1981-82 Topps Basketball jumpstarted new generation of hoops stars and cards

As most sports card collectors know, a 1980 federal court decision (Fleer v. Topps and MLBPA) ended the long monopoly of the Topps Gum Company, leading to the issuance of baseball cards by Topps competitors, most notably Fleer and Donruss.

For whatever reason, no other company immediately challenged Topps' similar dominance in basketball cards. So in the fall of 1981, for the 13^th year and final time for a decade, Topps and only Topps released a card set featuring players of the National Basketball Association.

Strangely, Topps choose to end an era of professional basketball cards that had begun in the 1969-1970 season. Despite the absence of any competition, the 1981-82 set would be the last basketball cards issued by Topps until 1992.

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Luckily for collectors, the void was filled by Star Company beginning with the 1983-84 season, Fleer in 1986-87 and NBA Hoops in 1989-90.

No official reason has ever been given by the bigwigs at Topps for terminating its 13-year run of basketball cards. One theory (my own) is that the previous year's set fell so flat that Topps decided in the latter part of 1981 to pull the plug on basketball cards after the last gasp of the 1981-82 set.

At the same time, a new era was beginning for the NBA. The league had hit a low point in the late 1970s. It was so bad that the NBA Finals were not even broadcast live, but on tape delay at 11:30 at night.

Fortunately, two saviors arrived in the fall of 1979 to lead the NBA to heights of popularity unseen in league history. Their names were Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, and they were soon joined by a third phenomenon named Michael Jordan. The three helped the league attain national and international popularity undreamed of prior to 1979. So Topps was in the strange position of ceasing production of NBA cards just when the market for them was expanding.

The 1981-82 set marked a return to conventional cards after the “so bad it has to be seen to be believed” 1980-81 set. Each card of that set contained three players which were meant to be detached into three individual panels, each less than the size of the early tobacco cards such as T-206. 

Many players appeared more than once in the set in different combinations, creating considerable confusion whether individual cards were separated or still intact. Needless to say, detached single cards are virtually worthless, even though intended to be that way. Collectors must have breathed a sigh of relief when opening their first pack of 1981-82 basketball cards.

Cards in the 1981-82 set are attractive, especially when compared to the previous year's issue. There are no posed shots, only action shots taken before or during games. Even still poses are game shots, such as Calvin Murphy (card #15).

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The only other design on the front is a brightly colored starburst in the lower left corner with the player's name, position and team in contrasting colors. For a handful of players who changed teams in the summer of 1981, there is a small yellow disc noting the player's new team, such as Scott Wedman (#19), who is with "New Team Cavaliers."

The card backs are, for better or worse, pretty standard for Topps basketball cards of the time, except for the fact that they are printed in yellow and brown. In the upper left corner of the card is a ball going through a basket. The card's number (much more on that later) is inside the ball. The player's name and personal information occupies the top of the card, followed by his professional statistics and a short biography. We are told that Johnny Davis (#16) “possesses amazing jumping ability and quickness.” Darryl Dawkins (#29) “is a terror under the boards.” Leonard Robinson (#35) is “a powerful inside player.” And Jack Sikma (#39) has “an unorthodox, virtually unstoppable soft, arching jump shot.”

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On the left side under the basket is a small cartoon, which on many cards is the most entertaining part of the back. Moses Malone (#14) is shown at the head of a conference table because he is “the Chairman of the Boards.” Dan Issel (#11) is seen reading a thick history book called “Kentucky History” because he established 23 records there. Likewise, the cartoon of Fred Brown (#43) shows him reading a thick book. His is called “Iona History” because he has the second highest scoring average in that school's history.

The numbering system of the 1981-82 basketball set is probably unique in the history of sports cards and difficult to explain briefly. The first 43 cards are straightforward. They are numbered 1-43. Teams appear in alphabetical order, beginning with the Atlanta Hawks and ending with the Washington Bullets. The one exception is the last card, possibly because Topps found itself one player short. Fred Brown is shown and listed as a Seattle Supersonic and, thus, should not be after Washington but between San Diego Clipper Swen Nater (#38) and teammate Jack Sikma (#39).

Most but not all traded players designated as "New Team" are found with their old team. For instance, Otis Birdsong (#17) is located with his former team, the Kings, although he is billed as with "New Team Nets."

Players, too, are in alphabetical order within their teams. For example, the four members of the 1981 NBA champion Boston Celtics are numbered 3-6 and are, in order, Nate Archibald, Larry Bird, Cedric Maxwell and Robert Parrish.

Cards 44-66 are Team Leader cards, again found in alphabetical order from Atlanta to Washington. Players are listed by last name only. So Atlanta's team leaders (#44) are identified only as “*Scoring Drew, *Rebounds Roundfield, *Assists Johnson.” The backs of the Team Leader cards are unusual in that they evidently include statistics for every man who played for the team, even for a single game, in the 1980-81 season.

