2011 Chachi Lineage #3 Jimmy Rollins

I start thinking about which Topps baseball card design to use for the next year's Chachi set at some point over the summer.  I'll weigh the pros and cons of each unused design usually while I'm mowing the lawn or walking from my parking garage to my office or just staring into space.  A few months ago, I had settled on using one of four designs:

1.  1971 Topps - One of my favorite sets from the '70s and a fairly easy design to reproduce.
2.  1984 Topps - This seemed to be the natural next step after using the 1983 Topps design this year.  It's hard for me to think of the '83 Topps set without my mind instantly going to its inferior sequel, the '84 Topps set.
3.  1985 Topps - I keep coming back to this design.  It's simple and I think I'd tweak the team banner color from maroon to today's more modern red.
4.  1988 Topps - I keep coming back to this one too.  If I ever get over the fact there are no player positions on the fronts of the cards, I'll definitely use this design one year.

And then, a few weeks ago, it hit me.  The 1979 Topps design was the perfect set to use for the 2012 Chachi set.  I've been feeling rather nostalgic lately, and flipping through my binder of the 1979 Topps set while preparing the 1979 Topps Phillies post brought back a flood of memories and emotions. 

1979 reminds me of my Dad.  He took me to my first Phillies game in 1979.  1979 reminds me of riding my Big Wheel and sitting on my red shag carpet back on 12th Street.  It reminds me of camping with my Dad, playing catch in our backyard and riding around in his red Pontiac Thunderbird.  It reminds me of sideburns and John Denver on the radio and back when our old house was still blue, before the gray siding was added.  It reminds me of Legos and Star Wars men.

The 1979 Topps set is very simple and very basic.  It reminds me of the good old days and it makes me happy to think I'll get to revisit a simpler time whenever I create a 2012 Chachi card.