1982 Topps un-cut sheet

I've always wanted one of these uncut sheets.  This is my first one, and it happens to include the Wallach rookie card.  I could be wrong, but I remember these things being wildly expensive as a kid. I picked this one up for less than $20 shipped.  Granted, it's pretty beat up, but that still struck me as very cheap.  However that seemed to be around the going rate for these.

Framing it isn't going to be as inexpensive.  My early estimates indicate that this thing will never see the inside of a frame, and even if I did one day splurge, it's far too big (about 43 x 29) to get the ever important stamp of approval from my wife to be hung on a wall in the house.  And it's not all on her, I have an area, but it's pretty full already and I don't really think I can make space for this.  It could be destined for a spot in the garage with my childhood NHL posters, thumbtacked to a wall.

Some of cool cards on the sheet are below.  Including the Expo killer Rick Monday two slots below Wallach, and some poor kid listed as the Future Star third baseman on the Expos rookie card between Terry Francona and Bryn Smith.

Unopened 1982 Topps Cello Pack

This is an unopened 1982 Topps Cello Pack with Tim Wallach on the front.  That's Tom Griffin Showing on the back.  I don't remember these coming with gum, but you can clearly see it's in there.

1982 Hygrade #29

Card Review: 5.6  Hygrade is food products company.  From what I could find it seems to be based in Detroit, but given the complete lack of English on this card, I assume it's primarily in Canada.  Any time I discover a new Wallach that is this old, it's a pretty exciting event.  I don't know anything about this set, I can't even tell if it's numbered, or what it says on the back.  I also have a Dawson that is still sealed in plastic, so I'm pretty sure that these came with cereal or bread or some kind of food.  The B.P. 343 and H8S 4C2 numbering is identical on the Dawson.

At first I didn't think this was actually from '82.  Every other '82 and older Wallach card/item I have shows him with a moustache.  But after comparing this to other '82 cards and '83 cards, it's clearly the same hair cut he has on the '82 cards.  So I'm sticking with the '82 label.

Number of this card in my collection: 1
2013 update: 2

1982 Fleer Autograph

At the beginning of the 1987 season I sent this card to Tim Wallach c/o The Montreal Expos at Olympic Stadium along with a SASE.  I was still in school at the time.  All summer I waited with no response, literally checking the mail on a daily basis.  Sometime in September, right after school had started back up, this card arrived back in the mail.

It immediately became my most prized possession.  Other kids in the neighborhood tried sending cards to their favorite players, Mattingly, Boggs, Pete Rose, but none of them ever got one back.  This card remains my most prized item of sports memorabilia.  The signature isn't great (due to the almost waxy surface of '82 Fleer), it's sun faded, and dinged, but I don't mind any of that.  It may as well be a '52 Mantle as far as my collection goes.

1982 Plastic Wendy's Cup

This cup is another random ebay find that I know nothing about.  If you have any information on it, I'd love to hear about it.

1982 O-Pee-Chee #191

Card Review: 9.8  What can I say, as far as Wallach cards go, it's an iconic classic. The Canadian rookie card for the the all-time hit leader of Canada's first major league team.

I'm a huge fan of the over-sized O-Pee-Chee logo on the front of this card, and really wish OPC had used it more often.  I prefer the obvious variations from the Topps counterpart to the subtle ones.  At some point I'll get around to doing photoshop mock ups of all the Wallach OPC variants with the large logo.  In addition to liking the larger OPC logo, I feel like it gives Wallach's bat more of a 3D effect.

Fun Facts: *The fuzz on the edges of this card is not considered a flaw for grading purposes (or so I've read). The OPC presses had notoriously dull razors, which created the fuzz.  An important fact to keep in mind if your ever shelling out for a 1979-80 OPC Gretzky.

