It was fun while it lasted. Topps and Burger King had produced hyper-regional card sets for three years (1977, 1978 and 1979) but just before two other companies joined the bubble gum card fray and changed the hobby forever, they rolled out two final sets. In the final part of our four-part overview, we take a look at the Burger King baseball sets of 1980. 1980 Topps Burger … [Read more...]
Ramblings: When Rose Ruled the Hobby
Twenty-five years ago, the first half of the baseball card collecting year was dominated by talk of the Upper Deck Company’s splashy debut with the Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card and the 1989 Fleer Billy Ripken with the now famous obscenity written on the bat knob. It was the Ripken card—and the subsequent correction attempts-- that generated the most media attention. … [Read more...]
Remembering Thurman Munson Last Flight and Final Cards
One of my all-time favorite lines from any book I've ever read is actually a what-if line included in Dave Marsh’s terrific book The Heart Of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Every Made. The line is “the plane stayed in the air” as it refers to the doomed aircraft Buddy Holly, J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) and Richie Valens were traveling on in a snowy February … [Read more...]