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.

The Joy of a Completed Set

Oh happy day!! The mailman brought my recent purchase from Sportlots over the weekend and I am thrilled. I have now finished the 81 and 83 Donruss sets, 94 Score Rookie/Traded, and need Tony Gwynn for the 83 Fleer set and a checklist for 80 Topps. My next project will be to sort and organize. I have most of the cards in binders from those sets in number order but not team order. I will think of something fun and maybe semi interesting to do later, but on to part one of the important stuff. I completed another oddball set.

I found someone who had for sale 1985 Cains Potato Chip disks a while ago and I could not resist picking up the cards I needed to complete this set. I remember my dad brining home from work a Willie Hernanadez that he got out of a bag he was eating on at work. I never got another card that year, but did get about half of the set in 86. Anyway, I was only down to two cards for the set and they arrived Saturday. Here is the front:

and here is the back of one.

The white background does not show up well on the scan, but you get the idea.

My only problem is storage, they fit tightly in 9 pocket pages, so I will have to get some 8 pocket ones to store these bad boys.

The Joy of a Completed Set - I

While watching the snow fall last week I was happy to receive multiple packages in the mail. The first one was from a trade of my Factory Set inserts for some 97 and 98 Topps to help get me started on those sets. The second was from Baseball Cards Come to Life, who helped me fill some holes in my sets in exchange for some of my extra 81 Fleer and 92 Pinnacle. There was one card that really made me happy.



Yes, Ron Jones may be nothing but a common to most of you, but to me he was the missing piece in my 89 Score set. After 21 years, and by not buying a single pack, I have managed to complete this set through trades and minimal purchase. I estimate that I spent about $11 - $15 out of pocket to complete this set through individual card purchases, this is about double what the set is "worth" but the enjoyment of the hunt was well worth it.