As a part of the Halloween theme for the month of October, we’ve covered Urban Legends and Movie Monsters so far. I’m going to break up the scary for this post and focus on the sweet part of Halloween; the candy! As a kid, I wasn’t nearly as excited about dressing up as I was about loading up my plastic pumpkin with candy that I could munch on for days. Today, when I take my girls on their Trick or Treat excursion, I usually wind up swiping some of the good stuff as we are walking around the neighborhood. I’m a sucker for Laffy Taffy, Air Heads, and SweeTarts! My oldest daughter knows that now and she usually keeps her bag close to her through the trip. I’ve still got G’s bag though!
When I was a kid, we still had some of the same candy that they have now. They still get Reese Cups, Snickers, Baby Ruth, and Now and Laters. But we also had some unique candy from the 80’s that isn’t really around anymore. We also had to watch out for the “razor in the candy” routine that wound up being part Urban Legend part Truth. There are news stories that float around each Halloween about some candy scare but I can’t think of anyone in my old neighborhood that scared me when it came to candy consumption. I lived in a small town and everybody knew everybody, but the stories were still used as stern warnings to be careful what you ate. I think it’s still sound advice to check the candy closely, don’t get me wrong, but I think the better advice is to Trick or Treat somewhere you trust.
One of the most famous Halloween candies of all time is also one that I have never liked. Candy Corn is just not a good candy. The orange and yellow colors are festive enough but the flavor leaves a bit to be desired. It started as a candy called “Chicken Feed” in the late 1800’s and that feels like a more appropriate name today. This candy is made up of corn syrup, sugar, wax, marshmallows, and fondant and I’ve never been able to properly identify the taste. I understand that I’ve probably already lost half of my readership with this hot take because some people will swear by Candy Corn. If you are one of those people, it’s nothing personal, I just think your taste buds might be out of whack.
Another classic that can still be found is the Chick-O-Stick. This candy is much better than Candy Corn to me and it has the added benefit of peanut butter and coconut as ingredients. I appreciate this candy more as an adult than I did as a kid. The major downside to this candy is that it gets stuck in your teeth EVERY TIME you eat it. The upside is that you get to eat that peanut butter the next day, even when the original Chick-O-Stick is long gone. I know, that’s gross….
Another Halloween staple is the peanut butter taffy found in the seasonal orange and brown wrappers. This is another candy I appreciate more as an adult. I gave this candy to my dad when I found it in my bucket as a kid and as a dad myself, I understand why he liked it. These are also referred to as “Mary Jane Peanut Butter Kisses” and I wasn’t a big fan of the “Mary Jane” Taffy as a kid either. This candy has an evil twin that was a white candy with a little peanut butter center. That was a terrible variation!
Sixlets were a multi holiday candy. I found these in the Easter Basket and the Christmas Stocking each year as well. This candy is a nice chocolate coated cocoa ball that came in colors similar to M&M’s. For you card collectors, this candy was originally made by Leaf as well. I think these were better in the 80’s than they are now but I’m sure that can be said about most candies. As time has passed, they have sapped everything of the really good ingredients because people are lactose intolerant, allergic to gluten, or they have some strange aversion to good tasting food. A lot of times, it feels like the chocolate we are eating has been heavily sedated.
Bottle Caps was the classic “hit or miss” candy from the 80’s. The Cherry Coke and Grape flavors were off the charts good and the Orange was ok if it was all that was left. But the Coke and Root Beer flavors were about as bad of a candy flavor as you could create. Ugh, I have the flavor in my mouth just thinking about it and I need to go brush my teeth. There are just some flavors I don’t need in my candy and “cola” is one of them. I probably just offended another batch of readers.
These are still around in certain places like Cracker Barrel and other old Country Stores. Bailey has made me buy these in the past and she thinks the liquid inside them is really good. It helps that they are sour. But she won’t ever believe me when I tell her that we used to eat the wax bottles when we were done drinking the juice. I even showed her one time and I instantly regretted it. I chewed it for a little while as if it were a piece of gum. But the flavor was similar to the 34 year old piece of gum I recently tried from my 1984 Topps rip. if good candy has gotten worse, imagine what they have done to the stuff that already tasted bad!
Here is a candy I loved for a while. The outside of the candy was like a piece of taffy and the inside was a tart gooey type filling that “bonked you out” when you ate it. At least that is what commercials like this would have you believe. I soured on Bonkers eventually, pun intended, but for a while, it was one of my favorites! They ultimately disappeared altogether and were nothing more than an 80’s fad. They could still be lurking somewhere in some corner of the world but I haven’t seen any in a long time.
One of my all-time favorite Halloween candies was the Mr. Bones candy from the 80’s. They still make some variations of it but you could put the old ones together and form a full skeleton. They were made out of a SweeTart style candy and they came in a coffin so they were perfect for Halloween. This is another candy that the card collectors may recognize as it was made by Fleer. There are two versions of this candy. There is the dollar store version and then there is the real deal. The difference is easy to tell!
I’ll close with this “Skull Crusher” candy. I remember this candy because it made me sick one year. I remember throwing up the red goo and never wanting to see this again. But there it was when I was looking at old retro candies and I immediately went back to that fateful night. I’m sure it wasn’t the actual “Skull Crusher” and was more of a result of mass sugar ingestion that made me sick but it was the one that sent me over the edge. I’m kinda queasy looking at the picture to be honest.
Besides candy, I always got some sports cards from close family members that knew I collected. I specifically remember the night my GaGa gave me the pack of ’90 Fleer and I pulled the Mark McGwire that went straight into my binder. I’ll never really understand why I still remember that card so vividly but it’s one that is burned into my memory. Of course, cards have changed a bit since that pack of 1990 Fleer and no one in our neighborhood gives them out anymore. Personally, I stopped giving out candy and goodies when my oldest daughter was born because we started going door to door instead of staying at the house. But if I were still giving out candy, I’d find a way to incorporate cards again.
I recently went to my LCS with my treat basket and scored the new release, 2018 Panini Phoenix. This was one of my favorite releases last year so I hope this year it’s more like the “Mr. Bones” candy and not the “Skull Crusher”. Phoenix has a really nice card stock (similar to Prizm and Optic), a chromium base, and multiple colors throughout the set. It’s kind of like Prizm with color in the base design. You can read Ryan Cracknell’s breakdown HERE for all of the particulars but I’ll cover a box break and give my thoughts on the 2018 product. Each box has 12 packs with 5 cards per. There is one hot pack of “Color Burst” parallels that we will save for last. Also, each box produces 2 autographs and 1 memorabilia card, on average.
The base set is 200 cards with veterans making up the first half and rookies on the back end. The rookies are only found about 1 per pack so building the set through box breaks would be a costly and timely endeavor. Let’s crack into this box like we would our plastic pumpkin at the end of the night. We know there are some sweets and some sours to be found but the only way to find out is to dump it out on the table and sort. Wish me luck and hope that no one gave me candy cigarettes in this haul!
This Patrick Mahomes II is a base version. There is still a lot of flash here!
This is a base version and Pink Parallel numbered to 199.
The Red Parallel numbered to 299 is probably my least favorite of the parallels. It’s not very vibrant. But hey, it’s Tom Brady!
The Purple Parallel is a good looking card. These are numbered to 149.
Jerick McKinnon didn’t get his season off the ground thanks to an injury in the preseason. The 49ers have had a rough year. This is the Yellow Parallel numbered to 75.
This Bradley Chubb is the base rookie version. Again, you can still see how the Prizm provides a lot of colors, even for the base.
The Red is numbered to 299 in the rookie checklist as well.
Roquan is rocking the Pink Parallel numbered to 199.
This Terrell Edmunds is the Purple numbered to 149.
Here is an Orange Parallel, which I didn’t pull in the veteran checklist. I’m expecting good things out of Sutton in the 2nd half of the season. Orange is numbered to 99.
Here is another Yellow, Ronnie Harrison. The rookie from Alabama got into a little trouble over the weekend in London but is expected to be a key piece to the Jags defense over the next few years. Yellow is numbered to 75.
These are the best looking cards in the set. Each box includes a pack of “Color Burst” cards. The veterans and rookies both have unique looks. This is a striking card!
Here is the rookie version of the “Color Burst”. These look good as well but I prefer the veteran design.
The first insert of the set is this “Adrenaline Rush” Odell Beckham Jr.
Another insert is the “Agility” card. This Zeke is pretty sweet!
