In my continuing quest to plug the gaps as far as any baseball card set issued during my youth, I recently landed the 1980 Burger King Pitch, Hit & Run set.
Like the Burger King team sets of the late 1970s/1980, this set's design was produced by Topps and used the flagship design from the year of issue. As a youngster, I was well-aware of the Burger King team sets, but I don't recall knowing about the Pitch, Hit & Run set. It's possible that I had outgrown the advertising used for this set (I was 14) and it passed me by. I know I was too old to participate in Pitch, Hit & Run activities.
Still, this was a huge oversight on my part, this set is 100% filled with the players from my youth and it also features one of my all-time favorite aspects of cards from this time -- updates and variations -- spin-offs from the flagship set, whether related to changing teams or for no good reason at all.
My favorite aspect of sets like O-Pee-Chee is alterations from the Topps set, but even with OPC, some of the cards look similar to the Topps cards (same picture). But with this particular Burger King set none of the photos are the same. Oh, some of it is a matter of cropping, but still how spectacular that every card is different from the main Topps set!
I'm going to compare every single card, but before I get to that, let's look at a back comparison.
I fell in love with the 1980 Topps blue backs but even in that mind-set seeing those backs red is almost as wild as when the 1982 Topps Traded set turned green backs to red. The cartoon in 1980 Topps has been changed to advertising logos that are the same on every card.
An unnumbered checklist card comes with the set. This comes in quite handy because looking at the cards you may wonder why players like Enos Cabell and Frank Taveras are included while Johnny Bench and Mike Schmidt are excluded. The checklist required players who represented each of the attributes in "Pitch, Hit and Run".
OK, now let's compare each individual Burger King card to the Topps card. I'll start with the most drastic changes and work down to the most subtle. I'm not taking into account light/dark differences in most cases that can vary from card to card. And, of course, every Burger King card features the BK logo and the words "Collector's Series" that replaces the position flag on the Topps card.
Nolan Ryan
Starting with the biggest blockbuster transaction of the 1979-80 offseason with Nolan Ryan signing with the Astros. Not only has Ryan changed teams but he's gone from action to portrait and Burger King stripped Ryan of the All-Star banner, not wanting to repeat the 1975 Topps Bobby Murcer card showing Ryan as an All-Star for the opposite league. The signature has also been shifted to the left, so it doesn't cover all of Ryan's chin.
Joe Morgan
Another team switch reflecting another Astros signing. Burger King's card is updated but also more mundane. There's also a huge amount of empty space above Morgan, really underlining his "Little Joe" nickname maybe better than any other card.
Ron LeFlore
LeFlore moves from the Tigers to the Expos and from bunting in a batting cage to freezing in a warm-up jacket. Burger King also straightened out LeFlore's signature. Also, I should mention that the transaction portion on the Burger King backs are updated to reflect the player's movement to a new team.
Bobby Bonds
Bonds moves from the Indians to the Cardinals after being traded. It's a similar pose but he looks drastically different.
Reggie Jackson
Now we're in the group of cards that do not illustrate team changes but the photo changes anyway. Here Jackson goes from a terrific batting shot to a standard pose in a road uniform. It's not too exciting but Jackson received a lot of action shots during the late '70s/1980s portion of his career, so it is appreciated.
Fred Lynn
Maintaining the All-Star banner with a different picture is pretty damn appealing. Lynn goes from trotting in from the outfield to a standard batting shot.
Ron Guidry
Another Yankee that changes from Topps action to a Burger King pose. Some nice background in the BK shot.
Keith Hernandez
The 1980 Topps Hernandez card has been one of my favorites in the set since I first saw it, so the Burger King photo can't compare, but difference is good!
Vida Blue
I honestly don't know why some of the images changed, maybe it's possible that Burger King requested as distinct a set as possible? The BK card straightens out Blue's signature.
Omar Moreno
Moreno goes from a batting helmet to a pill box hat. It's also much warmer on Moreno's Topps card.
Dave Winfield
Both Topps and Burger King use a close-up shot of Winfield but the uniform changes and he's wearing different hats. BK also stacked Winfield's signature.
Dave Lopes
The card I've known about the longest and the card I've had the longest. Lopes obviously is in two different places here even if he's wearing a helmet in each. The large amount of sky on the BK card has always bugged me.
Jim Palmer
It amuses me that Palmer is hatless in each photo and it appears each photo took place at different times and in different stadiums, though I'm not 100 percent sure.
Tom Seaver
Interesting choice for Burger King as it uses a much more distant photo, although both appear to come from the same game.
Jerry Koosman
Again this looks like it's from the same game, possibly the same pitch, but the Burger King shot is zoomed out.
Dave Parker
Here begins the cards that show the same image but big differences in cropping or other photo adjusting. Unlike other Burger King cards, this one utilizes the empty space that the Topps card doesn't. I automatically like the BK card better.
Jim Rice
The Burger King card zooms out on the Rice photo so you can see Rice's left foot and more of the dugout background.
Rollie Fingers
The Burger King photo is shifted down to avoid Fingers' head being covered by the BK logo, kind of unfortunate.
Phil Niekro
Here, the Burger King photo shifts Niekro up to center him more in the photo.
Steve Carlton
Carlton's shot is more zoomed-in on the BK card. Also note that the typeface used for Carlton's name is different. This is the case for a few other cards (the Koosman for example), perhaps to conserve space with the "Collector's Series" wording on the left.
Bill North
It looks like the Burger King shot zoomed out on North and then cropped it at the bottom similar to the Topps card. Odd choice.
J.R. Richard
The rest of these are going to be more subtle changes, but I think you'll be able to see the difference. Burger King zooms out on the Richard photo.
Pete Rose
The Burger King card zooms out slightly on Rose. The darkened BK photo almost makes Rose look like a sinister version of his Topps card.
Don Baylor
More zooming out for Burger King and then recropping at the bottom, likely to avoid the Burger King logo overlapping too much.
Rod Carew
The Topps photo is tighter on Carew than the Burger King shot, note that you can see Carew's shoulder number more.
Frank Taveras
Zoomed out on the Burger King photo.
George Brett
Here, the Burger King shot shifts Brett up a little bit.
George Foster
Never mind the photo tint difference, Burger King has zoomed in on the Foster pic.
Cesar Cedeno
My Burger King card contains a photo blob, but that's not the difference. The BK photo is zoomed in.
Bruce Sutter
Sutter is ever so slightly zoomed in on the Burger King card.
Willie Wilson
Wilson's photo is shifted over to the right and the signature is moved up.
Enos Cabell
Cabell is shifted to the right and down a little on the BK card.
Julio Cruz
For me, the toughest difference to determine, but just look at that pole behind Cruz. You can see the top of it in the BK photo and that's because the photo image isn't as tight as on the Topps card.
And that covers all of the Burger King cards and satisfies my curiosity.
I will enjoy adding this set to my 1980 Topps binder -- unlike some of the other Topps years (1981 specifically), I don't have a lot of extra cards in the back. I need to get some more OPC from this year.
But this Burger King set is a nice addition. Who knows, maybe some day I can do something about those BK team sets from the '70s, which aren't getting any cheaper.
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