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I can't recall how I acquired my first 1981 cards or what cards they were.  I would have been in 7th grade at Dodd Junior High School in Cheshire, CT.  However it happened, it happened, and like I did the last few summers I spent 1981 ripping packs and building a set.    

I do know that 1981 was the first time I ever visited a card store.  It was called Bayshore Enterprises in West Haven, CT. - somewhere off 1st Ave., right down by the Sound.  I remember grabbing one of the few remaining cards I needed - Johnny Oates of the Yankees - from a drawer full of just 1981 Topps Yankees.  I recall the proprietors seemed older and I have the sense now they had been in the hobby for a long time at that point.  

Other than that Oates, the only other card I can remember obtaining was the Brewers' Reggie Cleveland, via a grocery pack at the IGA South in Cheshire.

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The 1981 set offers novel design elements.  The player's image is surround by a wide colored border, with a small version of his team's cap in the lower left with the team name and position.  The player's name appears in colored type in the lower right of the border, and a small baseball containing the word "Topps" (not even the company logo) is at the lower right corner of the image. 

 

It is an interesting and somewhat cool looking design, but the set lacks in execution - far too many grainy, soft-focused or otherwise less than sharp images as well a lot of action shots that are dark and/or where the player's face is hidden by shadows.      

The backs were printed in shades of red and black.  Unlike most sets, they don't offer anything apart from the standard personal data, stats and a few words about the player. 

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"A" Sheet 

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"C" Sheet 

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"E" Sheet 

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"B" Sheet 

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"D" Sheet 

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"F" Sheet 

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In 1981, for the final time, Topps' set consisted of 726 cards.  The following year would see it grow to 792, but for now they still needed to double print 66 cards across the 6 sheets.  So, if you recall having an excess of certain cards this might be the explanation.  Those cards which exist in twice the supply as the others are:

9 - Pete LaCock

11 - Jim Wohlford

27 - Champ Summers

31 - Checklist 1-121

42 - Jerry White

51 - Bill Robinson

63 - Steve Renko

68 - Matt Alexander

70 - Al Oliver

72 - Barry Evans

82 - Astros Future Stars

91 - Tim Stoddard

93 - Ed Glynn

94 - Harry Spilman

128 - Gary Allenson

138 - Rich Dotson

151 - Claudell Washington

168 - Don Robinson

178 - Jim Essian

183 - Dick Davis                  209 - Dickie Thon

226 - Manny Sanguillen

239 - Rick Miller

241 - Checklist 122-242

246 - Ed Ott

247 - Glenn Hubbard

290 - Bob Boone

294 - Mike Tyson

296 - Bill Nahorodny

306 - Juan Beniquez

310 - Vida Blue

323 - Jim Morris

332 - Lee Lacy

342 - Eric Rasmussen

346 - Larry Christenson

352 - Dick Tidrow

365 - Graig Nettles

383 - Eric Soderholm

391 - Dave Lemanczyk

414 - John Pacella

437 - Mike Heath

443 - Jim Beattie

447 - Junior Kennedy

450 - Dave Kingman

453 - Rob Wilfong

472 - Dyar Miller

481 - Bob Lacey

484 - Max Venable

501 - Tim Foli

519 - John Tamargo

536 - Bob Owchinko

540 - Mike Schmidt

542 - Larry Bradford

564 - Ron Hassey

569 - Al Williams

594 - Preston Hanna

598 - George Vukovich

606 - Reds Future Stars

611 - Rick Matula

644 - Ramon Aviles

657 - Mike Cubbage

694 - Bud Harrelson

704 - Bill Travers

709 - Alan Trammell

710 - Ron LeFlore

717 - Jim Barr

 

Wax packs contained 15 cards (along with a stick of gum and a 'Hit to Win' gamecard) and sold for 30 cents each.  They were packed 36 per box and cases contained 20 boxes each. 

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Wrappers came with one of 4 advertisements - the traditional uncut team checklist sheet ($0.75 plus one wrapper), the always popular sports card locker ($5.75 plus 75 cents for shipping and a wrapper), one of those popular-for-a-hot-minute Classic Stripes caps ($8.00 and a wrapper) and a package of 5 Topps collecting boxes ($1.00 and a wrapper).  On all 4 wrappers the opposite side panel described the 'HIt to Win' game. 

The card locker was the same model that was available from 1975-1982, and included stickers featuring team names.  

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Not one of the handsomest MLB caps ever produced...

The team checklist sheet came tri-folded and was printed on white stock which was thinner (and flimsier) than regular cards.   With 27 slots and only 26 team cards, the 27th space was taken by an collectors' box ad on the front and a card locker ad on the reverse.

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The collectors' boxes were stock remaining from 1980 - it would take YEARS for Topps to exhaust the supply. 

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'Hit to Win' game cards featured 3 lottery-ticket style scratch-off spaces - uncover a 'single' and you'd win a Topps baseball book, a 'double' would net you a professional model baseball, a 'triple' got you a Wilson bat and a 'home run' a Wilson glove.

 

For four 'walks' and 40 cents, you could receive one of 3 packs of glossy oversized cards.  These were actually 5 cards from a 15-card set catalogued as "1981 Topps Home Team Photos National" which were issued separately as a stand-alone Topps product in 1981. 

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The Topps baseball book was a pocket sized paperback which highlighted the careers of the game's most prolific HR hitters to that time. 

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Grocery packs consisted of three individually wrapped small cello packs of 12 cards each (each with a stick of bubble gum) sealed in a plastic sleeve.  The did not carry an MSRP. 

