09 August 2014

Community Project: Help validate the 1985 MSA Subway Discs checklist

     I began this project on the Freedom Cardboard and Net54Baseball forums, but thought I should also post it here in hope of attracting a wider audience as I know there are many collectors who do not frequent the hobby message boards.  This post will be updated and re-published as new information is uncovered.

     1985 saw the release of two nearly identical sets of MSA discs (which unfortunately looked almost exactly like most of the previous years MSA discs sets). There was the Thom McAn/JOX set, issued as a promotion for Thom McAn's JOX tennis shoes, and the completely anonymous Subway set, that looked exactly the same, but was blank on the back. 


     Beckett just looks to have done a wholesale copy of the Thom McAn checklist for their Subway checklist, only for some reason removing George Brett. The Standard Catalog lists the Subway set as having only 36 discs, but includes Dennis Leonard where Beckett does not. Clearly one, or both, of these catalogs is incorrect.  The set is not included in the 2003 Standard Catalog, but is included in the 2004 Beckett Almanac and 2004 Standard Catalog.  The set descriptions in neither book are very helpful in pinpointing the origin of the set.

     I would like to solicit the help of everyone in pinning down exactly what cards actually comprise the Subway set. eBay isn't terribly helpful here as the same 7 or 8 discs just get listed over and over. Judging from the PSA registry, similar to the JOX set, some of these also exist in multiple colors.

     Combining the checklists between the Standard Catalog and Beckett, the 1985 MSA Subway Disc set is 48 discs.  I'll list the sources for each disc listed until existence is confirmed.  For any that can be confirmed, I'll include the color of the disc for the player.

CONFIRMED (by various collectors, sites):
Buddy Bell - yellow
Mike Boddicker - yellow
Bill Buckner - blue
Rod Carew - yellow (PSA graded)
Steve Carlton - blue (PSA graded)
Cesar Cedeno - red, green
Pedro Guerrero - blue
Ron Guidry - blue
Tony Gwynn - green
Keith Hernandez - orange
Bob Horner - yellow
Kent Hrbek - pink
Rick Langford - blue
Jeff Leonard - blue, yellow
Willie McGee - green
Jack Morris -red (PSA graded)
Jesse Orosco - yellow (PSA graded)
Terry Puhl - orange
Dan Quisenberry - green, pink
Johnny Ray - orange
Cal Ripken Jr. - blue/yellow (PSA graded)
Ryne Sandberg - pink
Mike Schmidt - pink (PSA graded)
Tom Seaver - green
Rick Sutcliffe - pink
Bruce Sutter - green, pink
Alan Trammell - orange (PSA graded)
Fernando Valenzuela - blue, yellow
Greg Walker - red
Willie Wilson - green, red
Dave Winfield - pink
Geoff Zahn - orange

LISTED ONLY BY BECKETT (unconfirmed):
Benny Ayala - Beckett
Juan Beniquez - Beckett
Tony Bernazard - Beckett
Jose Cruz - Beckett
Ivan DeJesus - Beckett
Luis DeLeon - Beckett
Junior Ortiz - Beckett
Ed Romero - Beckett
Ozzie Virgil - Beckett

LISTED ONLY BY SCD (unconfirmed):
George Brett - SCD
Dennis Leonard - SCD

LISTED BY BOTH BECKETT & SCD (unconfirmed):
Dave Concepcion - Beckett/SCD
Cecil Cooper - Beckett/SCD
Al Cowens - Beckett/SCD
Rich Gossage - Beckett/SCD
Mike Hargrove - Beckett/SCD





3 comments:

  1. I have the entire set Beckett/SCD confirmed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SO you can confirm a Brett in the Thom McAn set ? what color is it ??
      Also Leonard is in blue and ?? and Walker is in red and ?? do you have these two color variations ?

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    2. What exactly do you mean by that? Are you saying you have all of the discs from the bottom list?

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