1985 Topps #2 - Steve Garvey (Record Breaker)When I was a kid, I devoured any statistical information I could about baseball. I was enamored with records being broken and the odd little things that always seem to pop up in the sport. With that ravenous appetite for math, it's hard to believe that it was my worst subject.
By 1985, I was into cards collecting for my third season. The 1985 sets were ones that I obsessively collected. Topps and Fleer were the ones that I bought regularly. For some odd reason, I could never find a pack of Donruss in the mid-eighties. I gobbled up cards, stickers, rub-downs... anything that had baseball players on it, I bought. I even purchased a few packs of Topps 3-D, but could't figure out what to do with them. They always got ruined, so I think I stopped at three packs.
Fleer and Topps always provided a thrill when opening a pack. I loved the special cards of Fleer and I loved the subsets in Topps. Topps was especially ripe with subsets in 1985. I can remember being thrilled each time I got a Father/Son or a Draft Pick card. It started an appreciation of Shawn Abner, that I still cannot explain fully to this day. I've brought out my love of Shawn Abner before, or should I say, Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern-schplenden-schlitter-crasscrenbon-fried-digger-dingle-dangle-dongle-dungle-burstein-von-knacker-thrasher-apple-banger-horowitz-ticolensic-grander-knotty-spelltinkle-grandlich-grumblemeyer-spelterwasser-kurstlich-himbleeisen-bahnwagen-gutenabend-bitte-ein- nürnburger-bratwustle-gerspurten-mitz-weimache-luber-hundsfut-gumberaber-shönedanker-kalbsfleisch-mittler-aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm.
The cards that combines all of my interests were the Record Breaker cards in the 1985 Topps set. I would study each one for what seemed like hours. Sure, I loved the Fisk card. It was a huge commodity around my neighborhood. The card that captured my attention more than any other of that subset was Steve Garvey. Yes, an errorless streak is impressive, but I was more concerned with how the front of the card looked.
I know know that the background is from inside the stadium, but as a kid, I could never figure out what the blurred object was in the background. That blob fascinated me to no end. At first glance, it looked like the setting sun was behind Steve Garvey. The yellow, brown an orange color scheme on the uniform just seemed to reinforce that glance. My imagination back then was limitless and this card will always remind me of that.
Most people see a card that with a slightly out of focus picture, with a fantastic player, just standing there, who accomplished an amazing feat, but I see the innocence of my youth and the unimaginable amount of possibilities that were ahead.
2 comments:
Great post. Too bad Garvey only brings back memories of the 1984 NLCS for me. :(
Of course, my memories of the 1984 NLCS were a bit more positive
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