The first 66 cards of the set are usually referred to as the “National” set or subset, although that designation can be found nowhere on the cards. The term was probably developed by collectors to aid in distinguishing it from the other 132 cards in the set.

Those 132 cards are divided into three subsets of 44 cards each. The subsets are designated as “East,” “Midwest” and “West” and were distributed (supposedly) only in that area of the country. A team is included in a subset depending, naturally, on its geographic location. And each geographic 44-card subset has its own numbering system, running again in order by home city and player's last name, from #67 to #110 with one of three locations identified. Thus, card East (or E) #67 is Charley Criss of the Atlanta Hawks, card Midwest (or MW) #67 is David Greenwood of the Chicago Bulls, and card West (or W) #67 is T.R. Dunn of the Denver Nuggets.

The players in the regional subsets are those not found in the “National” subset. For example, the Celtics players are numbered E72-E76 and include, again in alphabetical order, M.L. Carr, Chris Ford, Gerald Henderson, Kevin McHale and Rick Robey.

Each regional subset also contains a checklist but they are found in a different position in each subset. The three checklists are E93, MW76 and W97. Each checklist identifies only cards #1-110, naming the 66 national cards and the 44 cards in its regional subset. So a collector on the East Coast was led to believe he had a complete set when he had accrued only 110 cards, unaware of another 88 cards to be found in other parts of the country.

Each of the three regional sets also contains a small number of in-action cards (again in alphabetical order by player's last name) at the end of its run. These “Super Action” cards present a second chance to collect cards of NBA superstars but, again, only those of players found in that particular region. Strangely, the Midwest and West subsets contain only five Super Action cards each while there are no less than 11 East Super Action cards.

The Super Action cards are some of the most attractive cards in the set, especially those of Julius Erving (E104), Dan Roundfield (E110), George Gervin (MW106) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (W106).

Unfortunately, a number of the national cards show game scenes with too many players, especially players of the Washington Bullets, in whose home arena most of the photos were shot, making the card's subject seem like just one face in the crowd. A prime example is Darryl Dawkins (#29), lost in a sea of arms and hands. Another is Magic Johnson (#21), pictured while surrounded by three Bullets. However, many of them are fine portraits of the player on the court alone, such as Larry Bird (#4), Calvin Murphy (#15) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (#20).

The 1981-82 set is often criticized for its lack of big-name rookies. The most prominent rookies in the set are Kevin McHale (E75), Bill Laimbeer (MW74) and Rick Mahorn (E98). Ironically, while both Laimbeer and Mahorn achieved fame (or infamy) as members of the Detroit Pistons “Bad Boys” of the late 1980s and early ’90s, both are shown with different teams, Laimbeer with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Mahorn with the Washington Bullets.

The set does contain the second-year cards of both Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and a second Super Action card of each. While technically not rookie cards they are their first cards in conventional, as opposed to detachable, format and are more desirable than might be expected for second year cards.

The set contains numerous other Hall of Famers, many of whom are repeated in the Super Action subset. One notable such star is Dennis Johnson, who is #34 in the national subset and W108 in the West Super Action subset. He is significant today as one of the few players to win NBA championships for more than one team. He won his rings as a member of the 1979 Sonics and the 1984 and 1986 Celtics but appears in the 1981-82 set as a Phoenix Sun.

The set was sold retail for 30 cents a pack. Each pack held 13 cards, usually seven national cards and six regional cards. The seven national cards seemed to always include between two and four Team Leader cards. The collating of the regional cards was less than optimal. It was not unusual for an East Coast collector to find a Midwest or West regional card among his East cards.

The wrapper of the packs was undistinguished, showing only a basket and a ball, with an advertisement for one of several Bazooka products on the back.

The set contains one error card. The checklist for the East regional subset is card E93. It can be found numbered as either “East 93” or “West 93.” The erroneous West version is evidently scarcer but neither variation is particularly difficult to find or expensive to acquire.

The 1981-82 set was printed on two sheets of 132 cards each. One sheet held two copies of each of the 66 national cards. The other held one copy of each of the 132 regional cards. So each national card is theoretically twice as plentiful as each regional card, although all 198 are often sold as one complete set. I was able to acquire an entire 198-card set for $15 at a card show in 1986.

The set was printed in generous numbers and is still readily available today. Unopened wax packs and boxes are also easy to locate. The entire 198-card set can be found for less than $200 in excellent or near-mint condition. Even stars are relatively inexpensive, going for a few dollars each, unless slabbed and graded in Gem Mint 10. So don't expect to become rich by investing in the 1981-82 Topps Basketball set.

Nevertheless, it is an attractive and collectible set once you have mastered the numbering system. It is a rare opportunity to acquire early cards of all-time greats (Bird, Magic, etc.) for a reasonable sum.

And for Topps collectors, it is historically significant as the final basketball set for a decade to bear that name.