6. Cal Ripken
I pulled out my binders of the three sets from 1983 to look them over (another newfound tradition that I will do each month to make sure I enjoy them at least once a year) and I was surprised to see that this was the only card I was missing. Set is now complete!
5. O-Pee-Chee Baseball & Hockey Checklists
This is going to be a monthly thing. Where they'll rank each month will be another story.
4. Game & Insert cards
Yes, there were inserts in 1983! Not as flashy or cool as in the years to follow, but inserts still the same. The Bonus Runs from the non-winning game cards were used to send away for the 1983 Send In Glossies, which is one of the finest and most colorful sets Topps ever produced.
What I wouldn't give to be able to send away $5 for a full press sheet of 1983 Topps! Why isn't that still a thing? I work in printing and it would be easy and cheap to do. C'mon Topps, bring that back!!!
3. Donruss Ty Cobb Puzzle
I have a monster box full of oddballs that I haven't looked at in forever. I was reorganizing it a couple of months ago and when I got to the Donruss puzzles I was shocked that this was one of the few I was missing! How could that be? (Now that I have one for the puzzle collection, I feel like I need to add another one for the team collection!)
2. O-Pee-Chee Tigers
I had a handful already and these complete the team set.
I never gave it much thought before, but since the backs of the All-Star cards highlight famous All Star Game from days of yore, I added the two that featured games played in Detroit, and the backs are front facing on those in my team set binder. Now I will have to hunt down the Topps versions!
1. O-Pee-Chee "Traded Set"
The thing I love most about O-Pee-Chee sets are the "Now With _____" cards that show players who have changed teams and how they went about depicting that. Instead on new photos like Topps used in the traded sets, O-Pee-Chee just changed the team designation & colors, leading to some interesting looking cards.
While I was shopping for the Tigers O-Pee-Chee needs, I checked out Sportlots for the first time in years. I found a seller who had all of the Now With cards at a very reasonable price. I also tossed in some Expos & Blue Jays to get the full Canadian experience!
April was fun, but May hopes to be even funner as I track down stuff from 1984. Not only was it a great year for the Tigers, but the card output in '84 exploded exponentially and there is a lot of great stuff out there for me to track down. See you next month!
