The second manager card invasion

Managers no longer get baseball cards and I've devoted more than one post to what a tragedy that is. 

Thanks to legal hoo-ha and a general not caring about anything except stars and rookies by the general card collecting public, managers haven't shown up regularly on cards for nearly a dozen years. And now the poor people who have been collecting since 2020 are wondering what to do with their Wander Franco cards.

Manager cards would never steer you wrong. Well, most of the time.

 

We knew this collecting in the 1980s. It was the era of the Second Manager Card Invasion. It correlated with the Second British Invasion. In fact both invasions first started in the 1960s and then returned in the '80s. You didn't know rock n roll and manager cards had something in common, huh? Well, that's what this blog is for.

 

Objectively, the manager cards of the 1960s were better, just like the British Invasion music of the '60s was better. But I didn't collect in the '60s nor listen to music then. I collected in the '80s, and Second British Invasion music is probably my all-time favorite musical era.

 

This is why I'm going to show off my 12 favorite Topps manager cards of the 1980s. Maybe I'll do the '60s some other time.

 

A little more background: Manager cards were a regular thing through the 1960s and then into the early 1970s. Then Topps confined manager photos into tiny little circles or diamonds on team checklist cards. That lasted until the early 1980s, although there was one glorious year (1978) of manager cards. Newbies Donruss and Fleer started including manager cards in their sets in 1981 and Topps being the copycat that it is, decided to revive manager cards in 1983.

OK, now I'll show my favorite '80s Topps manager cards.

12. Pete Rose, 1989

Rose has a couple decent late 1980s manager cards but I like this one best. It arrived right when the gambling commotion started, which would push Rose out of the game. He looks like he's giving everyone the stink eye over it.

 

 

11. John McNamara, 1987

 

I don't think it was Topps' intention to make McNamara appear a bit confused on his card mere months after some of his managerial moves for the Red Sox in the 1986 World Series came under fire. But I love it just the same.

 

 

10. Yogi Berra, 1985

Berra's return to the managing game and Topps cards was kind of fun but it didn't last long. He was gone two weeks into the 1985 season, leaving collectors with an out-of-date card.

 

9. Billy Martin, 1983

Billy Martin showed up on cards a lot in the '80s -- thank goodness -- in any manner of ways. Smiling. Grumpy. This is my favorite, due to the uniform colors, the shades and the ever-present cross on his hat. Donruss issued a couple of cool Martin manager cards at this time, too, which is why I should do a separate countdown with Donruss and Fleer.

8. Don Zimmer, 1989

Zim cards are always fun. A smile and a chaw, that's all I really need for a manager card.

7. Lou Piniella, 1988

Piniella's '80s manager cards have plenty of highs and lows. But this one is cool as Piniella is shown threatening to knock out someone with his World Series ring. He probably got that ring when his team beat the Dodgers, but that's OK if it leads to a card like this (sorry for the crooked scans, I don't have time to retake photos/scans).

 

6. Bobby Valentine, 1988

Valentine was a young managing sensation in the late 1980s. Here, it looks like it's catching up to him a little bit, but that is a classic manager stance.

5. Ralph Houk, 1983

Houk looks positively giddy on this card which was kind of shocking as I recall. I perceived Houk as an old, crotchety type at the time.

4. George Bamberger, 1983

More levity. Basically all you need to do as a manager to get on this list is look like you might possibly be drunk.

3. Cal Ripken Sr., 1988

I don't know how many managers are shown doffing their cap on a card but it has to be less than five. Ripken seems to be at a spring training game, perhaps some sort of small pregame acknowledgement.

2. Earl Weaver, 1983

This is the card that touched off this post. Earl Weaver was born today and I posted this card during my daily 1983 birthday acknowledgement on Twitter/X. I've gone on and on about this card on this blog. You know why I love it. Or you should.

1. Tom Lasorda, 1988

No surprise here. This is one of my all-time favorite Dodger cards, let alone manager cards. It looks like Lasorda is inviting you into the golf cart for a ride, there's an empty seat right there.

See, this sums up everything that's missing in the cards that are coming out today, which is why I'll always be collecting more past cards than current cards.

There was a time when almost all the cards I collected were current cards. But that's when they had manager cards.