I'm a fan of Elvis Presley. It's the fact that he was a bit of an ass, that he was a drug addict at the end, that he had three TV's, that he had a Jungle Room at Graceland, that he laughed and talked during live recordings, that he was fond of ridiculous jumpsuits and that his album cover art was so darn cool. I'm not talking about the original "Elvis Presley" self-titled album with the rock-a-billy photo and the green and pink text overlay that The Clash ripped off and seems an odd-yet-completely-legitimate choice of inspiration for the design of the 1984 Topps set. That album cover deserves its own, separate dissertation.
I'm talking about the gold lamé army of Elvii raining down on the cover of "50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong." I'm not sure that's even the name of the album, come to think of it. Doesn't matter. The point I'm trying to make is that if you squint real hard at the American League All-Star stickers that I'm finding at an alarmingly common rate, all decked out in their gold foil, if you try real hard, you can almost see Elvis smiling back.
Key word there is "almost." I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm as giddy as a schoolgirl after opening 10 packs of stickers and not finding a single double. Let that sink in. Ten packs of five stickers each and no doubles. I completed nearly 20% of the set in one fell swoop. Unheard of. Unbelievable. Especially in this box, this treacherous box of Dusty Bakers and Hosken Powells, Al Olivers and Chet Lemons.
Here they are, in all their glory.
Pack 27: Greg Luzinski, John Castino, Terry Puhl, Bob Knepper, Dwight Evans
Pack 28: Doug Flynn, Leon Durham, George Brett, Milt May, AL All-Star Dave Winfield
Pack 29: Mike Flanagan, Matt Keough, Pedro Guerrero, AL All-Star Jerry Remy, Dwayne Murphy
Pack 30: Damaso Garcia, Jorge Orta, Floyd Bannister, Mike Norris, Reggie Jackson
Pack 31: Gary Carter, Ken Reitz, Tom Paciorek, Ted Simmons, Ron Cey
Pack 32: George Hendrick, NL All-Star George Foster, John Mayberry, Pete Rose Highlight, Bob Forsch
Pack 33: Alan Trammell, Kirk Gibson, Julio Cruz, Mickey Hatcher, Pete Rose
Pack 34: AL All-Star George Brett, Steve Henderson, Warren Cromartie, Steve Rogers, Gary Gray
Pack 35: Len Barker Highlight, Jerry Mumphrey, Don Baylor, Bump Wills, Billy Almon
Pack 36: Steve McCatty, Fred Lynn, AL All-Star Rick Burleson, Danny Darwin, Cecil Cooper
Some notes. I have a gut feeling that it's going to be much harder now to get all new stickers in a pack . . . Interesting to note that Topps used the same Highlights subjects as in the 1982 baseball card set . . . On the Baltimore Orioles page, there are eight players, three of them are pitchers, and none of them are the shortstop . . . It's Billy Almon on the sticker back, but Bill Almon in the album . . . I still have no Leaders, no Pirates, no Padres, and no World Series stickers . . . I almost have completed the Angels, the Twins, and the Astros pages.
Because I'm a man of my word (most of the time), here's the next 50 numbers from The 792.
#501 - 550
501. Rod Carew In Action, 1982
502. Braves Future Stars, 1982 (RC)
503. Mike Fitzgerald, 1986
504. Dale Murphy, 1981
505. Pete Rose, 1989 (MGR)
I think this is Pete's final Topps card. Here he is, glancing over his shoulder with a hint of paranoia, as if he can smell Giamatti lurking just out of frame.
506. Kurt Manwaring, 1989
507. Ray Fontenot, 1985
508. Alan Wiggins, 1986
509. Lou Whitaker, 1983
510. Fernando Valenzuela, 1982
I picked this card of Valenzuela for two reasons. First, his head is gigantic. Second, he's got some mighty fine penmanship, with nice, thick lettering. You don't see that too often, like he was signing with a paintbrush or calligraphy pen. (That's probably what it was: Fernando had just finished a few studious hours with his calligraphy geisha when in walked the Topps man with his damned contract.)
511. Tug McGraw Super Veteran, 1983
512. Dave Magadan, 1987 (RC)
513. Dave Beard, 1984
514. Jeff Cornell, 1985
515. Robin Yount, 1981
516. Larry Bowa In Action, 1982
517. Milt Thompson, 1986 (RC)
518. Greg Walker, 1984 (RC)
519. Mariners Leaders, 1988
520. Steve Rogers, 1980
521. Nate Snell, 1986
This was always one of my favorite cards. Not sure why.
522. Paul Molitor, 1985
Paul Molitor never got any love from the Topps checklister in the 1980s. He's his generation's Roberto Clemente. That's not a comparison of statistics, but of checklist numbers. It took Clemente literally forever for the Topps checklister to reward his star power with a 2nd tier number. Similarly, here's a 7th year Molitor, toiling away on card #522.
523. Carney Lansford, 1983
524. Tom Brennan, 1983
525. Mike Torrez, 1981
526. Phillies Team, 1980
527. Doug Rau, 1980
528. Luis Medina, 1989 (RC)
529. Marc Sullivan, 1986
530. Rich Gossage, 1986
531. Astros Leaders, 1987
532. Dave Stewart, 1983
533. Jesus Figueroa, 1981 (RC)
534. Pete O'Brien, 1984
535. Lance Parrish, 1982
536. Kirby Puckett, 1985 (RC)
537. Mark Salas, 1986
538. Dennis Eckersley, 1986
539. Rodney Scott, 1981
540. Pete Rose, 1980
541. Cecil Fielder, 1989
It pained me that Fielder's 1986 rookie didn't make it into The 792 (it was bumped out by Rod Carew's 1983 All-Star card, #386). Actually, I'm going to make a change. I'm going to reverse that decision (not something I would generally recommend for would-be checklisters) and re-instate the Fielder rookie. My initial thoughts had been that the Fielder 1986 card didn't become iconic until after the decade ended, but who cares, right? I mean, is the world going to be worse off with one less Rod Carew All-Star card?
542. Paul Noce, 1988 (RC)
543. Damon Berryhill, 1989
544. Rick Sutcliffe, 1980 (RC)
545. JImmy Key, 1986
546. Reggie Smith In Action, 1982
547. Pete Rose, 1985 (MGR)
548. Shane Mack, 1988
549. George Brett AL AS, 1982
550. Carl Yastzremski, 1983
Visuals to be available at Cardboard Junkie.