Baltimore Colts' Card History Pt. 10...1982 & 1983 The Final Chapter

1982 Topps

The 1982 Topps set marks the beginning of the end of the once-proud franchise that was part of my very soul up to that point. With Frank Kush at the helm and a moronic drunk as owner the team stumbled to an 0-8-1 in a strike year that could have wiped out the whole season as far as I was concerned. They were coming off a 2-14 campaign that, as I recall, caused even my very religious aunt to take the Lord's name in vain.

Topps was celebrating their new-found ability to use NFL Logos and put the teams' helmet right there on the front of the card. In a set that numbered 528 cards the Colts got ten players and a team leader card. They were not given an In Action card for any of the included players nor did they have any All Pros. Like I said, it was a lousy time in Colts history.

The purple and yellow pennant containing the player name and position is at least a different color combo than what the Colts had been getting. Sideline and pregame shots dominated. The Bert Jones card is one of my favorites if I don't think too hard about the era it represents.

The card backs were fairly easy to read with the blue and gold motif. The players got stats, a fact blurb, and vital info. Some cards also had a team stat or record depending on whether or not the player stats allowed for the space.

The team leader card didn't have a checklist in the back this time. They listed the team's 1981 game-by-game results. Not pleasant reading for Colts' fans. On a positive note the Colts beat the Pats to open and close the season! The checklists were now back to being the traditional kind with the entire set listed on four cards which were the finals numbers in the set.

There was only one more year of Baltimore Colts' cards coming. Colt fans were beginning to hear rumblings of a possible move. Me? I was hoping the drunk jerk in charge would drive off a bridge.

1982 Fleer

Another year, another set of Fleer. By now everyone knows the drill....two cards showcasing the team, one for each of the Super Bowls they played in.

Fleer Stickers

There were a couple of different sticker inserts in the Fleer packs. I have a huge stack of Colts stickers but other than these with schedule backs it's hard to figure out which year they were distributed in. 

Topps Stickers

Topps produced another sticker set in '82. this one had yellow borders. Nothing out of the ordinary here.

Kelloggs' Poster

This is my favorite '82 Colts item. I wasn't aware of these until I began this project. The players are 'generic' but the artwork is pretty good. The poster unfolds to about 8x10 inches.

I've scanned and posted the back of the poster even though it's hard to read. There is a Super Bowl 'Sweepstakes' that takes up most of it. These posters were issued for all the NFL teams (I assume) and can be found for less than $10. Mine was very cheap because it has a stain. But from the front you really don't even notice it as it appears to be part of the artwork.

1983 Topps

The last set of Baltimore Colts as issued by Topps were simple and, at least to my eye, attractive. No more pennants or banners. Just the team name that didn't overwhelm the photo and a name/position box. Red and yellow returned as the Colts' accent color. There were just eleven Colts cards including the leaders card. Topps had cut the set back to less than 400 cards. No Colts were featured on league leaders or season highlights cards. The checklists were once again at the end of the set and were not team specific.

The backs were done in red/pink combo and all the text/stats were sumperimposed on a team helmet silhouette. The usual info was enhanced with a 'personal data' blurb that listed such things as hobbies, marital status, etc.

The team leader card took on a slightly different appearance in '83. One player was featured and the other category leaders were listed to the right. The backs again listed the previous season's scores.

1983 Fleer

Fleer issued the usual suspects, a pair of team cards and the Super Bowl cards. I think that as a kid I'd have gotten really tired of the same old thing year after year.

Fleer Stickers

Nothing new with their stickers either. Except the updated schedule. 

Topps Stickers

Standard stickers from Topps. No color borders or special stickers, at least as far as the Colts were concerned.

The End of the Line

The spring of 1983 had brought the John Elway draft fiasco to Colt fans and it cast a pall over the season. But Colt fans hadn't seen the worst of it. Not by a long shot. Fulfilling the rumors that had swirled through Baltimore for years, in the early morning of March 29, 1984 the Colts snuck off to Indianapolis in Mayflower vans packed by members of U of Maryland's Sigma Chi fraternity. The amazing story of that move is chronicled here. And thus ended the life of my revered Baltimore Colts. I was working nights at the now defunct Houston Post in those days. I'll always remember my wife waking me up to watch the story as it was being reported on the Today Show.

