2022 Topps Throwback Thursday

Year: 2022
Manufactured: Topps
Set: Throwback Thursday
Card Number: 12

Print Run: 741

My first new Yount card of 2022 and my first new 2022 Yount card is this awesome Throwback Thursday from the 4th set in the first subset that uses the 1983 Topps Football design.  Topps revamped their Throwback Thursday sets last year and now each week a new 3 card set is released on their website.  They release 4 sets all with the same design and then move on to the next 12 cards design set.  So this year Topps started with 1983 Football, the set after this is 2008 baseball (and I would have loved a Yount in the design as well), but I love the 1983 Topps Football design and if the image looks familiar it is.  It's the photo artist Jared Kelly used for Robin's Living card from last year.

The overall print run for the set was only 741 and I had really hoped I might have snagged one of the super rare parallels, but alas all I got was the base cards.  Robin also came with Vlad Jr and Tatis Jr in the set and I thought they might garner a bit more of a print run but under 1000 is pretty nice and makes this a nice low print run card.  

Did any of my other Yount collector's pick this one up?

1983 Topps Sticker #81

Year: 1983

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Stickers

Sticker Number: 81

Oh so shiny!!! I'm a sucker for oddballs, even ugly little stickers like this.  And while they are not my favorite baseball collectible I think the hobby is better for having them in it and I'm also glad that Topps still makes them.  You'll notice the sticker was made in Italy on the back.  And for those of you who know your trading card history a little company called Panini is from Italy.  And as luck would have it Panini made these stickers, under license from Topps.  

2018 Topps New Era 1983 35th Anniversary Insert

Year: 2018
Manufacturer: Topps
Set: New Era Promotional Set
Card Type: Insert
Insert Set: 1983 35th Anniversary 
Card Number: T83-6

I posted about this card in early August and since then have been trying to snag one at a good price ever since. I finally pulled the trigger last week and picked up this card for $8 shipped. A little more than I wanted to pay for it, but that was the best price I've seen since they started showing up on ebay.  For those that don't know this card is an insert to the New Era hat promotion.  The only way to get a pack of cards was to buy a New Era hat from a select MLB stadium store.  And the fact that these cards are inserts to the base set make them a little harder to find.  The main reason I pulled the trigger was I've only seen a handful of listings for these cards and I was worried they would eventually disappear.  Not knowing the print run and scarcity I figured I better jump on one. 

I was hoping Robin would show up in the flagship insert, but so far no luck, but Update is coming out in a couple weeks.  A few differences between this card and the flagship 83 Anniversary insert.  First is the numbering on the back of the card.  These cards have the T83-# designation were the flagship set only has 83-#.  Also the anniversary logo on the front of the card is not foil, it's printed as part of the card.  As a matter of fact there's not an ounce of foil anywhere on these.  It would have been nice if there was a small New Era logo somewhere on the card to denote the set.  Overall it's a great looking card with great colors and beautiful photos.  It really looks great in hand.  As far as oddball and promotional cards go I have no idea how rare these actually are or will become, but if you have a player in the set you collect I'd say pick one up sooner than later.

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 - 1983 Topps Team Leaders / Checklist

Year: 1983

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Flagship

Card Number: 321

Card Type: Base, Subset

Subset: Team Leaders / Team Checklist

We end our time in 1983 with the third card featuring Robin in the 1983 Topps set.  Robin shares the card Pete Vuckovich.  The early 1980's were a great time in team facial hair.  You had Rollie Fingers' handlebar, Gorman Thomas' crumbduster, Vuck's Fu Manchu.  And while Robin was leading the team is just about every stat he wasn't winning the facial hair battle, but he was giving it his best shot.  It's too bad the 1983 set didn't have a World Series sub-set that would have been nice for us Brewers fans, well except for the loss.  Instead we got sub-sets like the Super Veterens, All-Stars, Record Breakers and of course these team leader / team checklist cards.  Still nice to have multiple Robin Yount cards in the set.

