1981 Fleer

I just got this when someone traded me anything.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
405 Ron Hassey

182 Rich Dauer
347 Rich Wortham
575 Tony Armas

384 Eddie Solomon

186 John Lowenstein
351 Rickey Henderson "Most Stolen Bases AL"

579 Brian Kingman
87 Graig Nettles
553 Ken Landreaux

359 Greg Pryor
523 Reggie Cleveland
92 Eric Soderholm
558 Butch Wynegar
30 Paul Splittorff
311 Mike Vail
97 Tom Underwood

I really hoped to come away with more than one Hall of Famer, but the Rickey is a nice card I didn't own before this, so I'm calling it a victory.

1981 Topps baseball

I found a random, loose pack of 1981 Topps [$1.00] - didn't know it what year it was and had to look closer at the wrapper for any sort of year. Ironically I was going to pick up a Harold Baines rookie card and also a Tim Raines [multiplayer] rookie card for $0.50 each, but it went to this pack instead.

It is still 'junk wax,' but a little older than 1987 Topps or 1988 Donruss, so it has that going for it - if absolutely nothing else. Maybe I'd pull a 'star card,' worth $1.00 or so. The 1981 Topps set was sandwiched between Topps sets with a couple of 'true' key rookie cards [Rickey Henderson in 1980 and Cal Ripken Jr. in 1982].

I picked up the pack 'as is,' meaning it may or may not have been resealed - the cards were facing the other direction with the 29 year old stick of gum infront of the pack.

Going from the first card at the bottom facing me - I have to flip the card over to see what number it is.

#502 Chris Bourjos, Al Hargersheimer and Mike Rowland [Giants Future Stars] - Bourjos' son Peter plays for the Angels' farm system, while Bourjos is currently a scout.

#646 Marvis Foley
#525 Mike Torrez
#356 George Stablein, Craig Stimac and Tom Tellmann [Padres Future Stars]
#346 Larry Christenson
#564 Ron Hassey
#399 Mike Boddicker, Mark Corey and Floyd Rayford [Orioles Future Stars]

#144 Allen Ripley

Hit to Win game card - I'm sort of fascinated by promotional cards and non-player filler cards, especially if they are a little more 'animated.'
#270 Greg Luzinski
#378 Dave Rader
#481 Bob Lacey
#246 Ed Ott

#195 Rich Murray - brother of Eddie

#700 George Brett - I'm overtly paranoid with busting any packs and wonder if this card was planted in this pack. The card is off-center, though it is an all-star/Hall of Fame player.

#490 Eddie Murray - along with Brett, another all-star type who actually got to the Hall of Fame. It is a coincidence I find his card in the same pack with his brother's.

29 year old stick of gum - I'm almost tempted to chew the nice, pink, intact stick.

1981 Topps Movie Giant Pin-Up Revisited

My apologies for posting back-to-back, but when I got these in the mail today, I just couldn't wait!

Not long ago, Thorzul posted a great and unique find (here) on here: 1981 Topps Movie Giant Pin-Ups.

You can read about it by using the link in parenthesis above. After reading his post, I went on my own search and scarfed up four of these packs to see what I might get. I was glad I did!

One thing I did not see in his post (do not recall seeing) was the size of the actual posters themselves. They are close enough to be called 12" x 20".

According to Thorzul's list of hits and misses in this set, I scored THREE "Epic Wins" and a "Not Too Shabby." I'd have to say I agree:

1981 Topps Rack Pack

The first pack I ever purchased was a 1986 Topps wax pack, 35 cents of glory, but it was a 1981 Topps card inserted in a box of cereal that was my first ever baseball card. For that reason, this set will always have some sentimental value, and I've always liked the design. The framed borders, the baseball hat with the position and designated team, the "Topps" baseball... I just like the way these cards look. I think this was the beginning of a nice design run for Topps lasting through 1984 that has been unmatched since.

