1982 Fleer - Harold Baines and Gary Carter

In the eighties, there was no internet. And as a kid in the eighties, there was only a few ways I could get cards. There were the packs my dad brought home, perhaps whatever packs were sold at the grocery store (if they sold any), the once or twice a year visit to the card store that was so overwhelming I often forgot what I was looking for and ended up buying something I didn't want anyway, there was trading with my friends, or the rare inheriting of collections from cousins or neighbors.

In 1986, as an 8-year-old, cards from 1983 might as well have been from 1953. Once, my neighbor gave my little brother his old collection. In the box were baseball and football cards from 1977 - 1981. Those players seemed like they were from a different time. I was mighty jealous of my brother's good fortune. But then my cousin gave me a box of his old cards. It wasn't as big as my brother's haul, nor as old, but they were old enough. I loved flipping through those old cards.

Most of the cards were from the 1982 Fleer set. Fleer was an old company, but new to making full baseball card sets (they and a company called Donruss both joined the baseball card game the year before). There were certain license agreements and rules and Topps almost exclusively controlled the card game for twenty years. One rule was that the cards had to be sold with something else. Topps had nasty gum in theirs (even typing that out brought back a smell memory from opening packs). Fleer included stickers with theirs. And Donruss included puzzle pieces.

Fleer made some ugly cards, and the 1982s were no exception. I'm sure HOFer Harold Baines was thrilled that they chose a photo of him returning to the dugout after a bad at-bat. Also pictured is HOFer Gary Carter sporting his signature curly fro and big smile.