1979 Topps

[Harliduck]

1979 Topps was my first year in cards as a 9 year old...I opened MANY packs and as a kid I was able to put 2 sets together, so did my brother. We couldn't get enough. Not scientific at all, or have knowledge what so ever, just my kid memories...but we didn't even know a Bump Wills "Rangers" version was a real thing until we bought our first Becket price book and saw the listing. I picked up my first one at a card shop when I was 12ish, 1982ish. So however many boxes throughout an entire year of buying, we had at least 5 or 6 Blue Jay versions, no Rangers. To me the Rangers version was super rare, as in "no way, that exists??". We knew something was off as the team name didn't match the jersey...


I still love the 79s. I did have to buy a new set a few years back as my childhood set was...well...loved. I have both. I can still name the player by memory from just their picture, all 726 of them...I must have sorted and stared at those for HOURS and HOURS.

[deweyinthehall]

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[deweyinthehall]

Originally Posted by Harliduck

1979 Topps was my first year in cards as a 9 year old...I opened MANY packs and as a kid I was able to put 2 sets together, so did my brother. We couldn't get enough. Not scientific at all, or have knowledge what so ever, just my kid memories...but we didn't even know a Bump Wills "Rangers" version was a real thing until we bought our first Becket price book and saw the listing. I picked up my first one at a card shop when I was 12ish, 1982ish. So however many boxes throughout an entire year of buying, we had at least 5 or 6 Blue Jay versions, no Rangers. To me the Rangers version was super rare, as in "no way, that exists??". We knew something was off as the team name didn't match the jersey...


I still love the 79s. I did have to buy a new set a few years back as my childhood set was...well...loved. I have both. I can still name the player by memory from just their picture, all 726 of them...I must have sorted and stared at those for HOURS and HOURS.

1978 was to me what 1979 was to you. When I first saw a bin of '79 cellos in a store in early 1979 I said to myself something like "you mean they come out with a new set EVERY year?"

I have to ask - with me and the 1978s, when I page through them today the ones I looked for all summer and eventually had to get from other friends' extras piles have always had a different 'look' to me - I can't articulate it better than that except maybe to say they look different to me in the same way that a 1972 Topps series one card looks different from a 1972 Topps series 6 card (if you're familiar with that difference). Does this sound at all familiar to you? It's always struck me as odd.

[JollyElm]

My brothers and I were grabbing (the basically nameless) Mets left and right, but when it came to the Yanks, it was really depressing seeing what Topps did to Thurman Munson and Reggie Jackson. They both had great action shots in the 1978 set (with Reg's being one of the best cards ever), but when we started opening packs in '79, they had both been reduced to frickin' Dreadshots (an uninteresting Topps card that features nothing but the noggin of the ballplayer)!!!!! What the heck, Topps!!!!!!!!!!

[deweyinthehall]

This life-long Sox fan will attest to the fact that Reggie's '78 card is one of the best ever.

It may be because I was biased but the 1979 set was a let down to me from 1978 - the colors in 78 seemed more vibrant, the photography selection better, the design bolder.

[Harliduck]

It's funny...my mom found a convenient store that still had 78's in them, like 4 boxes, and gave her a deal as they were "last years, no one wants them...". To me at 9 years old, they may have been 50 years old! So the 78s are special as I still consider them in my kid mind as OLD. Reggie was my favorite player, and he was in the first pack of 79s I opened (still have that Reggie). But when I saw the 78 Reggie I about fell on the floor...the action shot was so COOL. I remember it like it was yesterday....


BTW...I TOTALLY know what you mean. The cards that were hard to get seem still so mysterious to me today and I always notice that when I thumb through. For me in 1979, Bobby Valentine and Rick Honeycutt were 2 cards I could not find. They are still special to me! I really remember in 81 not being able to find Johnny Wockenfuss and Gene Richards, and none of my friends had them either. I finally had a friend have both and it cost me a kings ransom at school! The good old days...

[deweyinthehall]

When I looked in that bin of new 79 Cellos it was a like a box of wonders - Mike Jorgensen? I thought he was with the A's - He's with the Rangers now?? Preston Hanna - who's he? What the heck are these odd All Time Leader cards with these guys I don't know in little black and white pictures? I'm not getting one of those packs, they probably aren't the real 1979 cards.

If memory serves, I did get the pack showing Preston Hanna and I think I got Dave Bergman, Ed Figueroa and Reggie Cleveland in that first pack of 79s as well.

[Cliff Bowman]

In 1979 I remember in New Jersey the Bump Wills error was known immediately and I remember the correction eventually coming out, but in 1978 I never heard of anyone having a Bump Wills with the large black magic marker circle and I do remember the Jose Morales was well known to have black stitching on the baseball but I don't remember anyone having the early print error with the messed up red stitching.