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.


Monday, December 12, 2022

1992 Topps Year of Sammy Sosa

The 1992 Cubs Vintage Cubs Cards Collection, which included a ton of amazing sets, was a blog that I started back in July 2009 but never finished. So with that said, the 1992 Topps set is an important part of baseball collection history. This year has seen many firsts, which I will list below. Remember that Sammy Sosa, maybe the best Cubs slugger ever, began his legendary run this year.

Number of Cards

With 792 cards, Topps 1992 features 29 Cubs players and 7 players who were traded.

Size of Cards

The size of the cards are approximately 2 3/8" by 3 1/2."

Basic Features

The 792-card Topps collection was published in February 1992. This would be the last single-series Topps set to be made available, and it would also be the first to be printed on white cardstock. For the first time, Topps was packaged without bubble gum, and the packets were not wax paper-wrapped.

The set also included Gold and Gold Winner, the company's first pack-inserted parallels. Additionally, Topps released a Gold Edition factory set that includes a signature from Brien Taylor as well as a complete set of parallels.

The first real parallel series, 1992 Topps Gold. The player's name and team are imprinted in gold foil on the front of each card.

A "Match-the-Stats" game card was included in every pack of 1992 Topps Baseball cards. Collectors could get a pack of ten Topps Gold cards for every 100 "runs" they rescued in the game (plus $2 for postage and handling). The cards are significantly more plentiful than the standard Gold parallels since the Gold Winner promotion was incredibly well-liked.

Card fronts have a white border. A small frame overlaps either posed or action player photos. The player's name and team in separate boxes at the bottom of the card. It was also the first year to feature color photos on the card reverse (of the player's home stadium) as well as a full color backside overall.

Subsets including Draft Picks, Managers, All-Stars, Record Breakers, and Prospects, which have four players on each card.



Chicago Cubs 1992 Topps Checklist


Number Player
67 Luis Salazar
81 Ced Landrum
98 Mike Harkey
110 Ryne Sandberg
140 Mark Grace
168 Dwight Smith
181 Hector Villanueva
196 Frank Castillo
213 Les Lancaster
229 Shawn Boskie
274 Bob Scanlan
320 George Bell
348 Rick Wilkins
370 Shawon Dunston
387 Ryne Sandberg AS
439 Chico Walker
460 Andre Dawson
509 Doug Dascenzo
529 Joe Girardi
543 Jerome Walton
551 Alex Aries Top Prospects
561 Jose Vizcaino
576 Heathcliff Slocumb
580 Greg Maddux
601 Dave Smith
619 Danny Jackson
696 Turk Wendell Top Prospects
727 Chuck McElroy
753 Paul Assenmacher




























































Traded Set

The Traded set totals 132 cards and was issued as a factory set. The cards are identical in appearance to the base set except for the T suffix in the numbering. This set featured traded players and managers, rookie cards, and Team United States cards. Size: 2.5 × 3.5 in.

Chicago Cubs 1992 Topps Traded Checklist


Number Player
17T Jim Bullinger
63T Jim Lefebvre MG
68T Derrick May
76T Mike Morgan
98T Rey Sanchez RC
102T Gary Scott
109T Sammy Sosa