I have only pulled one “MVP” in two boxes so far. Nick Foles defied all the odds last year to win MVP of the Super Bowl versus Tom Brady and the Pats.
This is one of my favorite cards from my rip. It’s the “Unmatched” insert and it’s a numbered Eric Dickerson. This is such a sweet looking card. The Purple is numbered to 75.
“QB Vision” is a nice looking insert. Of course, the checklist is all QB’s and there are a lot of stars to be had. I pulled Brady and Mahomes as well.
The memorabilia card is a player I have pulled a ton of this year. I don’t know if Mike White will eventually pan out but if he does, I’ll have a head start on the Super PC! This is numbered to 100.
The first autograph in the box was this Jaylen Samuels, rookie running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers. This is the Orange version numbered to 199, though it differs from the Orange color found in the base Parallels.
The big hit in the box was this awesome Sony Michel, numbered to 199. Not only is he a rookie off to a great start, aside from an injury, but he is also one of the most beloved Georgia Dawgs in modern history. He ranks #3 on the All-Time rushing list in Athens, behind only Herschel Walker and Nick Chubb.
Phoenix is one of my favorite sets over the last two years. It’s not quite Classics in my rankings but it’s close. The card stock, Prizm base, checklist, and box configuration are all positives. I wish it was about $15 cheaper but it’s definitely not one of the high end boxes you’ll find. And the cards don’t have a low tier feel either so it’s an ok value. If you see a blaster or can pick up a box at the shop, I’d recommend it with a Dub Score of “4”. It’s not a “5” because of the price and the fact that in 2 boxes, I’ve pulled 2 Mike White memorabilia cards, along with a points card. I know that’s a personal reason that isn’t very objective but it plays into my recommendations. What say you about 2018 Panini Phoenix?
J-Dub
All this horror movie watching and planning has me thinking about which monsters I’d least like to face at the end of a dark hallway. It’s also got me thinking about Jamie Lee Curtis but that’s not what this post is about. While I’ve watched some movies and wondered why the main antagonist was feared in the first place, I’ve also watched movies where the mere thought of the creature being real was horrifying. I was never really afraid of Chucky or “The Ghoulies”, but the crazed, zombie-like, virus infected, sprinters in “28 Days Later” make me constantly think about hiding places and quickest escape routes of my home. As a kid, they were all pretty scary but as an adult, it’s easy to draw the line between fantasy and reality. But for the sake of this post, let’s pretend that they are all real. And if they are all real, which ones are contenders and which ones are pretenders?
Michael Myers – There is no better place to start than with Michael Myers. This is a contender without a doubt. He’s not the quickest on this list but he’s ultra stealthy and can hide just as well as he can seek. The mask has always been my favorite among horror villains and he’s always felt the fairly realistic, until he was killed 4-5 times. Contender
Jason Voorhees – He’s definitely one of my favorites and is worthy of any list made for Halloween Monsters. He’s a little quicker than Myers but he’s also a behemoth that doesn’t really on silent kills. He is in your face and you generally know he’s coming before he actually gets you. Aside from that side trip he took to New York that one time, you can usually avoid him if you stay out of the woods and don’t engage in illicit activities. But if you do like the outdoors, you’d better work on your agility when running through the forest; or you’ll wind up on the end of some rusty tool shed implement. Contender
Freddy Krueger – Being totally honest; Freddy has never been scary to me. The premise of being killed in your dreams and it carrying over to real life is frightening but Freddy has always been a little too hokey and jokey for me. The tongue in the phone is a cool visual but we aren’t using many rotary house phones in 2018. His worst kill to me was Johnny Depp in the first movie but most of them are just kinda silly. The overgrown head that is eating people, smashing a TV on somebody’s head, haunting a junk yard? That’s a pass for me. I enjoy the movies but as for being a monster that frightens me? Pretender
Leatherface – Ok, this may be the scariest of them all for me. Because as far as I know, Leatherface is in fact real and keeps to himself in his creepy house out in the middle of nowhere, waiting on some poor passerby to break down. There have been versions of Leatherface that were more goofy than scary, but overall he is a legitimate badass psycho that I can only hope I never bump into. The concept is terrifying because it is the closest to a reality as any of the above killers. Besides Leatherface himself, the entire family is scary as hell! Contender
Zombies – This is a tough one. There are really two main types of zombies that are portrayed in films. One is the original, raised from the dead, clumsy walker that is trying to find “brains”. They lumber along and as Barbara said in the original movie, “we could walk right past them and they’d never be able to get us.” Those are not as scary as the other version. A horde would be difficult but even then, I think you could just avoid them altogether without too much of an issue.
Werewolf – Like with zombies, there are multiple variations to werewolves as well. But for the most part, they are all faster than I am and they have sharp teeth and claws. I can’t imagine a scenario in which I would be able to take one of these creatures down by myself. I don’t have silver bullets laying around and they don’t seem to be affected by bats or knives. So I’d say my chances of survival are between slim and none. Contender
Vampire – There are only two vampires that have ever been frightening to me. They were in “Fright Night” and “The Lost Boys”. Those vampires were downright scary! But my overwhelming feeling on vampires has always been iffy. On one hand, they can certainly kill me if we get down to the brass tax but there is always a chance that I would turn into one myself. And that’s somewhat of a glass half full/half empty conundrum. I may get some argument on this one but for now; Pretender.
There are plenty more we could debate; like Pinhead, Puppets, Ghosts, Apparitions, etc. But I think we hit the high spots. The good news is that “most” of these things are not real and we’ll never have to find out if we can survive their attacks or not. I’ll let you decide which ones are real and which ones are not. But one thing that I know is real, and related to monsters, is the 1994 Coca-Cola “Monsters of the Gridiron” 30 Card Collector Set. You can thank 
One of my all-time favorite Falcons is Jesse Tuggle. He played his college ball at Valdosta State, where my wife and many of my friends went to college. He then became the best linebacker Atlanta has ever seen! We have certainly had some lean times throughout our franchise history but even when we struggled in the 90’s, Tuggle was so much fun to watch! I included the back of the card for this first one to give you an idea of how the nicknames come into play. I’m sure Zibby would love Jessie “Tarantula” Tuggle!
Cornelius Bennett would’ve been better served being called a werewolf with this card. But the “Big Bear” moniker made sense when I read the back. I don’t really think of a bear as a monster but Bennett surely was. This is one of my favorite cards in the set.
Eric Turner was a stud safety in the 90’s. And this card is perfect for the Cleveland Browns! There are actually a lot of fans in Cleveland who dress like this on Sundays.
This is the biggest superstar in the bunch but what is this costume? It’s not a monster, that’s for sure. Emmitt Smith was no doubt a Contender but this “Lone Star Sheriff” getup is a major Pretender.
This was a pretty cool costume for Pat Swilling. This was during the time of “Sub-Zero” from Mortal Combat and he had a block head that reminded me of something you’d see on He-Man. I really liked Pat Swilling but the fact that he played at both Ga Tech and New Orleans never sat well with me.
Again, this isn’t much of a monster but it fits for Marshall Faulk. This dude was a serious baller and he hadn’t even become a member of the “Greatest Show on Turf” by this time. I was a fan of Edgerrin James but I always wondered how things would’ve turned out if Peyton Manning and Marshall Faulk had played several years together.
I don’t even know what to think of this one. I loved Derrick Thomas but “Attack Cat” leaves a lot to be desired. You can certainly feel the mid 90’s cheesiness with this one. I actually enjoy mid 90’s cheesiness but this one is a miss.
I just had to include this one because……I mean, look at that!
John Randle was a nightmare without a doubt. The face paint, the motor, everything about him made him a scary dude on the field. He was certainly a “Runaway Train!
Much like “Cobra” Coleman, Ronnie Lott tries on reptile scales for his card. This one was pretty decent though. Ronnie Lott was a safety that would absolutely “strike you” if you entered into his territory. He usually didn’t give you a warning though like a real rattler will. I can’t tell if this one is photoshopped or if Lott is somehow coiled in that outfit.
Well, QB Eagles was definitely a “Rocket Man”! He was fast, stealthy, and could sometimes fly! Remember 
Junior Seau was an amazing linebacker that had the misfortune of playing on a team with Stan Humphries as the QB. Can you imagine Seau with some of these Phillip Rivers teams? Seau was an awesome talent and a man the game misses.
