And here we have the Kirk Gibson card where he looks like a stoner who’s just been asked “Quick Kirk, what color was Washington’s white horse?” Yeah, marvel at his reaction for a moment. Despite this being a ridiculous looking photo, he was a budding star coming off his breakout season where he batted .328/.369/.479, [...]
Wow, now that’s a card. Two of the greatest base stealers of all-time, on the same baseball card. I absolutely loved this card when I was a kid, for that very reason. you can keep your home runs, steals and triples are far more exciting. Neither Tim Raines nor Rickey Henderson had any real trouble [...]
Obviously, this is one of the coolest cards in the set when you’re an eight year old and I dubbed it “the card of five stars”. You’ve got 5 of the best players AND they’re the home run leaders! It all starts with Mike Schmidt, who led the National League in homers for the fifth [...]
Could this be a clue that the “All-Star” & “In Action” subsets of the ’82 Topps set, were after thoughts?
Not only does he sport one of the great mustache’s of the ’82 card sets, but it’s a great action shot, and we get a Dusty Baker cameo in the background. This is also awesome ’cause it’s the guy who caught the final out of the 1981 World Series to finish the 9-2 beat down of the Bronx Bombers in Yankee Stadium to clinch the Dodger championship.
Whoever designed this card, had to be a perfectionist. Everybody’s facing the same direction like they’re some kind of singing group in the middle of a synchronized dance step.
His expression strikes me as one of thinking back and wishing he’d done something differently. I would love to know just what Matt Alexander was thinking when this picture was taken.
The White Sox were a rising power in the American League at this time, culminating in their ALCS appearance in ’83. In ’82 they finished just 6 games back of the Angels, mostly due to a fine mix of veterans like Tom Paciorek, Carlton Fisk, and Greg Luzinski. The organization didn’t really have many realistic future stars for Topps to pick from yet, so they chose….
The Reds didn’t have much future in their major league club in 1982, losing 101 games. Only one of the guys on this card even played after October 2, 1981, but none of them made any impact. In the early 80′s, the Reds hopes laid in their draft choices.
Here’s the only Sam Mejias baseball card in which he isn’t wearing a helmet, and I dug up why that is.
Some fluff of hair sticking out of his helmet, cleverly crafted facial hair, glasses with a little reflection in them, and an expression that could be saying “Woah, you’re kidding me, right?”
Dave Parker broke a 1-1 tie in the 6th inning of the 1981 All-Star game, with a home run to right field. He’d done what he was there to do and the manager penciled in a defensive replacement, giving Parker the rest of the game off. In the past, Dave wouldn’t have been sat down [...]
The first half of 1981 was not Reggie Jackson’s finest hour or even close to it. By the time the strike happened, Reggie was hitting just .199/.330/.379. Nonetheless, the fans voted him into the All-Star game and gave them exactly what they asked for – a .199 hitter.
Even though people were still arguing about whether Dave Winfield was worth the historic sized contract, he earned his first AL All-Star appearance by being a huge factor in the Yankees win a division title in the first half of the 1981 split-season. If not for him, the team might not have made it to the playoffs.
One of baseball’s biggest stars, Mr October (aka Reggie Jackson) had an amazing career that excited fans from the west coast to the east.