All About the Base - 1989 Topps

Year: 1989

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Flagship

Card Number: 615

Card Type: Base

I wonder out of the hundreds of this card I probably have squirreled away I managed to grab one with grease stains on the front?  Well I'm not going into the archives to scan another one.  I'll be honest I have a huge love for this set in general.  I love the simple border design and the ballpark font for the team name with the player name in the tail. I chewed a lot of gum from these packs.  And for some reason I really loved the smell of this set, yes the smell.  Topps brings back the red and black color scheme for the card backs.  Topps used that color scheme just a few years ago with the 1985 set and I liked it then as I much as I liked it for this set.  In last year's issue Topps brought back the baseball graphic to the backs of the card, but this year Topps returns the graphic to it's place of glory framing the card number.  The last time Topps did that was in the 1981 set.  Again no room for anymore trivia, but we do get the game winning RBI stat squeezed into the bottom.

All about the Base - 1988 Topps

Year: 1988

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Flagship

Card Number: 165

Card Type: Base

Continuing our march in Robin Yount's career we've hit the 1988 Topps set.  Coming off the 1987 woody set, 1988 Topps is almost a let down.  But the overall simple design is deceiving.  At first glace the set is pretty plain, but Topps does feature a nice big photo.  And look closer, the player is actually in front of the team name.  Almost making the player jump out of the card.  1988 Topps gets a bad rap mainly because it's at the center of the Junk Wax era, which I can attest to with a 5000 count monster box full of these cards.  

 Topps also brings back is classic baseball graphic for the back of the card and the backs feature a very nice sized card number well placed for easy sorting and collation, which I did a lot of with this set.  This far along in Robin's career we no longer have any room on the back for fancy trivia and write-ups, but we do have one small extra stat on the bottom of the card with game winning RBIs.

All about the Base - 1987 Topps

Year: 1987

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Flagship

Card Number: 773

Card Type: Base

The 1987 Topps set holds a special place in my heart as it's the first set I ever tried to put together.  And I bought a lot of packs.  Wax packs from my LCS, cello packs from the convience stores, rack packs from the grocery store.  Plus the wood grain border reminds me of my fathers den decked out in the fake wood paneling.  And of course the set brings back memories of the 1962 Topps.  And I might have a fondness for the set as a Brewers fan with the backs of the cards featuring a Brewers color scheme.  

The card backs feature a nice sized and well placed card number.  This year marks the first year that Robin's stats over take the back of the card and don't allow for any more trivia or stat write-ups, instead the only bonus we get is the game winning RBIs that was placed on Robin's card last year and will be the only extra for year's to come.

All about the Base - 1986 Topps

Year: 1986

Manufacturer: Topps 

Set: Flagship

Card Number: 780

Card Type: Base

1986 was the first year I remember actually buying baseball cards.  Up until then I was pretty much all into comics.  But even then I didn't bother to put the set together until much later.  Every so often Topps' experiments with black bordered cards.  The black borders have the effect to really magnify defects in the edges and corners.  In 1986 we get a split between a black border and a white border and you'd never guess that there are conditions issues with the set.  Centering, as always, is an issue as well, and miscentering also shows up incredibly well in these cards.   The set does feature a nice big player photos and this year we get what looks like Robin warming up catching a few balls.  While I'm neutral on the front I really do like the color scheme on the backs.  The black on red really pops and is easy to read.  Plus we get a nice sized cards number high on the left hand side for easy collation and the player name is very prominent.  

We also get a couple game winning RBI stats and there is still just enough room with Robin's career stats for one small factoid at the bottom.  No mention of brother Larry though.

All about the Base - 1985 Topps

Year:  1985

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Flagship

Card Number: 340

Card Type: Base

Ah the mid-80's.  In 1985 the family moved to El Paso, Texas and I would spend a good part of my formative year's there.  It's also were I discovered sports cards and comic books.  Not that I didn't know they existed, but for the first time I can remember I actually cared.  But that would be another year or so.   The 1985 set marks another period in Topps history where they started playing it safe with similar, simple designs.  Again these are terrible, but they aren't all that memorable, well maybe with the exception of the 1987 set.  

I've always thought the design looked like bumper stickers.  With the team name and logo plastered on the card like a kid putting a bumper sticker on a car, but with most of the card elements on the bottom of the card it leave a lot of room up top for the player photo and for me that works pretty well.  I'm not a huge fan of the color scheme on the back of the card, the red and green clash and red lettering can be a little hard to read.   

But man look at the photo of Robin.  Flip up sunglasses, baby blue uni with the trucker hat and those wrist bands!!  Classic 80's, cue the Devo.

Mystery of the Mug - Solved!!!!!

I've probably had this Robin Yount Maxwell House mug in my collection for well over a decade.  I first featured it way back in 2012 when I did a post about all my Yount drinkables.  I then did a feature post about it back in December of 2013 after doing a little research, which didn't really help much.   So I hadn't give the mug much though, as a matter of fact it's still packed away currently waiting for me to find a spot to display it, that was until a few days ago.  Fellow Yountophile and Brewer's historian, fan, and collector Tony L., from Off Hiatus fame, contacted me on twitter to say he'd solved the mystery of the mug!  Let's take a look at the awesome mug one more time.

 Tony an image from this clipping from the August 1983 What's Brewing magazine.  As far as I know this is Robin's only Maxwell House mug so we can now date the mug to the August 19th giveaway in 1983.  How cool is that??!!??  Plus the clipping also talks about the previous mugs given away for Bamberger, Thomas, and Fingers.  Tony estimates the Bamberger was probably given away in 1979 to commemorate the Brewers first winning season, Thomas in 1980 to commemorate his AL leading home run record, and Fingers in 1982.  I think there was also a logo mug given away and that might be from 1981. 

Anyways all the credit goes to Tony for solving the mystery.  Thanks Tony!!!

All about the Base - 1984 Topps

Year: 1984

Card Manufacturer: Topps

Card Set: Flagship

Card Number: 29

Card Type: Base

The 1984 set marks the second year in a row Topps has dual photos on the front of the card.  Where the 1983 base set was very curvy and the lines flowed, this year's design is very boxy.  Not a terrible design. Again we get a nice action shot with a player headshot in the lower left hand corner.  The team name is nice and big.  The back of the cards have a nice large card number and a huge team logo.  All the basics are on the back with player vitals, full career stats and Robin still has a little room from some highlights from the previous year.