After ripping through packs with abandon in 1983 and 1984, accumulating hoards of doubles and needing to hunt to find some final needed cards, I purchased the 1985 set complete from Renata Galasso. Don't know why - did I feel I was getting too old to be grabbing packs in local stores among younger kids? I was finishing my junior year in high school, so you never know what motivations were rattling around in my head. In any event, I bought a complete set, threw it into an album and never really examined it closely for a year or two.
The set is fairly attractive - no real complaints. But there is a surprising number of paint jobs for 1985, especially at a time when Donruss and Fleer cards were 100% paint free. More on that farther below.
A large, uncluttered image sits on top of a colored banner containing the team name in bold letters, tilted at a rakish angle, and the club's logo. A small colored patch beneath contains the player's name and position. The Topps' logo sits barely noticed in the upper left corner of the image.
Backs have a dark green background and red printing. While the player's vital information and stats are thankfully set against gray, anything against the dark green is difficult to read at a quick glance. Space permitting, a baseball trivia quiz appears along the bottom of the reverse.
"A" Sheet
"C" Sheet
"E" Sheet
"B" Sheet
"D" Sheet
"F" Sheet
In 1985 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 a Winning Pitch game card. Packs sold for 35 cents each and were packed 36 per box, with cases containing 20 boxes each.
Some cases were unmarked boxes with a simple sticker on them. A small number of wax wrappers were erroneously printed almost completely plain, and a smaller number of 1985 packs were packaged into unused 1981 boxes, updated with stickers identifying the year and new price.
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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 (ironic that the Pittsburgh drug trials would commence later in the year). All four offered a "no purchase necessary" way of obtaining a Winning Pitch game card, and provided a checklist of 2 of 8 total glossy 5-card groups.
In 1985 Topps was still trying to clear out the glut of overproduced collector boxes first offered in 1980. They must have printed enough to circle the globe at one point.
The Winning Pitch game gave chances at 3 prizes:
- a trip for 4 to the 1986 All Star Game (entrants would complete the form on the back of the card and mail it in to take part in the drawing).
- a Wilson glove
- Topps' 'The Home Run Book'
In the case of the glove and book, the large baseball on the front of the card would state the prize. All other cards contained a number of runs, from 2 to 8. Depending upon which one of 2 versions of the game card you pulled, you could gather 30 runs and claim an MLB painter's cap with the team logo of your choice ('blue' version), or 25 runs and claim one of the groups of glossy cards ('red' version).
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The full glossy set included 40 cards.
'The Home Run Book' recounted the stories of some all time great HR hitters, and was similar to books issued in previous years.
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Grocery packs contained 3 14-card cello packs which each contained a stick of 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 a Winning Pitch game card) and retailed for 59 cents each. They were packaged 24 per box, and cases contained 16 boxes.
Rack packs held 48 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.
The 1985 version of the Glossy All Star cards were similar to 1984's - the 22 card set contained the 9 starters for each squad from the 1984 game (with the appropriate league logo on the front), as well as each team's manager and honorary captain (Willie McCovey for the NL and Hank Greenberg for the AL).
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As usual, Topps also produced 500-count vending boxes which came 24 per case.
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Some number of 1985 rack packs were wrapped in wrappers left over from 1983. Note the card count difference from the regular 1985 racks
For the first time since 1982, Topps issued factory-sorted complete sets. A plain brown box version was likely offered at dealers, while a more decorative box could be found at select retailers.
Retailers in some areas sold individual uncut sheets.
Not much is recalled today about this particular manner of distribution.
Out of 792 total cards, the set contains 687 basic player cards.
