- Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1984 Topps #756.
- Player Name, position, team: Ron Oester, second baseman, Cincinnati Reds; Mario Soto, pitcher, Cincinnati Reds..
- Special: Cincinnati Reds 1983 Team Leaders.
- Any special information about this specific card: Wouldn't you know it, after going almost more than eight months before the randomizer picks a team leader card (this past Monday, it picked a second one for the same week. This time, from the 1984 Topps set. Before I started buying complete sets from 1986 backwards, I always thought that the manager cards would have the checklists of all the players on his team on the back of his card, and that the team leader cards, obviously, have the team's leader in certain offensive and pitching categories. I mean, until 1990, when Topps Magazine announced that the 1990 manager cards would have the team leader cards and the checklists would be grouped by team instead of by card number, it made sense. But when going over the 1984 cards, I noticed that the manager cards actually had that skipper's major (or minor league) statistics, and then his major (and minor) league managerial career record. Okay, that makes sense. Why Topps stopped that practice (save for the traded sets) is beyond me. Anyway, the 1983 Reds finished sixth in the NL West with a record of 74-88. The players depicted on the card front were the team's batting and pitching leaders (determined by batting average and ERA respectively). Oester, the Reds' second baseman, led the team with a .268 batting average (to go with 11 home runs and 58 runs batted in). Soto, the teams ace, finished the year with a 17-13 record and a team low 2.70 ERA. The back of the card contains the 1984 Topps Reds team checklist (instead of other statistical leaders). The checklist is sorted by player's last name, with card number, position, and even the player's uniform number. There are 26 Reds cards (25 players, 1 manager) listed, including 11 pitchers, 2 catchers, 6 infielders, six outfielders (one player is listed as a C-OF). The point is that the 25 men on the roster actually comprise a major league roster. Even the third catcher is on here, and there are actually six pitchers who comprised the team's bullpen. You don't see this anymore, and it's a shame. If I was a kid in 1984, I'd have imagined playing a game between two teams, knowing that everybody on the roster had a card. Nowadays, you'd have to be a Yankee or a Red Sox player to get a card if you're the mop up guy or the sixth guy on the bench. Rant over.
- Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.08-$0.25.
Sincerely,
JayBee Anama
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