1983 Topps Traded Set

In addition to collecting each base Topps set from 1981 (my birth year) to present, I also want all of the Traded/Update sets as well.

I have quite a few, but I probably need just as many or more than I have.

This past weekend I picked up a 1983 Topps Traded set at The Batter's Box card shop in Phoenix. I paid $40 for it. It was in the box, but the tape, taping the lid shut had come loose since it is almost 40 years old. They also had the 1984 Topps Traded set as well, but it was $45 and still sealed. I did a quick search online and think I got a pretty good deal on the 1983 set, but I think $45 was a bit too high for the 1984 set, so I passed on it.

The big card from the 1983 Topps Traded set is the Darryl Strawberry XRC. That card alone sells raw for anywhere from $25 - $65 depending on the day and graded copies can go much higher. Even though Strawberry did not have the type of career he was projected to have during his first few seasons, this still remains a popular card among collectors. I have never had one in my collection, so I was extremely happy to not only purchase the set, but to find the Strawberry card in it when I got home. You just never know, especially since the tape had come off.

The first thing I noticed about the set once I got it out of the box was that it felt "grainy". It felt almost like Topps cards feel out of the pack when they had a piece of gum up against it, but obviously there was not any gum in the box. Not sure if anyone else has noticed that about the set.

Here is the 1983 Topps Traded set; front and back.

The cards are in alphabetical order by last name which is how the Topps Traded sets were produced from 1981 - 1992.

Topps would use the Traded set to showcase players on new teams, like Ron Cey here in his Cubs uniform, but also to feature players it might have missed in the 1983 base set, like Mike Davis.

Aside from the Strawberry XRC, the Julio Franco XRC is probably the second biggest card in the set today. The Ron Kittle card would have been a bigger card back in the day, but I think most would agree that Julio Franco had a better career than Kittle, and as such is a more desirable card today.

This next page certainly has some star power with Steve Garvey, Von Hayes and Keith Hernandez making up the left hand column.

I don't think I had ever noticed before that the manager cards contain the manager's stats as a player and also his managerial stats. This can be seen on the back of the Frank Howard manager card below. I think that is pretty cool.

Joe Morgan is one of just 3 Hall of Famers in the set. See if you can find the other two?

Here is the Strawberry XRC in all it's glory. Front....

....and back.

And so there you have it. The complete 1983 Topps Traded set.