February 1981

As both readers of the blog will recall, February was the month that I was going to seek out some fun stuff from 1981 and I did just that! 

In descending order, here are my 1981 pick ups from last month:

6. 1981 O-Pee-Chee Blue Jays Future Stars & Montreal Expos Team Card

It was my intention to pick up the Futures Stars & team cards for both the Blue Jays & the Expos, but that Expos Futures Stars card was little pricier than I was prepared for. I can't for the life of me figure out why?

5. 1981 Topps Coca-Cola White Sox Team Set

The LeFlore card is another airbrushing masterpiece from Topps, and unique to this set. His traded card has a completely different photo. This now leaves me with just 3 more teams to go: Cubs, Astros, & Royals. 

4. 1981 Fleer Tigers Checklist & Stan Papi variations

I already had one of the variations of each in my Fleer set binder and the other variations in my Tigers team binder. With the addition of these I can now have all 4 cards in each binder. Yeah, I don't understand myself sometimes either. 

3. 1981 Fleer Star Stickers George Brett & Mike Schmidt

When I went to my first NSCC after moving to Chicago in '08, I bought an unopened wax box of these and had a blast opening them. I knew all these years later that I was missing some (I thought it was 3, but it turned out to be 7!) so I purchased all of them on eBay. Well, 5 of them have been lost in the mail and I'm currently waiting on eBay to do their thing so I can get a refund. At least these two beauties made it here safe and sound. 

2. 1981 Fleer Team Action NFL

I've been a sucker for these sets for a long, long time. I've mentioned before that these were the only football cards available in the Navy Exchange in Rota, Spain when I was a kid and the nostalgia is off the charts for me. 

As an added bonus, the seller threw in a big pile of the stickers too! This is the last year I remember collecting them as a kid. I don't know what year Fleer stopped making them, or even started for that matter, but I would love to put together a complete run. 

1. 1981 Topps NFL Sticker Album & FORTY PACKS OF STICKERS!!!

I'm an even bigger sucker for 80's stickers and I had no idea these even existed! I've only opened a few packs so far and sadly the backs are permanently fused to the backer so there will be no sticking going on. I am tempted to just glue them as is into the album and lord knows I love to give in to temptation. Stay tuned.

(I'd love to know who the featured player is on the cover and wrappers. It looks like Bills colors, but it also looks to have been airbrushed too. #91 for the Bills in 1980 was Ken Johnson, and that is definitely not him)

Well that wraps it up for February 1981 and I'm on to March 1982!

January 1980

No, this isn’t an entry about January 1980. 

If it was, it would be reminiscing about 10-year-old me living in Spain, and with little to do about card collecting. Cards were hard to come by over there and the main influx was when a new kid moved to the base. Comics were readily available at the Navy Exchange and garnered far more of my attention back then.  

 

Instead, this is an entry about January 2026 AND 1980. 

 

During the December doldrums, I was looking for something to get me engaged in collecting for 2026, and with me being an unabashed lover of all things 80’s, I came up with a simple plan of picking a past year from the 80’s to coincide with each month of 2026 and to try and pick up some overlooked or forgotten items from that year.

 

And that’s how January 2026 became January 1980! 

 

I’ve been posting pics of most of my new additions on Bluesky as they’ve arrived, but I thought it would be fun to recap everything in one spot here on a monthly basis. I’ve been wanting to get back into writing more and this seems like a simple way to get moving in that direction again. 

 

So, without any further delay, here are the items from 1980 that I picked up in January. Ranked for her pleasure. 

6. Topps Hockey – Checklist 

I’m a sucker for a good clean vintage checklist. What can I say?

5. Fleer Basketball Sticker – Detroit Pistons

The Fleer Baseball Stickers and NFL Team Action cards were the only card related items that were ever available in the late 70’s and early 80’s at the Navy Exchange in Rota, Spain. I don’t know if the Navy had a beef with Topps or what, but there were never any Topps products for sale. I never remembered seeing basketball stickers for sale back then, so this was a neat find for me. I would love to put a set of these stickers together, but they are just a little bit too pricey for stickers for that to currently happen.

4. Topps Squirt Promo card

There are a few of these different promo cards out there that were the top card in little 3 card cello packs. Mrs. Buttersworth’s and Kmart are the other two, but Squirt was the only one I could find with the right condition and price right now. I’ll still be keeping an eye out for the other two.

3. Topps Burger King Pitch Hit & Run and Philadelphia Philles

These are surprisingly affordable singles, although the bigger hunt is finding them in nice condition with good centering. 

2. O-Pee-Chee – John Hiller, Lou Whitaker, Ron LeFlore, 

Steve Carlton, Checklists, & Future Stars

I had most of the O-Pee-Chee Tigers already. These 3 complete my set and yes, I consider Ron LeFlore a part of that set. Even though it’s officially an Expos card, that’s still a Tigers jersey he’s wearing in the photo, so in the Tigers binder it goes (Right next to Aurelio Rodriguez at the end of the set!)

Between Topps, both Burger King sets, and O-Pee-Chee, there were only 2 players who had cards in all four sets: Steve Carlton and Pete Rose. I went with the easy choice here.

 

I also wanted to add some French flair to my 1980 Topps binder, so I went with the only 2 Future Stars cards in the O-Pee-Chee set. 

1. Stop N Go

The crown jewel of my January pickups! I had no idea that there was an NFL version of Kellogg’s cards (which I love!), and these guys were right in my wheelhouse of the first players I remember following as a kid. I will be revisiting this set throughout the year to add more here and there. 

 

February is here now, and my calendar will roll over to 1981 this month (I told you this was a simple plan). I’ve already purchased some more fun items and I’m just waiting for them to show up in the mail. Stay tuned! 

Please Allow Me To Reintroduce Myself

Ok, so it's been awhile since I've done one of these. Two and half years give or take. A lot has happened since then. I won't bore you with that any further. 

I recently went to a local card show for the first time and had a great time.

I found a table that was full of deals ranging from items that were specifically marked in price to boxes full of assorted stuff marked 4 for $5. I brought home a lot of stuff that I'm hoping will lead to more blogging. We'll see. 

The first thing that jumped out at me at the show though was this set of Score Impact 90's Players marked for $10. I was a big fan of Score back in the day, but even thought these looked kinda familiar, I really didn't remember them. I certainly had no idea that it was a NINETY card set. 

With a Griffey Jr card on top this seemed like a helluva deal and as you can see, it came home with me. 

As soon as I saw the Tigers cards I instantly remembered these. However I didn't have any recollection of the rest of them, which turned out to be fantastic. It's a great mix of the hobby stars of the day.....

.....along with quite a few whiffs where "Impact Player" was considerably a stretch.

All in all this is a great looking insert set and I'm ecstatic that I added it to my collection.

Seeing this set though, triggered my memory of the various self-contained packaged Score sets that were released in the late 80's and early 90's which has led me down a rabbit hole. If these sets are this cheap then these would be a blast to try and pick them all up! 

I got on the trusty TCDB machine and quickly complied a list of the sets from 1988-1992. A couple are insert sets and a couple are regional food sets, but as this was peak Score I felt they should all be on the list.

As I was compiling the list I laughed when I saw the 1989 SCOREMASTERS set. I actually have the original set I bought back in 1989 still in the box! (Which is good because these puppies sell for $15-20 now on eBay...)

I haven't looked through this box in at least 30 years, and I was shocked when I pulled them out at how beautiful they were. 

It's a shame that these were a one-and-done deal because this might be the best looking set Score ever produced. These were art in a time when cards were anything but. 

As I was digging in the card closet to find the SCOREMASTERS set, I noticed something on top of a box that I had completely forgotten about. 

I was in Chicago on Memorial Day Weekend in 2017 and stopped by the BBCE warehouse sale that was going on. I bought several things that day (some will be blog posts later) and I couldn't help but laugh when I saw these. 

Yes, the price on those is correct. I did in fact, buy those for a dollar. 

They're in pages inside a sealed plastic bag that I've never even opened up until tonight. 

Both sets are full of "that guy's star never rose with the Tigers!" cards.....

....."holy shit I forgot about that guy!" cards.....

.....and "who the fuck is that guy?" cards, which are right up my alley from that era. 

There are a few bangers as well. 

Even the Magic Motion World Series Trivia cards are interesting, primarily because I never knew there were side loading 12 pocket pages that fit these perfectly! As much as Score loved those little things, there's another blog post just waiting for the light of day.

Well that concludes this round of GSS (Groovy Score Sets). There will be more to come. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed blogging about cards. 

