1984 was another big pack ripping year for me. All summer long there were growing stacks of cards on my bedroom shelf. This was the summer between my sophomore and junior years in high school and it was the summer my parents and I drove to New York for a quick vacation in Cooperstown. I can clearly remember a display in the museum adjacent to the Hall of Fame dedicated to the 1984 Topps cards - a clear glass or plexiglass display in the middle of a gallery with each card in the set, in numerical order.
I recall that among the last, if not the last, cards I needed to finish the set were Bill Dawley and Mike Madden of the Astros and the A.L. Active RBI Leaders card with Simmons, Jackson and Nettles.
1983 was a hard year to follow, but the 1984 set is still one of the best-looking of the decade.
Card fronts feature the team name in a bold colored font down the left border, a small head shot of the player enclosed in a box at the lower left, and the player's name and position in the lower right. The Topps logo appears in the upper right corner.
Backs were printed in shades of red and blue against a dark blue background. The team logo appears in the upper right and, space permitting, a "Dateline" factoid highlighting the player's performance in 1983 appears under the stats and general narrative.
1984 is a great design - occasionally the execution is marred by slightly grainy images (especially in comparison to 1983's crystal clear offerings), but all in all it's a nice set.
"A" Sheet
"C" Sheet
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"E" Sheet
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"B" Sheet
"D" Sheet
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"F" Sheet
In 1983 Topps again produced a 792-card set, with 6 sheets each containing 132 unique cards.
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Wax packs contained 15 cards (along with a stick of gum) as well as an All Star Baseball Game card. Packs sold for 30 cents each and were packed 36 per box, with cases containing 20 boxes each.
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Wrappers came in 4 varieties - one advertising those same old collector boxes (5 for $1 and a wrapper), another selling 10 collectors' sheets ($2 plus 60 cents handling), and two telling kids that superstars said "No" to drugs. All four each also offered a "no purchase necessary" way of obtaining an All Star Baseball Game card, and provided a checklist of 2 of 8 total glossy 5-card groups.
The All Star Baseball Game gave chances at 3 prizes:
- one of 3 trips for 4 to games 1&2 or 3&4 of the 1985 World Series
- a batting glove
- a group of 5 glossy all star cards (8 total groups available)
In the case of the World Series trips and the glove, the large baseball on the front of the card would state the prize. All other cards contained a number of runs, 25 of which would entitle you to one of the glossy card groups.
In 1984 Topps was still trying to clear out the glut of overproduced collector boxes first offered in 1980.
The full glossy set included 40 cards.
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Some packs sold in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana contained an offer card allowing the bearer to order 10 ($1) or 20 ($1 plus 10 wrappers) 1984 Topps baseball cards.
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Grocery packs contained 3 12-card cello packs which each contained a stick of sugarless gum.
Grocery packs were packaged 24 per display tray, and cases included 3 trays. Special larger cases were issued which contained 120 packs and could serve as their own display stand.
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Cello packs contained 28 cards (along with a stick of gum and an All Star Baseball Game card) and retailed for 49 cents each. They were packaged 24 per box, and cases contained 16 boxes.
Rack packs held 54 cards plus one special Glossy All Star Card, and carried no MSRP. They were packaged 24 per box and cases contained either 3 or 6 boxes.
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1984 saw the debut of the long-running and popular Glossy All Star sets. The 22 card set contained the 9 starters for each squad from the 1983 game (with the appropriate league logo on the front), as well as each team's manager and honorable mention member (retiring stars Carl Yastrzemski and Johnny Bench).
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While little is recalled today, we do know that at least in 1984 and perhaps other years in the early 1980s individually wrapped single printing sheets were available at some retailers.
As usual, Topps also produced 500-count vending boxes which came 24 per case.
Out of 792 total cards, the set contains 686 basic player cards.
Again in 1984, the set did not recognize members of the previous season's All Star Rookie team with small gold cups or trophies. The 1983 Topps All Star Rookie team as it might have been designated in the 1984 set consisted of:
555 - Greg Brock, Dodgers 1B
198 - Bill Doran, Astros 2B
48 - Julio Franco, Indians SS
192 - Nick Esasky, Reds 3B
182 - Darryl Strawberry, Mets OF
508 - Mel Hall, Cubs OF
480 - Ron Kittle, White Sox OF
326 - Bob Kearney, A's C
191 - Mike Boddicker, Orioles RHP
235 - Matt Young, Mariners LHP
Cards 1-6 feature highlights from the 1983 season, with a newspaper-like account of the feat on the reverse.
Cards 131-138 depict AL and NL leaders in 8 statistical categories from 1983. The top ten from each category are listed on the reverse.
Cards 386-407 depict AL and NL All Stars. With the debut of the All Star Glossy cards in rack packs, these in-series All Star subsets focused on Topps' own assessment of the best players at each position in the previous season, and this frequently differed from players in the All Star game itself.
NL cards feature a blue All Star banner on the front, and AL cards have a red banner. On the backs, a "Personal Data" file provides background information on the player.
Cards 701-718 depict the current active leaders, by league, in 9 offensive and pitching categories. Card backs list the top 10 active leaders plus the top 10 all time leaders in that category.
As they had done the previous two years, Topps included 26 team leader cards.
Card fronts depict the leading batter and pitcher from the team's 1983 season, and backs contain a team checklist.
The set also includes cards depicting the current managers of the 26 clubs. Card backs provide statistical summaries of the individual's playing and managerial careers.
6 checklist cards mark the set off in increments of 132: 1-132, 133-264, 265-396, 397-528, 529-660 and 661-792.
A full checklist of the 1984 set, including printable formats, can be found at the Trading Card Database HERE.
No Hall of Famers make debuts in the 1984 set, but Don Mattingly (8) may yet get there.
Hall of Fame pitchers Fergie Jenkins (483) and Jim Palmer (750) appear for the final time in 1984.
Also exiting were Richie Zisk (83), Bert Campaneris (139) and Rick Monday (274).
For the 10th and final time, Scholastic's Dynamite Magazine included a small uncut panel of 6 Topps cards in their March edition.
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Topps again produced a 132-card boxed Traded set late in the season to reflect those players who had changed teams and rookies not included in the base set. Cards are numbered 1T-132T.
Cards were printed on thinner, white card stock and were only available via dealers. Sets came packed in cases of 100.
Alvin Davis (28T), Dwight Gooden (42T), Jimmy Key (62T), Mark Langston (70T) and Bret Saberhagen (104T) make their first appearances in this set.
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In 1984 Topps began a tradition which would last through 1991. They produced special Collectors' Editions of both their basic and Traded sets. Universally known as "tiffany" sets, cards in each were printed on heavier, glossy white card stock. Production occurred at Topps' facility in Ireland. Each set was limited to 7,000 units and each was packed 6 per case (Tiffany 792-card sets were stamped on their bottom panel with a 1-7,000 serial number). Sets were only available via dealers.
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Certain Nestle products contained a pack of 3 "Dream Team" cards which included a checklist of the 22-card set. On the back of the checklist was an offer for an uncut sheet of 1984 Topps baseball for $4.75 and 5 Nestle wrappers. Submissions would receive one of 6 132-card uncut sheets which were identical to the regular 1984 Topps sheets except that the Topps logos on the front and back were replaced by the Nestle logo. These cards were only available as sheets, so any singles were hand-cut.