Topps Stickers 1982

In 1982 Topps released their second sticker set. The size of the stickers was the same as in 1981, 1 15/16" x 2 9/16" The design was very basic, with National League players getting a blue border while the AL teams had a red border. The only marking on the front was a small sticker number in the bottom left corner.The set size shrunk by two, from 262 to 260. The number of Cubs shrunk by two also, from ten to eight. Of the eight, only three were in the '81 set (Buckner, DeJesus, and Reitz). The 1982 season was the first under the Dallas Green regime, and the team was in a rebuilding mode.

Fast forward 30 years to 2012 and the Cubs are in their first season under a new regime, in a rebuilding mode. The '82 Cubs finished in fifth place with a record of 73-89. I'm not sure the 2012 team can do much better than that.

When you look at the players on these stickers, you can understand why the '82 team won only 73 games.


Catcher Tim Blackwell, spent the '82 season with the Expos and hit only .190



Billy Buck was a stud in '82, hitting .306 with 15 HRs and 106 RBIs



Ivan DeJesus was traded to the Phillies for Bowa and Sandberg, thank you very much!



Leon Durham led the team in hitting with a .312 average



Steve Henderson hit only .233 in 94 games



Mike Krukow was involved in another trade with the Phillies, that brought Keith Moreland to the Cubs



Ken Reitz didn't make the team and was released by the Cubs at the end of spring training.



Dick Tidrow was 8-3 in 65 games, used mainly as the setup man for Lee Smith.