I loved this Tom Rathman card! Rathman was a bit of a “Psycho” on the field and he had no regard for human life as a fullback. Interesting stat: did you know he caught 73 passes one season? I think that is incredible when you think of pass catching backs in today’s game. He was not built like Darren Sproles or Alvin Kamara but when he caught a pass, he made people pay!
So I included this one because it was easily the silliest costume of the set. Cortez Kennedy was a very good defensive lineman but this “Tez Rex” persona made him feel more like a character at a kids birthday party. Can’t you see going to a T-Rex Arcade/Restaurant like Chuck E. Cheese and seeing Cortez come out and dance while your kid blew the candles out on their cake?
This set doesn’t really meet the guidelines to receive an official grade on the Dub-O-Meter scale. It is a fun set and can still be found pretty cheap today. I actually paid $4.99 for this one, unopened. It’s not something that you will find on a collector list looking for BGS 10’s and you won’t find somebody who is trying to find the white whale of the set because there aren’t any SP’s or anything. It’s just an old school oddball set that is fun to sift through from time to time. I’m glad Rick brought this one up because it had totally slipped my mind and there were some cards in the set I didn’t remember. Did you have this set as a kid?
As it relates to sports cards, I was battling my own “Urban Legends” in the early to mid 90’s. In 1990, Upper Deck launched “Find the Reggie”, which sent collectors on a seemingly impossible venture to find 1 of 2,500 autographed Reggie Jackson cards. Remember, 1990 was prime “Junk Wax Era” and they were printing millions, of not billions, of cards. Upper Deck ran with that theme over the next few years, using a big name player each time. Donruss joined in the fun in 1991 with their ever popular “Elite” cards that were numbered to 10,000. Fleer Ultra gave us a shot at Tony Gwynn in 1992 but again, it was total needle in a haystack type stuff. I call these my Urban Legends because I met people who claimed to have pulled these cards but I had never pulled one myself. So I carried a healthy amount of skepticism of their actual existence. Much like the ghost at Centennial Hall, all I had was second hand accounts.
In 1995, Classics hit us with a “Guaranteed” Auto in every box! This wasn’t exactly the first time it had been done but it’s one of the first major chases I remember where I knew I was getting something, whether a dud or a star. The box had 36 packs with 10 cards per pack and actually has a pretty good autograph checklist. There are names like Willie McGinest, Tim Brown, Ty Law, Eric Allen, Steve McNair, and more. The mid 90’s was a pretty exciting time in football as some NFL Legends were closing the books on their careers and some of the 2000’s Legends were just beginning theirs. So while I won’t be able to prove or debunk an Urban Legend with this review, I do hope to snag a cool autograph for the collection.
Much like Stadium Club, Classic offered a “Membership” program. This seems like a better club than the Stadium Club offer, which included a Glenn Robinson autograph, but the entry fee was pretty steep.
One look at the list of QB’s was a quick reminder that the league was pretty solid in 1995. Joe Montana had moved on to Kansas City and Warren Moon to Minnesota but QB Eagles, Dan Marino, John Elway, and Troy Aikman were still manning the helm for their original teams.
Running Back was pretty deep in ’95 as well! The Bus, Emmitt Smith, and Barry Sanders were the class of the league. The University of Georgia had 2 awesome backs in the league, Herschel and Hampton, giving credence to their RBU moniker. The Falcons had Heyward and Metcalf at one time but Metcalf was still in Cleveland at this point.
For real, the league was stacked in 1995. Jerry Rice, André Rison, Sterling Sharpe, Michael Irvin, Tim Brown, and André Reed?!? Mark Ingram’s dad, also Mark, was a receiver in NY and current UGA Standout DB JR Reed’s dad, Jake, played for the Vikings.
Tight Ends were used a little differently in the 90’s, being built more like blockers. But Ben Coates and Brent Jones were two that could rack up the receptions.
If you thought that the league was all offense, you’d be wrong. The defensive line was mean and nasty with these studs. Reggie White, Bruce Smith, Charles Haley, and Michael Strahan are some of the greatest of all time!
Linebacker was a little thin by today’s standards but there were still some solid players. One of the best was Willie McGinest. I was really hoping for his autograph in this box.
Safety’s in 1995 we’re still in the headhunter era. Eric Turner, Rod Woodson, Ronnie Lott, and Darren Woodson would strike you hard! Deion, Eric Allen and Aeneas Williams were ball hawks!
The rookie class was pretty dang solid in ’95 as well. I remember when Kordell Stewart was “Slash”, Kerry Collins was hyped, and Joey Galloway was a burner. Warren Sapp became a Hall of Famer while Ty Law and Steve McNair became fan favorites. The most hyped player in the draft was Ki-Jana Carter but he never panned out.
Each pack contained a “Silver” parallel that was made of a little thicker card stock. These were the big hits. I didn’t pull a base Marshall Faulk but I certainly was pleased with the Silver.
Numbered cards in 1995 were a lot different than they are right now. 4,000 was a lot but felt like a low numbered card.
I remember these “Game Breakers” as cutting edge technology that was always loaded in binders and top loaders. This Ki-Jana would have been huge back in the day!
Truly low numbered cards, even in 1995, were these “Printers Proof” cards numbered to 400. These weren’t huge pulls but I loved the red Falcons jerseys in 1995, so this Terance Mathis will fit nicely in the PC.
Speaking of PC, this Rodney Hampton was a shorter print version of the Printers Proof and was numbered to 175!
The autograph was not Willie McGinest but it is a running back and it’s numbered 45/1450. Terry Kirby was a running back in the league for 10 years with the Dolphins, 49er’s, Browns, and Raiders. He rushed for 2,875 yards, had 3,222 receiving yards and 43 total scores over his career so pretty solid. He is now the coach of the Weston Warriors and owner of the Ultimate Sports Institute in Florida.
1995 Classic Football is a pretty solid set during a stellar run for the league. Classic provided short prints (by 90’s standards), a huge superstar checklist, and even an autograph in each box. The checklist and the inserts available lead to a score of “5”. But the design and price tag, which is a little higher than most ’95 boxes, hover in the “3” or “4” range. I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a huge fan of full bleed designs but this one isn’t the worst I’ve seen either. I’d rip this box again without hesitation and if it’s something that fits in your budget, I’d recommend you do the same. This was a really solid rip and worth a “4” on the Dub-O-Meter.
My rookie team is pictured here and most of these kids were in classes with me from the time this photo was taken until we graduated. We grew up in a small town where everyone knew everyone and our childhood friends have become lifelong friends. I graduated with Jason Lee, BJ Harris, Dwan Williams, Beau Clark, and Corey Shiver (my cuz). Johnny Saxon, Bubba McDonald, Jason Johnson, and Chuck Turner were a year behind me. The only one that moved that I know of was Michael Sangster and his dad was one of our coaches. Unfortunately, Michael passed away a few years ago at a young age and now has a scholarship named after him.
When I write one of these pieces about a time period from my youth, I always go back and research the year a little to refresh myself on what was going on in the world. 1983 was quite a noteworthy year. There was good and bad and there were some things that came along that year that we didn’t know would be quite so iconic until they had a chance to play out in society. I was in the first grade so I really didn’t remember some of these things being around yet but it is a reminder to me that I have lived through some of the best of times when it comes to pop culture.
How about this for starters? 1983 was the year the Super Mario Brothers were introduced to the world. While Mario and Luigi would go on to be iconic throughout the world over the next 35 years, the video game industry was at the beginning of a crash that would last from 1983-1985. Atari was the first console I owned and its popularity, along with games like Pac Man and Space Invaders, caused a lot of copycats to jump in the market. I remember having the Tandy as well, with Downland and Bedlam. Coleco and Sears also had consoles they were releasing. The sale of home computers that would play games as well just overwhelmed the economy and the video game industry died in its early 1980’s incarnation. Thankfully, Nintendo saved all of us and brought about the worldwide fame of Mario and Luigi a couple of years after they were first introduced.
The first mobile phones were also introduced in 1983. As you can imagine, these were ridiculous looking telephones by today’s standards but they were the very beginning of what has taken over our lives in 2018. What would we do without our cell phones? We rarely even make calls on them anymore but we use them for internet reasons, email, text messages, weather reports, game scores, watching TV and movies, listening to music, and dozens of other things. They can even control the climate in our homes from 400 miles away or give us a live video feed of our living room when we are out of town. We have all of that innovation from 1983 while at the same time shrinking the size of the phone from a volume of the World Book Encyclopedia down to as small as a large keychain. I remember when Zack Morris was the only teen to have a cell phone in 1989 and now my 11 year old has one because we think it is necessary.
