I went to another card show yesterday with Dawg Day Cards blogger Angus. It'd been a little more than a year since we were able to go to a show together. I think the last one was the mall show in October of last year.
I'll get to everything that went down at the show probably tomorrow, but I wanted to focus on one thing that I received from Angus before we journeyed down.
He showed it on his blog a week or two ago and I knew it was coming my way.
It was a nice, wrapped stack of 1982 Fleer stamps. I've mentioned this set on the blog a couple of times this year, specifically during the "Elusive '80s cards, really?" series I do (another one of those on the way in the next few weeks).
Angus picked it up at a card show in Detroit and assumed it was the whole set. I did, too. But something in the back of my mind thought something was a little off.
This set was issued in strips of 10 cards. I remember buying one pack of them. After seeing Topps' stickers in 1981 and then again in 1982, I was interested in Fleer's response. I was pretty disappointed. They actually were stamps, with blank backs, you licked them -- apparently -- and stuck them in a provided book, which I never saw. Because I lost interest as soon as I saw what they were.
However, in the 40 years that have passed, I've realized there are Dodgers in that group that I need. And all the other guys are players I followed avidly during the early '80s. Yeah, sure I want them.
So, I gratefully accepted them and couldn't wait to unwrap it. The cellophane wrapping on it looked like it had been there since 1982. It was sealed tight. And knowing that these came out of packs in strips I knew that someone had separated all of them and put them in a stack.
The Fernando on top is a nice enticement but he's also the first card in the set, which arrived immediately after Fernandomania and the Dodgers winning the World Series. I looked forward to seeing what the Dodgers looked like after all these years (I had only the Cey, Garvey and the Lasorda-Fernando combo).
OK, "back of my brain," you were right. Three duplicates right away. Also, if you look at the teeny tiny numbers in the corner, the numbers skip with 2, 4, 6 and 10 (Monday, Baker, Guerrero and Lopes) missing.
That pattern continued for the next team, the Reds. Multiples of Dave Collins, Davey Concepcion and Ray Knight but no George Foster, Frank Pastore, Ken Griffey or Ron Oester. Also, another feature that I didn't like when I first saw these is that there are no IDs on them anywhere. Good thing I know most of these guys on sight but some of the action cards, like Collins, are tricky.
The pattern of missing stamps and duplicates continued through the whole stack. Even though the initial wrapped stack appeared to be the whole set -- there are 242 stamps in the set and I counted 226 total stamps -- this stack is not quite half the set.
In fact,
Anybody want a Steve Rogers?
Al Oliver?
Sweet Lou?
U.L. Washington? (Or the guy behind him with a camera?)
I've now entered the wonderful world of dupe stamps.
Still, there were lots of marvelous new-to-me photos of those super-familiar players.
Joe Sambito yakking on the phone, Pete Rose running his mouth to Concepcion and Bowa, Stargell and Bibby living it up, Rose answering a question into an early ESPN microphone, Eddie Murray glowering, Gary Carter smiling, Dave Parker and Steve Carlton at the All-Star Game, and action shots of Nolan Ryan, Carl Yastrzemski and Rod Carew.
It was lots of fun looking at these even amid all the repeats.
I also surprised myself by knowing immediately which players were in that 10-stamp strip that I bought back in '82.
These are them: Willie Wilson, Chet Lemon, Dave Concepcion, Leon Durham, George Hendrick, Phil Niekro, Neil Allen, Rich Gossage, Paul Molitor and Jose Cruz. No, I don't remember the order.
I wish things I came across now could stick in my brain like stuff from 1982 does.
Also, the stamps ended on a high note as one of the last ones I pulled (or one of the last six) was this:
I have never seen this picture in the 46 years since it was taken. Fernando Valenzuela and Warren Spahn together. Not a single explanation from 1982 Fleer Stamps as to why or how this happened but I'm so glad it's in the set and that I can put it in my binder as soon as I purchase a few more 15-pocket pages.
As for the rest of the set, I'm perfectly fine with what I have. I'm not going to chase the other 128 stamps that I need. Per usual I'm almost mostly about the cards.
But those four Dodgers ...
Comments
We'll, I'm glad it was you opening it and sorting it, and not me!