1980 Topps Superstar Photo Cards

I was looking for images of 1980 Topps cards on Beckett.com and saw these cards listed. As I am wont to do when I hear about some odd-ball card, I went on eBay to see if I could get some. I snagged 5 packs for $0.99 and $5.00 for shipping.

The cards are billed as being 5x7 inches but are actually a bit smaller than that. According to the Sports Collector's Digest 2007 catalog these cards were produced as a test issue by Topps and most of the run was bought up by speculators. They feature a glossy photo of the player on the front with a facsimile signature in light blue ink. The back of the card just has the player's name and team and the card's number.

There were 2 versions issued. The more common gray back and a white back version. The white back version run about 3x the value of the gray. The ones I bought look to be white. The packs I bought don't seem to have been real well cared for. Although the cards are not damaged, they have a musty smell like they've been in someone's basement for the past 28 years.

The checklist is part of the packaging. This piece opens up and the cellophane wrapper is stapled in the fold, I got a good selection of 1980's players. In addition to Stargell I got Steve Garvey, Jim Palmer, Fred Lynn, Dave Winfield, Bruce Sutter, Cecil Cooper (currently the manager of the Astros), Jerry Koosman (I got 2 of these), Darrell Porter, Jason Thompson, Kent Tekulve, Rick Bosetti (??), Larry Parrish and Gary Carter.

If you act now you can still get these on eBay although the packs aren't available. Either loose cards or whole cases of cards (from former speculators, no doubt) are available. There are also similar football cards.