1988 Brewers Police Issue - Milwaukee Police, Stadia Athletic Shoes, WTMJ Radio

Year: 1988

Set: Milwaukee Brewers Police Set

City of Issue: Milwaukee PD, Stadia Athletic Shoes, and WTMJ Radio

Card No: NNO

As a Brewers and Robin Yount fan nothing is more iconic than the Brewer's Police cards.  Starting back in 1982 and continuing well into the mid-2000's the Brewers teamed up with local law enforcement and various different municipalities around Wisconsin.  From what I was told the Milwaukee Police sets were giveaways at Brewers games, but by 1988 there were almost 100 different variations of these cards sponsored by different town's police departments and other sponsors.  I know that in my home town these cards were given out by police officers at the 4th of July parade and picnic.  With Robin in sets up till his last year in 1993 he has almost 700 different variations to chase.  I have to thank Tony L from Off Hiatus Sportscards for sending me a fairly comprehensive list of towns that sponsored the cards.  I added that list to the Trading Card Database.  For me personally I consider the Milwaukee Police issue to be the main issue with all the other towns PD's as variations.  And while I doubt will ever see print runs for these sets I think it's safe to say that the Milwaukee Police cards probably have the highest print run and tend to be the easiest to find.  

30 cards in the set.  These cards like all the sets before them are oversized and unnumbered, although some people use the player number as the card number and this isn't right.  The front features a nice player photo and the back, at least for the Milwaukee Police cards feature a Milwaukee Police badge, Stadia and WTMJ logos and of course a safety quote.

1992 Brewers Police Cards Wisconsin Rapids Police Department

Year: 1992

Manufacturer: ?? Sponsored by Delicious Bakeries

Set: 1992 Milwaukee Brewers Police set

Town Police: Wisconsin Rapids

Card Number: NNO

If you're a Brewers fan there's nothing more iconic or oddball than the Brewer's Police sets.  The program started back in 1982 and they continued the program with a few skips until 2013.  The Packers still put out Police sets though.  The early sets were oversized cards and a pain to store.  Tony L over at Off Hiatus Sportscards was nice enough to forward me a list that may or may not be complete of Robin's Police cards and cities that participated.  I do plan on adding a new stand alone page with that checklist for those who care.  Anyways, in 1992 about 42 cities and town are listed.  There are some variations to this years set.  I have a Milwaukee Police card too that has the Delicious logo on the front of the card.

This card is from the Wisconsin Rapids Police Department.  Wisconsin Rapids is located in central Wisconsin not too far from where I went to college in Stevens Point.  Like most towns along the Wisconsin River there is a very large paper mill right in town and I can remember attending a party in Rapids, that's what the cool kids call it, and the whole town smelt like a fart from the mill.  

The 1992 cards are standard 2 x 3 inches and like always feature a player on the front and some safety message on the back.  This one has "Robin" telling us about babysitter safety.

1982 Police Issue - Milwaukee Police Department

Card Manufacturer: ???

Card Set: Police Department Giveaway

Year: 1982

Card Number: NNO

Card Type: Base

Card Class: Giveaways

As a Brewers fan and a Brewers card collector there are few cards or card sets as iconic as the Milwaukee Brewers Police issues.  The sets started in 1982 and, at least in my home town, were given out at the 4th of July festivities.  The sets continued non-stop up into the early 90's and then every now and then a new set gets issued.  The early 80's sets are fun to store as the cards are larger than the standard size baseball card, by probably a good half inch in each direction.

This card comes by way of a trade with Tony L. over at Off Hiatus Baseball Cards.

He was nice enough to send me the whole team set, which is great, because not only did I get a complete team set, but I get to officially add a new Yount and Rollie Fingers to my player collections.

The Police issues are an interesting bunch of cards for a player collector. Since these cards were printed for each participating department and featured the department's name on the front and back there are literally tens to hundreds of possible variations for any given year.  Depending on how one collects that could mean lots of Younts to chase and since I consider each card from a different department to be a unique card that means I have lots of cards to chase.  And that's the way I like it. 

So thanks Tony for adding a new one to the collection.