Here is one for you old school readers. Swatch released its first watch in 1983. Do you remember just how popular those watches were? I remember all of the different designs with the jelly wraps you could put on the face of them. I am no watch connoisseur but I will admit that I didn’t know these watches were still around until my wife and I took a cruise a couple of years ago and there was a Swatch Kiosk in Cozumel. These watches looked super nice too! They have come a long way from the crazy 80’s face designs that I remember. Side note – I can’t get that Ivan Lendl Swatch ad out of my head.
To review this great rookie class, I picked up a box of 1983 Fleer. I think Topps is the best set from that year but the Fleer box can be found for about half the price of Topps. I’ll rip Topps one day but it will have to be in the offseason when sets like Spectra and Optic aren’t littered throughout my LCS, taking up all my attention and dollars. This was Fleer’s third release since obtaining rights to produce cards in 1981 and it shows how much they had improved since that maiden voyage. They would break through the glass ceiling in 1984 with that fresh new design but I think ’83 was a pretty good upgrade from ’82.
For 1983, they used a border that varies anywhere from a brownish to grayish color, depending on the light and the condition of the card. The fronts of the cards used mostly posed shots, with some exceptions like this classic Kent Tekulve, and the player name was on the bottom right while the team logo was on the bottom left. The backs of the cards were the standard offsetting shades of color with full stats. The new addition to 1983 was the second photo on the back that Fleer proudly advertised on the outside of the box. They also placed the player background information at the bottom of the card in the early 80’s with a “Did You Know” section if the career wasn’t too long.
I may be in the minority but 80’s Fleer is more nostalgic to me than any other set. It isn’t because I owned a ton of Fleer because we were heavy Donruss in my region. I only had a few Fleer cards but they always seemed to be big names. I enjoy ripping Fleer and this really tiny part of my collecting soul wishes they were still around. I know that they would be just like all the rest with their own attempt at Inception/Origins but I’m a collector that likes variety. Let’s see what this 35 year old box can produce!
Fleer was very clear on the box about their improvements for 1983. They also made sure the retailers knew that the two extra packs meant an extra .60 cents profit. In 1983, I’m sure that was decent retail profit.
This is really one of my favorite things about ’83 Fleer! These stickers are absolutely beautiful and scream 1980’s! This sort of retro look is why I like some of the new inserts that incorporate these color schemes. That Rangers logo is killer!!
There was a huge crop of “record book” pitchers on the mound in 1983. These are the names that we all remember as kids. The group is headlined by Nolan Ryan but guys like Rollie Fingers, Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, Goose Gossage, Gaylord Perry, and Vida Blue are true LEGENDS!
Here are 3 stud relievers. Eckersley was converting to the pen around this time but Lee Smith and Bruce Sutter were established closers.
There was a better selection of catchers than usual in this set. Benedict was the Bravos backstop but Ozzie Virgil would soon be there too. Gary Carter was arguably the best catcher of the 80’s. And if you’ve read many of my Retro Reviews, you know I love Pena in the Pirates uniform.
Here is another huge group of guys that some collectors have only “heard of”. Most collectors have some of those top two rows in their collection, including a nice second year shortstop named Cal Ripken Jr. How many young collectors knew Johnny Bench played 3B? And if only we had been able to see the future, we could have warned Bill Buckner about the ’86 Series and then warned Ron Gant about ’91!
I can’t help it but I was constantly in awe of some of the names I was pulling. I’ve opened ’83 product before but it’s easy to remember Ripken, Murphy, and Rickey. However, pulling a young Kirk Gibson, a younger Mookie Wilson, a studly Jim Rice, and the DH Don Baylor made me remember that the checklist was truly loaded!
A staple in Fleer during the 80’s was the “Superstar Special”. These commemorated certain events and league leaders from the previous season.
One of the features Fleer advertised on the box in ’83 was the “Exclusive Double Header” cards. These were two regular sized cards that made a jumbo card. I’d call this innovative for 1983.
Here is a group of players that wound up coaching or in the television booth.
Some of the rookies from 1983 are memorable players. I loved Willie McGee as a kid and Ron Kittle was a HUGE prospect. I watched all of these guys during the 80’s. Howard Johnson was probably the most valuable by the latter 80’s.
And here is what we came for. This Wade Boggs is one of the big rookies from the early 80’s. Chicken Man went on to have a Hall of Fame career and his rookies remain relatively valuable considering prices of the era. I will always remember him more with the Red Sox than his days with the Yankees and Rays. I know he went on to win Championships with NY but he will always be a Red Sock to me.
Ryne Sandberg broke into the league as a Third Baseman but would make his mark as a Second Baseman over his 16 year career. He hit a solid .285 with 282 home runs and 1,061 RBI. He also added 344 SB to his resume. His best numbers in a season included a .314 AVG in 1984, 40 HR in 1990, 100 RBI in 1990-1991, and 54 SB in 1985. He was the ROY in 1982, MVP in 1984, and a 10x All-Star! Full disclosure – I pulled Boggs and Gwynn but missed on Sandberg. I did have this in my collection though.
Arguably the greatest hitter of the modern era, Tony Gwynn finished his career with a .338 average, leading the league 8 times over his 20 year career. He hit .289 in 1982 over a 54 game cup of coffee but would never again hit below .309 over the next 19 seasons. He was an All-Star 15 times!! It’s also worth mentioning that the Padres logo in the bottom left corner was awesome!
Baseball cards in 1983 we’re a work in progress. With Fleer and Donruss joining the fray in 1981, they were still very young in the hobby. 1983 Fleer was a tremendous improvement from 1981 but they hadn’t quite hit their peak either. The design is solid but the light Brown is not my favorite border color. The backs are a little bland too compared to other releases. But it really isn’t too bad in the grand scheme of things. The checklist makes up for any design flaws as 1983 was a tremendous year for rookies. Based on the combination of reasonable price, so-so design, and awesome checklist, I’ll give the set a “4” on the Dub-O-Meter. Design keeps it from being a 5 and Boggs, Gwynn, and Sandberg keep it from being a 3.
I think that we are all losing a bit of our originality at this point. By and large, most things in pop culture today are things we have already experienced, right? I’m really looking forward to the Halloween movie release in October; but why? It isn’t because it is going to be a “new take” on horror. It isn’t because I haven’t seen Michael Myers walk the streets of Haddonfield and hide in the shadows on Halloween night 50 times before. I do expect it to have its differences but they even brought back Jamie Lee Curtis again. I am looking forward to it and will watch it because I love Halloween; the holiday and the franchise. But it isn’t a groundbreaking film in 2018.
Halloween isn’t alone. There is a lot of buzz surrounding “Suspiria”, the reboot of the cult classic by Dario Argento (1977) that still sits at a stellar 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. There have been numerous recent re-imaginings of Predator, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and now, even Candyman. I saw Magnum P.I. commercials over the weekend while I was watching college football and I’m pretty sure I saw Murphy Brown come up on Sunday. Roseanne came back last year, Full House has been on Netflix for the past couple of years, and Double Dare has been on my TV at home more in the last month than it was when I was 15. Call them what you want; reboots, revivals, re-imaginings, whatever. The fact is, we are almost solely relying on the entertainment that was popular yesterday for our pleasure today.
Some of you might be saying right now, “wait a minute, aren’t you the RETRO GUY?” Why yes, I am! I love all things 80’s and 90’s and I have no problem with holding on to the good old days. I just prefer the originals over the reboots. I am sure I will love Halloween but I probably won’t be searching for the 20 year anniversary DVD when I am 61. Sidebar – Do you think we will still have DVD’s in 2038? Or will we have gone full circle and be searching Amazon for BetaMax again? Because let’s be honest, if you are really going to enjoy the classics, you have to have some integrity issues with the picture quality. I remember barely being able to see most of the original Halloween film when I first saw it in the 80’s because the lighting was so dark. I was adjusting brightness and tracking and anything else I could think off but it was just made dark.
Here is my point, my thesis statement, five paragraphs too late. If you like retro, find the original and enjoy it. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a VHS tape, but if you plan on getting excited about the potential for a Candyman reboot, go watch the one that was released in 1992 and appreciate it for what it was in the early 90’s. Part of being original is appreciating things that are originals. Do you remember how New Coke flamed out and they had to go back to the “Classic” recipe? That was the original and that is what is still popular today. Companies mess around with packaging all the time but they always label it, “New Look, Same Great Taste”, because that is what needs to stay the same. The taste, figuratively and literally speaking, is what we always remember.
