Today’s Lineup…
👉🏼👈🏼 Card(s) of the Day - Which way did he
gothrow?🍺 Bye bye Amazin’ beer
🌫️ Foggy memories
1982 Fleer John Littlefield (#576) - Card of the Day
John Littlefield had a bumpy ride to hobby stardom.
Originally drafted in the 20th round by the Los Angeles Dodgers back in 1972 out of high school, Littlefield instead opted to go to college.
After four years at Azusa Pacific University, Littlefield was drafted again, this time by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1976. In the 30th round.
Littlefield signed the second time around and began his long minor league climb. Almost exactly four years after that follow-on draft, though, his persistence paid off.
Littlefield debuted for the Cardinals at age 26 on June 8, 1980. He was effective in a relief role that season, going 5-5 with a 3.14 ERA and 9 saves — a total that, amazingly, led the team.
That performance landed him on some baseball cards and also in a blockbuster trade that December that sent Littlefield, Terry Kennedy, Al Olmsted, Mike Phillips, Kim Seaman, Steve Swisher, and John Urrea to the Padres in exchange for Rollie Fingers, Bob Shirley, Gene Tenace, and Bob Geren (as a later add-on).
The Cards would eventually (like, four days later “eventually”) flip Fingers to the Brewers before the strike-torn 1981 season, but Littlefield stepped into a relief role in San Diego.
A 2-3 record with a 3.66 ERA and 2 saves was just enough to get Littlefield released in December. The Blue Jay signed him to a minor league deal, but a 7.49 ERA at Triple-A in 1982 meant the end of the road for Littlefield as a professional pitcher.
But even as Littlefield struggled through that final season, collectors were pulling his mustard-laden Padres card from second-year Fleer wax packs.
A few — or at least one — with a keen eye, noticed that the righty was pitching lefty, and Fleer scrambled to correct their flipped negative.
They got the job done quickly enough to leave most copies of Littlefield’s second cards (he had rookies in all three 1981 sets) the way they were intended to be, but not soon enough to squash rumors of the error card’s existence.
It didn’t take long for that Littlefield to become one of the year’s great “chase” cards, right alongside “All” Hrabosky. By the time I picked up the hobby for good in 1983, this was a double-digit buy and stood out among the muck of the other 1982 Fleers like a left-handed hot dog standing on end.
The Littlefield flipped negative remained a grail of the 1980s hobby for many years and helped fuel the Error Card Mania that in turn gave rise to Rookie Card Mania that itself gave birth to the 1990s.
So, in a way we can thank John Littlefield for our very existence. Because, without the 1990s, time would have stopped in 1989. Or something.
Anyway, this card doesn’t carry the mystique or relative value that it used to, but the modern hobby would look a lot different if Fleer had never flip-flopped ol’ John Littlefield.
Or “older” John Littlefield, if you will. The man turns 70 today — happy birthday!
Bye Bye Rheingold
On January 5, 1974, the Rheingold Brewery board of directors voted to cease brewing operations.
Since they wouldn’t be around to foot the bill any more, Rheingold also ended their decade-plus sponsorship of the Mets, which manifested in various advertisements and other ephemera, like the Amazins’ yearly pocket schedule.
Interestingly, the founder of Chock Full o’Nuts, William Black, bought Rheingold for a buck that same year in the hopes of reviving the brewery that had been in operation in Brooklyn since 1883.
It didn’t work, and the Rheingold finally shut down in 1976. But Black’s involvement tied the whole enterprise back to another Brooklyn favorite. You might remember that Jackie Robinson stepped into an executive role with Chock Full o’Nuts when the Dodgers tried to trade him to the Giants after the 1956 season.
Wow! (Not) Wax
This one’s another eBay “find” that just might light the old home fires if you were in the hobby in 1984. I mean,by the end of that summer, my body was 40% Cookie Crisp, 40% Nestle chocolate, and 20% Topps gum.
This particular “wax pack” was the type that contributed to my Cookie Crisp addiction/aversion. It proffers four cards from the 33-card set that you could build for the price of a sugar coma.
And the leadoff hitter for this pack is obviously THE leadoff hitter of our youth.
Again, not mine, so I don’t know how sealed or untouched it really is, but it’s tough to beat for nostalgia purposes. Check out the full eBay listing here.
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That’s a (wax) wrap for the first week in January. See you on the other side, or maybe this weekend, depending on what all you’ve signed up for.
Thanks for reading.
—Adam
More cardboard fun: