1981 Topps: CMC Finds

I was in my local card shop last weekend, killing time after dropping off my wife at something, and I found several 1981 Topps cards that caught my eye.

Several of them I knew were CMC set members, so I threw them in the pile. A few of the cards, though, I tossed in the pile because the cards caught my eye for some other reason, either cool action shots or interesting period styles.

I'm pretty sure this Marvis Foley made the stack for the latter reason, I'm sure it's obvious why. When I got home, though, I realized. This was an awesome card for more reasons than that.

Marvis Foley, I realized, was actually also in the CMC set, though with a couple letters knocked of his first name. "Marv" Foley, clean-shaven and with a hat, was the manager of the 1990 Vancouver Canadians. I featured him here in February 2011.

Kind of nice how that works out.

So with the that, and the nice small stack of 1981 Topps CMC set members, I figured this might be a good time to run through 1981 Topps.

This is one of the ones that included an obvious CMC set member from the start. It's the Floyd Rayford Future Stars card, with other Future Stars Mike Boddicker and Mark Corey.

Of the three, it's Boddicker whom I remember from when I was a kid. I grew up in Iowa and Boddicker was also from Iowa. The card back notes he was born in Cedar Rapids and lived in Norway, Iowa.

One might be forgiven for not remembering Mark Corey. He played in just three seasons, his last being the year this card came out. He played in just 10 games that year.

Rayford, though, went on to a decent playing career and a long coaching career. It was as a coach for AAA Scranton that he made the CMC set. I featured him here in November 2010, both his playing days and his coaching days.

Glenn Hoffman got the double feature treatment in October. He made the CMC set as a coach at AAA Albuquerque. That came after a playing career that spanned nine seasons.

According to the cartoons on the card back, Hoffman was an ALl-Star in little league and in American Legion ball. Going back a year, he also made the 1980 Topps Rookie All-Star Team. Hoffman's playing days feature and his coaching days feature.

Another future manager and CMC set member was Jim Essian, here a catcher with Oakland. Essian went on to be the manager of the Iowa Cubs in 1990. He also had a stint in Chicago. I have yet to feature Essian here.

Though Essian had played in eight major league seasons to that point, Topps chose to go back to his youth for the facts on the back. According to Topps, Essian was an All-State in basketball and football as a high school senior. He also "led his sandlot club" to the national amateur title in 1969.

Aurelio Rodriguez got a post recently with several of his other cards. Here's his 1981 Topps offering, which wasn't included in that post. Rodriguez made the CMC set as a coach for AAA Toledo.

The card back includes Rodriguez' full stats, but no facts. Rodriguez' feature from March 2011.

Hal McRae didn't make the CMC set, but his son Brian McRae did. Hal McRae was coming off his eighth season with the Royals in 1981, 12th season overall. He, of course, would go on to manage his son with the Royals. Brian McRae's feature came in March 2011.

This last card didn't come from this recent trip. I've actually had it for some time, but never had the spot for it. But it's a really cool card.

That's because I picked it up for Tim Ireland. Ireland, I knew, was a coach in the CMC set with Phoenix. But, I just realized, there is a second CMC set member on this card. It's Mike Jones. Jones finished out his playing career in 1990, at AAA Rochester. I have yet to feature either Ireland or Jones.

To round out the card, though, Manny Castillo, who is not in the CMC set, went on to play in just three seasons in the majors, his last coming in 1983.