Again in 1985, the set did not recognize members of the previous season's All Star Rookie team with small gold cups or trophies. The 1984 Topps All Star Rookie team as it might have been designated in the 1985 set consisted of:
145 - Alvin Davis, Mariners 1B
265 - Juan Samuel, Phillies 2B
89 - Jackie Gutierrez, Red Sox SS
327 - Brook Jacoby, Indians 3B
386 - Dan Gladden, Giants OF
558 - Carmelo Martinez, Padres OF
536 - Kirby Puckett, Twins OF
104 - Mike Fitzgerald, Mets C
620 - Dwight Gooden, Mets RHP
625 - Mark Langston, Mariners LHP
Cards 1-10 feature record-breaking performances from 1984, with a newspaper-like account of the feat on the reverse.
Cards 131-143 profile 14 current players whose fathers also played MLB. Card fronts feature an image of the current player and a vintage Topps card of the father, and backs provide highlights of the careers of each.
Cards 701-722 depict AL (701-711) and NL (712-722) All Stars.
Card backs provide the top 10 performers, by league, in a variety of statistical categories. 1985 was the first time a Topps set lack a dedicated League Leaders subset since the concept debuted in 1961.
Cards 271-282 depict some of the players who had been selected #1 in the draft in honor of that institution's 20th anniversary. Each draft from 1976 to 1984 is represented, and a few more recognizable names from earlier drafts are included. Sadly, there is not a card of the original #1 pick from 1966 - Steve Chilcott, selected by the Mets who passed on Reggie Jackson to get him.
Cards 389-404 featured the manager and 15 players from the USA's inaugural Team USA club, which competed in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Card backs provide collegiate statistics and their 1984 USA Baseball stats.
The set includes cards depicting the current managers of the 26 clubs. Card backs provide brief information about the manager and a team checklist.
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 1985 set, including printable formats, can be found at the Trading Card Database HERE.
Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett (536) makes his debut in the 1985 set, as do Roger Clemens (181), Mark McGwire (401), Orel Hershiser (493), and Eric Davis (627).
Hall of Famer Joe Morgan (352) appears for the final time in the 1985 set, as do Bob Watson (51), Tug McGraw (157), Steve Rogers (205), Larry Bowa (484), Greg Luzinski (650) and Ken Singleton (755).
This sell sheet offers retailers both wax and cello packs.
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.
Vince Coleman (24T) and Ozzie Guillen (43T) make their first appearances in this set.
For the first time, Topps made its Traded set available in packs in a very limited test issue in 1985. Packs contained 8 cards and a stick of gum. and seemed to have been wrapped in the plain version regular wrappers with a sticker proclaiming them part of the Traded series.
Boxes were re-purposed regular wax boxes with, again, a sticker announcing their contents. Packs sold for 35 cents. Because 36 8-card packs took up less room than 36 15-card packs, Traded boxes contained cardboard spacers to make up the extra space.
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In 1985 Topps again produced a so-called "Tiffany" edition of both their basic and Traded sets. Cards in each were printed on heavier, glossy white card stock. Production occurred at Topps' facility in Ireland. Each set was limited to perhaps 5,000 units (full 792 card sets were stamped on the bottom panel with a serial number) and each was packed 6 per case. Sets were only available via dealers.
In an oversight reminiscent of 1969's Aurelio Rodriguez/bat boy incident, card 497 of Gary Pettis doesn't actually show Gary Pettis. It really shows his little brother Lynn who would occasionally suit up before games, shag flies, etc. recipient.
As referenced at the top of this page, the 1985 set featured a really surprising and disappointing number of paint jobs (and one Davey Lopes card with the legend "Now With Cubs" printed on it).
It needs to be pointed out that in EVERY case, these players all spent time, perhaps briefly, but time with their new club before the end of the 1984 season, and in every case but one (Tony Scott) Fleer managed to feature them in their new uniform, sans trickery, in their basic 1985 sets (in the case of Andy McGaffigan, even Donruss captured him correctly in a Reds' uniform on his 1985 card).
In the case of Tony Scott, he never played after 1984, so no other company felt it was necessary to include him at all in 1985.
This issue would repeat itself in subsequent years and can only be take as a sign of complacency on the part of "The REAL One".