1982 Topps In Action (literally)

Reggie signed a 4-year deal with the Angels in late January after Topps had gone to the presses in November.  Reggie would be featured as an Angel in the traded set later in the year.

Don Baylor said during Spring Training “Reggie’s Mr. October. Now all we have to do is get him that far.” [1]

They made it there with Reggie leading the way with a league leading 39 Home Runs. The Angels fell in 5 games to the Milwaukee Brewers.

About The Card

In 1982, Topps made three adjustments to keep pace and stay ahead of the new card companies.

First, Topps expanded their set to 792 cards. They did this by eliminating the 66 Double Print card practice.

(The Double Print practice was due to the way the printing machine was set up from 1978 -1980.)

Instead of the Double Print cards three subsets were added. The three subsets were AL All-Stars, NL All-Stars and ‘in action’ cards.

It marked the first time since 1974 and 1972 respectively that these subsets appeared but the reason they had to add these cards is because Donruss was “Featuring Extra Cards Of Star Players.”

The only thing this subset kept from 1972 was the name. The design is more or less the same as the '82 base set. I like that the bottom border is crooked but it comes at the expense that the title in not aligned with the stripe.

Note

1. Fimrite, Ron (March 15, 1982) Sports Illustrated