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...
here's the back
i suppose i have to create an alcs version, too - just to be completist about things.
card 728 - alcs summary
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)
Gladly would've taken those cards.
ReplyDeleteSeems 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.
As one of the subsets that I collect, I've always enjoyed the World Series cards. Especially when the Yankees win.
ReplyDeleteMaybe 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.
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.
ReplyDeleteI'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.
ReplyDeleteI 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!
ReplyDeleteJust running into these now.
ReplyDeleteI'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 :)