1982 Topps Rack Pack

This is my first post for A Pack A Day, thank you Ben for being gracious enough to let me post a pack from time to time. I've traded with quite a few of you, but for those of you who I haven't talked to I collect baseball and hockey cards and am probably the number one actively-blogging Hartford Whalers fan out there (please hold your applause). I figured I'd start things off with a pack of cards that's as old as I am. This 1982 Topps rack pack contains 3 individually wrapped packs, 12 cards a piece. Let's tear in...

Pack 1

373 - Gene Nelson - New York Yankees - Here we see Gene posed at your local AA baseball stadium.
508 - Jody Davis - Chicago Cubs

638 - John Milner - Montreal Expos

196 - Willie Upshaw - Toronto Blue Jays

295 - Jason Thompson - Pittsburgh Pirates

763 - Tom Hume - Cincinnati Reds - Tom gets the award for "Most Elton John-like glasses in the pack".

518 - Garth Iorg - Toronto Blue Jays

568 - Joe Pettini - San Francisco Giants

460 - Jack Clark - San Francisco Giants

445 - Larry Parish - Montreal Expos

776 - Mark Belanger - Baltimore Orioles

324 - Steve Dillard - Chicago Cubs

Pack 2

58 - John D'Acquisto - California Angels

371 - Jerry Don Gleaton - Seattle Mariners

662 - Luis Salazar - San Diego Padres

375 - Dusty Baker - Los Angeles Dodgers - I always like pulling cards of current managers from their playing days. This one is better than most, as it appears that Dusty has just witnessed a terrible event unfold at second base.

316 - Steve Braun - St. Louis Cardinals

121 - Ed Lynch - New York Mets

775 - Bob Forsch - St. Louis Cardinals

123 - Danny Goodwin - Minnesota Twins

262 - Doug Bair - St. Louis Cardinals

114 - Ken Landreaux - Los Angeles Dodgers

695 - Warren Cromartie - Montreal Expos

553 - Dave Winfield - New York Yankees

Pack 3

318 - Mike Heath - Oakland Athletics

566 - Mike Jorgensen - New York Mets

218 - Dave Roberts - Houston Astros

124 - Reid Nichols - Boston Red Sox

350 - Thad Bosley - Milwaukee Brewers
488 - Ron Jackson - Detroit Tigers - Great shot of former Red Sox hitting coach Ron "Papa Jack" Jackson. An impressive combination of eyebrow, muttonchop, handlebar flavor saver, and "artistic" goatee.

232 - Terry Crowley - Baltimore Orioles

524 - Tom Hausman - New York Mets

440 - Jeff Burroughs - Seattle Mariners

655 - Joel Youngblood - New York Mets

640 - Cesar Cedeno - Houston Astros

110 - Carlton Fisk - Chicago White Sox - Awesome card, and one that I needed. This would generally be considered the best card in the pack, and in the past, I may have agreed. But I have a different nominee... Back in pack 2 there was a card that I would've passed by without notice a couple of years ago, but thanks to Thorzul I spent more time examining this card than I did any other in the pack. The card was number 121 and the player featured on the front was none other than Ed Lynch:
This is the same man featured on one of my favorite posts of all-time. You've probably already read it, but if you haven't check it out here. What's amazing about this 1982 card to me is this:

Like the 1987 card, here we get a pretty clear shot of Ed's chin. The strange thing is that the final word of my previous sentence did not end with an 's'. Much like a tree gets a new ring for each year that it survives, so it seems that Ed gains a chin for each grueling year of major league service. In his 1987 photo I can count at least 5 distinct creases in that awful and uncomfortable chin/neck combo.

Luckily 1987 was the end for Ed. Otherwise, without further space to colonize around the upper neck, the chins may have started migrating down his neck to his upper body. Had he lasted as long as, say Nolan Ryan, he might've looked like a series of chins with a head, two arms and two legs...