1981 Topps Scratch-Offs Panels

INTRODUCTION TO THE SET

Throughout its long history in the baseball-card industry, Topps has sought additional ways to leverage its full MLB license and, once it became necessary, the MLBPA license. Even its first major release set in 1951 was a bit of an oddball in being both a collectible card and a playable game.

There may be something of a pattern to these oddballs, though. It's not a perfect relationship, but it seems like Topps was more prone to issue an oddball set when it had more competition in the baseball world. For example, in 1958, Topps had no competition at all and did not issue any oddballs of its own. In 1959, on the other hand, Fleer jumped into the ring with its Ted Williams set, and Topps responded by printing cards on the backs of its Bazooka brand bubble gum. 

It's not a perfect relationship. For example, Topps issued effectively five oddball sets in 1964 (two Bazooka sets along with Giants, Tattoos, and Stand-Ups), but it really did not have any competition that year. Now, those oddballs could have been issued anticipating a loss in court to Fleer on an antitrust suit or just further competition from Fleer. But there were a number of other oddballs throughout the 1960s and 1970s -- during Topps's exclusivity years -- that still got issued. 

Again, it may be simply that Topps wanted to leverage its license into making more money and seeking new lines of products. That is rationale corporate behavior, after all. 

By the time 1981 came around, Topps was better positioned than either of its new rivals Donruss and Fleer to take advantage of the increasing interest in oddballs. Topps worked with Coca-Cola on some team sets, with Perma-Graphic on a credit card-like set, and had two of its own oddball products -- the Home Team 5x7 photos and these Scratch-offs.

EXEMPLARS

Full Panel

Singles





DETAILS

This set was designed to allow kids the fun of playing baseball in the same way that their parents enjoyed playing the lottery -- through scratching off an unidentified substance from a piece of cardboard to reveal the outcome of an at bat. 

The cards came in full panels, as shown above. To get to the individual cards, perforations separate the three cards.  The panels themselves measure 3-1/4" x 5-1/4", while each individual card measures 3-1/4" x 1-13/16", according to PSA.

In stores, these cards were sold in wax packs which included a total of 6 panels. Each pack included three American League panels, three National League panels, and a stick of gum. Here's a photo from an eBay auction to show you what the packages looked like:

As the backs imply with the empty box next to the player information, those who were using these scratch-offs to play a game were supposed to make out their lineups and slot players into a batting order. AL players were numbered from 1 to 54, while NL players were numbered from 55 to 108. 

HALL OF FAMERS

Out of the 108 cards in the set, there are just 17 19 members of the Hall of Fame. In looking at the checklist, that's due in large part to the nature of this set including players from all 26 teams and in part to a number of players who looked like they might be good in the early 1980s but who never amounted to much baseball-wise (Joe Charboneau and Ken Landreaux, for instance) or were essentially one-hit wonders (like Steve Stone's 1980 Cy Young Award winning season).

The members of the Hall in this set include: George Brett, Reggie Jackson, Tony Perez, Eddie Murray, Robin Yount, Jim Rice, Rod Carew, Paul Molitor, Rickey Henderson, Jim Palmer, Mike Schmidt, Johnny Bench, Gary Carter, Ozzie Smith, Andre Dawson, Steve Carlton, and Tom Seaver. 

Added since the original post were Ted Simmons and Alan Trammell, both of whom I identified in 2017 as possible HOF inductees.

Potential future members of the Hall include Ted Simmons (ding!), Alan Trammell (Ding ding!), Dusty Baker (as a manager), and maybe Buddy Bell.

ERRORS/VARIATIONS

This set is a variation-seekers dream. 

Let's start with the panels themselves. The first 18 cards of each of the League runs -- 1 through 18 and 55 through 72 -- always appear on the top of the panel. Cards 19 to 36 (AL) and 73 to 90 (NL) always appear as the middle panel. Cards 37 to 54 and 91 to 108 always appear as the bottom panel. 

But, each of the first 18 cards does not always appear with the same two other cards and, in fact, each has four different variants in terms of the panel composition. For example, Robin Yount is card 10. His four variations in terms of panelmates include: (1) Rick Cerone [card 28] and Toby Harrah [card 46]; (2) Rick Cerone and Ed Farmer [card 54]; (3) Al Bumbry [card 29] and Frank White [card 47]; and (4) Willie Randolph [card 36] and Toby Harrah. 

