Return to 80s week - a couple more from Fleer

Back on Wednesday I blogged five Fleer cards taken from the small 44-card sets that Fleer produced in 1988. The following year, Fleer issued some more sets.

Card Number 892: Fleer Heroes of Baseball, 1989; #20

The soft focus fade on the edge of the photo and the colourful border make this a striking card design.

Tony often had a card around number 19 in these sets. This time his card was #20. The back keeps the soft focus cut out in the centre. The stats box is in pink and white candystripe columns - one of Fleer's preferred colour schemes for these sets.

Considering they have bothered to include the three minor league teams Tony played for before his call up to the majors in 1982, it's a bit odd that they left Tony's stint in Las Vegas at the start of the 1983 season out of the stats. This is a good example about how card companies seem to forget about the games in Vegas. Maybe the idea that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas applies to baseball stats too.

Card Number 893: Fleer Superstars, 1989; #21

The greyish stripes on this card makes it visually similar to the flagship Fleer set from 1989.

There is a change of orientation on the cardback. And a truncated stats box just covering the preceding four seasons. And yellow!

These little sets all had their own quirks. It's fun seeing them all next to each other.

And that's the end of this week of cards from the 80s!

Total: 893 cards

Return to 80s Week - DonRuss Tuesday Twins

The first card in today's 'twins' post is probably the least exciting twin featured on this blog. Apologies. 

Card Number 884: DonRuss (factory set), 1987; #64

This was in the recent bundle of cards that Richard sent me. It's the factory set version of Tony's 1987 base card. The way you can tell is by turning it over - the cardback is oriented the other way. Here is a comparison of the two cardbacks with the fronts facing up. 

Yes, I know it's a boring variation. But it's still a variation. And the card is a still a really solid, classic design from the 80s. Can you ever have enough of that tyre tread pattern?

Card Number 885: DonRuss Baseball's Best, 1989; #42

This was another 'factory set', with 336 cards in the DonRuss template for 1989. However, this is different to Tony's base card in the regular set.

You get more of Tony on this card. The photo on his regular base card is more closely cropped. The DonRuss card template in 1989 isn't one that anyone ever raves about. It's probably the least memorable card template ever released by the company. 

The back is totally different to the regular flagship product as well. 

Total: 885 cards

Return to 80s Week - Topps trio

In November 2020 I ran my first "80s week". In the spirit of 80s movie sequels, here is the Return to 80s Week! Our week kicks off with some Topps cards. 

Card Number 881: Topps Baseball Champion Superstars, 1986; #13

This photo is from the same overly-lit photo-shoot that featured on Topps's Glossy All-Star Card in 1986. This card was sold in a complete set of 33 cards of "Baseball Champion Superstars", which sounds like one of those multiple word team names in pastiches of Japanese manga.

The back is a minimum effort job, even by Topps' standards.

I've seen stickers with better backs than this.

Card Number 882: Topps League Leaders Minis, 1988; #74

This card has a rare photo of Tony bare-headed. This is such an odd photo. Is he trudging back to the dug-out having failed to get on base?

The back is colourful with a little photo of Tony. He was the league leader for both batting average and hits in 1987, but only 4th in runs. Seems like he got marooned on base more often than some other players then. 

Card Number 883: Topps Big, 1989; #58

These cards are anoying because they don't fit in my binders. I mean, I could ram them in if I really wanted to have them in there. But it's not ideal. 

The front is a nice combo of action photos and close up. 

On the back we get cartoons. Is that chap with the letter meant to be Tony? Or the chap passing the basketball? Because, er, there's a slight tonal dissimilarity between those cartoon people and Tony.

Because this is such a big card, there is room for some fielding stats as well. Always a bonus!

Total: 883 cards

Shining Star from a box of Bazooka gum

According to Baseballcardpedia, this range of cards were shipped at the rate of one per box of Bazooka gum. That seems the exact opposite to Topps normal cards, which had a ratio of lots of cards to one stick of gum.

Card Number 704: Topps Bazooka, 1989; #13

Although this is billed as a starter set, no other Bazooka branded cards were released that year. It was just the 22 cards that were inserted into boxes of gum.

The cardback is fairly standard - stats box, factoid and some bio data.

I like the Bazooka logo used as a watermark behind the stats box. That livens up the cardback a surprising amount.

This concludes the contents of the eBay package. Next up, a card that is brand, brand new.

