What is this card
Checklist, cards #1 to #121
There isn't much to say about checklists and here is the first one so far in the 1980 set. It marks a milestone of sorts as its hard to believe that this blog has already covered 121 cards.
Why I love this card
Checklists really, really bummed me out. While they were part of the set, I always felt that I got rooked out of a card. At least a team card had a decent picture on it. A checklist was so...checklist.
Something else....
However, not all checklists are created equal. Granted, they stay in theme with the basic layout of the set, but it appears Topps tweaked here and there. The 1980 edition is actually a better checklist than the year before or year after in my opinion. Here's the 1979 checklist:
Purple is not a good color for a checklist. Too hard to read. While 1980 employs a bright green, at least the names show up a little better. The boxes also stand out better on the 1980 edition with an alternate color. That gives the 1980 set the advantage.
Now check out a year later, from the 1981 set:
This one is easy on the eyes as well, dare I say even more so than the 1980 edition. However, notice the card number on this checklist - #31. Didn't Topps realize how hard it was to go back and forth checking off the cards? With the 1980 version, you had 120 cards and then the checklist last. I used to take the checklist out and then count off what I needed. Nice and easy. With the 1981s I had to go back and forth and always forgot to put the checklist back in the set. Again, advantage 1980. I know, I was lazy.
I hated getting checklists. One thing I liked about the 1974 set was that they did the team checklists as inserts.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I always hated about checklists was that I always had to get two of them... one to actually use for it's intended checklist purpose and one to include in the set without any of my gradeschool-level checkmarks.
ReplyDeleteI can still remember trading a conveted 1978 Topps card with the "home run" value for the war game to get my final two pristine checklists for the '81 or '82 set... and in my neighborhood, 1978 Topps with the "home run" on the back where worth their weight in gold... as everybody had their pile of those cards in reserve just to play the war game... the same 300-400 1978 Topps probably traded hands between a dozen kids over the years just based on playing baseball war...