Sunday, August 9, 2009

1980 Topps Burger King Pitch Hit and Run

So I'm at a card show today........

I'll be honest, I have been out of the card collecting scene for more than 15 years. The defining moment for me came when I saw a Ryan Klesko rookie card selling for $5.00 before he had played his first major league game. Since then, I moved away from cards and went to autographs, publications, phantom World Series tickets, anything but cards, really.

That's not to say I haven't gone to card shows as I have. In fact, I enjoy them. But they are not what they used to be. I typically bring my son as he gets a pack or two and there is a guy that sells the 2009 cards for a dime a piece and he loads up on all the current guys.

Imagine my surprise when I walk by a vendor today and see this card looking back at me:


Five bucks later and I have the whole set. All 33 cards of them. I had no idea these even existed. I certainly don't remember them. Then again, our family was more McDonald's than Burger King. Maybe it was that there were no Tigers in the set. Whatever the reason, this was a major, yet pleasant, surprise.

Burger King and Topps had been a sponsor of the Pitch, Hit and Run competition for kids, a baseball version of the popular Pass, Punt and Kick NFL version. Fred Lynn is one of several of the cards with a different picture than their regular 1980 issue.



These were printed later than the 1980 base set and I assume these were given over the counter at BK or at the competition. The backs are red instead of blue (see below)




As we go forward, I will include the Burger King version of a player card as we get there. I'll also post more about the day's card show finds soon.

5 comments:

  1. Man, you got the whole set for $5?!? That is awesome. I think I have the Rice from this set somewhere, and had no idea it was tied to that kind of promotion.

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  2. I love those Burger King cards. They were so cool when we were kids because a lot of times the BK cards showed players with their new teams, but with the same Topps design.

    I've got a couple '79s. Five bucks for the whole 1980 set is great.

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  3. Nice find. This is the kind of stuff I look for (instead of the new chase cards). The rookie card thing was one of the things that caused me to lose interest in the hobby in the early 90s.

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  4. It was actually $10 but I asked him if he would take $5. We were both happy, I guess.

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