Total: 704 cards

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

Store exclusives part 3 - Hill's

Unlike K-Mart and Woolworth's in the previous two posts, I have no memories attached to Hill's Discount Department Stores. They were a USA-only chain and had disappeared by the first time I went on holiday to the USA. Wikipedia tells me that Hill's started in the 1950s and lasted until 1999 when it was bought out by another company that then ceased trading not long after.

Card Number 697: Hill's Team MVPs, 1989; #16

This is a solid card front, although the picture initially looked like it had been airbrushed. You can just about make out the beginning of the word 'Padres' under Tony's elbow though. The disembodied hand with the catcher's glove in the lower right corner is a fun additional touch. The frame lay out is very nicely designed, particularly the ribbon with Tony's name on. 

The back is simple and effective. If you're going to show a stylised baseball field, then do it in green like this.

Tony had a difficult season in 1988 after winning the batting title in 1987 with a .370 average. He struggled with some injuries early on in 1988 and missed the All Star Game - it was the only All Star Game he was not selected for from 1984 to 1999. Even so, he ended up the Padre with the most hits, most RBI and stolen bases, although he stole less than half the number he had nicked in 1987.

Hills did another set the following year of 'Hill's Hit Men' but Tony wasn't included in that set. So, from my perspective this card means I have another complete run. 

I'm sure someone somewhere has done a project cataloguing all the small standalone sets that were sold during the baseball card boom of the late 1980s. Fleer usually produced a few sets each year, and Topps were producing sets like this for several different retailers. These sets offer something a bit different for collectors and they also act as a reminder of shopping before the Internet when there were these things called shops.

Total: 697 cards

Store exclusives part 1 - K-Mart

I have a funny story about K-Mart. On our first road trip to America, Cathy and I filled up a trolley with cool stuff in a K-mart and then had our credit card declined. So we had to go back to the hotel to get our traveller's cheques. When we got back to the store the cashier was very surprised to see us and said they were just about to start putting all the stuff back on the shelves! (We had a few problems with our credit card that holiday - I've learned to always let the credit card comapny know that we are going abroad!)

Anyway, K-Mart have had a longstanding relationship with Topps. These days that means exclusive parallels or special inserts in packs of Topps baseball cards sold in K-Mart. But in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it meant exclusive small sets sold only in K-Mart stores. I've blogged about a K-Mart card from 1990 previously. 

Card Number 693: K-Mart Memorable Moments, 1988; #12

This isn't the most exciting card front. The photo is of Tony toward the end of his swing. It's hard to make out, but it looks like he has got his eyes closed.

Consdering this set was about 'Memorable Moments of the Eighties', the moment related to Tony was a bit obscure - a player of the month award in 1987. Admittedly, those are impressive monthly stats. Was that one of the most memorable moments of the 80s though?

This does underline how Tony was the master of hitting singles. Only a quarter of his 44 successful contacts in June 1987 were extra-base hits.

Card Number 694: K-Mart Dream Team, 1989; #29

I really like the font they used for the set name. It reminds me of bubblegum.

This photo looks a bit odd. It offers a good view of one of Tony's Mims Bandz though.

Tony earned his place on the Dream Team as the National League's 'Rookie of the 80s'. That's surprising to me, given his trio of batting titles up to this point. 

What I like about this card is the complete minor league record on a separate line. That would have been a really good feature on regular Topps cards, but they didn't do it for some reason.

Total: 694 cards (300 above my original target!)

Cereal freebies: Part 2

A sequel to yesterday's blog post about Post Cereal cards. Today we look at cards produced a few years earlier by a rival company - Quaker Oats. (I realise I have done these in the wrong chronological order. Oh well.)

I was surprised to learn that the Quaker Oats Company was not founded by Quakers. The founders just adopted the name because the Quaker sect had a good reputation for honesty and purity. The Quaker in their logo isn't based on a particular Quaker in the current design, but originally he was sort of based on William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania. 

Like Post, Quaker gave baseball cards away in their cereal. Unlike, Post, they got Topps to print the cards.

Card Number 691: Quaker Chewy Granola Bars, 1986; #7

Wait, is a granola bar a breakfast cereal... ah, close enough.

Tony looks a bit downbeat in this photo. At least the Quaker mascot looks cheerful. Because this card was produced by Topps it was fully licensed, so the SD logo on Tony's had didn't need to be airbrushed off. 

On the back these were proclaimed as the 1st Annual Collectors' Edition. It was actually a one and done because a second series was not released.