The same is true for literally every single card in the set -- whether the player is a top panel, middle panel, or bottom panel. All told, this means that a complete set of panels is comprised of 144 panels. A great checklist for this can be found on the Net 54 Baseball site. 

That's not the end of the variations, though. I said above that a complete set of panels is comprised of 144 panels. That's probably true, I think. but it may not be.  

You see, Topps made use of the backs of cards as well. Cards 1 through 18 and 55 through 72 -- the top panels -- each have the instructions for how to play the game on the back. So, both the Tony Perez and Ted Simmons cards shown above fall into those runs. Cards 19 through 36 and 73 through 90 -- the middle panels -- each have a scoreboard to keep score of the game on the back:

So far, so good, right? Well, here's where it goes off the rails. Cards 37 through 54 and 91 through 108 -- the bottom panels -- all have advertising on back.

And I've given away the story here by showing you those ads. As you can see, there are two Ken Griffey Sr. card backs above -- one selling a ball-strike indicator and one selling a baseball hat like ones you could find at the truck stops across America in 1981. The Dave Lopes back shows the third item for sale -- a Topps "Super Sports Card Locker." 

Each of the bottom-panel cards was printed with exactly two of the three advertisements on the back. Griffey had the Hat and the BSI; Lopes had the Locker and the BSI; Doug Flynn (card 93) had the Hat and the Locker. In other words, taking all 36 of those panels into account, there are 72 total variations for these bottom panels.

So, let's step back to the Yount panel list for a moment. If you are either a crazy completist or a player collector looking for variations to add numbers to your collection, this is a potential gold mine because the reality is that you have a possibility of not four, but really eight possible panels to collect. 

MAYBE.

I say maybe in bold and all caps because, well, I don't know if there are variations in what advertisement appeared on the backs of the Yount Panels. What I mean is this: Toby Harrah appears both with the Ball-Strike Indicator and the Hat Offer. Were his cards on the Yount/Cerone Panel all BSIs? Were his cards on the Yount/Randolph panel all Hat Offers? 

I just don't know and I have not seen anything that ties these two issues together. Does anyone know?

MY TAKE

I definitely had these cards available to me in small-town Wisconsin. I scratched the hell out of them. Later in the 1980s, I bought what I thought was a complete set at a card show or a flea market in Wisconsin, and kept them intact for a while. I have not been able to find that set anywhere, though, so I'm thinking that I may have broken that set up into its constituent parts. I have been known to do that.

This is the kind of fun set that Topps used to make to try to get kids interested in collecting. The same year that the scratch-offs came out, Topps also issued its first sticker set and album. Both the scratch-offs and the stickers took much of whatever money I made that summer cutting the lawn around my house. I mean, I was in the summer after third grade that year, so it wasn't like I had many options to make money. But those two together helped keep my interest as a kid. I wouldn't mind having similar sets getting issued nowadays.

If I were to be collecting this set, I'd be going at it as a completist. I'd want all 144 panels -- all the variations in player composition would be required. If I assume that the 144 panels includes all the proper variations in them such that 144 panels is complete, even that is a bit of a chore to put together. In looking at eBay, people sell the set as "36 panels, 108 cards" in the set. Granted, no one has made the very low opening bid on that set of $0.99 (plus $3.50 shipping).

In the event you're looking to get an unopened box or two to rip, that is a bit more difficult to find. For instance, a three-box lot has been listed at $139.99 plus $10 shipping. That sale does have the option of making an offer to reduce the cost, but in any event that seems to be a steep price to me. There is another single box available for $44.99 (shipping included) that does not have an offer option. 

Maybe it's just me, but that seems a bit pricy too. Yet, if there is not much supply out there, perhaps someone will buy it at that price.

If I'm spending that kind of money on this set, I'm going with the uncut sheet in this auction, which will run $59.75 (or less if you make a good enough offer). I feel like that just gives me more bang for my buck, and I have been building a strange affinity for uncut sheets.

What do you think? Too rich for your blood, or worth the money?

