My First Cards

Arguably the best catcher in history was winding down his career by 1982, but what a career it was! MVP’s, World Championships, All-Star games, and a variety of records to hold. This card is also awesome because it actually has just enough detail for us to figure out what game this might’ve been.

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The first day back in action after the strike, there was the All-Star game. The second day after the strike, Pete Rose resumes his assault on the all-time hits record by becoming the National League’s career leader in hits.

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Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the 1982 National League home run leader, Dave Kingman…

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The great Willie Stargell was back in action in ’82 after missing most of the previous two seasons with knee problems and surgery. Everyone knows about the ’79 “We Are Family” Pirates, and it’s easy to forget how great Willie was throughout his career…

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At the beginning of ’82, nobody viewed the Yankees as a team in need of talent. They either had it, or could buy it when they needed it. Of course, history tells us that ’82 was the start of the Yankees playoff drought and time for some rebuilding of the franchise during some dark years.

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August 24, 1982, John Wathan stole 3rd base in a game against the Rangers, to break the single season steals record for catchers.

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This card features the expression of a man playing for the Mariners in the early 1980′s, who wishes there’d never been an expansion draft. He was a below average hitter, who turned into a slugger against a certain three teams.

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Lee May’s another player who finished his career in ’82. He’d played 18 years, and is probably most famous for hitting a ball in the 1970 World Series to Brooks Robinson.

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The expression of a player with a career .313 OBP & .352 SLG, staring at the ball as it’s crossing home plate. That look of fascination and utter confusion and amusement about it. Almost like he’s asking himself, “hey, am I a glazed donut?”. He also looks clueless in a cameo on Joe Lefebvre’s card in this set.

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Who’s idea was it to make all these hitters for the Blue Jays pose the same way for their 1982 cards? The expression on John Mayberry’s face says it all. He’s squinting in disbelief saying ” Uuuhh no. This is bad for my image. Why on earth are we all posing with a bat on our shoulder today? Huh? Eehhh I’m not feelin’ it Mr ToppsCameraman.” If this were a video clip, I bet we’d see he’s shaking his head “no”.

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Dave Revering wasn’t a very good player by this point in his career, but the photo on his card is a nice action shot. Former Big Red Machine prospect, who never lived up to his potential. Sad, but hey, they can’t all turn out like we’d like them to.

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During Larry Biittner’s 14 season career he was involved in a trade with Steve Renko, was one of the few position players to get some time on the mound, & played in one of the highest scoring games in history.

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During the late 1970′s, the era of big collars and shorts in Chicago, Lamar Johnson proved to be one of the best players on the White Sox. In January 1982, with his skills fading, he left Chicago behind and signed as a free agent with the Rangers. He couldn’t revitalize his career, and ’82 became his final season in professional baseball.

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By 1982, the Minnesota Twins had to look to the future. The previous season was their worst since 1957 and if that wasn’t worrisome enough, they started ’82 going 15-52. The franchise had been crumbling slowly since 1975 and had to rebuild using the draft.

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If you asked someone to name any Yankee player from the early 1980′s, you’d probably never hear Dennis Werth‘s name mentioned—unless you’re asking me. He was the first New York Yankee card I ever got, which is pretty important to an eight year old kid growing up in New York state. The only Yankees I [...]

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