Official Souvenir Program Magazine Volumes 1 - 7

 As I mentioned yesterday, when Dallas Green took over as general manager for the 1982 season, the team began publishing a real game day program in addition to the traditional scorecard.  It was called "Official Souvenir Program Magazine."  Dallas was in for the long haul as the first program was listed as Volume 1 No. 1.

 And look who was on the cover, the GM himself.  An oddity is that while this is listed as Number 1, it appears to be the only edition put out during the season.  I have yet to see any program for 1982 other than this first edition.  Maybe the team was jumping in conservatively, seeing if they would sell.

 They must have been successful because for the next several years there were four editions of the program per season.  Each had a different cover and was numbered from one to four.  This rendition of the magazine lasted through the 1988 season.  My count is a total of 27 different editions... 1 in 1982, four each in 1983, 1985, 1986, and 1987.  In 1984 there were five editions because of the special one put out for the NLCS.  The final year for these, 1988, has five regular editions.  I'm missing three of the 27, 1984 #3 and 1985 #1 and #2.

 Below are the covers of the 24 that I own.  The collages are for each of the years.

All of the 1983 covers feature original artwork and it's all pretty good looking!

No original art in 1984, they were replaced by Jim Frey and several collages.  I'm missing number 3. This was the first time for a fifth edition, for the NLCS.

1985 is the worst year for me as I am missing the first and second editions.  Attendance was really up in 1985, so I wonder why the two I'm missing are so hard to find.

The covers in 1986 have a little bit of everything including a black and white version for Hack Wilson.

Two of my favorites are from 1987.  The Billy Williams cover rates as the Cubs celebrated his election to the Hall of Fame.  I really like the fourth cover, too.  

It's a take-off of the famous Norman Rockwell painting and in this one, the Cubs are all happy.

We get both artwork and photographs in 1988.  I wonder why the team decided to add a fifth edition in 1988?