You can almost tell this card is produced by Topps just by looking at the factoids. This card was in packs of chewy granola bars in 1986, but the factoids only run up to 1984 and the first two are from 1981! (And why lead with those when Tony had played in a World Series in 1984! Topps's approach to factoids in the 1980s was downright bizarre.)

Card Number 692: Cap'n Crunch, 1989; #5

Yes, the Quaker company also make Cap'n Crunch.

Cap'n Crunch's Wikipedia entry has a very entertaining section about the product's marketing, including the complex naval world of the Cap'n and his crew, which I think is mainly one dog. We never had this cereal in the UK, so it's not something that's part of my cultural landscape seascape. 

I'm disappointed that the Cap'n didn't appear on the front of this card with Tony. Or anywhere on this card. I'm also disappointed that the prominent #19 on the front is not actually the card number. (Booo, Capn'n Crunch! Booooooo!)

The factoids on the back are more up-to-date than the Granola Bars card, but that list looks like a cut, paste and change the numbers job. (Were people able to do cut'n'paste in 1989?)

A batting average of .313 is quite low to win a batting title (1988) and is 25 points lower than Tony's career average. He certainly scored a lot higher in other seasons and didn't win the title. 

I've put these cards in the same binder page as my five cards issued by the Post company as a mini set of cereal cards. There are also some more 'food issue' cards to share with you in future posts. But for now, I hope you had a good breakfast and have a great day.

Total: 692 cards

Much travelled minis

Back in November (I think), my friend Gawain bought a job lot of cards for me on eBay and sent them to his US shipping address. It was one of those lots that cost pennies in the USA but shipping it over would have cost a fortune in fees. And so they sat in Gawain's mailbox until he had enough stuff there to ship it all to the UK and they arrived last week.

I had actually forgotten all about it until Gawain started sending me photos of the cards.

The cards are mainly oddballs, promo cards and "food issues" - cards that are easy to obtain in America but harder to find over here. Well over half the bundle were new cards to the collection - in fact there were 19 new cards, which feels wonderfully symbolic. That also takes me over another century mark.

I thought I'd start with a couple of odd-sized cards, for fun.

Card Number 686: Topps Major League Leaders, 1987; #35

I am nostalgically fond of the 1987 Topps design with the wooden border, and I'm glad Topps used it on this set of smaller sized cards. The front is very different to Tony's base card in the Topps flagship set because you can actually see his face!

The back looks similar to other Major League Leaders cards. In 1986 Tony had the most hits and tied for the most runs but was only third in batting average.

One other thing I noticed is that the two line stats box has his stats for the previous season and for "life" not "career". I wonder when Topps stopped using "life" in this way.

Card Number 687: Topps Mini, 1989; #36

Another "mini" card - this is listed on Trading Card Database as "Topps UK Mini", but when I blogged about the card from the previous year's set I just called it "Topps Mini".

When I blogged previously about a mini card issued in the UK, I mentioned buying a packet of similar sized NFL cards in a shop while on a school trip in 1986. I didn't realise until much later that Topps had tried to sell baseball cards here in the 1980s as well.

There was a boom in interest in American sports in the 80s - in school we all knew who The Refrigerator was and that he played for the Chicago Bears. I doubt anyone actually watched any NFL. Maybe the Superbowl was on TV back then. If so, it was niche viewing, not the hyped event it is nowadays.

The UK minis rarely appear for sale in the UK Facebook groups. In fact, I have only ever found them for sale 'in the wild' once - at a collector's fair with lots of cigarette card sellers and stamp dealers. If this was sourced in the UK originally, then it has crossed the Atlantic twice!

On the back of this much-travelled card, there is a panel explaining baseball terms - I think these would have been quite helpful for UK consumers back in the 80s.

There is also a cartoon, of a teacher at a blackboard to illustrate the 'school' that Tony part-owned. I think Fuji, who is an educator, might like this!

Total: 687 cards

Fleer makes some MVPs

Somewhere I have read a story about Tony Gwynn nervously waiting for the announcement of whether he had been inducted into the Hall of Fame, and saying that he wasn't going to get in because he never won the MVP Award. I can't remember where I read that. I have looked through He Left His Heart in San Diego a couple of times but can't find the reference, so I must have read it somewhere else, probably on the Internet somewhere. 

Anyway, Tony might never have won the MVP, but that didn't stop card companies from including him in MVP subsets.

Card Number 674: Fleer Baseball MVPs, 1989; #17

This card was sent to me by Michal. It took 2 weeks to travel the 30 miles from where Michal lives to where I live. I think I could have walked to pick it up and walked back home again quite easily in the time it took for the mail to get it to me.

