Welcome Cubs Fans!

This blog will discuss the 1980s and the baseball card collecting hobby, with a focus on the Chicago Cubs. Contrary to vintage baseball cards, the majority of modern cards are affordable. The various sets will be considerably simpler to obtain. So, with thousands of cards in between, we'll start with 80 Topps and end with 89 Upper Deck. The apex of this period was represented by the Sandberg Rookie of the Year in 1983.


Wednesday, November 23, 2022

1980-88 Baseball Immortals Cubs Checklist

Number of Cards

1980 Baseball Immortals had 199 cards in the set; which there are 12 Cub players.

Size of Cards

The standard-sized cards are the following dimensions: 2-1/2" by 3-1/2"

Basic Features

The 1980–88 Baseball Immortals baseball set was produced by Renata Galasso Inc. and TCMA with the "expressed permission of Major League Baseball."

In the initial 1980 release, every Hall of Fame inductee from the inaugural 1936 class was listed on a 173-card checklist. The front of the cards is similar to the 1975 Topps design, which featured border segments with different border colors for the top and bottom halves. An inner gold border surrounds a color image or piece of art. The player's year of induction is shown on a flag at the bottom of the card, next to his name and position, and the gold frame is framed by the words "Baseball Immortals" at the top.
1975 Topps fronts


The card backs closely resemble those of 1954 Bowman, with the player's name enclosed in a white bat inside a yellow box at the top, the card number in a white circle to the right of that, basic height, weight, and birth information inside the yellow box, and a brief biography below. The answer to a Hall of Fame trivia question is placed upside-down inside a smaller yellow box beneath the bio. When the set was first released, the first 10,000 copies had the first printing on the back.
1954 Bowman back of card


The set was updated for the first time in 1984, with all members inducted into the Hall of Fame between 1981 and 1984. The design of the cards is the same, but the typefaces used on the update cards, numbered 174-189, are noticeably different.

In 1986, a second update brought the fonts much closer to their original configuration, but still differs slightly. Unlike the original set and the 1984 update, there is no trivia question on the back of the cards, and the words "1st Printing" are missing from the first 189 cards in the set. The numbers 190-196

Billy Williams was added to cards with numbers 197-199 in the 1987 final update. The fonts have changed even again, and although previous updates kept the original border pattern of various colors, the 1987 inductees' cards all have vibrant red top borders and yellow bottom borders. The trivia questions and "first printing" notations are once again omitted.

The entire first series of this issue has 3 variations for each card.


  • First printing on back /10000 not numbered
  • First printing on back w/ MLB logo
  • No first printing on back

Chicago Cubs 1980 Baseball Immortals Checklist


Number Player
17 Cap Anson - 1st Printing, no MLB logo
17 Cap Anson - 1st Printing, MLB logo
17 Cap Anson - no 1st Printing, no MLB logo
36 King Kelly - 1st Printing, no MLB logo
36 King Kelly - 1st Printing, MLB logo
36 King Kelly - no 1st Printing, no MLB logo
40 Frank Chance - 1st Printing, no MLB logo
40 Frank Chance - 1st Printing, MLB logo
40 Frank Chance - no 1st Printing, no MLB logo
42 Johnny Evers - 1st Printing, no MLB logo
42 Johnny Evers - 1st Printing, MLB logo
42 Johnny Evers - no 1st Printing, no MLB logo
43 Clark Griffith MGR - 1st Printing, no MLB logo
43 Clark Griffith MGR - 1st Printing, MLB logo
43 Clark Griffith MGR - no 1st Printing, no MLB logo
47 Joe Tinker - 1st Printing, no MLB logo
47 Joe Tinker - 1st Printing, MLB logo
47 Joe Tinker - no 1st Printing, no MLB logo
56 Mordecai Brown - 1st Printing, no MLB logo
56 Mordecai Brown - 1st Printing, MLB logo
56 Mordecai Brown - no 1st Printing, no MLB logo
76 Gabby Hartnett - 1st Printing, no MLB logo
76 Gabby Hartnett - 1st Printing, MLB logo
76 Gabby Hartnett - no 1st Printing, no MLB logo
149 Billy Herman - 1st Printing, no MLB logo
149 Billy Herman - 1st Printing, MLB logo
149 Billy Herman - no 1st Printing, no MLB logo
158 Ernie Banks - 1st Printing, no MLB logo
158 Ernie Banks - 1st Printing, MLB logo
158 Ernie Banks - no 1st Printing, no MLB logo
169 Hack Wilson - 1st Printing, no MLB logo
169 Hack Wilson - 1st Printing, MLB logo
169 Hack Wilson - no 1st Printing, no MLB logo
197 Billy Williams - 1st Printing, MLB logo
197 Billy Williams - no 1st Printing, no MLB logo