That brings me to originality in wax. And let me be clear on one major part of this discussion. “Wax” encompasses cards that were presented to us in wax wrappers. We are not buying “wax” at the LCS that is labeled 2018. We are not picking up “wax” at Target unless we are buying one of those repacks with some actual wax in it. I have been guilty of this before as well so I am not singling anyone out but I think we should start making the clear distinction between “wax” and the current product. Wax is, by its very name, specific to the era where we bought cardboard packaged in wax wrappers. Score threw us off a little when they introduced the little plastic bags and Upper Deck floored us with the foil but they are at least in the same era. That has actually been on my mind a lot lately and I wanted to go ahead and walk up the hill I am willing to die on.
Some of my favorite sets today are Heritage, Archives, and Classics. And some of my favorite inserts are the retro designs like the 1988 Donruss in football and the 1983 Topps in baseball this year. But you can actually go out and buy the real thing much cheaper than you are buying the current re-imagining. Sure, there is no Todd Gurley in 1988 Donruss and we won’t find Mike Trout in 1983 Topps, but we will find their 80’s counterparts, or originals, if you will. There are players like Bo Jackson, Marcus Allen, and Thurman Thomas that are found in many of the 80’s-90’s sets while players like Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripken Jr., and Jose Canseco are the cream of the crop for those 80’s wax packs.
I have found myself drowning in 2018 product because something gets released every week and I can’t seem to keep up. I love the rips on Periscope but we are seeing the same things over and over, just slightly repackaged. There is just too much to sort through and it can really drive you mad if you are still trying to collect with an old school mindset like I do. I have about 30 partially filled 500 count boxes in my closet with anything from Unparalleled, Chronicles, Origins, Certified, Chrome, Platinum, Bowman, Optic, Elements, and the list goes on. It has become maddening. I can feel myself losing some of my own originality because I am constantly bombarded with a new design concept but the checklist never changes.
This is Wax! There is a special feel and even a special smell that is only found in wax packs. There is no substitute.
One of the aspects of baseball cards that no longer exists in the current product; learning about baseball history.
For the most part, unique batting stances have faded. There are definitely some left but think about the batting stances from the 80’s and 90’s that are so unforgettable.
Major League Baseball has upped their game on jersey quality. Even Spring Training threads are top notch today.
I can’t remember the last time I saw a baseball helmet with no flaps! Was Olerud the last player? These were even better in the mini version with Dairy Queen Ice Cream in them.
Steve Jeltz could have made this list as well. Maybe it’s a product of global warming but we certainly don’t have enough warm up windbreakers in the game in 2018.
And without the windbreaker, we are also deprived of the windbreaker under the jersey look!
Back to the batting helmets, when was the last time you saw a player wear their cap under the helmet? I remember doing this in Little League and not even knowing it was possible to wear without the cap.
“Back in my day”, nickname cards were special inserts. These were actual player nicknames and they were showcased on their base cards.
These guys were good enough at their craft that they didn’t need contacts to play the game. No player represents the glasses era any better than Kent Tekulve. And I’m pretty sure that Kelly Paris and Ken Phelps are the same person.
I won’t say that this is completely gone from the game but you really don’t see eyeblack like you used to!
We had a Mike Trout in the 80’s too! He may have been medically enhanced but he was so fun to watch. Imagine what sort of stardom this guy would’ve experienced long term if things would’ve work out differently.
You want superstars? Dollars to doughnuts, there are not as many bona fide star players in the league as their used to be. This isn’t even all of the players that make the ’89 superstar list!
Card companies tinker around with box bottoms from time to time but these were common place in the 80’s. These made even the boxes collectible.
Error cards in the 80’s weren’t intentional either. Card companies made legitimate mistakes and then they reprinted cards trying to cover them up, indirectly creating a secondary market for the cards that were printed in error. These are the two famous errors from 89 Fleer, with Billy Ripken being arguably the most famous error ever.
Finally, though these are more readily available, I’ll bet a box of ’89 Bowman that Ken Griffey Jr. finished his career with better stats than any rookie from 2017-2018 will amass in their career. That includes Judge, Ohtani, Acuña, and others. That’s not a knock on those guys, but why wouldn’t you want a Hall of Fame rookie in your collection when it could be had for such a reasonable price?
I didn’t think about that burger again until McDonald’s reintroduced it in 2015. Life is funny like that. Even when you really enjoy something, if you go long enough without it, you start to find other things to take its place and it eventually fades from your memory. You could never forget about the Big Mac because it’s always there. Even if you aren’t ordering it, you see it out of your peripheral and you think, yep, the Ole Big Mac. That’s sort of what happened with Saved By the Bell. Yeah, I know; I loved that show a little too much. But it’s still on in syndication at weird hours of the day so I can get my DVR to record some episodes and quench my Kapowski thirst anytime. The same can’t be said for “Hey Dude”. I loved that show too but it doesn’t show up in any current DVR searches. So SBTB will always rule because it’s nostalgia we can still enjoy.
Music is a little different because we can download just about anything from iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify. But there are still groups that get lost in the shuffle because “Metallica”, “Journey”, and “Pearl Jam” are still touring somewhere. What about “Oasis”? Remember how great they were? Or the original “Everclear” group? “Counting Crows” is still touring but they aren’t releasing new music per se. Their last release was 2014 and if you go to their show, you are still going to hear “
But here is the point. Not being relevant today doesn’t mean that you weren’t big time back then. There are plenty of things that were awesome in the 80’s and 90’s and would still be awesome today if given their proper amount of respect. McDonalds thought enough of the Triple Cheese to bring it back. Whether you know or remember the “Counting Crows” or not, you can still go see them in Hartford CT on 8/15! “USA High” is not “Saved By the Bell” and Elena Lyons is not Tiffani Amber-Theissen but it doesn’t mean she isn’t worthy of our time and admiration! Sometimes we get too hung up on the mainstream and we forget that there can be greatness hiding just behind the headlines. We just aren’t used to looking beyond the spotlight.
The same can be said for Baseball Players from my youth. We all remember Ken Griffey Jr., Bo Jackson, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire and Nolan Ryan. And we absolutely should because they were dominant players. Some are in the Hall of Fame, ESPN makes a “30 for 30” about some of them every year and some of are still visible around the league. But what about the rest of the 80’s/90’s baseball? We had more than 20 stars at any given time throughout the 80’s but we tend to only celebrate the elite of the elite. Some of the other players just don’t get remembered by collectors today because they aren’t in the Hall or they don’t have a statue outside of their stadium or they didn’t do anything crazy enough to warrant a tell-all book. But between the white lines, they were absolutely star players.
Gerald Perry
George Bell
Jesse Barfield
Glenn Davis
Tom Henke
Ramon Martinez
Bret Saberhagen
Ruben Sierra
Tim Wallach
Lou Whitaker
What are your thoughts on this list of players? I’m convinced that these will be some of the guys we look to 50 years from now when we are naming top players from the 80’s. Young collectors may not know these names all that well but when we start looking at the 80’s as somewhat of a vintage era, these players will deserve to be in the discussion. I think these guys deserve to be in any collections that include top players from their generations. Sometimes you have to look a little past the glitz and glam of the “Hall of Fame label” to find some great collectible players. Sometimes we overlook greatness because of the elite around them. You have to admit, while we all loved Phoebe Cates in “Fast Times”, Jennifer Jason Leigh was pretty hot too!
In 1985, I was 8 years old and in the 3rd grade. We played outside from dusk til dawn, our parents never worried about it and we weren’t really getting exposed to all of the garbage I have to worry about with my kids today. I did stay up late one night and sneak in the last 15 minutes of Friday the 13th as a kid and saw a little more than what I was allowed to see but that was about it. I remember getting scared when I saw David Banner transform into the Hulk and I thought it was one of the scariest things I’d ever seen. My kids laugh at those 80’s special effects today.
Bailey (11) and I watched “Silver Bullet” a few weeks ago (released in ’85) and at the end, she said, “I thought this was going to be scary.” I remember seeing that movie for the first time and being terrified! I guess I’ll show her “Maximum Overdrive” and “Night of the Living Dead” next and see what she thinks about those. In fairness, when I take into account that “The Walking Dead” is one of the most popular television shows in history and it is uber gory, it makes sense. She doesn’t watch that show because I don’t think she is quite old enough but it is far more disturbing than anything mainstream that came out during the 80’s.