This card is from one of the 44-card complete sets that Fleer produced. They seemed to produce a few of these sets every year in the late 80s. I have a couple of cards from other sets issues in 1989, and this card brings me up to 12 Tony Gwynn cards issued in sets like this overall. They have a nice quality glossy finish and the card stock is higher quality than the regular Fleer base cards.

The back is a bit dull, but it is nicely laid out.

The blurb has an oddly specific comment about ruining a pitcher's attempt at a no-hitter, which takes precedence over his batting title in 1988. There's also a mention of his brother Chris playing in the Major Leagues too. Chris had played 25 games for the Dodgers in the two previous seasons.

Fleer had given Chris Gwynn a rookie card in their 1988 set, which he shared with Peter Smith from the Braves. He also had a Score card in 1988 as a "rookie prospect". In 1989, Chris got a card to himself in the Fleer main set. He was also in the Upper Deck set that year, and was also still appearing in minor league sets. He didn't get a Topps card until 1990, although he was mentioned on the back of Tony's 1985 Topps card.

I have noted before how despite never winning the MVP Award, Tony appeared on a lot of MVP-related cards, mainly from DonRuss cards. Tony was in an MVP insert series in the 1994 DonRuss set, and in earlier sets too. That second link also includes some cards from the Upper Deck MVP brand sets.

Total: 674 cards

League Leader with a swoosh

I got chatting to Jason after he posted a picture of his set of Project 2020 Tony Gwynn cards in the UK Facebook Group. They looked really nice together and I have a tinge of envy. The envy is mixed with gratitude, though, because Jason sent me a picture of some of his duplicate Tony Gwynn cards and asked if I needed any. I did, and shortly afterwards an envelope arrived with some cards in. (It actually arrived the day after the cards from Dean arrived so I had consecutive days with baseball cards in the post. Happy days!)

Back in the 1980s Topps had other ranges besides their flagship, including smaller sized cards depicting 'league leaders'. I've already blogged about Tony's card in their range from 1986. 

Card Number 581: Topps Major League Leaders,1989; #39

The front of the card is recognisably from 1989 because it has that 'swoosh' effect for Tony's name, the same as his base card that year, which looks like this: 

The swoosh is also on the 'accidental appearance' Tony made in the 1989 set when he was almost taking out Al Pedrique on the Pirates Leaders card.

I'm a fan of the swoosh effect and the 1989 Topps lay-out generally. When it comes to late 80s Topps designs, I'm definitely keener on the card sets released in odd numbered years - 85, 87, 89.

The card is a bit smaller than a regular flagship card, though. Here they are next-to-next to show what I mean.

The back is a lovely bright yellow, with a colour headshot photo of Tony. This is a much better cardback than Topps normally produced. 

While he was the batting champion in 1988, he ranked lower in on base percentage and didn't record as many hits as might be expected. He was ranked joint tenth overall. Partly that was down to injury during the 1988 season.

In 1989 these cards were sold in packs of 7 for 30 cents a pack. There were 77 cards in the set, with a few players from each team. Although it doesn't seem the cards are particularly rare, they don't turn up as often as might be expected in sale lots so I was very pleased to have the opportunity to obtain this card.

Total: 581 cards

80s week: Classic debut and Pacific confusion

I own some Classic Baseball cards for other players, but didn't have a Tony Gwynn one until the joblot that prompted me to launch 80s week. So this is a debut for a card company that hasn't featured on the blog yet. 

It's also unusual because it actually comes from a board game. According to Baseballcardpedia, the Classic Baseball trivia game was produced by a company in Alabama called Game Time, and the game was sold in toy shops as well as through card dealers. Later Classic sets were released as supplemental sets for the game.

I have blogged about a number of cards that have a game element to them, but this is the first time I have blogged about a card that has been removed from an actual game.

Card Number 491: Classic Baseball, 1987; #26

The cardback includes some trivia questions to ask while playing the game. There's also a box for the card owner to collect the player's autograph.

Someone somewhere must have an autographed version of this card.

And now on to another 'debut', this time a card released by Pacific... or so I thought.

Card Number 492: Pacific Cards & Comics Big League All Stars, 1989; #19

This card confused me. I initially thought it was an early release from the company that would become Pacific, but the Pacific Company was based in Lynnwood near Seattle, and this card says the publisher was in Los Angeles. 