This Baltimore Colts' card history project was conceived as a two post 'epic'. I was going to show one card from each year's set and be done with it. But after picking up so many interesting cards, particularly from the 50s and 60s, I knew that I wanted to do more. And along the way I kept coming up with inserts and oddball issues that grabbed my attention. I included them even if no one else had much interest.

I'm not done quite yet. I have added quite a few additional items to my Baltimore Colts binder and I'll post them in the future.

#walletcard....Brisket watches the PGA

My walletcard accompanied my family and I out to the Shell Houston Open this past weekend. This is a shot from Friday and shows Brisket Howard in the stands behind the 15th green awaiting the next group to come through.

I've been going to the Open since the early 70s when I used to work the old manual scoreboards at Quail Valley CC in southwest Houston. Fun times. Seems like half my family has worked for Shell forever and we have always had a good time out there. One of my sons used to caddy during the Wednesday Pro-Am.

I'm still not used to the more relaxed camera policy that's been in affect for a few years. They used to eject you if they caught you smuggling a phone onto the grounds. Now that only ask for it to be on silent. Taking pics is still against the rules but most people are able to sneak a few shots, especially on the less-trafficked holes where there are fewer officials.

The guy below is Jerry Kelly. He's a tour vet, a 'grinder' from Wisconsin who has been a favorite of ours for many years. Back when my kids were young he was super friendly with them and was a generous supplier of golf balls.

Jerry has had a couple of top ten finishes this season but he much to our disappointment he missed the cut here in Houston despite being under par for the two rounds he played. That was his second missed cut in as many weeks. Here's hoping he bounces back in a hurry. He's really a good guy.

Opening Day On Opening Day

Over the weekend I saw something I hadn't seen in many years...a box of card pack being sold at a checkout stand. For some reason the Target I visited had a box of Topps Opening Day right there on the shelves along side the multi-packs of disposable lighters and Burt's Bees lip balm. The last time I saw anything like that was in the early 90s when our local Albertson's had Pro Set football boxes next to the register.

I'll spare you my curmudgeonly rant about how I don't understand the point of a set that's pretty much the same as the regular set. I'm sure there are plenty of reasons for it. At least it runs a buck a pack. I wouldn't have bought a pack had the box been the regular 2015 Topps. Not for three dollars a throw.

So for the low, low price of 99 cents I bought a pack. I was hoping for either an Oriole or someone on my newly minted fantasy team. I got neither but I at least got a card of one of my favorite non-Orioles, Andrew McCutchen. His flying braids always make for a cool card.

My pack also has a shiny sort of card. I think Drew Smyly was on my fantasy team a couple of years ago when he pitched to Detroit(?). The fantasy team that made me swear I'd never have another fantasy baseball team.

This is the Twins' mascot? A bear?

This one is for Ana Lu. Tongue is love.

I guess this card had Jose Abreu listed because he is in that pile of guys after a walk off or something. Seems more like a White Sox team card to me.

I also got a rookie card of a guy with a really long name. But I liked the photo so I scanned it.

There was a game last night but today, for almost everyone else, is Opening Day. I wish they still had a Reds' afternoon game as the official opener but whatever. I hope your team wins today. Enjoy!

Night Owl Will Like This

Well I did it. I let myself get roped into doing Fantasy Baseball again. I swore on my grandmother's headstone I wouldn't let myself be duped into another year of what is like having a second job, one that doesn't pay anything.

I was at a a Texas versus Houston softball game on Wednesday night when my friend called and begged me to take the final slot in his big money league. What can you do when the same guy that got you the royal treatment on a spring training vacation asks for a favor? And so, with 20 minutes of prep time after school, I jumped into Thursday night's draft.