 

For the first time, there was no cardboard backing and instead the reverse of the plastic sleeve contained an ad for the sports card locker.  

 

Grocery packs were packaged 24 per display tray.  Cases included 3 boxes, and larger cases contained 192 packs and could be used as store display stands. 

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Cello packs contained  28 cards (along with a stick of gum) and retailed for 49 cents each.  They were packaged 24 per box and 16 boxes per case. 

1981 super packs contained 28 cards and a 3-pack of SuperBazooka bubble gum.  They retailed for 59 cents and were packed 24 per box.  Despite a lack of images it is reasonable to assume cases contained 8 boxes as in 1980.  The cardboard backing in 1981 was plain with no ads or other printing. 

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Rack packs held 48 cards and carried no MSRP.  They were packaged 24 per box and cases contained either 3 or, in all likelihood, 6 boxes. 

On the reverse there was an ad for the sports card locker.

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As usual, Topps also produced 500-count vending boxes which came 24 per case. 

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Out of 726 total cards, the set contained 648 basic player cards, which included 21 cards with special All Star banners (red for the AL and green for the NL).  These included: 

American League:

100 - Rod Carew, Angels 1B

300 - Paul Molitor, Brewers 2B

650 - Bucky Dent, Yankees SS

700- George Brett, Royals 3B

400 - Reggie Jackson, Yankees OF

720 - Fred Lynn, Red Sox OF

480 - Carlton Fisk, Red Sox C

520 - Steve Stone, Orioles RHP

130 - Larry Gura, Royals LHP

460 - Rich Gossage, Yankees CL

National League:

530 - Steve Garvey, Dodgers 1B

  50 - Dave Lopes, Dodgers 2B

465 - Bill Russell, Dodgers SS

540 - Mike Schmidt, Phillies 3B

  75 - Reggie Smith, Dodgers OF

450 - Dave Kingman, Cubs OF

640 - Dave Parker, Pirates OF

600 - Johnny Bench, Reds C        430 - Jim Bibby, Pirates RHP

630 - Steve Carlton, Phillies LHP

590 - Bruce Sutter, Cubs CL

Each of these players were starters (as well as opposite-armed pitchers and closers) on the 1980 squads, but neither the cards of Jim Rice (500), who was the third elected AL outfielder, nor of Ben Oglivie (415), who started in his place due to an injury, are marked. 

 

Yet again, the set did not recognize members of the previous season's All Star Rookie team with small gold cups or trophies.  The 1980 Topps All Star Rookie team as it might have been designated in the 1981 set consisted of:

195 - Rich Murray, Giants 1B

488 - Damaso Garcia, Blue Jays 2B

21 - Ron Oester, Reds SS

349 - Glenn Hoffman, Red Sox 3B

13 - Joe Charboneau, Indians OF

177 - Rick Peters, Tigers OF

317 - Lonnie Smith, Phillies OF

161 - Dan Graham, Orioles C

162 - Doug Corbett, Twins RHP

412 - Britt Burns, White Sox LHP

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Cards 1-8 are 1980 League Leader cards and feature images of the AL and NL leaders in 8 statistical categories on the front, and a list of the top 10 from each league on the back. 

Cards 201-208 highlight record-breaking performances from the 1980 season, with newspaper-like descriptions of each on the reverse. 

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After a 3-year hiatus, Topps issued post-season highlight cards in 1981 (their final such cards until the late 1990s).  Cards 401-404 summarize the 1980 post-season, with 401 featuring the ALCS, 402 the NLCS and 403 and 404 the World Series. Reverses offer either line scores from series' games or, in the case of 404, player statistics from the winning club.   

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Cards 661-686 are team checklist cards.  Each features a small inset photo of the club's manager on the front and a complete listing of all that team's players included in the set on the reverse.  The Cubs' again features a collection of small player portraits.  

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26 "Future Stars" cards, one for each club, are scattered throughout the set.  Each depicts 3 young players with little or no MLB experience that Topps felt had promise.  

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6 checklist cards mark the set off in increments of 121: 1-121, 122-242, 243-363, 364-484, 485-605 and 606-726.

A full checklist of the 1981 set, including printable formats, can be found at the Trading Card Database HERE

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Hall of Famers Harold Baines (347) and Tim Raines (479) make their first appearances in 1981.    

 

Also debuting were  Fernando Valenzuela (302) and Kirk Gibson (315). 

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No Hall of Famer makes his last appearance in 1981, but 1976's break out star and all-around baseball character Mark Fidrych (150) takes a bow after several attempts to come back from injuries.  

Also departing was Sal Bando (623).

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Scholastic's 'Dynamite' magazine again offered small uncut strips of Topps cards to its readers in their April edition.  

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This sell sheet for 1981 Topps cello packs makes it plain that for the first time in a long time, Topps had competition - the slogan "The Real One" was added to wax wrappers in 1981 as a way to counteract interest in the Fleer and Donruss inaugural sets.  

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To further distinguish itself from its new competitors, Topps issued its first boxed traded set in 1981.  Previous smaller sets of 44 cards each had been inserts into 1974 and 1976 packs. 

 

Beginning in 1981, Topps issued 132-card sets regularly, featuring players in new uniforms and rookies who didn't make the cut in the base set.  Unlike in subsequent years, the card stock was almost identical to that of the base set, and the cards picked up numbering where the base set left off at 727.

 

Sets were available only via dealers, which at first turned some collectors off as to their 'legitimacy'.  Set boxes came packed 100 per case.  

Future Celtics star Danny Ainge (727) made the first of 2 Topps appearances for the Blue Jays in the 1981 traded set.  

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