All About the Base - 1983 Topps All-Star

Year: 1983

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Flagship

Card Number: 389

Card Type: Base, Subset

Subset: All-Star

Still sitting here in 1983.  Today we have the second of Robin's 3 cards from the 1983 Topps set.  This is Robin's All-Star card.  It's hard for me to believe that Robin was only voted to the All-star squad 3 times during his 20 year career all of them in the early 80's.  Robin would also go to the game in 1983, but this card commemorates his 1982 team selection.  Interestingly the back of the card has nothing to do with Robin or the 1982 All-star game.  Man look at the 80's chiseled Robin Yount with the featured hair.  

All About the Base - 1983 Topps

Year: 1983

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Flagship

Card Number: 350

Card Type: Base

Well here we are one of the greatest Topps sets of all time.  It had been 20 years since Topps had put two photos on the front of the card and coincidentally, or maybe not so coincidentally, the set looks very similar to the last set that featured two player images, 1963 Topps.  This set and the 1981 Topps set are my two favorite from the 80's.  This is such a great looking design.  With the dual color borders on the top and bottom.  The two player photos.  The back of the card features the card number high on the upper left hand side for easy collation.  We also get a baseball graphic on the back and some stats from the previous year.  Would have been nice to have some World Series stats back there as well.  This year would be another first for Robin on cardboard, being featured on more than one card in the base set.  As a matter of fact he's featured on 3 cards and I'll feature all of them in their own posts.

1983 Fleer

Year: 1983

Manufacturer: Fleer

Set: Flagship Baseball

Card Type: Base

Card Number: 51

Back to simpler times.  Fans were still getting use to having choices again.  I was never a fan of Fleer.  Aside from their 1981 set the 80's were all so bland to me.  The early 90's were even worse.  It wouldn't be until 1996 when one of the graphic designers who apparently was on acid put out a set that was so crazy it was good, well that subjective.  

And while most of the 80s Fleer sets aren't flashy and are pretty forgettable they have nice simplistic streamline look that works and the 1983 set is no different.  It's funny the write up on the back talks more about Robin's brother Larry than him, but at least there was some effort put into it.  The photo looks to be from the 1982 All-Star Game in Montreal.  The Man of Steal is in the background and it looks like that might be George Brett's arm.  The Brewers sent quite a few players to that game the same year they went all the way to the World Series.  Rollie Fingers, Cecil Cooper, and Ben Oglivie also made the trip.  And from the photo it looks like Robin was having a good time.

1983 Permagraphics

Year: 1983

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Permagraphics

Card Number: NNO

I have to say I really do love these oddball Permagraphics "cards".   Offered as a mail order product in the pages of Baseball Digest these were offered for a number of years and back in the 80's the full sets weren't that cheap.  That being said you can find these cards around for a couple bucks.  I've included one of the offers below from 1982.  Thanks to Tony L, who I borrowed the image from.

If I remember right there were two different sets offered in 1983 year. This All-Star set and a Superstar set and there were also Gold parallel cards as well, but I'm not sure how those were offered. The Trading Card Database lists this card as #9, but there is no numbering on the card.  Still a cool oddball in the sea of cardboard.

1983 Topps Stickers #145 and 146

Year: 1983

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Topps Stickers

Sticker Numbers: 145 and 146

Sticker Type: Base

Breaking my own rules featuring two stickers at once, but with a pair like this it has to be done.  I mean if I just featured sticker #146 we'd be looking at Robin's butt. 

Robin gets 5 stickers in the series. It doesn't hurt they went to the World Series the year before and Robin won his first MVP award.  Stickers 145 and 146 form a larger complete picture that was featured in the Record Breakers section of the '83 Sticker Album.  I've found some images of the pages below.

Here is a bonus page with Robins #150 sticker in place.

1983 Fleer Stamps Unopened Package

Year: 1983

Manufacturer: Fleer

Set: Baseball Stamps

Number: Group 1 of 4

Attributes: Unopened Package

It's hard for me to pass up a cool, cheap oddball that's still in it's original wrapper.  Of course the main draw for me was that Robin is featured on the front, but there are three other Brewers visible as well.  Add to that great players like Fernando Valenzuela, Kent Tekulve, Mike Schmidt, and some guy named George Brett and it's a great find.  And there are an additional 56 players and/or team stamps not visible.

