The 1980 Donruss Set That Never Was

We all know that Topps monopoly on baseball cards was broken up by a court ruling in 1980. In 1981 we had Fleer and Donruss cards as well as Topps.  In anticipation of the ruling Donruss created these 1980 prototypes.  These can still be found. A quick look at COMC.com shows this panel currently selling for $855.28. (not sure what the 28 cents is for, postage?)

The panel included Reggie Jackson, George Brett and a blank template.  I wasn't the first and I probably won't be the last to use this template for card creations. I made a card of Dan Quisenberry back in 2014 using this design. I've also seen a few other custom cards using this format on the interwebs.

Elements of this design made it into the 1981 Donruss set. Here is a Cy Young Card of Steve Carlton.  You can see the similarities in the banner design.

You can also see the similarities in the banner design of the 1980 Topps cards. If this had been released in 1980, I could see Topps taking issue with the design.

The photos they used also made it into the 1981 set. A cropped version of the Reggie photo made it onto one of his three base cards. 

Donruss even had a bit of revisionist history in regards to the 1980 set. In 2002 they came out with a 1980 "What if?" set including this Reggie Jackson card. It didn't resemble the 1980 prototype at all. 

The Brett photo found its way onto two cards in 1981, his base card and his MVP card.

A cropped version of the same photo can be seen here on an advertisement for the new 1981 Donruss cards.

Okay, that's enough for the baseball card history segment of this post.  The reason I am posting this in the first place is to make these prototypes into a complete set.  

I'm going to follow my normal template of making base cards of the eventual season MVPs and Cy Young award winner.  Then in subsequent posts, I'll fill in the various other elements that make a complete baseball card set.

In the AL, George Brett won the MVP in 1980. That card has already been made for us.  In the NL it was another big hitting third baseman and future Hall of Famer, Mike Schmidt.  You can see my adaptation of the prototype's design.

The Cy Young Award winners were Steve Stone and Steve Carlton. For Carlton this was his 3rd of 4 Cy Youngs. His 24 wins helped the Phillies to their first ever World Series Championship. He was also 3-0 in four post season starts.  Steve Stone was having a career year in Baltimore. He had a 25 wins. That was a full ten wins more than his previous high of 15 with the 1977 Southside Hitmen. He also had a career high of 149 strikeouts. Tendinitis in his shoulder dropped his numbers to 4-7 in just 15 games in 1981. He retired at 34. 

For Donruss, the first few years the set was, well, basic. They didn't have designated rookie cards, or team cards, or leader cards, or all-stars, or post season cards. You get the idea.  My 1980 set that never was will have all that and more.  Those of you that actually read this far into the post can of course request cards as usual or even submit ideas for subsets that I didn't include.

To be continued....

It's Like Deja Vu All Over Again

MLB Dream Bracket Alt-Topps Cards Pt. 12

Yankees v Reds

In a surprise to absolutely nobody, the All-Time Yankees were the Dream Bracket winners. They beet the Reds in seven games.  After falling behind three games to two, the Bombers won game 6 on a Joltin' Joe homer in the 8th inning. The complete story and video is here.

Overall, I felt the Bracket would have been more interesting if they had also teamed up with MLB: The Show.  This is what the Players'Association did.  The graphics would have made this more interesting to watch. But I kept myself amused making 149 different cards to go along with this.

Now we need to get back to real baseball.

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These cards are base on the MLB Dream Bracket.  Not sure who picked the "all-time players". It is a product of Twitch, Out of the Park and Draft Kings.  I take no responsibility for their choices, good or bad.  The cards themselves are based on a rejected Topps design from the late sixties.

To check the status of the bracket click here.

MLB Dream Bracket Alt-Topps Cards Pt. 11

Results of  MLB Dream Bracket 

Quarter Finals and Semi Finals

The semi finals contained teams that had long, rich histories.  The Yankees were born as the Baltimore Orioles in 1901. The moved to the Big Apple in 1903 and became the Highlanders. In 1913 they were renamed the Yankees.

The Red Sox were also founded in 1901. The Boston American League team had no official nickname until 1908 when they adapted Red Sox from the Boston NL team the Boston Red Stockings. The NL Boston Red Stockings were actually the original Cincinnati Red Stockings and would eventually become the Boston Braves. The Boston AL team had many unofficial nicknames prior to 1908, Pilgrim, Puritans, Somersets and Americans.

The Reds claim to be the oldest team in baseball. This is not entirely true. The Cincinnati Red Stockings were the first professional ball club, born in 1869.  As mentioned earlier that club moved to Boston and lives on now as the Atlanta Braves. This franchise was actually born in 1882 also named Red Stockings. It was often shortened to Reds. In 1911 it became official with the appearance of "Reds" on their uniform.  During the McCarthyism era in the fifties, they briefly changed their name to Redlegs in a shameful effort to distance themselves.

The Dodgers were originally the Brooklyn Atlantics in 1883. Then for many years, had no official nickname. They were called the Superbas, the Infants, the Bridegrooms, the Robins, the Trolley Dodgers or just the Dodgers for many years. It wasn't until 1932 that "Dodgers" became official and  appeared on their jerseys.

For these brackets, I re-used the cards I had created for each team right up until the semifinals. At that point I needed to create new cards for Jeter, Gehrig, Tiant, Larkin, Bench and Koufax.

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These cards are base on the MLB Dream Bracket.  Not sure who picked the "all-time players". It is a product of Twitch, Out of the Park and Draft Kings.  I take no responsibility for their choices, good or bad.  The cards themselves are based on a rejected Topps design from the late sixties.

To check the status of the bracket click here.

MLB Dream Bracket Alt-Topps Cards Pt. 10

Recap of  NL Dream Bracket 

Round 1 & 2

Fairly predictable results with the exception of the Florida/Miami Marlins over the Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves and the Pilot-less Brewers advancing against the NY/SF Giants then (to a lesser degree) passing the Cubs.

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These cards are base on the MLB Dream Bracket.  Not sure who picked the "all-time players". It is a product of Twitch, Out of the Park and Draft Kings.  I take no responsibility for their choices, good or bad.  The cards themselves are based on a rejected Topps design from the late sixties.

To check the status of the bracket click here.

MLB Dream Bracket Alt-Topps Cards Part 9

Recap of  AL Dream Bracket 

Round 1 & 2

The only real upset in this round could have been the Astros advancing past the Orioles and Tigers. The big disappointment for me was the early exit of the Negro League Legends.

******************************************

These cards are base on the MLB Dream Bracket.  Not sure who picked the "all-time players". It is a product of Twitch, Out of the Park and Draft Kings.  I take no responsibility for their choices, good or bad.  The cards themselves are based on a rejected Topps design from the late sixties.

To check the status of the bracket click here.