Why this card is awesome: Because the Turn Back the Clock cards were absolutely brilliant, and I think were the forerunners of today's craze of printing cards using retro designs and/or reissuing of old classic cards. I did a little bit of research, but please correct me if anything here is wrong. It looks like Topps first included TBTC cards in the 1977 set, but these used old photos of players, as opposed to pictures of actual old Topps cards. The first time they used the above format (featuring old cards) was in 1986, in a set that featured Fernando Valenzuela (1981) , Tom Seaver (1976), Willie Mays (1971), Frank Robinson (1966) and Roger Maris (1961).
Anyway, as a kid who first collected in 1988, this 1983 Nolan Ryan card seemed very old, and the other TBTC cards (the next 4 cards on this blog) seemed absolutely ancient. It was a real treat to get to see such old cards. Furthermore, the first time I held an actual 1983 Topps Ryan in my hands, it felt very special after having seen it only as a sort of reprint.
By the way, I do recall trimming these TBTC cards down to cut out the original cards like minis.
Cool stat: 1983 was Nolan Ryan's career low year for wild pitches, among full seasons he pitched, with just 5. That didn't prevent him from becoming #1 all-time, though.
Hall of Fame count: 40
A bonus Nolan Ryan HOF card!
3 comments:
I remember that same feeling because I had the 1983 Ryan card before the 88 TBTC card came out. I couldn't believe it because I NEVER had any good cards. It absolutely blew my mind.
Good times.
1983 was a very boring year.
I had a Topps 1983 Ryan when I was younger. Then my sister lost it. We eventually found it outside all beaten up. I eventually got another one off of eBay.
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