Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Lets gloss over the dullness

I'm on to the last remnants of the most recent joblot of cards from eBay. I think all the cards I've posted from this parcel have been 'oddities' in some way and these are no different.

If you have ever opened a junk wax era packet of Topps cards you will have found some little promotional cards that you could collect and send away for more cards. These mailaway cards were advertised as "glossy", and, while they definitely had a slight shine to them, they just weren't very interesting.

Card Number 701: Topps All-Star Collector's Edition, 1987; #2

I am fairly certain this photo was taken at the same time as the All Star card in the flagship set for 1987. Compare the background and also Tony's right sleeve with the white undershirt sticking out.


The back is very boring.


These cards could be bought in six small units or ordered as one big set of sixty. It does make me wonder if some of those sets were more popular than others if kids couldn't afford the full set in one go.

Card Number 702: Topps All-Star Collector's Edition, 1988; #38


This is another familiar-looking photo, but I can't find the card it reminds me of. It's possible that I just have a lot of cards where Tony looks like this.

The back is equally as dull.


Card Number 703: Topps All-Star Collector's Edition, 1989; #58


Again, this is a deja vu photo. It's very similar to the photo used on Tony's base card in 1988.


However, I think this might be from a different game because the fans in the background look different and there also seems to be different equipment on the bench of the dug-out in the background.

All I can say about the cardback is at least Topps varied the colours they used each year.


I wonder what the kids who sent off their pocket money and tokens to Topps thought of these cards when they arrived in the mail. I hope they felt they were getting their money's worth. The photos are nice and big, but the cardbacks are beyond boring.

Total: 703 cards

4 comments:

  1. I remember ordering individual groups, but don't think I ever got the entire set all at once. It was cool to be guaranteed specific players that you wanted and from what I remember... Topps did a pretty good job dividing up the talent so one group didn't have a huge advantage over others. I could be wrong though. It was 30+ years ago.

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  2. I was so young when these came out I didn't give a crap about the little pack inserts that you needed for this set. I just through them away and looked at the cards that came in the packs and chewed that delicious Topps gum.

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  3. Thanks for sharing your memories Fuji and YoRicha. It adds a bit of a colour to some drab cards!

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