1980 Topps – ‘1979 Highlights’ – The Complete Set

1980 Topps – ‘1979 Highlights’ – The Complete Set

This was a fun set to review.  Taking a look back at the major headlines from the sport 30 years ago really puts into perspective how much the game and its players have changed over the course of 3 decades.

I also love to learn more about the players that paved the way for the stars of today.  Picking up extra knowledge and admiration for guys like Willie McCovey, Pete Rose, Lou Brock, and Carl Yastrzemski is never a bad thing when you are someone who loves and appreciates the history of the game like I do!!

Here’s a look at the complete 6-card set:

I hope you enjoyed learning about these guys and their amazing feats from the 1979 baseball season as much as I did.

I am certainly going to go after more subsets as I continue to find this to be great fun!!!  Thanks.

1980 Topps – ‘1979 Highlights’ – Card #6

I was able to pick up this subset for a very low price.  It’s a 6-card set and it highlights some amazing accomplishments that occurred during the 1979 baseball season.

1980 Topps – ‘1979 Highlights’ – Card #6

Headline – ‘Del Unser’s 3rd Consecutive Pinch Homer Sets New Big League Standard’

Text on the back – Philadelphia, July 10, 1979 – Phillies’ Del Unser belted a game-winning pinch-homer in the 9th inning tonight as Phillies beat the Padres, 6-5.  It was Unser’s 3rd straight homer as pinch-hitter, a new big league mark for batsmen.

1980 Topps – ‘1979 Highlights’ – Card #5

I was able to pick up this subset for a very low price.  It’s a 6-card set and it highlights some amazing accomplishments that occurred during the 1979 baseball season.

1980 Topps – ‘1979 Highlights’ – Card #5

Headline – “Garry Templeton Becomes 1st With 100 Hits From Each Side Of Plate”

Text on the back – St. Louis, September 28, 1979 – When Cardinals’ Garry Templeton surprised Mets with bunt single tonight, it marked hit 100th hit from right side of the plate.  He thus becomes the first switch-hitter in big league history with 100 hits from each side.

1980 Topps – ‘1979 Highlights’ – Card #4

I was able to pick up this subset for a very low price.  It’s a 6-card set and it highlights some amazing accomplishments that occurred during the 1979 baseball season.

1980 Topps – ‘1979 Highlights’ – Card #4

Headline – “Pete Rose Gets Record 10th Season Of Career With 200 Or More Hits”

Text on the back – Philadelphia, September 24, 1979 – Phillies’ Pete Rose tonight became the first player in major league history to collect 200 or more hits in 10 campaigns.  The previous record of 9 years of 200 or more hits was held by the immortal Ty Cobb.”

30 years later – Still the career leader with 10 seasons of 200+ hits, Rose will be challenged this year by Ichiro who is also shooting for his 10th year.

1980 Topps – ‘1979 Highlights’ – Card #3

I was able to pick up this subset for a very low price.  It’s a 6-card set and it highlights some amazing accomplishments that occurred during the 1979 baseball season.

1980 Topps – ‘1979 Highlights’ – Card #3

Headline – “Manny Mota sets all-time pinch mark with 145th substitute hit”

Text on the back – Los Angeles, September 2, 1979 – Dodgers’ Manny Mota smacked a pinch-single in the eight inning of tonight’s game to set major league record of 145 pinch hits.  The former mark of 144 was held by Smoky Burgess, catcher, 1949-1967.

30 years later – The new record holder is Lenny Harris who has 212 career pinch-hits.

1980 Topps – ‘1979 Highlights’ – Card #2

I was able to pick up this subset for a very low price.  It’s a 6-card set and it highlights some amazing accomplishments that occurred during the 1979 baseball season.

1980 Topps – ‘1979 Highlights’ – Card #1

Headline – ‘Willie McCovey’s 512th homer sets new mark for NL lefties’

Text on the back – Pittsburgh, June 9, 1979 0 Giants’ Willie McCovey tonight belted a 3-run Pinch-Homer to highlight Giants’ 6-2 win over Pirates.  The wallop was the 512th of McCovey’s career, setting a new NL mark for lefties.  The record of 511 homers was held by Mel Ott.

30 years later – With 521 career home runs to his credit, McCovey ranks in 7th place on the all-time home run list for left-handed batters.

1980 Topps – ‘1979 Highlights’ – Card #1

I was able to pick up this subset for a very low price.  It’s a 6-card set and it highlights some amazing accomplishments that occurred during the 1979 baseball season.

1980 Topps – ‘1979 Highlights’ – Card #1

Headline – ‘Brock And Yaz Enter 3000-Hit Circle During The 1979 Campaign’

Text on the back – ‘Lou Brock of the St. Louis Cardinals and Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox attained their 3000th career hits in 1979.  The retiring Brock finished with 3,023 lifetime safeties while Yaz’ total stands at 3,009 hits when he enters the 1980 season.’

30 years later – At the time, Brock and Yaz were the 14th and 15th players to reach the 3,000 hits milestone.  Today, this group boasts 27 members with Brock ranking at 23rd place with 3,023 and Yaz quite a bit further ahead at 6th place with 3,419 career hits.

2 great players, 1 amazing card!!!

New Subsets To Show Off!!!

With my 1985 Topps #1 Draft Picks subset complete, I sprinted to Ebay to see what other subsets I could find from my favorite decade.

And while the pickings were slim, I did stumble upon a few that I was able to scoop up for very low prices.

Without giving all of the details away, here are a few hints as to what you can expect to be seeing from me and ’30-YOC’ over the course of the off-season….

Nice, that one looks familiar…

Kinda cool – Has a nice Miami Vice-ish 80’s vibe going on…

Another one that I’ve seen before.  It should be good!!!

Ahhhhh.  Perfecto!!!

Let me say that going after these subsets has been a blast.  Whether it is collecting them card by card or getting lucky enough to find them completed and affordable, each and every one of these has brought back some wonderful memories of the stars of the 1980’s.

I look forward to sharing many more of these with you in the future.  Thanks.