1980s Milwaukee Brewers Police Cards

I am unashamedly and unabashedly a Milwaukee Brewers fan. My oddball collecting started in earnest with my attendance on May 8, 1982, at a game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Minnesota Twins. The Brewers teamed with the Milwaukee Police Department to issue sets of baseball cards. 

Since I have written about my love for the Brewers police cards on multiple occasions on my other blog (Off Hiatus Baseball Cards) and on the SABR Baseball Cards blog, I thought that this oddball would be a great place to start this blog and to introduce the format I hope to follow throughout.

INTRO TO THE BLOG

I define Oddballs as including any 1980s set that is outside the various "flagship" sets. These days, that definition would not work. But, in the 1980s, Topps was the purveyor of multiple wonderful oddball sets that were issued nationally and which deserve to be highlighted on this blog.

I titled this blog as "Collecting the 1980s" because that is the era of oddballs and cards that I know. That said, it's my blog so I may highlight other oddball sets that came from before the 1980s or after the 1980s because I like the set or want more information. Feel free to suggest sets I should highlight to me on Twitter or in the comments.

My general plan is to follow a similar outline for each post. First, I'll give an introduction to the set, which will include any history I can unearth regarding the set, its reason for being, etc. That intro may include references to pre-1980s sets where appropriate to give context. The next section will provide an exemplar or two as available and appropriate. Next, the details section will include information such as card size, distribution area, print runs if available, how the cards were packaged and available to the public, or any other interesting facts about the mechanics behind the set.

The final three subjects are fairly self-explanatory. I'll highlight the noteworthy players in each set and, for sets like the Milwaukee Police, in each of the years in the 1980s that the sets were issues. If there are variations or errors available, I will highlight those. Finally, I'll give my impression of the set(s), whether I ever got any of the cards before the advent of eBay

INTRODUCTION TO SET

In the offseason after the 1981 season, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Milwaukee Police Department announced their agreement to issue sets of baseball cards. The Brewers were not the first team to work with local law enforcement to have a special set for police to hand out -- that probably was the Philadelphia Phillies in 1967.

The above article was published in the May 1982 edition of the Milwaukee Brewers Official Magazine called What's Brewing? As the article notes, the way the Milwaukee Police sets worked -- at least in 1982 -- was for kids -- "primarily 14 years of age and under" -- to receive a full set only at the May 8 game. Thereafter, to get the cards, kids were supposed to seek out their friendly neighborhood uniformed police officer to get the two cards on issue that week.

As background to that, Milwaukee was struggling in the early 1980s with significant tensions between police and the African-American community. Even as a 9-year-old, I knew the name "Ernest Lacy," and it still brings back the memory of these problems. In June of 1981, Lacy was a 22-year-old black man who was picked up by police looking for a rapist. Lacy was not the rapist. While in custody, Lacy died of respiratory distress. Two years after his death, five police officers were found by the Milwaukee Police and Fire Commission to have failed to render first aid to him. As a criminal defense lawyer has written on his blog, that case was "a lightning-rod in the city for citizens - especially black citizens - who were fed-up with the brutal police tactics of the police chief at the time, Harold Brier [sic]."

In response to a double shooting of two police officers later in 1981, the police union sanctioned an illegal strike. The police were complaining that they were being "persecuted" by District Attorney, E. Michael McCann. Interestingly, McCann was cited as being exceptionally forgiving of police officers in that same defense-lawyer blog, so perhaps that 1981 strike led McCann to bend over backwards to avoid problems with Milwaukee PD.

With that as background, you can see why the Milwaukee Police were looking for a way to step up their community-relations program in the fall and winter of 1981 by teaming with the Brewers.

The Brewers and the Milwaukee Police teamed up for these sets from 1982 onward. I am not sure if the Milwaukee Police continued the tradition into the 21st century and, if so, for how long. However, in this Wauwatosa Now article, it is noted that the Brewers discontinued the card program in 2013. That article says the Brewers began their card program in 1983; I do not know if that was meant to say 1982 or if the program did not become a "Program" until 1983.

EXEMPLARS

The Brewers cards went on from 1982 for the rest of the decade. Here are a few from each year.

1982: 

1983:

1984:

1985:

1986:

1987:

1988:

1989:

DETAILS

The cards throughout the 1980s all looked very similar. They all measure 2-13/16" x 4-1/8". They all feature a color photo on the front with identifying information regarding the player, the player's number, and his position. None of the cards are numbered, so most checklists follow the player's number and then identifies the team card and the Coaches card as unnumbered.