There are a couple areas in my collection I think I'm going to focus on more in the coming year and one of them is memorabilia and cards still in their original packaging, like this and cello packs and rack packs.

I also really like that the original price tag from Boscov's Department store is still on it.  Boscov's is a family owned chain based in the Northeast and New England area and they're still in business.  It's neat to see what these were going for back in 1983.

1983 Sporting News Official Baseball Guide

Year: 1983

What: The Sporting News Official Baseball Guide

Back in April I post about some old panels I had picked up years ago.  Tony L over at Off Hiatus Sport Cards asked what they were in my Yount checklist.  I had to dig them out and after looking at them I was kind of stumped as well.  Back when I won them they were listed as SGM panels and I was a little disappointed when I got them to see that they were just cut outs of some magazine or book.  Well that got me thinking and doing a little searching and I concluded that they probably come from the 1983 Sporting News Official Baseball Guide, but without being able to actually look at the guide I couldn't know for sure.  

So after a little searching I found a copy for a penny on Amazon. Yep a whole penny, plus $3.99 shipping.  I can handle 4 bucks.  Not only that but the Guide features Robin on the cover so it was a win win for me.  I get a new piece of memorabilia and I get to find out if those panels were in the book.

Well I'm happy to report that the mystery is over and those panels did indeed come from this guide.  I guess someone decided to see if they could make a little money by cutting out panels and I guess they did because I bought two.

The book I received was an old library copy with the paperback cover being reinforced with acetate and the library number on the spine. Inside is piled full of statistics, write ups on the previous years season by team, and a great write up on the 1982 World Series, the Brewers one and only appearance.

1983 Official Baseball Guide panels

Manufacturer: The Sporting News

What?: Cut out Panels from the Official Baseball Guide

Year:1983

I picked these up years ago and to be honest I'm not sure why, and I'm not sure if there was a picture on the auction, but I was intrigued and hungry for stuff to add to my collection.  This was also a time where I had a lot more disposable income.  Basically these 2 panels are cut outs from the 1983 Official Baseball Guide.  And I do believe this is the Sporting News one.  I can't confirm that since I don't have a copy.  But if it is that issue also features Robin on the front.

I guess someone thought hey if I cut these out of the book and sell them I can make some money, and to be honest it worked, because I bought them.  I don't remember them being too expensive, as a matter of fact I probably won them with the 99 cent opening bid.  This is a real oddball in the collection, because these aren't cards or a magazine.  Probably more in the category of those All Star Program inserts people cut out. Yeah I've got some of those too.

1983 O-Pee-Chee

Card Manufacturer: O-Pee-Chee

Card Set: O-Pee-Chee Baseball

Year: 1983

Card Number: 350

Card Type: Base

Good old O-Pee-Chee.  The Topps of the North.

I'll be honest growing up I wasn't quite sure what the deal was between O-Pee-Chee and Topps, or why the O-Pee-Chee cards were more valuable.  

Of course having been in the baseball card world for over 30 years and having access to all sorts of books and websites we know that O-Pee-Chee was a Canadian candy company that licensed the Topps design to sell sports cards in Canada.  O-Pee-Chee was bought by Nestle back in the 90's and the brand name is now licensed to Upper Deck, or at least it was. 

But for over 30 years OPC and Topps had a the symbiotic relationship and since the OPC cards had a much lower print run than their Topps counterparts cards have a little higher value.  There are some years where it's very hard to tell the OPC and Topps cards apart from the front.  Many years there were no company logos on the front and you have to flip the card over to see where it was printed.  O-Pee-Chee also tended to be printed on better card stock so the backs were whiter or brighter.  Luckily in 1983 the O-Pee-Chee name is clearly featured in the upper right hand corner.

And like all the O-Pee-Chee cards since the 70's they have dual language on the front and back.

If you always wondered what O-Pee-Chee means it's a native american word for the robin.