If I collected football in the '80s

 

I've talked about my history of collecting football cards here and there. Most of my childhood football-collecting involved the 1977 and 1979 Topps football sets. I also saw some 1975 and 1976 football a little bit but I didn't collect any.

When the 1980s hit, I ignored football cards completely. But I still watched it all through the decade. I remember Jaworski and Plunkett, the 1982 shortened season, the Ickey Shuffle; the Redskins teams and the Smurfs, Marcus Allen, the USFL, Marino-Duper-Clayton, The Fridge, Dit-ka, Kelly landing in Buffalo, the Eric Dickerson trade, the Broncos and the lopsided Super Bowls, and 49ers-Bengals Part II. I was there for it all.

But football cards? I couldn't have told you most of the designs 15 years ago.

 

I've slowly caught up and there are a few '80s Topps football designs that I've long admired -- not enough to try to collect any of the sets, but enough to be attracted when the cards are essentially free.

During the most recent Diamond Jesters' Time Travel trade, I grabbed a bunch of 1985 Topps football, mostly because lately I have more "older cards" inventory in football than baseball. (The only time travel rule is you have to trade for the card you want with an older card).

I know this set has its detractors. The sideways writing can hurt the brain. It's both horizontal AND black-bordered, two common complaints of collectors joined together. But, for the record, neither of those bother me at all.

Black borders were the height of cool until Bowman wrecked them about a decade ago. And if I keep the cards relatively protected, then they don't chip enough for me to turn on the set.

So I've grabbed some '85 football periodically if I don't have to plunk down much and it's resulted in me having more football cards from that set than any other one in the '80s.

I grabbed one other football card in the Time Travel Trade that's also from an '80s Topps set.

 

I really like the 1983 football set as well. You know I'm a sucker for giant team names at the top of the card by now. And the empty letters gives off a neon light vibe, especially if there's a dark background like on this card. My gosh I love that. Topps did everything right in 1983.

It makes me think that if I collected football in the 1980s I would go with the 1983 set, although when I was collecting regularly back then, I just instinctively bought cards from year to year, the design wasn't going to turn me away (like it does now).

So for amusement purposes (and because my planned post isn't ready yet), I'm going to rank the 1980s Topps football sets in order of preference.

This will be kind of an outsider's perspective because if you walked up to me on the street in 1982 or 1986 or 1989 and asked me what the football set looked like that year, I'd shrug my shoulders. I don't know what kids were talking about on the street corner then.

Here we go.

10. 1988

Topps' late 1980s football sets all run together for me and it took a concerted effort to separate them into year. When I finally got them straight, 1988 -- which I thought for sure was 1989 for too long -- settled at the bottom. I know the Bills helmet is supposed to make me like it, but the whole thing looks like late '80s Topps blah.

9. 1989

More blah but sort of Classic Blah. It's very understated with the helmet stripe serving as the main design element. It could not possibly have thrilled the kiddies but some of us grown-ups can appreciate something like this ... sort of.

 

 

8. 1981

 

I think (meaning I'm too lazy to do any basic research) this is the first Topps set where the Topps logo was incorporated in script as part of the border (think 1983 baseball). Still there's not enough here for the look to appeal to me. I don't know what that microphone-ribbon is supposed to be (or is it the down marker thing?). I'm sure I've read what it was before, probably in some glowing report from an '81 Topps football fan, maybe they even told me specifically what it was, but it didn't stick. And if I'm confused over what it is, I can't see that on like 500 cards without feeling dumb.

 

 

7. 1987

Can you believe I lived in Buffalo when Jim Kelly was the biggest thing in the city and I STILL didn't buy any football cards? What was wrong with me?

The '87 set doesn't stand out much from the '88 or '89 sets and maybe it was a reaction to the crazy thing Topps did in 1986. There's something classic about it, it's sort of like 1977 Topps baseball. Not exciting, but, you know, people still collected cards in the '60s.

6. 1986

This is so wild of Topps, so fucking wild. It looks exactly like a 1980s Fleer sticker set. Topps isn't Fleer! Topps would go out of its way in the '80s to tell you it wasn't Fleer ("the Real one") and then they put this out? It's so unlike Topps I still don't know what to think of it. Part of me wants more of the cards because it's so distinctive and part of me is worried that if I do collect them, someone will come to my house with a warrant and tell me they're counterfeit.

But I know people love this year because the cards don't come my way much.

5. 1980

Everything about this set's look says it would fit right in with when I was collecting football. If I didn't cut things off drastically, I would have moved seamlessly from 1979 to 1980 feeling comfortable and knowledgeable about what Topps football cards looked like and were. I'd also be calling this the "hot dog design" within about 20 seconds.

4. 1985

Yeah, Fred's mad about being handled so much. It's about all I have for the Bills cards for this year, which is weird because I have more cards from this set than any other and also the Bills were beyond awful in 1985, why would anyone want their cards?

3. 1982

So all the football card collectors in 1982 knew exactly where the 1983 Topps baseball design came from, huh? (Well, besides 1963 Topps baseball). I was completely clueless, didn't know what '82 football looked like at all. It's a pretty smooth-looking design, I like the sleek, wavy lines at the bottom.

2. 1984

I think I've seen the Dan Marino 1984 Topps card on the internet 60 thousands times and maybe 35 other 1984 football cards one time apiece. This is how much rookie cards in the '80s screwed us up. I do like the 1984 set and it sure as hell doesn't have anything to do with Marino (I'm a Bills fan, remember?). It had to seem quite modern at the time while also being kid-friendly. It's kind of the one '80s football set that I want to know more about -- the mid-1980s football sets for Topps (1984, 1985, 1986) are fascinating.

1. 1983

Yeah, if I wasn't trying to tackle 25 different baseball sets plus every Dodger I can get my hands on, this would be the set I'd tackle. It just looks like something I'd collect.

I know a lot of readers here aren't that interested in football (it's kind of death to put "football" in a post title), but don't worry, there were a few baseball cards in the Time Travel trade.

This 1984 O-Pee-Chee card has been calling to me for months and I finally grabbed it. I think you can tell it's a bit curled.

I also picked up some 1961 cards, I'm starting to favor this set over any other early '60s set. Funny how people's card tastes change over time.

And, look, we've come full-circle with this card in which someone wrote in that Bob Bruce now plays for the Indianapolis Colts ... er, I guess it would be Baltimore Colts then.

...

Yeah, I know, it's a reference to the Houston Colt .45s, I haven't forgotten baseball completely with this post.

Another great Time Travel trade down and very handy when more-involved posts aren't being cooperative. Or rather life isn't being cooperative.