The good news is that I had the #5 pick and was able to take Clayton Kershaw. The bad news is I was screwed after that. The only saving grace about this whole thing is that my entry fee was 'crowd funded' or whatever they call it.

Although the draft analyzer rated my effort as fourth best in the league I'm not very optimistic. The best thing I did was find my logo. Here it is:

My team is called "Ted's Frozen Head". I promise to not bore you with my fantasy efforts over the season (I lose interest usually about the middle of June anyway). That is unless it looks like I might end up feeling like this:

I will however chase cards of my players and if I come up with something interesting I'll post it.

Cheap Japanese Cards (Made in America)

Back when card shows sprung up like mushrooms and dealers were selling anything and everything, licensed or not, I liked to browse the aisles looking for odd and off-the-wall items that caught me eye. One such item was a 40-something card set of Japanese big leaguers that contained a card of Sadaharu Oh. It's called Play Ball Japan. 

I had been looking for an affordable career-contemporary card of the Japanese slugger for a long time (still am, btw) but I was settling for anything I could find. This set from 1987 filled the bill. Oh was the Yomiuri Giants manager at the time so it was about as close a card to what I wanted as I could get.

The set isn't credited to anyone but it sure looks like something put together by Ed Broder who back then was cranking out gypsy sets and singles without taking a breath. Most of the cards included were Americans playing in Japan, guys referred to as "Gaijin". 

Randy Bass was a legendary slugger in Japan and his whole story is a fascinating one. Reading his Wikipedia entry will give you a taste of what he meant to the fans over there. I was surprised to find that he currently is a State Senator from Oklahoma. Has been for a decade. I'll reprint part of the Wiki page here:

Bass is also famous in Japan for the "Curse of the Colonel." Following the 1985 Series victory, revelers celebrated by calling off the names of team members one by one. At each name, a fan who looked like that player would jump into the filthy Dotonbori canal. For Bass, someone threw a life-sized model of Colonel Sanders, the mascot of Kentucky Fried Chicken and the only close-at-hand likeness of a bearded American, into the river. The statue disappeared and is said to have caused the subsequent decade-long dismal performance in the Central League.
In an attempt to remove the curse, fans made repeated attempts to find the model, making offerings to the statues of the Colonel for forgiveness. In 2003, when the Tigers returned to the Japan Series after 18 years with one of the worst records in the Central League, many KFC outlets in Kōbe and Ōsaka moved their Colonel Sanders statues inside until the series was over to protect them from rabid Tigers fans. The newly replaced Colonel Sanders statue in the Dotonbori KFC branch was bolted down to prevent a repeat of the incident.
On March 10, 2009, the top half of the statue (minus hands and legs) originally thrown into the Dotonbori River was recovered during construction of a walkway. A diver said that he had thought he had found a large barrel, but was surprised when it turned out to be the upper body of the Colonel. The statue's legs and right hand were recovered the following day. The statue is still missing its glasses and left hand. The statue of Colonel Sanders is currently in a KFC franchise across the street from Koshien Stadium.

Lots of other familiar names in the set. I wonder if Leon and Leron Lee ever got confused for one another?

Matt Keough has also led an :::ahem::: interesting life. He was really good for a couple of years. He won 16 games in 1980 then a short time later his talent just seemed to up and leave. He hung around another five years before heading to Japan where he had some good years.

Sadaharu Oh managed the Giants for five seasons from 1984 through 1989. His team won the pennant in 1987. I believe he is currently in the Giants front office.

A few more Gaijin. Warren Cromartie, Ben Oglivie, Dave Hostetler and boomer Wells. Home run hitters one and all.

Here is the back of the Oh card. Pretty barebones.

There are about 20 Japanese players included. Many were stars of the day and a few became Hall of Famers. Nobuyuki Kagawa was a broadcaster after his playing days. This story mentions his weight issues and how they led to his death at the age of only 52.

I think I paid $5 for the set off a dealer's table about 25 years ago. That's probably what it's worth today. But there is currently one on eBay with an asking price of  $200. I had to do a double take on that. Is it a solid gold parallel issue? I did a screen grab just to show I'm not making this up.