Stuck in My Childhood

When I was in elementary school, stickers were the reward of choice from my teachers.  I remember girls would have photo albums filled with different kinds of stickers.  Incentive stickers.  Smelly stickers.  Puffy stickers.  Foil star stickers.

I had a different kind of album.  My album was specifically made for those Topps/Panini baseball stickers.  I'm pretty sure I started collecting them in 1982, because I remember owning the album with Gary Carter on the front.

However... I don't remember having this album:

It's the one Topps created for their inaugural baseball sticker set produced in 1981... and it features George Brett who won the American League MVP Award the year before, so it's probably safe to say that I didn't collect these back when they were released.

Fast forward three decades and I somehow came across either a bunch of these packs... or possibly an unopened box of stickers and decided to build the set.  I was down to only needing five stickers when I read Jon's post on A Pack To Be Named Later which featured him ripping a pack.

I left a comment on the post and after a few emails these arrived last week:

Thank you Jon for helping me complete this set.  I'm in the process of buying that George Brett album, so I can relive some of my childhood memories.

In the meantime, I figured I'd show off a few of my favorite stickers from the set.  Now before I begin... I should let everyone know that Topps mainly used portrait shots like the Nolan Ryan and Rick Wise you see pictured above.  However there are a handful of action shots in the set and some of them actually contain fully intact bodies:

Back in 1981, I hadn't become a San Diego Padres fan yet... but it's still cool to see The Wizard smiling while wearing Brown and Gold:

Another sticker that stood out was the Alan Trammell, which features him in this staged action shot that reminds me of the one used on Robin Yount's rookie card:

And last but not least are the pair of combo stickers that features the 1980 American League Champions and the 1980 National League Champions:

These are the only combo stickers featured in the 1981 set, which is a shame because I've always thought this was a cool concept.  Thankfully Topps made sure collectors had plenty of others to build in future sets.

Rounded out the sticker portion of this post is this new addition to my Tony Gwynn collection:

1988 Panini Sticker #410

When I saw this in Jon's package, I could have sworn I had this already.  But a quick look into my Gwynn binder revealed that I still needed it for my collection.

Thanks again Jon for helping me finish my sticker set... as well as adding a new item to my favorite player's PC.  Let me know when you have your wish list up on your site and I'll try to return the favor.

In addition to Jon's PWE... I received two more from Tiny over at CCW.  The first one included this amazing reprint of Ichiro's Bowman Chrome rookie card:

2011 Bowman Chrome Throwbacks #351B

I scanned the back... but somehow misplaced it... which is really unfortunate because the back features a bunch of Japanese writing.  I actually already had this card in my Ichiro binder, but I plan on taking this copy, throwing it in a screw down, and putting it on a shelf in my classroom.

The second PWE that Tiny sent featured these three random... but much appreciated pieces of Americana:

I have always wanted to bust a few boxes of Pro Set's Yo! MTV Raps.  Maybe this is the sign that I need to get off my butt and find some affordable boxes.  As for the Hogan, I love this card.  Great design of the most iconic wrestler from my childhood.

Thanks Tiny!  I'll make sure to give these four cards a good home.

2007-08 Sweet Shot Signature Shots Puck Signings #SSP-SC

2010-11 Crown Royale Scratching the Surface #34 (#'d 04/25)

And rounding out this post... a huge congratulations goes out to Mr. Scott over at Bob Walk The Plank... and his Pittsburgh Penguins for winning their fourth Stanley Cup Championship.

Martin Jones In Person Signed Puck

The Penguins thoroughly outplayed the San Jose Sharks in the Stanley Cup Finals... but thankfully Martin Jones at least made things interesting.  Overall... I was really impressed with the San Jose Sharks this postseason.  I don't think many of us thought they'd make their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals... so as a fan of the past twenty-five seasons... I'm thankful that they came within two wins of bringing San Jose a title.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!