One of my favorite little oddball sets from the 1970s doesn't have anything to do with Kellogg's, Hostess, TCMA, Burger King or the Fleer World Series sets. It's a Dodger-specific issue, but I know almost nothing about it, and even the Great Big Book of Everything Cards, the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards, acts mysterious. "Presumed to be a collectors' issue," it says, "due to the lack of sponsors or licensors logos." Even the name is a little bit in dispute. I know it as the "1979 Go Dodger Blue set" because that's what it says in bright blue letters on the back, with an exclamation point. The Standard Catalog calls it simply "1979 L.A. Dodgers". I figured that with the "rah-rah" style of the back that it was some sort of stadium-issued set, but now I'm a little bit fascinated with how it was issued. This was pretty much before the card shop boom, was it some sort of mail-order deal? Were they given out ...
Up all hours talking baseball, cardboard & collecting