That’s part of why I remember my time as a kid fondly. Who knows, maybe my kids will look back on there childhood the same way. But when I look back at being a kid, I realize that I didn’t have a whole lot to worry about. I’m not saying it was a utopian society by any means but there really isn’t much of a comparison to what the kids of today have to face. I grew up watching Transformers and He-Man fight for mankind. My kids have YouTube and all the craziness that lives there! You can upload almost anything there these days. There is a Peppa Pig video floating around where the pig goes on a murderous rampage. Yeah, I love horror movies but I don’t want to mix them with my kid’s cartoons.
In the 80’s, about the worst thing we could see on TV as kids was going to be a “Saved by the Bell” episode about taking pills to stay awake and study. Do you remember when Jesse was “So excited! So excited! So excited!”? I will admit though that I watched “Tom and Jerry” a couple of weeks ago and it was pretty brutal by today’s standards. Jerry chased Tom around with a meat cleaver and hammer, which felt out of place in our modern society. I don’t know if Disney would get away with that one today but I’m sure Nickelodeon would slip it in to their rotation. Who knows; maybe all of it is relative to what you are used to?
Whatever the case, pop culture was at a peak in 1985 if you ask my opinion, and if you click on the blog link, you did. Television was rocking shows like; “Mr. Belvadere”, “Growing Pains”, “Cheers”, “The Cosby Show”, “Night Court”, “Family Ties”, “Different Strokes” and “The Facts of Life.” How many catch phrases, character ideas and plot stories do we still get from these masterpieces? The sitcoms of today seem tired and boring compared to these. Maybe that is why we see such a difference in what is on TV vs. today as I mentioned with “The Walking Dead” above. Once it has already been done, you have to go a little further and create something new. Maybe that is why society as a whole has pushed so far beyond the boundaries we once had. I don’t know, it’s just a thought.
Movies were pretty classic in 1985 as well; and it only cost $2.75 to go see them in the theater! I wrote about my favorite 
I will never “move on” from opining about the 80’s and 90’s. The cold hard truth is that I miss everything that made those years fun; VHS tapes, cassettes, posters on the wall, Corey Haim films, drooling over Kelly Kapowski, watching MTV to see the latest video from my favorite band, tuning in to ESPN to see gosh darn sports highlights and not poker tournaments, playing Nintendo when there were only 2 buttons you had to master in order to win a football game. I miss eating whatever I wanted to without having to worry about cholesterol or calorie counts. I remember when bread was a part of the food pyramid and it always contained gluten!
Yes, things were simpler back then but what is wrong with that? What is wrong with sitting down and watching a movie about vehicles coming to life and terrorizing people and it not feeling hokey? What is wrong with believing that blood coming from Ric Flair’s head is real because Dusty Rhodes hit him with a tire iron? When our headphone batteries went dead, we had no choice but to go outside. We couldn’t text or FaceTime every minute of the day so we had to form personalities and then learn how to cope with people who did or didn’t like us because of that personality. WHY HASN’T ANYONE INVENTED THAT TIME MACHINE YET DR. BROWN???
Of course, there is something else I miss about the 80’s; simple but awesome sports cards. By 1989, we had about 6 options to choose from if you included Sportsflics and the companies put everything they had into that annual set they released. You could even buy a collectors kit from the Sears Catalog and 80’s cards were considered “hard-to-find”. While the current year cards weren’t hard to find because they were in every convenience store in America, I do remember the previous year’s sets being difficult. That is why ’87 Topps was so hot in 1989! We spent the whole year trying to collect the entire set through packs and now, you have about a week before the next product releases.
I know there is a good and bad side to those days but the bad only came later when we realized how much we were missing. If I ever find a way to go back to the 80’s, I am staying there so the Junk Wax Era will never really be the Junk Wax Era anyway. That Mark McGwire RC will always be valuable and Donruss will always have logos. As you can see, I really don’t ask for much. Just take me back to a time when video games were 16 bits, TV shows had to be recorded with VCR’s and baseball cards were made to be collected. Is that really too much?
I feel like I’ve gotten heated for some reason. Let me pull back the reigns and focus on something from that will relax me. Here is a prime example of an excellent baseball card set from the 80’s. The 1985 Topps set is a beauty and is loaded with superstars and some heavy hitting rookies. The packs still had gum, the cards still had borders and information on the back, and the big hits were simply the best players. This set was right before they started getting a little crazier with the designs as ’86 and ’87 would attest. This was a true baseball card, all the way around.
They certainly don’t make packs like they used to!
What better card to show off the design than this sweet Gary Pettis? The backs of the 85 Topps has a real holiday feel with the green and red.
The catchers are always a little slim in these rips but here are 3 good ones. Always love Tony Pena in his Pirates uni!
The infielders are a little more stacked with Chicken Man, Ryno, The Wizard and Donnie Baseball. I was a fan of Sweet Lou during the 80’s as well thanks to RBI Baseball.
The outfield was loaded with studs. The first thing I notice about this selection is the uniforms. Rock has the sweet Expos, Hendu has the old school Mariners and Willie McGee had the baby blue St. Louis jersey. Teams should still be wearing these jerseys! I’d also like to know how Jorge Bell became George Bell.
This was before Dennis was Oil Can and before Tommy John was a surgery. The Brewers had 2 Hall of Famers in their rotation and Eck and Dave Stewart were about to embark on a World Series run together in Oakland. Good times!
There were some sweet manager cards in 85 Topps. Bobby Cox would soon be an Atlanta Brave but not before Chuck Tanner took his shot. Pete Rose was one of the last player/managers and we all know how that worked out. LaRussa was about to join Eck and Stewart in Oakland.
The Record Breakers included Juan Samuel with the most steals by a rookie. He wound up winning ROY in 1984. While he had a serviceable career with 3 All-Star appearances, he never caught fire in the hobby.
Here are some of the All-Stars from 1984. Again, some of the uniforms jump right off the page. That Padres uniform is one from the 80’s I could probably do without but please bring back the Expos, Cards and Astros uniforms.
There were a lot of Father/Son inserts in 1985. Another couple of Boone’s were on their way into the league too. There were also a couple of future Fathers of major leaguers in this set; Ken Griffey Sr. and Jose Cruz.
This is the only Darryl Strawberry I pulled but it’s pretty sweet. I also love the Dunston but it has pretty severe gum damage. Look at that beautiful jersey on Floyd Bannister!
The rookie class was pitcher heavy with Rocket, Doc, Saberhagen, Key and Gubicza. All of these guys had nice careers and a few of them had great careers. The Eric Davis is one of my favorite RC’s from this year. Alvin Davis is one of the more underrated superstars from the 80’s.
Here are some of the players from the U.S. National Team. I missed out on Will Clark.
But I didn’t miss out on the stud of the set! This card was three bills when I was in high school and one of the most sought after 80’s cards in the entire hobby. I only pulled 1 but it is the first one I’ve ever pulled from a pack. This made the box well worth it!
This Score is a product of nostalgia and pulling a Mark McGwire Team USA card. If I hadn’t pulled it, I’m afraid I would’ve landed on a 3. This is not the best design Topps had in the 80’s but it was not the worst either. The box is a little pricey if you don’t wind up pulling some of the studs. Even with McGwire, I missed out on Puckett and Strawberry. But this set has a strong rookie class and there are several stars who were still very early in their careers here. I kinda like the green and red backs and definitely enjoyed the #1 Pick inserts. You can run the risk of pulling some gum damaged stars because they didn’t discriminate on the cards they put in the back of the pack. But overall, this is a classic set from the 80’s and has good value for retro collectors.
But I, like most collectors my age, can trace my love for cardboard back to a much simpler time. I’m talking about a time when Diamond Kings, Dream Teams and basic Rated Rookies were the hits we were all chasing. My zest for the hobby was born when I was just a kid, around 11 years old. And sure, there are some collectors who started as adults, but most of us picked up our first cards when we only cared about the picture on the card and not whether the serial number matched the jersey number making it a 
The hobby has changed A LOT since the days I spent making trades on the playground at Mitchell Middle. The industry has exploded with new innovations and it is about much more than just cards in 2018. In fact, most collectors consider it a bust if they open a pack and they get “just cards”. But every now and then, you just have to slow down and strip away all the cracked ice and purple prizm and just enjoy the cards for what they are. You have to always reserve a place in your soul for the reason you’re a part of this crazy circus to begin with. You have to remember your collecting roots or you will get completely swept away by the latest and greatest Target exclusive that can only be found at triple markup online.
