Running through the 1988 Star set part 3

The final cards in the Star set to finish off this run-through.

Card Number 851: Star Tony Gwynn "Padre Hitman", 1988; #9

This is the third 'career highlights' card, and the third with a huge amount of text on the back. This one has a brief intro then talks about what Tony did in the 1985 season.

That's a great stat in the final line - 4 errors in 355 fielding actions. No wonder he picked up five gold gloves in his career.

Card Number 852: Star Tony Gwynn "Padre Hitman", 1988; #10

Yet again, Star decided to use a landscape-oriented photo and did nothing about the orientation of the logo. To add to the quirkiness, this time they rotated the template the opposite way round to the way they rotated it on the other card with a landscape photo. 

The cardback is more about Tony as a person rather than summarising his career. 

There isn't much in there that is news to me, except for him being named San Diego Professional Athlete of the Year twice. Back when San Diego had NFL and NBA teams, there would be some competition for that.

And so, on to the final card in the set...

Card Number 853: Star Tony Gwynn "Padre Hitman", 1988; #11

This card is slightly damaged. Maybe one day I will replace it.

What did the future hold for Tony way back in, wait, hang on, part way through 1987?

I mean, that's what the first sentence implies when it talks about Tony's "current" average. This explains why the stats on his Major League Stats card only went up to 1986. So, this set from 1988, was put together in 1987, only included stats up to 1986, and had a copyright notice saying 1984. Gotta love an oddball set!

However, their comment about Tony having one of the brightest futures in baseball was prescient. While this set was being compiled, Tony was on his way to picking up his second batting title. He would, of course, go on to win many more!

Total: 853 cards

Running through the 1988 Star set part 2

On with the oddball set that I started blogging about yesterday.

Card Number 847: Star Tony Gwynn "Padre Hitman", 1988; #5

So far this set has had minor league stats, major league stats, post-season stats... it's time for All-Star stats!

Definite bonus point for including where the All-Star games took place in the stats box on the back. That's extra data often isn't included. 

Card Number 848: Star Tony Gwynn "Padre Hitman", 1988; #6

A slightly different approach to stats - basically Tony's best stats in a season and in an individual game up to this point. This is always a more interesting set of stats and rarely done by card companies.

At this point in his career, Tony had yet to record a five-hit game. He had stolen five bases in one game, though, at the end of September 1985 in Houston.

Card Number 849: Star Tony Gwynn "Padre Hitman", 1988; #7

And abruptly, the cardbacks shift from stats boxes to mammoth blocks of text. Weirdly, these go back in time, starting with Tony's break out season in 1983 and going backwards to his minor league season in 1981.

There is a huge amount of information to unpack on this cardback. It serves as a very useful reminder of Tony's early career with details that have since been marginalised by all of Tony's achievements. (The story that he went off to Puerto Rico to play winter baseball and broke his wrist at the end of the 1982 season isn't usually talked about.)

Card Number 850: Star Tony Gwynn "Padre Hitman", 1988; #8

Although all the photos in this set seem to be from the same game, it doesn't seem to have been well attended judging by the empty seats in the background here. 

On the back we have another chunk of biography. This is all about Tony's achievements in 1984, including becoming the first Padres player to record 200 hits in a season.

Part 3 of this run-through tomorrow!

Total: 850 cards

Running through the 1988 Star set part 1

In the large parcel of cards that Richard sent me was an 11 card oddball set made by Star. As a card producer, Star normally stuck with minor league sets. In 1988 they issued 28 different sets related to minor leagues or minor league teams - everything from the Carolina League All-Stars to the Tampa Tarpons. If someone wants a Miami Marlins set from before the Miami Marlins became a Major League franchise, then there is a Star set of the minor league outfit from 1988.

Star also produced player-specific sets, with 29 different small sets released in 1988 alongside their minor league cards. Typically these sets had 11 cards in, with some players getting more than one set. Mark McGwire had three sets in 1988. Tony had one solo set and another set that he shared with Wade Boggs, both of them getting five cards each in the latter set.

According to Trading Card Database, this set was limited to a print run of 5000, with a glossy parallel set limited to 1000 of each card. I don't know if the set Richard sent me is the regular set or the glossy parallel. I suspect the regular because it doesn't seem very glossy. There were also 500 autogaphed versions of the first card in the set available - all serial numbered. This might have been one of the first time Tony's autographed cards were made available to collectors in a set.

Anyway, let's kick on and enjoy some shonky oddballness. I'm going to split the cards over the next couple of posts as well. 

Card Number 843: Star Tony Gwynn "Padre Hitman", 1988; #1

A couple of things to be aware of as we go through this set. Firstly, I think most of the photos were taken during the same game. Secondly, the production levels aren't high. These were sort of licensed cards but that's a home-drawn San Diego logo on the front. 

Spoilers! This first card in the series is a checklist. Have a read to anticipate what's coming up.

Also, even though this says Star '88 on the front and it's confirmed by TCDb as being released in 1988... nobody at Star bothered to update the copyright notice from whenever they last used this card template. It still says 1984.

Card Number 844: Star Tony Gwynn "Padre Hitman", 1988; #2

The series kicks off with a series of stats cards. Tony's minor league stats get profiled first.

I am reasonably certain they could have written 'Pacific Coast' next to Hawaii and Las Vegas. Often Tony's 17 games in Las Vegas in 1983 get forgotten. He was recovering from an injury and spent a few weeks getting back to full game fitness.

Card Number 845: Star Tony Gwynn "Padre Hitman", 1988; #3

I can see why Star would print this photo in landscape orientation. The catcher's hand reaching in forlornly just as Tony makes contact with the ball makes this image. However, not switching the template around so the fake logo is sideways is lackadaiscal design.

Even though this set was released in 1988, it only shows Tony's major league stats up to the 1986 season.

Card Number 846: Star Tony Gwynn "Padre Hitman", 1988; #4

Batting donut picture! Time to check Fuji's post of a dozen Tony Gwynn cards with batting donuts... and this one isn't one of Fuji's dozen! 

Tony had one season's worth of post-season stats to go on this card.

And on that statistically spartan note... I will bid you adieu. More of the set tomorrow.

Total: 846 cards