08 June 2012

why weren't there postseason cards in 1979 topps?

1979 was, i believe, the first year since 1959 that there were no postseason cards included in the topps set.  for twenty years, collectors had come to expect a subset highlighting the past season's postseason heroics.  i certainly expected it when i was opening wax back in '79.  i must have opened more than a box worth of cards before i realized that i would not see any recognition of the team of my youth winning their second straight pennant, and i was sorely disappointed, even though i knew that with the nlcs card there would be a world series card touting the back-to-back champion yankees.  i was further frustrated, of course, when topps brought the cards back in 1981 and then promptly stopped making them until 1998 (i think).  even o-pee-chee realized how dumb that was and made their own world series highlight card subset for their 1989 set.  oh, and you can bet your sweet arse there will be a whole mess of 1982 topps cards that should have been before i'm done.

but i digress.  today, the lack of these cards in the 1979 set gives me an opportunity to rewrite history and create some cards that should have been.  oh, how i wish these cards had been...

card 727 - nlcs summary
what a great photo.  jerry grote greeting ron cey at home plate after the penguin scored the pennant winning run in game 4.  i love seeing davey lopes in the background, along with a civilian who just might beat lopes to the plate.

here's the back
you knew i had to get steve garvey in there somewhere, right?  in fact, all four members of the infield are represented on the card.

i suppose i have to create an alcs version, too - just to be completist about things.

card 728 - alcs summary
here's the back
i don't know why the american league didn't name an mvp for their championship series until 1980 (the nl started in 1977 with dusty baker taking the honors).  anyway, it would almost certainly have been reggie jackson, who hit .462 with 2 homers and 6 rbi.  still, i didn't want to do another reggie jackson card, so i chose that photo of willie wilson bowling into thurman munson in game 2.

and, card 729 - world series summary (with a dodger twist)
ha ha. reggie jackson almost falls down while striking out.  the joke was on me as i thought a 2 games to none lead was too big to be blown and in my second year of fandom i would be rewarded with a world series winner.  not so fast.  here's the back.
bucky freakin' dent.  still, i would have gladly taken these cards back then. wouldn't you?

6 comments:

night owl said...

Gladly would've taken those cards.

Seems odd that Topps wouldn't want to celebrate another Yankees title, too.

For some reason, I didn't notice much that there were no postseason cards in the '79 set. But I do remember searching for Pirates-O's World Series cards in the '80 set and being disappointed.

The Baseball Card Snob said...

As one of the subsets that I collect, I've always enjoyed the World Series cards. Especially when the Yankees win.

Maybe because the Yankees weren't the juggernaut then, that they were in the late 90's that Topps passed on a Series subset. The hobby was also a bit different then as well.

MrMopar said...

Those would have been awesome to see back in 79. Nice job, as always. I hope you don't mind, but I am collecting your creations. What I will do with them, I don't know, but I have saved most of them.

Matt Runyon said...

I've always thought the 1979 set was a strange one. The photo quality wasn't up to snuff, and I did notice the lack of postseason cards. This was the first set that I sent away for instead of collecting from packs.

Joseph said...

I really enjoyed these creations. This was my first year as a baseball fan and, growing up in L.A, I would've loved these cards then and now. Nice job!

Zvon said...

Just running into these now.

I've collected WS cards for years. Not seriously, but if I run into any I grab em. I don't have them all but I have a lot.

These are excellent cards you made here :)