Here's the contents of a rack pack I bought off eBay:

(Section 1)
383 - Eric Soderholm (showing on the front)
487 - Dewey Robinson
83 - Mike Proly (back to back White Sox, both appear to be signing autographs)

134 - Steve Mura ("what's this? a base... ball? I could do wonders with this!")
232 - Mickey Klutts (no mentions of his coordination on the back of his card)
128 - Gary Allenson
231 - Joe Beckwith

152 - John Urrea (if his middle name was "Dye", well... I was 5 when this set came out, so I get to have a juvenile sense of humor, right? the good thing is, I needed this for my Cardinals collection)
537 - Ron Hodges ("he's not related to former Met manager Gil Hodges" - so what does it mean when your claim to fame is not being related to someone famous?)
281 - Fred Stanley
47 - Ken Brett (George's older brother was on his 10th major league team at this point)
437 - Mike Heath
323 - Jim Morrison (insert obligatory Doors comment here)
486 - Marc Hill
358 - Mark Wagner

526 - Phillies Future Stars (I remember Bystrom pitching for the Yankees in the mid-80s but the other two I have no recollection of, though I suppose that's typical for these kind of cards)
11 - Jim Wohlford

(Section 2)
290 - Bob Boone (nice action shot of a restaurant-quality catcher)
481 - Bob Lacey (his cartoon mentions something he did in an American Legion game. nice.)
388 - Andre Thornton ("Andre hit for the cycle for Tribe against 4 different Red Sox pitchers..." - hmm... lazy copy editing?)

495 - Dusty Baker (what is more detrimental to baseball as a whole, Dusty speaking his "wisdom" to baseball fans on ESPN or Dusty teaching that "wisdom" to actual baseball players?)
365 - Graig Nettles (I had a Graig Nettles glove when I played little league)
717 - Jim Barr
17 - Cliff Johnson
78 - Steve Dillard (back to back airbrushed Cubs)
88 - Joe Lefebvre (may or may not be related to the better-known former manager Jim Lefebvre)

76 - Mario Mendoza (poor guy. even the photo is rather unfortunate...)
27 - Champ Summers
611 - Rick Matula (both cartoons on the back praise his exhibition efforts)
350 - J.R. Richard
477 - Luis Gomez ("was a freshman basketball teammate of Bill Walton at UCLA")
24 - Don Stanhouse ("Don's nickname is 'Stan the Man Unusual' due to his unusual manner of getting in and out of jams." somehow, I'm not sure that nickname stuck...)
63 - Steve Renko

(Section 3)


515 - Robin Yount (ah, the reason I bought this pack in the first place. I'll speak more of this on my blog.)
151 - Claudell Washington
501 - Tim Foli
653 - Bill Fahey
182 - Bob Grich
275 - Dwight Evans (lots of Red Sox in this pack. not lots of Cardinals. booo!)
566 - Del Unser (related to Al Unser, but not the one you're thinking of.)


110 - Carl Yastrzemski (yep, here's Yaz. nice card, nice player, despite who he played for...)
598 - George Vukovich
246 - Ed Ott
195 - Rich Murray (Eddie Murray's brother. that's it.)


130 - Larry Gura (an All-Star! er, wait, he's just a Royal. note how you can hardly see his number, let alone his name, in this photo.)
688 - Kiko Garcia
704 - Bill Travers
42 - Jerry White
642 - Vern Ruhle

1981 Topps Movie Giant Pin-Up

Last week I was graced with one of those rare coincidences that happen to place something new and exciting into your lap. I was on eBay at the right time using the right search terms, and I won this.

I'm kicking myself now for failing to include something else in the scan of this pack to demonstrate the size of scale. The pack is probably about eight inches long by four inches wide. Most mysteriously, it's sealed in a fashion amazingly similar to the card packs of today. The top and bottom are pinch-sealed and there's no wax to speak of on the whole thing. The consistency and feel of the wrapper is much closer to paper than the erection-inducing plastic of Topps Heritage, but there are hints of this movie pack being a progenitor of the modern packaging. After all, my nipples are hard right now.

The ad wizards at Topps were kind enough to announce all of the possible "hits" from a pack on the back. The films' release dates range from 1975 to 1981, a key transitional period where film was moving away from the auteur directorship of the '70s to the summer blockbuster marketing scheme that has dominated to this day. I'll share with you now my thoughts on pulling any of these posters.

EPIC WIN
1. Jaws: I'm considering going as Mayor Larry Vaughn this Halloween.
2. Superman: Pioneered superhero existentialism in a way that hasn't been seen in film until this summer's Dark Knight (and to a lesser extent, in the first two Spiderman movies).
4. Airplane!: Great co-writers and -directors from my hometown.
5. Star Wars: Yes.
7. Animal House: Double Secret Probation.
8. The Empire Strikes Back: "Hoth-style" was an adjective I coined in high school.
9. Young Frankenstein: "Put...the candle...back!"

NOT TOO SHABBY
6. Rocky: Good movie, but ensured that Sylvester Stallone would never go away in my lifetime.
11. Revenge of the Pink Panther: Peter Sellers is great.