Like Score itself, it's nothing but good, cheap fun. 

Soccer Stickers?

Who knew that soccer stickers would end up being my favorite release of 2022?

I never saw it coming.

I’ve long been a fan of the Panini sticker releases for NFL, NHL, and NBA here in the US. I usually pick up an album and 10-20 packs of stickers each year when these come out (sadly 2018 was the last year Panini released NHL, eventually Topps took over and let it die out after a couple of years. It may be an online thing now, but I don’t know and don’t really care).

I was on vacation this fall when I saw the World Cup stickers & albums (at Walgreens of all places) and picked up an album and 20 packs of stickers. When I got home I set them on the shelf and never thought about them again until the WC started play. Remembering that I had them, I got them out when I sat down to watch a game and started stickering.

I was hooked.

I cannot explain why.

Maybe it’s the crisp colorful design of the stickers complete with all kinds of info about the players. Maybe it’s fantastic album layout that basically doubles as a program/yearbook. Maybe I’m just tired of modern card collecting and just found joy in something so pure and simple.

I had to go out and get more. I ended up buying 4 boxes during the course of the tournament!

Even with that many boxes, I was still about 125 stickers short of a complete set (The set contains 670 stickers). Sticker collation is without a doubt the most random distribution of any card or sticker set. While you do get doubles, I never once opened a pack that had the same stickers in the same order like you find in most card releases today.

Luckily I was able to get some help with some great trades from the Twitter & Discord communities (too many at this point to single out everyone by name but THANK YOU!!!) and got that number down to 24. From there I went to Panini’s website where you can order individual stickers for 40 cents each plus $4 s/h. I am anxiously waiting for those to arrive in the mail any day now.

Nearing completion of the set, my interest was piqued into looking back on previous years. It was in my search that I came across this amazing book that details Panini’s 60 year history of stickers for the World Cup and various European leagues. Not only is it a great look back at the evolution of stickers over the years, but it also recaps the events of seasons and tournaments as well. You can enjoy this book whether you are a sticker fan, a soccer fan, or both.

So then I decided that I would take a stab at the 2018 Panini World Cup sticker set.

Oh boy.

Immediately after digging in I noticed that something was “off” compared to 2022. After a lot of research I was finally able to piece together what was different.

In 2018 there were two different sets that are essentially the same set. The larger set, which has 682 stickers with black backs and was distributed in what looks like to one set of countries, and the smaller set, which has 670 stickers with pink backs and was distributed to another set of countries.

The sticker fronts for both sets are identical. The only difference is that the pink set does not contain stickers 20-31 (these are the posters for the various cities that were hosting games) and have been renumbered from that point on. I don’t know why this was done and I haven’t been able to find anything on the webs explaining the reasoning.

The oddity for me is the pricing of the boxes for each set. Neither appears to be in short supply looking on ebay. The makeup of the black set boxes is 50 packs (5 stickers per pack) for a total of 250 stickers box and the makeup of the pink set boxes is 104 packs (5 stickers per pack) for a total 520 stickers per box. However, the pricing for both of these boxes appear to be the same (in the $40-50 range). The only thing is that there are no stickers 20-31 in the pink boxes. But at those prices, I’d be far better off to buy pink boxes and then pick up the missing 12 poster stickers on ebay for $1 each.

Did I mention that there are two different albums too, and probably even more? I picked up a softcover and a hardcover album for the black set since that’s the larger set and that’s the one I’m going to try to complete. I have not come across them yet, but I’m assuming there is at least a pink set softcover book and maybe a hardcover version too? (a quick check online shows that there was a hardcover version for the 2022 set as well. Doh!)

Lastly, there was a cool little tin of sticker packs that were available although I don’t know which countries they were sold in. I will keep this one unopened since it has the cool European price sticker on the outside.

Postscript

I don’t know why I didn’t think to check there first, but TCDB.com has a great detailed explanation of the various sticker configurations. WOW! Someday I would love to find out why Panini does so many variations (especially the 2022 Swiss gold release!)

But for now my first box of 2018 stickers are here and calling and it’s time for more stickering!

1980 Topps Football

I was perusing Twitter today and saw a discussion about favorite football sets. I was going to respond & post why, until so many reasons came to mind that I figured it would be easier (and more fun) to recount them in long form.