The Trading Card Database lists Pacific Cards & Comics separately to Pacific, who were also issuing sets around this time. The Pacific Legends sets released the same year have a company logo on them, which is another reason why I think this is a different 'Pacific'. 

(There was a comic publishers called Pacific that operated out of San Diego in the early 1980s that had a chain of stores. I doubt this is linked to that company either as 1989 is a few years after the publishers went bust, but one of the shops might have carried on trading.)

Regardless of who produced them, these cards show what could be done without a license back in the day and they get 19 bonus points for giving Tony the 19th card in their 20 card set.

It's a really nice photo. It would have been even better if the photographer had waited a few seconds for the chap in the blue cap in the background to walk past.

The back is basic, with just a tiny reference to the manufacturer.

One of the eternal mysteries of card collecting is wondering how a joblot of cards got grouped together. How did this end up in with a bunch of Topps, Fleer, and DonRuss cards?

I simply have no information about how many of these cards were produced, or how they were distributed. Until I started researching this blog post I thought I would have been writing about the Pacific Trading Card Company (and there are lots of stories to tell, like how they might have accidentally outed Manny Ramirez for using a corked bat when they cut a bat up for some of their relic cards). Instead, I can show you a card that I am none the wiser about!

Total: 492 cards

Know the Score Part 2

This is a sequel of sorts to "Know the Score" which I published way back in May. In that first post I said that Score cards tended to have more interesting card backs than fronts, and I feel the same is true of the cards in this post. So I am going to show them back to front.

Card Number 365: Score Baseball's Hottest 100, 1989; #40

Even though he had spent 1988 dogged by injury, Tony Gwynn was included in the 100 players featured in this set from Score. It was sold as a complete set along with a book and some "magic motion trivia cards" that were about Hall of Famers rookie seasons. (Checklist)

There's a solid portrait photo on the cardback. The way the write up is phrased makes it sound like he had just two gold gloves and batting titles at this stage in his career, but in fact he had three batting titles by 1989 (and he earned his fourth in 1989).

The front is fairly run-of-the-mill. The red border is nice and there is a presage of 90s card design with the different font for the T in Tony compared to the rest of his name.

But red border apart, I think this is still one where the back is better than the front. 

Card Number 366: Score, 1990; 685

This is one of the "Dream Team" subsets within the Score base series. You may well be thinking there is no way that this cardback is more interesting than the front. 

But this is the front.

The photo on this card is bizarre. Recently I read a Facebook post from someone who busted a box of Score '90 and they raved about the Dream Team subset cards, which all looked like this. But I can't see the appeal. It's kind of fuzzy and washed out and has no context to it. If they were going for trying to capture waking up from a confusing dream, then they succeeded.

The write up on the back about Tony's scrutiny of video replay as a use of cutting edge technology feels amusingly quaint now. It doesn't mention how he bought the first VCR for the club to use because they wouldn't shell out for it. The descriptions of him compiling his own highlight reels against certain pitchers intrigues me. I wonder where those video tapes ended up.

Also, there's an amusing typo. Four lines from the bottom it talks about Tony winning his third straight "battling title". Now, I'm guilty of my own fair share of typos, but it is funny to see one on a card. And it's another reason why the cardback overcomes its plain-ness and is more interesting than the front.

Card Number 367: Score 100 Superstars, 1991; #94

Tony isn't quite looking down the lens in the photo on the back, but it's still a nice card. This is from another one of the sets that Score sold as a complete unit. 

I'm going to add the description by his team-mate Joe Carter to my list of unique descriptions on cardbacks: "He's on a cloud by himself!" Joe Carter, incidentally, was playing for the Blue Jays in 1991, having only been a team-mate of Tony's in San Diego for one year in 1989. Score didn't reference Joe being Tony's former team-mate, or give a date or context for that quote. How long were they sitting on it before they used it?

The front features Tony fielding. It almost looks like he's pitching in the photo. The whole pose is so ungainly and the composition of the photo, with a team mate behind him, is awkward. The designer didn't help by plopping the Padres logo in the corner up by his hand, when there is loads of dead space below it.

And now a pop quiz.

a) Which powerful hitter travelled the other way in the trade that took Joe Carter from San Diego to Toronto?

b) What did Joe Carter do in the last game he played in 1993 that contributed to his induction in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame (despite not being Canadian)?

c) Both Joe Carter and Tony Gwynn were born in 1960, but who was older by two months and two days?

I'll pop the answers in tomorrow's post!

Total: 367/394