Cards From Across The Bay: The Set-Up Man

Even more pickups from last weekend's card show. This time, all the complete sets I grabbed. Most of these came from the show promoter, who had a table right at the front. He had a good selection of vintage singles, but what I liked was his collection of inexpensive late-80s sets. How else am I going to get cards like this:

 1989 Star Columbus Mudcats team set. I should have scanned the last card - there's a typo on the front, labeling the three pictured as the "Couching Staff" - and one of them is actually sitting down (on a chair). Hilarious.

 I love Mother's Cookies sets, most likely because they feature full-bleed color photos and rounded edges on basic designs. This is the 1992 "Jeff Bagwell 1991 National League Rookie of the Year" set. Yeah, the names got kind of long.

 Back to Star, this time for a player set. This 1989 set of 11 cards features a variety of posed and action shots, with the card backs featuring various parts of his career, or just the KC Royals logo.

 Let's stick with Star player sets, this time the 1988 Sam Horn set, also 11 cards long.

 If you can't tell, this set is still sealed. This 1989 set was issued by Best, and has 28 cards. Card 27 is some guy named Jose Oferman.

 We'll take a quick break from the minor leagues to go even further back, to Jesuit High School in New Orleans. This set has no year or manufacturer information, and is a little oversized. There are no card numbers. I scanned one of the backs (Tookie Gilbert). The pictures are all of the MLBers while they were in high school. It turns out this is a 1991 issue of 8 cards. Who's missing? Will Clark.

 Star issued many, many, many, many, many single-player sets during the late 80s. This 1988 one of Gregg Jefferies follows the standard formula - 11 cards, various images and his career broken up on the back. It's still sealed, so I can't tell you how many cards have the Mets logo as the entire card back, but there's at least one. It seems the younger the player is, the less they bothered to try to fill in, and instead just stuck the team logo on the last couple of cards. (I already have this set. Oops.)

 Another true oddity, this is a 12 card set in the style of 1948 Bowman. The first 8 cards feature card show guests, while the last four focus on the next show location and promoters. What show, you ask? The 1986 Seventh National Collectors Convetion, in Dallas, Texas. Almost every card mentions Gervise Ford, Wayne Grove, and Jim Beckett. The Magazine Man himself is pictured with Ford, Grove, and Brad Davis on the last card. Each card has an address for First Base Sports Nostalgia Shop, 231 Webb Chapel Village, Dallas Texas 75229. These cards were issued in 1985.

Beckett's description of the set: 

This 12-card set was issued by First Base Sports Nostalgia Shop in Dallas, Texas, to commemorate a bid for the Dallas National Collectors Convention. The black-and-white cards measure approximately 2" by 2 1/2" and include various photos relating to their National Convention bid including a photo of the proposed 1986 Convention hosts (Jim Beckett, Wayne Grove, and Gervise Ford) along with Dallas Maverick star Brad Davis, a shot of the Dallas Marriott, Market Hall and several Baseball legends who were guests of honor of the convention. The backs list the subject of the card front with a brief description and the First Base Sports Nostalgia Shop address.

 Okay, enough with that. Who called the cops? This is a 1986 Dodgers Police set. I'm surprised I didn't already have it, since I have several Dodgers Police cards already.

 I think the header and wrapper say it all about this intact team set. I have no idea who's in it.

 This set, however, I can tell you about. It was issued in 1989 by Cal League Cards, and the black ink on white backs give complete college and professional stats for each player in addition to basic stats. The card numbers are in the 180s to 200s, so while sold (and registered in my database) as a team set, it was produced with an overall complete set in mind. I wonder if a full set has all the California League teams? Remember Jose Oferman above? Well, his cousin, Jose Offerman has a card in this set. So does Eric Karros. While you can't see it in the card I scanned, some players are posed in such a way that you can see the giant wall erected in left-center field (see my post about this field). Offerman's card is special in that it is the only card photographed during daylight, and angled so you can see the home plate grandstand before it was replaced. All other cards are angled towards the outfield, showing off the quite-scenic power lines.

 This sure is a long post. Back to the Columbus Mudcats, really quick, with this Best set. Darryl Kile's in both sets.

 You thought the 1985 set was all you'd see from National promos? How about this VIP set from 2008 put out by Upper Deck? This features multiple sports, and is still sealed. I may open it eventually, but for now all I can see is Jeter and Ovechkin.

 Hey. I just realized who's on the front of this set. I don't recognize anyone else in the set. Card #30 is Bat Boys (the checklist). The other Best sets don't have bat boys, so these guys, whoever they are, should feel pretty special. Best Cards came out of Birmingham, so they probably had a little bit of an easier time getting photographs for this team.

Let's finish with some more Police.

Do you like Dave Stewart? Do you want, say, around 20 of Dave Stewart's 1983 Dodgers Police card? Why did I buy this? I already have the 1983 Dodgers Police set.

 There were two Dodgers Police cards from 1981 featuring Bob Welch bundled in with the 20-something 1983s below. So if you like Bob Welch, I'm your go-to guy. Coincidentally (or maybe not), both Welch and Stewart were on the 1990 A's team that faced the Dodgers in the World Series.

Finally, all the sets are finished! I have a few more things from the show to ... show you, so stay tuned!