There are a few things that I always think about when I am sorting through junk wax sets. There are things that are just burned into my memory from the beginning of my journey through the land of wax that can always help me center myself when I feel like I’m losing my grip on self control. I don’t know why they’ve stuck with me for 30 years but I know they are always there. They can be triggered by the sight of a border design or the mention of a name that has faded from my daily memory but still means so much. I owe my entire hobby life to those memories because I still chase the high that I got from opening packs as a kid. As minor as they seem today, they certainly serve a purpose in my life today.
I think about the 1990 Fleer Mark McGwire that I opened on Halloween night. My “GaGa” bought me a pack of cards instead of giving me some terrible candy corn and I always remember sitting in the living room floor, with my costume still on, ripping that pack to reveal Big Mac in his throwing motion. I can’t explain why it is such a vivid memory; I can just feel that moment when I’m looking through ’90 Fleer. And it feels so good, like all of my worries and cares are gone for a moment. I know this probably sounds a bit dramatic for some of you but it’s 100% legitimate.
I think about the time I traded a short stack of hot prospects like Kevin Maas, John Olerud and Phil Plantier for a Ken Griffey Jr. autograph that I knew couldn’t be real but also couldn’t pass up on the 1% chance that it was. Of course, it wasn’t real but I still have it in the exact same protector that it came in through the trade. I remember sitting in my friends room, looking at the card, thinking that there was no way he’d actually trade it. But also thinking that there was no way it was actually real. What 14 year old could really pass up a Ken Griffey Jr. “autograph”, real or not??
I remember looking up 1989 Score in my first Beckett. I had a unique way of opening those packs back then. The number on the back of Score was at the top of the card so I would slide the front card up just enough to see the number and find it in the price guide. I wanted to see the $2-$3 in the magazine before actually seeing the Gary Sheffield RC. It was much like the way I try to reveal hits today, with seeing small parts of the card before the big reveal. I don’t know why it’s always Score in my memory other than the fact that it was a vertical back and easy to keep the player info hidden.
I especially remember when errors were mistakes made by the companies. They tried to catch these mistakes and get them corrected before the market was flooded with goof ups. There was the Dale Murphy ’89 Upper Deck Reverse Negative, ’90 Donruss Juan Gonzalez reverse negative, the infamous ’89 Fleer Billy Ripken and the entire 1990 Pro Set Football debacle. Mistakes were made in printing due to the sheer volume of cards they were pumping out in some cases but it was so fun to pull one of those and think that you had something rather rare and unique for the time. Of course, now companies make intentional errors to harken back to the good ole days but it’s really not the same.
Which brings me to the modern set that I want to review here in this post. 2018 Topps Big League just released last week and is supposed to be a basic, stripped down collection of baseball cards. They are aimed at kids in the hobby but should also pick up a following from the old school collectors who are looking for something devoid of the hubbub that can come with shiny parallels, retail exclusives and refractor autographs. This is a modern day set with a throwback feel to the vintage or junk wax era. There are hits to be found, as well as some of those intentional errors, but the backbone of the set is the 3 x 5 piece of cardboard with a player image on the front.
With this configuration, Topps has made a solid effort to bring the hobby to the kids while inserting some value in the set as well. Other sets have tried to do this but have fell short because of a total lack of excitement in the checklist and a zero percent chance of pulling something that has value. I was a kid once and I still wanted to find cards that were worth something. I didn’t want a card with eye black that I could peel off and wear like one of the many gimmicks Triple Play has introduced over the years. If I were a kid today, I’d want a card of Ozzie Albies that didn’t include some pennant that you pull off and stick over his head. I’m hoping that Topps Big League has hit on something with this new entry but it’s hard not to be skeptical after all the recent attempts to bridge the gap between kid collectors and product value.
In what may seem like a minor issue, I really like the packaging. It reminds me of Gypsy Queen and Heritage but it’s still foil.
The base design is clean. I prefer a border to the full bleed of the flagship product. I like full bleed for Stadium Club because the photos are so great. But I think traditional cards should have a border.
I like how the bat extends beyond the border in some of the photos. This Cody Bellinger is a good example.
There is a solid mixture of horizontal photos in the set like this Dansby Swanson.
There are three player stat leader cards at the beginning of the 300’s in the checklist.
There are some sweet veterans to be found in the latter part of the checklist. These players include Nolan Ryan, Hank Aaron, Jeff Bagwell, Ted Williams, John Smoltz and others.
There is a section of cards that is dedicated to “Ballpark Landmarks”. These are pretty unique and cool.
The base checklist closes out with the RC’s and they are all here. I pulled Acuna, Ohtani, Gleyber, Andujar and others.
The gold parallels are found 1 per pack. There is a gold parallel for every card in the base checklist.
Players Weekend Image Variations are found 1:3 packs so they are not scarce but they are sharp looking.
Ministers of Mash is a 10 card insert featuring the games best hitters.
One of my favorite inserts, the sketch card, makes its way into Big League as well with this set called Star Caricatures. If I am not mistaken, Mike James is responsible for some of these beauties!
This Pedro Martinez is the Rainbow Foil numbered to 100. These are found 1:30 packs.
I pulled one Black and White Parallel numbered to 50. These are found 1:60 packs so this is definitely considered a hit!
If you like baseball cards, you’ll like this set. But you’re really going to have to like baseball cards. You can’t be in search of funky color parallels or autographs if you want to enjoy this box. I think the design is simple but effective, the cost is excellent for a hobby box, there are some true chase cards that aren’t guaranteed in each box and the checklist has all the names you’ll want to find. The set will be great for kids but isn’t childish either. The sketch cards are real art and not cheap and cartoony. The Ballpark Landmarks are cool and give you a look at stadiums you may not otherwise see. And if you pull an autograph here, which is possible, it is truly an above average hit. I expect the set to evolve and progress in the future but this is a very solid first effort. What say you?
The closure of Toys R Us has sort of affected me in a way I can’t explain. I’m not depressed or anything but riding by that empty store is just a very weird feeling. Their slogan was, “I don’t want to grow up, I’m a Toys R Us kid!” What are we supposed to do now that they are closed? Does that mean we have to grow up? I still went in the store quite a bit because I have kids of my own and there was a feeling that you just couldn’t get at other stores, at least locally. Other stores have toy sections but let’s be real; nothing compared to Toys R US, or even Kay-Bee for that matter, which is also gone now.
While I understand that the closure of this store was part of natural selection as we all continue our move to an online world, it is hard to lose something that was a big part of your past and not feel some sort of way. Another quote that hits a nostalgic person right in the feels is attributed to Buddha, who said, “You can only lose what you cling to.” That’s what “we” do. We cling to the tiny fabrics that make up the tapestry of our lives and each one means something to us. If you start pulling threads out of the overall work, things have a tendency to start to fray.
Sam Goody
Big “B” Drugs
Piggy Wiggly
Arcades
Video Stores
Upper Deck
The packs were pretty sweet – tamper proof foil like the years before but blue this season with pinstripes.
A staple of Upper Deck was the hologram stickers. These were full size team logos.
Here is the design of 1991 Upper Deck. As you will recall, 1989 had the base line on the right side of the card. 1990 had the base line across the top. This year had the base line running down the left side of the card. Upper Deck always had some unique photos too, like this Bert Blyleven.
There was only one notable catcher but it was one of my favorite ’91 Upper Deck cards when I was a kid. This Sandy Alomar Jr. was so colorful and I loved the photo.
The infield was stacked with young players and grizzled veterans. There were 2 future Bravos here with Fred McGriff and Andres Galarraga. Big Cat is rocking the Expos uni, which is always great. Paul Molitor was such an underrated player. By this point in his career (13 seasons), he had a career .299 average, was averaging double digit home runs and had multiple 40+ stolen base seasons. You can throw Alvin Davis in that underrated category as well.
The outfield is pretty loaded up too. Deion Sanders and Dave Justice were key cogs in the Braves outfield and lineup during the great run of the 90’s. And because this was the high series box, I landed a Bo Jackson in both Kansas City and Chicago. While I didn’t pull a Ken Griffey Jr., he did appear on this card of Ken Sr. And I will always see Kirby in that Twins uni but will never get used to seeing Strawberry in Dodger Blue.
