1984, most of it at least, in the steve garvey binders

we were firmly entrenched in the steve garvey as a padre cards in 1984, and sheet 11 of my main steve garvey binder is proof.  there is one card of the garv as a dodger, however, but it's an island of blue.  have a look:

those cards are:

1. 1984 mother's cookies padres
2. 1984 topps nestle 792
3. 1984 topps nestle dream team
4. 1984-91 o'connell and sons ink
5. 1984 o-pee-chee
6. 1984 ralston purina
7. 1984 star (checklist)
8. 1984 star (regular season stats)
9. 1984 star (an all-star 9 times)

some things to note here - i've seen the o'connell and sons referred to as a 1984-89 issue as well as the 1984-91 issue that i used above. not sure which is correct, as i picked up my copy on the secondary market in the early 2000's.  the star cards are part of the 36-card set of which i have 3-card panels in my garvey oddball binder.  i took apart a second set for this part of the collection.

here are the backs, by the way:

the o'connell and sons has a blank back, as you can see.

sheet 12 is full of more cards from the star set, and they are all dodgers!

1. 1984 star (dodger club records 1)
2. 1984 star (dodger club records 2)
3. 1984 star (dodger club records 3)
4. 1984 star (dodger club records 4)
5. 1984 star (world series stats)
6. 1984 star (post season stats)
7. 1984 star (the 1970 season)
8. 1984 star (the 1971 season)
9. 1984 star (the 1972 season)

obviously, these cards don't feature photos that correspond to the subject of the card.  here are the backs:

lucky sheet 13 is more of the same, although the brown and gold is back...

1. 1984 star (the 1973 season)
2. 1984 star (the 1974 season)
3. 1984 star (1974 all-star mvp)
4. 1984 star (1974 championship series mvp)
5. 1984 star (1974 nl mvp)
6. 1984 star (the 1975 season)
7. 1984 star (the 1976 season)
8. 1984 star (the 1977 season)
9. 1984 star (the 1978 season)

i'd say that star began using padre photos prematurely.  for the record, i don't believe that they actually handed out mvp awards for the playoffs back in 1974, but surely garvey would have won it if they had.  here are the backs:

sheet 14 is all brown and yellow, although we are still in the dodger years for two-thirds of the page

1. 1984 star (1978 all-star mvp)
2. 1984 star (1978 championship series mvp)
3. 1984 star (the 1979 season)
4. 1984 star (the 1980 season)
5. 1984 star (the 1981 season)
6. 1984 star (the 1982 season)
7. 1984 star (the 1983 season)
8. 1984 star (the iron man)
9. 1984 star (national and major league records)

nice to see mike schmidt lurking in the background of the last card.  it's too bad that this set was released in 1984 instead of 1985, because there was another championship series mvp award won in 1984 that could have been the subject of a card.

here are the backs:

amongst garvey's records on the last card, his league-leading 25 gidp in 1979 is listed.

just a few more star cards to go - here's sheet 15 of the binder

1. 1984 star (100+ rbi's 5 times)
2. 1984 star (200+ hits 6 times)
3. 1984 star (4 gold gloves)
4. 1984 star (.300 average 7 times)
5. 1984 star (personal and career data)
6. 1984 star (the future)
7. 1984 topps
8. 1984 topps cereal series
9. 1984 topps rubdown

i've got the 5th card in the sheet in my memorials binder, too.  the topps cereal card features the same photo (and card design) as the ralston purina issue from earlier in the post, and garvey's infield pal bill russell shows up on the rubdown card.

here are the backs for this sheet:

i kept the rubdown instructions in case i ever wanted to transfer the images, i guess.

i'm not missing any cards from 1984 that would go in one of these sheets, i am pretty sure.  next time we'll move into 1985...

caught in a rubdown

at many different times, i have thought about posting a comprehensive list of cards featuring each member of the infield, or at least an inventory of the ones that i own.  i am guessing there are two or three people out there who might be interested in such posts, but i have already shown all of their base topps cards (plus a few that should have been) in my history of the infield posts.  and, if you scroll down through the labels on the right side of the blog (web version), you can click on 'cey' or 'garvey' or 'lopes' or 'russell' to see all of their cards i have posted over the past (almost) four years.  so, at many different times, i have decided against the comprehensive posts.  but, who knows? the well may run dry, and you may be on the receiving end of a 'through the years with the infield' series of posts.

until then, please enjoy the 1984 topps rubdown 'cards' below.  the first one features a smiling ron cey in his cubs gear.  he's sharing space with kent tekulve, plus an old nemesis in greg luzinski.  steve kemp gets some appreciation, which reminds me of just how bad those yankee teams were in the early 1980's.

next up, bill russell and steve garvey on the same 'card'! that's fortuitous.

looks like ropes is trying to hit a baseball off of garvey's head.  also pictured, jerry remy and george wright.  hold on a sec while i jump to baseball reference - ok, wright had a promising year in 1983 (18/80/.276) as a 24-year old, so i see why topps gave him some prime real estate on an issue with half of the dodgers' storied infield.

do you think there was any animosity on this last rubdown?

davey lopes and his heir at second base for the dodgers, steve sax, sharing space.  i recognize the lopes image from his 1985 topps card, by the way.  if i ever get around to separating out my lopes collection, i will need another one of these things. 

these rubdowns are a giant leap forward from the tattoo thingys that topps issued in prior years.  but probably not as good as stickers.  if you're in to that sort of thing.  and i guess i am, as long as there's a dodger or a member of the infield on it.