Joy of a Completed Set - Oddball Edition

Part of my purchase from Sportlots was the one card that I needed to finish a sweet oddball set from 84 - the Nestle Dream Team.

From what I can remember these cards came three to a package of 6 Nestle bars. If you either bought enough, or sent in money I don't remember, you could get an uncut sheet of Nestle cards that were identical to the 84 Topps set, except for the logo at the top. I found out later that some collectors had the sheet professionally cut into individual cards. That would make sense as a) there were probably not as many Nestle as there were Topps and b) there was a Don Mattingly rookie in the set.

I thought that it would be cool to get a sheet because I did not have an uncut sheet in my collection and sent off for one. I don't have the sheet anymore, but I now have the complete set of cards. I remember the sheet coming on a rainy day during the 84 Olympics (our mailbox was about a 1/4 from the house) and the mailman left the tube sticking out of the mailbox so part of the sheet got wet. I unrolled the sheet and tried to flatten it out, but I could not do it. I don't remember all of the cards on the sheet, but I do remember that Pete Rose was one of them.

There was also a contest that you were entered into when you ordered a sheet and I received a letter during the winter saying that I had won two tickets to any minor or major league game in 85. I was excited as I had never won anything before. I pulled out the Tiger schedule and noticed that there was a double header scheduled in August around the time of my birthday. That was perfect and I sent in for the tickets. Great seats close to the home team dugout. It was a good day, and I remember seeing on the scoreboard that Carew got his 3,000 hit and Seaver his 300 win that day.

Ok, now on to the final card.


There was one player selected at each position from the AL and NL for this set. Lance Parrish was the selection for AL catcher. He was coming into his own and was considered one of the top catchers in baseball going into 84. He was a gold glove and silver slugger winner, and was selected to the 82 All Star game. The other main candidate in the AL would have been Carlton Fisk, and maybe Bob Boone but my memory is a little faded.



The back shows that Topps had a lot of influence on this set. I don't see the Topps logo on the front or back, but it is clear who helped design this set. This is similar to the 85 Wendy's set where the backs are almost identical to the Topps back from the same year.