The front also includes the police or sheriff's department who issued the card, the year the card was issued, and the names of any and all sponsors that the various jurisdictions got to help defray costs for printing. In addition, from 1982 through 1989, all the sets had about the same thickness of white border as the cards you see above. 

The backs of the cards (other than the team photo checklist) all feature a message to kids ostensibly from the player pictured to follow the law and be safe. A funny quirk in how these were put together is that the "Coaches say" the helpful message on the back as if they were some sort of community partnership choir.

The Milwaukee Police Department cards include the department's shield logo alongside the Brewers logo on the back and, if there was a sponsor, the sponsor's logo as well. The cards for other police jurisdictions usually have just the Brewers logo.

Basically, if you set aside the name of the police department, the only things that changed during the 1980s were the players included in the set, the font on the front of the card, and the order that the information on the front was printed.

In 1990, the cards stayed big but have blue borders. After that and starting in 1991, the cards changed to be the standard sized baseball cards at 2.5" x 3.5".

HALL OF FAMERS

1982: Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Rollie Fingers, Ted Simmons

1983: Yount, Molitor, Fingers, Don Sutton, Ted Simmons

1984: Yount, Molitor, Fingers, Sutton, Simmons

1985: Molitor, Yount, Fingers, Simmons

1986-1989: Molitor & Yount

Pretty much who you knew would be there. The 1989 set features Gary Sheffield's rookie card as well.

Edit: Edited to add Ted Simmons to the Hall of Famer list.

VARIATIONS/ERRORS

Variations are what make the Brewers police cards famous. Even in 1982, multiple jurisdictions gave out the cards. In 1982 particularly, cards from the Wisconsin State Fair Police are known to be far more difficult to come by than any other cards from that year. 

The number of jurisdictions who issued cards is a big question mark even today. The "big book" a/k/a the Bible of Baseball Cards -- the 2011 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards edited by the late Bob Lemke -- does not make an attempt to list out all the police departments. I have a spreadsheet that I received from a fellow obsessive Brewers collector which gives these numbers in terms of the variations of who gave out the cards:

1982: 5

1983: 29

1984: 64

1985: 64

1986: 76

1987: 67

1988: 90

1989: 91

MY TAKE

These are both a boon and a bane to player collectors of Robin Yount and Paul Molitor, of course, and to Brewers collectors generally. I mean, I'd love to try to chase all of those sets. And while I have heard of most of the locales where cards were given out, I am quite sure that I have never seen any cards from the 1984 Wheatland Police Department set, for example. 

It's also difficult to find these cards on eBay because people just call them "police cards" without concern as to the issuing police force. Further, some sellers are lazy and steal scans from others, so they advertise selling "police cards" and have some old scan of a Chilton P.D. card before saying in their comments that "the days of collecting all the police departments is long gone, and you will get the set of our choosing." 

Um, Mr. Seller, I don't want the set of your choosing. I probably have it already. I want a particular set.

I loved these cards. Maybe it was because I knew I would be going to at least one Brewers game per year to get my set and chase autographs after it, but I have always loved these cards. I have at least a few dozen police cards that are autographed as well -- including several Molitors and Younts. 

These police cards represent a lot of the great things about 1980s oddballs, though. Generally speaking, the cards are reasonably available. Because collectors and speculators had started keeping everything in sight by the early 1980s, you can usually find the Milwaukee Police Department versions of the cards in complete sets at reasonable prices. The 1982 set probably has the lowest print run at 40,000, and even it can be found from time to time at very reasonable prices. At this writing, you can get two sets of the cards for $7 plus $2.99 shipping for example.

With how plain these cards are, I do worry about whether all the cards floating around on eBay are authentic. I would guess that these cards would be fairly easy to replicate. On the other hand, for the price being paid, there seems to be little incentive to counterfeit these cards.

Thanks for stopping by. If you have any memories, thoughts, or complaints about this set or about how this first post was put together, please comment below. The comments are the reason bloggers write -- and I'm in that camp. So, please do let me know your opinions on these cards and, also, let me know what my next post should cover!