1982 Topps Phillies

1982 Topps #100, #680, #780 and 1982 Topps Traded #29T

I don't have much love for the 1982 Topps set.  In just its second year of producing baseball cards, Donruss won me over with its 1982 set.  The colors were brighter, the pictures were more interesting and as a nine-year-old collector, I preferred getting a puzzle piece with my cards rather than a stick of gum.  Sealing the deal for 1982 Donruss was the 26-card Diamond King set, featuring actual paintings of the day's stars, one per team.  Once I saw the Diamond Kings, the 1982 Topps set never even had a chance.

1982 Topps #220 (Back)

The Set
Number of cards in the set:  A complete set jumped to 792 cards in 1982, and this was the magic number of cards in a complete Topps set throughout the first golden age of my collecting youth.  Topps once again tacked on a 132-card Traded series, this time re-starting the numbering with a "T" suffix for each of the red-backed cards.
My very brief thoughts on the set:  Looking at the cards now, I can't help but feel nostalgic about the set, despite the pink and orange used for the Phillies cards and the olive green backs.  Back in the day, we thought the In Action cards were pretty cool, and I remember my disappointment at the realization there weren't team cards, with a team photo, in the set.
Notable competition:  As already mentioned, Donruss won over my lawn mowing money.  I still collected Topps, but I actually had more 1982 Topps Stickers in my collection than baseball cards from the flagship set.  Fleer was an afterthought for me.  Even then, I could tell it was a crappy set.  (Although we all thought the color team logo on the back of each card was pretty radical.)

1982 Phillies
Record and finish:  The Phillies compiled a respectable record of 89-73, but they finished three games behind the Cardinals in the East.
Key players:  The offense was led once again by Mike Schmidt (.280, 35 home runs, 87 RBIs) and Gary Matthews (.281, 19 home runs, 83 RBIs).  Bo Diaz, acquired in an unpopular off-season trade in exchange for Lonnie Smith, hit .288 with 18 home runs and 85 RBIs as he slowly won over the fans.  Rookie Bob Dernier was handed the starting center fielder job, but his low average eventually led to Garry Maddox reclaiming the position.  Steve Carlton turned in another 20-win season, going 23-11 with a 3.10 ERA and 286 strikeouts on his way to his fourth (and final) Cy Young Award.
Key events:  Former Phillie Pat Corrales replaced Dallas Green as the team's skipper, as Green was hired by the Cubs to be their new General Manager.  The Phils made two major trades prior to the start of the season.  First, in November 1981, they sent Smith and a player to be named later to the Cardinals as part of a three-team trade in which the Phils netted Diaz from the Indians.  Then, in January, they traded long-time shortstop Larry Bowa along with a prospect to the Cubs for new shortstop Ivan DeJesus.  The prospect that Green acquired as the "throw-in" in the trade was infielder Ryne Sandberg.

1982 Topps #220, 1982 Topps Traded #27T, 1982 Topps #20 and #389

1982 Phillies in 1982 Topps
Cards needed for a complete team set:  All told, with subset cards included, there are 39 Phillies cards in the 1982 Topps base set.  Add the seven Phillies cards from the Traded set, and that's 46 total Phillies cards - the new high-water mark.  (Running tally - 115 Topps Phillies cards from the '80s and 873 cards overall.)
Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 8 cards

#29T Bo Diaz (c), #780 Pete Rose (1b), #220 Manny Trillo (2b), #27T Ivan DeJesus (ss), #100 Mike Schmidt (3b), #680 Gary Matthews (lf), #20 Garry Maddox (cf), #389 George Vukovich (rf)

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 5 cards

#480 Steve Carlton, #544 Larry Christenson, #59T Mike Krukow, #317 Dick Ruthven, #416 Marty Bystrom

1982 Topps #480, #544, 1982 Topps Traded #59T and 1982 Topps #317

• Base cards of other players who played with the Phillies in 1982 - 12 cards

#53 Greg Gross, #250 Tug McGraw, #285 Sparky Lyle, #352 Dick Davis, #449 Luis Aguayo, #581 Ron Reed, #647 Warren Brusstar, #713 Del Unser, #28T Bob Dernier, #32T Ed Farmer, #73T Sid Monge, #100T Bill Robinson

• Phillies appearing on multi-player "Future Stars" cards - 1 card

#231 Mark Davis, Bob Dernier and Ozzie Virgil

Dernier and Virgil spent time with the club in 1982, while Davis spent the entire season in the minors.