Number of this card in my collection: 11
2013 update: 12
2014 update: 18
2016 update: 21
2017 update: 22
2018 update: n/a
2019 update: 24

2020 update: n/a

2021 update: 26

2022 update: 27

1982 Fleer #210

Card Review: 9.4 I like the backs of '82 Fleer better than the fronts (which have a weird waxy feel to them).  The first one of these I got was at my local card shop "The Batter's Box" in Phoenix.  I had literally just asked the guy for it, and he got annoyed, because I was like 7 and had asked once a week for six months straight.  Then some kid came in with a couple of cards to sell so the dealer told me to get lost.  One of the cards the kid had was this one.  The dealer rudely dismissed all the kid's cards as crap but told the kid he'd take the '82 Fleer Wallach, "I'll give ya a quarter, it's not like anyone collects Wallachs."  The kid took the offer and the guy turned to me, still in earshot of the kid, and said "one dollar."  He wasn't trying to be funny.  In the history of human civilization, I'm not sure there has ever been a bigger collection of dirt bags, than 1980's baseball card shop owners.


Number of this card in my collection: 26
2012 update: 37
2013 update: 57
2014 update: 60
2015 update: 70 
2016 update: 79
2017 update: 242
2018 update: 248
2019 update: 382
2020 update: 456

2021 update: 457

2022 update: 462

2023 update: 465

2024 update: 500

2025 update: 505

1982 Topps #191

Card Review: 9.9  This is Tim Wallach's marquee rookie card. At one time this card booked at over $4.  My first trip ever to a card shop was made with the purpose of finding this card.  It was probably about 1985 or '86, and my father took me.  I had no idea there was such a thing a stores devoted entirely to baseball cards.  My father had bought cards as a kid, a good number had survived in a shoe box, but he was in no way what you would describe as a card collector.  His collection ceased in 1968, and he didn't see a card again until people started giving them to me.  He was much more inclined to throw b.p. at a field or play catch in the yard than buy cards, and by the time my brother and I were 12 or so he flat out discouraged it as kid stuff.  But somehow back before then, he got the idea in his head that I should have a Tim Wallach rookie card, and found a cardshop in the yellow pages (The Batter's Box near Thunderbird High School in Phoenix).  I remember arguing with the cardshop guy because I thought there should be a 1980 Wallach since he had stats for '80 on the back of his cards.  But the guy had a book and proved me wrong.


Fun Facts: *Topps missed out by putting Wallach on the '81 Expos Future Stars card.  Had Wallach shared a card with Raines, it really would have been one of the great cards of the 1980's.
*Wallach wore #58 and was an outfielder when he was called up in 1980 for his MLB debut.  He homered in his first official at-bat.
*The 1982 All-Star game was in Montreal.  Wallach was a huge snub, his triple crown numbers in '82 were .268, 28 HR, 97 RBI.  Ray Knight was named an All-Star at 3B instead, with numbers of .294, 6 HR, 70 RBI.

Number of this card in my collection: 160
2011 update: 163
2012 update: 318
2013 update: 379
2014 update: 426
2015 update: 833 
2016 update: 1,145
2017 update: 1,187
2018 update: 1,195
2019 update: 1,227
2020 update: 1,233

2021 update: 1,240

2022 update: 1,251

2023 update: 1,277

2024 update: 1,791

2025 update: 1,792

1982 Donruss #140

Card Review: 7.5  I always found 1982 Donruss to be a mediocre design.  Even as a kid I remember thinking the ball/bat name plate combo at the bottom was a little too juvenile.  I get it, it's a baseball card, and they use bats and balls.  Maybe it's just my bias against Donruss showing, which was/is/and will always be my least favorite of the Topps, Fleer, and Donruss trifecta that dominated the wax pack buying era of my life.  Card design aside, it's a pretty cool shot with the bleacher sin the background and I like anything with the red batting practice jersey.

Fun Facts: *Wallach homered in his first official MLB at-bat
*Wallach drew a walk in his actual first at-bat
*Wallach homered in his first professional at-bat in the minors
*This photo was taken at Wrigley Field.

Number of this card in my collection: 101
2011 update: 103
2012 update: 108
2013 update: 139
2014 update: 143
2015 update: 161 
2016 update: 169
2017 update: 173
2018 update: 206
2019 update: 224
2020 update: 236

2021 update: 242

2022 update: 250

2023 update: 254

2024 update: 263

2025 update: 265