Card by card ... for now

 

Several nights ago, just before turning in, I was leafing through my huge hardcover book of all the Topps cards from 1952-85. It's a good way to relax before bed and I should go through it more often than I do instead of staring at youtube videos.  

 

The book may not be quite as fascinating as when I first saw it in a mom-and-pop bookstore back in the late 1980s. I've completed so many Topps sets since that point and the only cards pictured in there that I have not obtained are from the 1950s and '60s.

 

Except for one set.

 

1984 Topps Traded

 

It's the only 1980s Topps Traded set I haven't completed. In fact, it's the only Topps '80s set period that I haven't completed.

 

That's because the Dwight Gooden pre-rookie card is in this set. But the most recent set I haven't completed other than 1984 Traded in that book is 1968 Topps! 1984 Traded should be finished! Instead I have only 13 of the 132 cards.

 

I decided after looking through the book that I would add some '84 Traded, card by card to my collection. Sure that would take awhile, but it'd be kind of fun. I started loading up my sportlots cart with select cards.

 

The fascination I have with this set is with the familiar guys in unfamiliar uniforms, like any Traded set really. Here are a few examples that I've added to my cart:

 

#22T - Bill Campbell. Campbell's first, and brief, appearance with the Phillies. He shows up as a Phillie in the 1985 Topps set, too, but by the time the '85 Traded set is issued, he's with the Cardinals. I like this picture.

 

 

#54T - Dane Iorg. Obtaining this airbrushed masterpiece is a must, not only for the faux Royals hat and uniform but this is the team that Iorg is associated with most thanks to one particular World Series, the controversial Game 6 in which he delivered the game-winning hit. I also think it's interesting that it happened against the team for which he played eight years, the Cardinals.

 

 

#77T - Gary Matthews. An interesting action shot. Matthews as a Cub was a mainstay of mid-1980s sets and he had a real good year for one year with the Cubs in 1984, but when I was collecting as a kid, he was a Giant and a Brave and then did bad things with the Phillies (see 1983).

 

 

#79T - Larry Milbourne. Another interesting photo as you can see Milbourne batting against the Brewers, with some members lined up on the bench behind him. This was Milbourne's second tour with Seattle, though none of his previous cards listed him as a 2B-SS-3B.

 

 

#85T - Ken Oberkfell. Another wildly airbrushed pair of photos that I must have. Again, Oberkfell is a Braves mainstay during the back half of 1980s decade, but I know him almost exclusively as a Cardinal.

 

 

#87T - Al Oliver. One of the finest examples of the Traded Series. I have no memory of Al Oliver with the Giants and that's because he spent less of one season with them, getting traded to the Phillies in August of 1984. His only Giants cards are in the Topps Traded and Fleer Update sets from 1984. I have neither. Got to do something about this.

 

 

#89T - Amos Otis. Same situation as Al Oliver. Otis played part of the 1984 season with the Pirates before getting released. His only Pirates cards are here, Fleer Update and a wonderful 1984 O-Pee-Chee card that I also must have.

 

 

#98T - Ron Reed. Just a crazy altered photo. Reed's White Sox uniform doesn't look real at all. On top of that, this might be a night card so it belongs in the collection.

 

 

#106T - Scott Sanderson. The 1983 and 1984 Topps cards in which the inset photo is almost identical to the main photo are spectacular.

 

 

 

#116T - Craig Swan. More evidence that mid-1980s airbrushing is just as strange as those famed cards from the 1970s. This set and the Fleer Update set are the only places where you can find Craig Swan as an Angels. He pitched two games for the Angels in 1984.

 

Those are just a few of the cards I find amazing in the 1984 Traded set. It's not just a set for Gooden or the "XRC" cards of Bret Saberhagen and Jose Rijo or Pete Rose as an Expo. That's why I need this set.

 

And it's also why I may just wait out a chance to purchase the whole thing instead of going card by card. Looking around in the last day or two it appears you can buy the set for somewhere between $30 and $80. I personally would like to spend no more than $30-40 on it. I did recently spend quite a bit more for another set just the other day. But that set is from the '70s and it means a lot more to me than any mid-1980s set (stay tuned for that).

 

So the 1984 Traded set is now on my watch list, to rectify that huge 1981, 1982, 1983 ... 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 gap in my collection.