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1982 - 8 cards (with new teams listed)

#127 Lonnie Smith (Cardinals), #152 Ramon Aviles (Rangers), #183 Mike Proly (Cubs), #384 Keith Moreland (Cubs), #515 Larry Bowa (Cubs), #530 Dickie Noles (Cubs), #615 Bob Boone (Angels), #745 Bake McBride (Indians)

Look at all those Cubbies!

• Phillies appearing on 1981 Highlight cards - 2 cards

#1 Steve Carlton, #4 Pete Rose

• Phillies appearing on 1981 Leaders cards - 2 cards

#162 Home Run Leaders - Mike Schmidt with Tony Armas (Athletics), Dwight Evans (Red Sox), Bobby Grich (Angels) and Eddie Murray (Orioles), #163 RBI Leaders - Mike Schmidt with Eddie Murray (Orioles)

• Phillies appearing on National League All Star cards - 2 cards

#337 Pete Rose, #339 Mike Schmidt

• Phillies appearing on In Action cards - 5 cards

#101 Mike Schmidt, #481 Steve Carlton, #516 Larry Bowa, #616 Bob Boone, #781 Pete Rose

• Phillies 1981 Batting and Pitching Leaders - 1 card, #636 with Pete Rose and Steve Carlton, replacing the team photo card

1982 Topps Traded #28T, 1982 Topps #53, #581 and 1982 Topps Traded #32T

Who’s out:  Both Len Matuszek (25 games) and Dave Roberts (28 games) were omitted from the Traded set.  Porfi Altamirano (29 games in relief) would have also been a good candidate for the Traded set.
Phillies on other teams:  There are eleven cards featuring players who appeared with the Phillies in 1982, but are featured with other teams within the 1982 Topps set.  First, there are six players who would eventually get Phillies cards in the Traded set - #215 Mike Krukow (Cubs), #258 Bo Diaz (Indians), #328 Ed Farmer (White Sox), #484 Ivan DeJesus (Cubs), #543 Bill Robinson (Pirates) and #601 Sid Monge (Indians).  And here are other five - #131 Stan Bahnsen (Expos), #218 Dave Roberts (Astros), #363 Bob Molinaro (White Sox), #458 Willie Montanez (Pirates), and #773 John Denny (Indians).

1982 Topps #636

What’s he doing here:  Aviles was traded to the Rangers on October 20, 1981, yet he still made it into the set with the Phillies.  At some point, he made his way back to the Phils as he appeared in 88 games with Triple-A Oklahoma City in 1982.
Cards that never were candidates:  Matuszek, Roberts and Altamirano should have cards, as should rookie Julio Franco, who made his Major League debut and appeared in 16 games with the Phillies.  There were no manager cards in the 1982 Topps set, but I'd make a card for new manager Corrales.  I've previously published my cards for Altamirano and Roberts, as well as the card that should have been for Franco.
Favorite Phillies card:  Bob Dernier's Traded card is by far my favorite.  Bobby D. excited us all with his 42 stolen bases during the season, and I had the opportunity to play catch with him during a pre-game batting practice at The Vet.  (That's a good story for a future post.)

Other Stuff
Recycled:  Topps uses the 1982 Topps design for Dernier's card in the 2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites set.  It uses it again for Ryan Howard's 2008 Topps Trading Card History card.  Steve Carlton's card is reprinted (albeit as a "no black ink" variation) in the 2010 Topps The Cards Your Mom Threw Out insert set.
Blogs/Websites:  It's on hiatus now, but My First Cards is making its way through the 1982 Topps set.  I also need to point out the Donruss 1982 blog which covers (in my opinion) the best baseball card set from '82.
Did You Know?:  When it came to Mike Schmidt's appearances in the 1982 Topps line of releases, the photographer definitely got a little lazy.

1982 Topps #1, #481, #101 and #4