Friday, July 15, 2022

CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: 1983 DENNIS ECKERSLEY ALL-STAR CARD

On the blog today, a card that really represents a BUNCH of cards that I'd love to redo in the future, "missing" All-Star cards for actual starters of the previous season's game instead of some random selections Topps began doing in 1981, this being a 1983 All-Star card for actual A.L. starter Dennis Eckersley in the 1982 game:



 
Getting into card collecting around 1976/1977, I grew accustomed and EXPECTED my All-Star cards to represent the game's starters from the previous year.
In 1981 I was hit with a ton of bricks when I saw that Topps was now straying from that path when the great J.R. Richard, for some reason, did NOT have the All-Star banner across the top of his card, as was the case for Willie Randolph, Ben Oglivie, Graig Nettles and Ken Reitz.
What the hell man!?
When the 1982 cards came out, yep, we had more of the same, and by 1983 it was expected that Topps truly abandoned the "starter" criteria in favor of their own choices.
To this day it bothers me, and yes, I'll be fixing this in the future.
For Eckersley, he was the starter for the American League in the 1982 game held in Montreal, and pitched the first three innings, giving up three runs and eventually taking the loss, the big blow being Dave Concepcion's two-run homer in the second inning.
The National league went on to win the game 4-1, continuing their winning streak that began back in 1972.
The other player not given the All-Star treatment even though he was a starter in the 1982 game?  Cecil Cooper.

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