Store exclusives part 2 - Woolworths

After posting my first post in the series on store exclusives yesterday, I discovered Fuji had blogged about store exclusives last week! But he's going to get a surprise in this post...

Woolworth's was a very popular store when I was kid. Known as "Woolies" in the UK, they were famous for having a large pick'n'mix confectionary display. In a lot of places, Woolies was one of the bigger shops and the only place to buy records and CDs, kid's clothing and toys, as well as a range of hardware items. 

Many stores also had cafes and when I was very little my Mum used to take me to the big Woolies in the centre of Birmingham, where we lived. That's one of my earliest memories. I must have been about three years old. I can remember the cafe with its yellow formica tables, and eating sausage, chips and beans, which was a typical offering on a kids' menu at the very end of the 1970s. 

Because it was a ubiquitous high street name in the UK, I remember being surprised to find that it started in America. The British company was independent from 1982, and outlasted its American parent company by about a decade. It was quite a big story when the company closed down all its UK stores around time of the recession of 2008, as it left a big hole in many town centres, particularly in smaller towns across the UK.

Like some other stores, Woolworth - the American one - sold exclusive card sets. I have acquired two cards from them. One has the Woolworth branding on it, but the other is just branded as Topps.

Card Number 695: Topps (Woolworth) Baseball Highlights, 1987; #16

No reference to Woolworth on the front - but this is listed as a Woolworth set on Trading Card Database

I think this photo is of Tony sat in a dug out, which would explain the nondescript wall behind him. On the back is a highlight, in a very bright yellow and purple colour combination.

That's a genuiniely interesting stat on the back. Tony had the most hits and tied for the most runs in the 1986 season, but didn't win the batting title. The comparison of his batting average to on-base percentage shows he didn't take many walks. Tony liked to swing - often on the first pitch - so popped up and ground out fairly regularly. 

As an aside, the packaging for this card set says it was printed in Ireland, as were quite a few other Topps products at the time. This means this card was printed in Europe, shipped to the USA, and now it has travelled all the way back across the Atlantic Ocean to Wales!

Card Number 696: Woolworth Baseball Highlights, 1988; #12

Woolworth had their branding front and centre on this card.

Tony is swinging in the photo. The back has Tony's second batting title as a highlight.

56 stolen bases in a season is an incredible feat. I've said this before, but Tony's ability to get on base and steal an extra 90 yards would have made him the perfect Moneyball player when Moneyball came along.

Topps and Woolworth partnered on exclusive sets for three more years after these ones, but Tony did not feature in those sets. So, that make these two Woolworth cards a "complete run" of Tony's cards. 

The series on store exclusives continues tomorrow!

Total: 696 cards