Night Owl Cards

To the rookie mojo crowd, the 1980 Topps set is nothing more than Rickey Henderson's debut (or, for you Canadian collectors, Dave Stieb's debut). But the set means a lot more to me than that. It is the first set that I ever attempted to complete, walking the mile and a half to the drug store every weekend to buy packs on a 14-year-old's allowance. It also features an iconic design. Although not my favorite, when I see a collection of 1980 cards scattered across a table the scene just screams "these are what baseball cards are supposed to look like!!" Maybe it has something to do with all the flags on the front. But probably the aspect of the 1980 set that makes it stand out the most, for me, is the card back: The basic framework for the card back is similar to what Topps used throughout the 1970s. The 1977 set, in particular, looked almost exactly like this on the back. But the 1974, 1976, 1978 and 1979 sets all had similar characteristics. I welcomed ...