Hands down, 1980 Topps is my favorite football set. I know, it's seldom on anybody's lists of great Topps football sets, but it easily tops mine.

I was an 11 year old kid living in Rota, Spain in 1980. I didn't really get into football until a couple of years before. It was far more popular with my classmates than baseball (imagine that!).

We moved to Spain in the summer of 1978. I had just gotten into baseball & baseball cards that summer. When school started in the fall though, I soon learned about this other sport of football, and I was in.

All my classmates were either Steelers or Cowboys fans, except for the one goofy kid who was a Vikings fan. The Steelers won the Super Bowl at the end of that season, so I fancied myself as a Steelers fan.

I soon learned that there was a guy who tore up the league that year named Earl Campbell. To this day I can't explain how or why, but I soon became an Oilers fan.

I don't remember much about the '79 season. The Steelers beat the Rams in the Super Bowl. That's about it.

Now a little bit about living in Rota. The Navy Exchange didn't sell sports cards. I don't know why and I'd love to find out why someday, but I doubt that will be today. But needless to say, sports cards were hard to come by. New cards basically consisted of some new kid moving to town and trading with the rest of us. Pretty soon he would be in the trading collective, and eventually we would all end up with the same cards anyway.

I don't remember the exact why or how, but my Granny sent me a box of 1980 football not long after they were released. Funny the things you remember from your youth, but I can still remember opening the box and seeing all those shiny cello packs. JACKPOT!!!

My dad, being the brains of the outfit, would only let me have one pack a day. He kept them hidden somewhere that I never could find (and I tried!), but it was still a treat every morning to come into the kitchen for breakfast and see a new pack sitting at my place at the table!

I would pour over the fronts and backs of them every morning, taking them all in. I would take them to school (in my back pocket!) and show them off to all of my buddies. I'm sure they tried to trade me for them & I'm sure I refused every time. I LOVED these cards.

I wish I could add that I had specific memories or this card or that card, but I don't. I just knew that they were new, and I knew that they were mine. Hell I didn't even realize that Earl wasn't in the set.

Over time though, they disappeared, but the memories didn't. In recent years I have started to rebuild the set. My checklist currently shows that I have 127 of them. They're high on my list of commons I hope to find at NSCC in a few weeks.

My Granny passed away about 3 months ago. Twice while we lived in Spain, she sent me a box of cards in a care package. One baseball ('76 cello box in '79, a whole 'nother story for another time) and one football. When she passed, I thought back on all the memories of her in my life and this was near the top.

As far as Granny's go, she was the best.

2019 Donruss

Welp, I finally pulled the trigger on my first set purchase of 2019. At $45 shipped, it came in $5 under my budget of $50. (I still haven't paged last year's Donruss set, so the 2" binder I bought for $8 will only count as $4 since I will easily be able to fit both sets in it.)

AND, kudos to the seller for taping some of the wax box to the top of the white box. Very cool, and I've never received a set where someone has done this before. Sweet!

The base cards look pretty nice in hand. It's a shame that there are only 3 Tigers, but I blame the current Tigers "braintrust" more than I do the good folks at Donruss. I think this may be the nicest design of the Donruss rebirth. I just wish they'd dialed down the size of whatever that is going on in the bottom right corner to match the upper left corner, but otherwise no complaints.

They've stepped up the backs this year by adding a second color. Much nicer than last year's black  ink only. 

The DK subset is gorgeous. One Tiger, a couple who were, and one who needs to be. Hell, they ALL NEED to be, but that's another post for another time.

I love the look of the Rated Rookies too. This would've been great for the entire set design IMO. It's a shame there are only 20 of these in the set. Seems like Donruss is missing the boat by not adding more.

Again these "throwback" cards look great too. I like that this subset features mostly up and comers,  prospects, and rookies.

My only complaint with 2019 Donruss is regarding the "variations" which are boring and unnecessary. If you want to work 50 more stars into the set, which I'm on board with, I would've preferred a 50 card subset replicating the awesome 1985 Donruss Action All-Stars set.

Overall I give this set a solid B+. They look much better in hand than they did when I saw the pics on twitter months ago. I think this is the best looking Donruss set since they came back 5 years ago. And for $45 delivered I saved about two-thirds on what I've spent on last year's Donruss set (which is still not complete.....if anyone wants to help. I've got plenty of dupes.)