FAIL
10. The Blue Lagoon: Haven't seen it, lack the desire to. Brooke Shields and a dude with a blonde afro just doesn't appeal to me.
12. Smokey and the Bandit: Not a Burt Reynolds fan.

EPIC FAIL
3. Grease: One of the worst movies of all time. Why anybody would like this is beyond me. Really horrible, annoying songs that still get played at sporting events, weddings, elevator gatherings, etc.

It looks like I've got a better than 50/50 shot at coming away with something good.
Let's tear in.

Ugh.

My one shot and I totally blew it. Perhaps I just didn't put in the hours at the gym.
At least I get a piece of gum out of the deal.

Ouch. It's broken into a thousand pieces, and it's beginning to eat through the wrapper.
Wait, a wrapper on the piece of Topps gum? From 1981? This is Heritage's grandaddy after all.

The results are in!

Enough Already! 1981 Fleer

Ok, I was saving this pack, but good Lord people, even I hate Heritage now. Here's a pack of the late, great Frank H. Fleer Co.'s 1981 "let's stick it to Topps" Premier Edition Base Ball trading cards. With bubble gum! I don't know if this is an error pack or a non-error pack or even if there is such a thing as a 1981 Fleer pack without errors. Let's open this sucker though.

Well, here's some very rare Non-Topps Baseball card bubble gum. Sadly it didn't survive the years in one piece, but it looks a hell of a lot fresher than any vintage Topps gum I've pulled out of a pack lately. It's also absolutely covered in bubble gum dust. Fleer was a little sloppier when cutting their little strips of gum, so it has more of a punk, DIY feel to it. Anti-establishment bubble gum, right on!


Here's the wrapper advertisement, damn I want a Giant 3" Reggie photo button. Aw hell, there's a Bob Horner pin too. Crap, I want half of those pins! Billy, Yaz, Schmidt, Carew, Pops, Winfield... dang. That's a helluva checklist.

Here's the key to the whole thing: OFFICIAL LICENSEE MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL. Fleer finally getting one of these was either the beginning or the end of trading cards, depending who you ask.

Ok, now to the cards:

66 Denny Walling: complete with rainbow pullover and copious amounts of bubble gum dust.

299 Dick Tidrow: I tried to grow a 'stache like that but my wife started looking up divorce lawyers in the yellow pages, so I shaved. Quickly. And why's Dick in the same dugout as a dude with a Reds cap?

363 Willie Stargell: POPS! I love me some pops. This pack is a success no matter what now.

386 John Milner: Another Pirate, John strikes a pose in front of the lineup card.

53 Vern Ruhle: Gotta love the 95-5 centering, not to mention the crease in the top left corner.

303 Cliff Johnson: Blech, another Cub. Cliff has shadow people staring out at him from the crowd on either side of him. it's creeping me out.

367 Chuck Tanner: I apparently ripped the Pirate pack. Arrrrrr. Chuck was supposed to be the guy to lead the World Series parade down Peachtree. Not quite.

486 Gene Richards: Fro+Mutton Chops+Face in Shadows+Oppressive Yellow and Brown=Stuff of Nightmares.

393 Jack Brohamer: BaseballLibrary.com starts out his bio with "Small, gutsy and bowlegged". That's just not right. C'mon, the man was a Topps All-Star rookie, give him some respect.

170 Steve Stone: This has the "Pitcher of the Year" line on it, I'm not sure if that's a variation or not. I'm going to hit the SCD after I've scanned all the cards and check for errors.

458 Joe Strain: You have to strain to see the dude's face in all that shadow. His nose glows brightly, like he's about to lead Santa's sleigh.

44 Frank White: I remember Frank White being a lot better player than his stats on the back make him out to be. I might be crazy though.

397 JOE CHARBONEAU FREAKIN ROOKIE CARD HOLY CRAP: This pack just went from "good" to EPIC.

174 Scott McGregor: Scott looks really angry for someone fresh off a 20 win season.

339 Ed Farmer: A White Sox for a game of Sox or no Sox. About time after two Cubs... Believe it or not, the back is as blurry as the front.

452 Rich Murray: I saw "Murray", immediately thought "EDDIE!" and was quickly deflated.

402 Gary Gray: Indians come out of nowhere to tie the Pirates for most cards in the pack at three each. The back of Gary's card is lovingly slathered with wax.

Ok, time to see if any of these suckers are errors...... Nope, not a single one even has a variation. Oh well. I'm stoked I pulled the Joe C rook. I know it's worth about a quarter but tell that to the old-timers who insist this is a five dollar card. Nice rip. I need to find an '82 Fleer Pack now.