The pitchers were pretty legendary in this set. Randy Johnson was getting started on a Hall of Fame career while Nolan Ryan was wrapping his up. This card of Nolan features a pretty iconic image of the Express. Maddux would soon discover that chicks dig the long ball so this bunt might have been one of his last. And the Braves got their fill of Scott Erickson, Jack Morris and Doug Drabek in the playoffs that year.
These cards are very memorable from the early 90’s junk wax era. Everyone remembers the Rickey Henderson and Lou Brock card, along with the 1917 White Sox throwback.
I only pulled two of the artist checklist. One was a sweet Chris Sabo while the other was a ho-hum Roberto Kelly.
These are some of the rookies and prospects that stood out in 1991. I didn’t pull a Chipper but I did snag a Mo Vaughn and Eric Karros. Steve Decker was a huge prospect for the Giants in ’91 but he didn’t pan out.
I didn’t pull an Aaron autograph but I did load up on the Baseball Heroes cards. Those 70’s Milwaukee uniforms were hot!
These cards deserve their own segment and comment. The first was the Hank Aaron hologram. I searched for this card like a 1/1 Trout back in 1991. This is a sweet insert!
I was a huge fan of Jose Canseco in 1991 so I was blown away by this card of his twin brother, Ozzie. At the time, I had no idea that Ozzie was playing so I thought it was an amazing card.
Though I didn’t pull the Chipper RC, I did pull what was considered THE ROOKIE CARD of the set in 1991. This Todd Van Poppel was on the cover of Beckett and highly sought after in the hobby. I actually think this card is better than any I have pulled so far in 2018 Topps Inception.
This was one of those “retirement cards” from the junk wax era. This was as hot as Gregg Jefferies’ 1989 Future Stars for a while. This would have been a huge box in 1991.
The first of two Hall of Fame RC’s is this Jeff Bagwell. Bags was a hot rookie and he turned out to have a stellar career. I pulled 5 of these in the box!
The other Hall of Fame RC I pulled was this awesome Frank Thomas. Though he and Bagwell both had cards in 1990, this was their first Upper Deck cards. This is a very special card for me and one that I will slide right into my current PC.
1991 Upper Deck is a classic set from the junk wax era and had some great individual cards that are memorable. The Ozzie Canseco, Todd Van Poppel and Kevin Maas cards were so hot when this set came out. Some other players turned out to be the long term guys like Chipper, Bagwell and Big Frank but this set really covered the spectrum of hot rookies and solid veterans. The design was typical Upper Deck and the only change from year to year was the base line on the card. Boxes can be found relatively cheap now with this one costing me $12.95 and regardless of the odds, there is a chance to pull a Hank Aaron autograph if you are extremely lucky. I really like this set better than 1990 but not as good as 1989. I’d give it an overall “4” on the Dub-O-Meter and would lean closer to a “5” than a “3” on the scale. What do you think about 1991 Upper Deck?
I remember playing on Thursday Nights at the middle school gym with the toughest competition in the city and I remember playing one on one at Coop’s House. It didn’t matter if it was a dusty court with a wooden backboard or a nice wood gym floor with breakaway rims. I would play basketball with anybody, anywhere and at anytime. I even skipped lunch in school to play basketball with classmates. I used to practice my jump shot over and over and over in my backyard. I would try to shoot from all over the court but would force myself to make 5 consecutive shots before moving to a new spot.
Basketball is one of the things that I’m holding on to for dear life. I’m 41, 5’11, 225 lbs and am still trying to make moves I made as a 16 year old in the city league I’m playing in. It’s frustrating to know what you want your body to do but not be able to make it do it. I can still see the court like I did as a kid; I’m just not able to shoot lanes and thread passes like I did back then. It doesn’t stop me from trying. I’m really a different person on the court than I am in the rest of my life. Even in softball, I’m usually the quiet guy that just gets down to business when the game starts, trying to avoid the competitive machismo that has taken over the sport.
But when I step on the basketball court, I have a different attitude. My goal is to find your weak spot and exploit it. Many times that involves trash talk and the general pushing of buttons. I like to get under your skin on the basketball court. It has always been a cerebral game for me but now more so than ever, with my first step not being what it used to be. I will still go right at you and attack. Now I just use my size more than speed. But I still absolutely love the game and feel completely at home in a gym. When I step on the court, it almost feels like an out of body experience. It’s zen like in many ways.
It helps that I love the team I play on. It’s the same general squad as my softball team but we also have a player or two from outside of that sport. This year, we have Nate, a player who I coached many years ago as a 2nd Grader, and CJ, 
Most of all, we function well as a team. We learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses and try to put each other in the best position to succeed. We generally love and respect each other like brothers and we always have each other’s back. It’s the classic case of, “I can pick on my brother but you better not say something bad about him.”
And tonight, we find something that connects two of my happy activities; the sorting table and basketball. My love for basketball was white hot in 1991 when this Hoops set hit the scene. The NBA will never be as good as it was then and nobody will ever convince me otherwise. This set was not the first I had in my collection but was very early in my basketball days. Hoops was abundant in my hometown, along with Skybox, and was the set I went looking for on my trips to Wal-Mart. Despite how much I loved it then, this box didn’t age well through 2018. Notice the hats and shirts say “NBA” instead of a team name. What a cheesy photo. Luckily, the contents inside the box got much better!
Hoops was known for its “baggy” style pack, much like Score of the junk wax era.
It doesn’t take long to realize why the NBA was at its best during this time. Starting with the guards, you have legends like Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson, John Stockton, Clyde Drexler and Reggie Miller. Richmond and Hardaway were the 91 version of Harden and Paul today. I also believe that today’s collector or NBA fan will never truly understand how good of a player Drazen Petrovic was! What a start to the box review with these guards!
There isn’t a drop off to the forwards either! Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Dominique Wilkins and Shawn Kemp keep the nostalgia train rolling. I was a huge fan of Sean Elliott too and coveted his rookie cards from the year before. I was at a summer camp when Reggie Lewis died and I still remember sitting on the bed seeing that news on ESPN.
Of course there aren’t as many centers to be found because there was only one starter per team. But there are still some headliners like David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing. Manute Bol was always a fan favorite and I remember the game when he drilled six 3 pointers in a single half in 1993! Draymond Green fans would’ve loved Bill Laimbeer.
How about some coaches? Look how young this quartet looks!
I came up pretty empty overall on the East All-Star team. I like Wilkins, Ewing and Barkley of course but I don’t remember clamoring for Ricky Pierce and Alvin Robertson cards.
The West was a little stronger with Drexler, Hardaway, Magic, Mullin, Admiral and Stockton.
Here are the award winners from the previous season. Anybody think MVP wasn’t going to be MJ? Rodman as defensive POY seems like a lock too. The Skiles award surprised me a little.
This subset commemorated rookie seasons of the past. Gotta love the Chief Warriors jersey.
I was happy to add another Bird and Jordan to the stack. These were “milestones” and Jordan was points and Larry was points, rebounds and assists.
Remember the weekly NBA show “Inside Stuff” with Amhad Rashad? Here’s the inserts dedicated to the show.
I remember the big push from the NBA for kids to stay in school. Each set had some cards dedicated to that cause. This is a neat Will Smith card.
The league leaders were cool dual cards with nice designs. I obviously remember Jordan and the Mailman lighting up the scoreboard but I would’ve never guessed that Trent Tucker and Jim Les led the league in 3 Pt Percentage.
The team cards were mostly standard on court photos but there were a couple nice photos like the Lakers and Pacers. The best one was the Hornets card!
Lastly, I truly don’t remember ever pulling this card as a kid. This Centennial Card has a nice silver foil that seems a little ahead of its time.
The NBA was unbelievable in the early 90’s and fans today that didn’t get to experience it will never understand. This set was a prime example of the greatness of 91 basketball. The design is clean, there are a ton of superstars and there are plenty of insert type cards to provide a nice variety. The box was only $6.95 at my LCS so price is almost non-existent. I love early 90’s Hoops and this year is my personal favorite. I also enjoyed Skybox from this year and I’ll probably review it soon as well. I can’t think of any negatives to this set other than the fact that it’s smack dab in the middle of the junk wax era and you can still find them everywhere. Still, this set is a “5” on the Dub-O-Meter and I thoroughly enjoyed this nostalgic rip!