1980-81 Topps Basketball Cards

The economics of producing increasingly unpopular basketball cards eventually caused Topps to exit the business after 1981. Shortly before that drastic step, they tried putting three players on one card in this set. Topps had previously issued "trios" stickers as inserts in the 1971-72 wax packs. The perforated cards often were separated by us kids, instantly robbing us of our college funds when the prices of the Magic and Bird rookies went through the ceiling.

While Topps was roundly (and rightly) criticized for this lame idea, the format did produce one of the best multiplayer rookie cards ever in the Larry Bird/Magic Johnson card on the left. If that remarkable pairing weren't enough, the card also featured the long-reigning, most exciting player in the game: Julius "Dr. J." Erving. 

There are several other Bird and Magic rookie cards in the set, owing to the facts that each panel appears twice in the set (more on that below) and the return of subsets after a three-year hiatus. 

The subsets are really just panels of players with an icon denoting that they were a team leader, league leader, or All-Star with one exception: Slam Dunk cards (see the Bobby Jones panel below - and yes, that is Kobe's father on his left). A long overdue idea and one that is poorly executed here if only because of the size of the cards. Imagine the great Dr. J and David Thompson cards were could have had if this idea had been properly executed.

The leader panels have a new twist. They actually show the number of rebounds, the points-per-game average, or whatever the individual statistic was that got that player on that card just above his name. For example, the Dan Issel "scoring leader" panel below has "23.8" just above his name.

Explaining the makeup of the set is difficult, so lets start with some terms. A panel is one of the three parts of a card; a card is made up of three panels. There were 264 different panels. They appeared on the first 88 cards and then again on the second 88 cards for a total of 176 cards. Huh? I mean that the same 264 panels appear in different positions (with different players/panels next to them) in the first and second sets of 88 cards that make up the whole set. So while there are 176 different cards, there are only 264 different panels even though there are 528 total panels in the 176 cards.

Wax packs came with a measly eight cards for 25¢, but also featured one of 16 fold out team posters measuring 4 7/8 by 6 7/8 inches and printed on paper. Seven teams were deemed unworthy of a poster (or perhaps photos were unavailable). Checklists were provided on the backs of the All-Stars a dozen or so cards at a time.

1980-81 Topps at a Glance Back Leaders Wax Pack All-Stars Slam Dunk! Poster Inserts

Here's a checklist of the cards:

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