

156 - Athletics Batting & Pitching Leaders Rickey Henderson / Tim Conroy (There's a wax buildup on the front of the card and the entire pack is facing the same direction, instead of half of the pack being upside-down with the back of some unlucky card getting the dreaded stain. I know this is common with '70s cards, but I'm not sure about the '80s.)
675 - Pascual Perez

388 - Mike Schmidt All-Star (Marital status: Married, wife Donna, one daughter, one son. As of 1984, of course...)
687 - Roy Howell
58 - Max Venable (He always sounded like he had the mild-mannered real life name of someone who transforms into a superhero when duty calls.)
222 - Rick Honeycutt
753 - Doug Gowsdz ("**DATELINE** AUG 21, 1983: HIS FIRST MAJOR LEAGUE HOMER WAS A 3-RUN WALLOP FOR GAME-WINNING RBI IN 5-2 CONQUEST." His last name is comprised of letters leftover on someone's Scrabble tray.)
284 - Howard Bailey
- All-Star Baseball Game Sweepstakes card - 1 run

759 - Richard Dotson (Great looking card. Dotson was coming off of a 22-7 season.)
544 - Cesar Geronimo
184 - Mike O'Berry
598 - Rusty Kuntz (You giggled a little bit. I know you did.)
534 - Pete O'Brien
142 - Rich Gale
201 - Bruce Kison (Gum stained)

3 comments :

  1. It's pronounced Gene "Tennis." Best known for having a big '72 World Series with Oakland.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have never opened a pack of these. I bought the complete set at the start of the season. Kind of sad.

    Doug Gwosdz's nickname was Eyechart because of his last name.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Leaders cards look great, especially where the players are staring in opposite directions.

    ReplyDelete

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