NETTLES-MANIA: The Great Error Card Chase of 1981
It's late March 1981, REO Speedwagon has just surged to the top of the pop charts with "Keep On Loving You," and the new season's cards have finally hit the shelves. The arrival of baseball cards would be an absolutely monumental event any year, but this particular "opening day" is unlike any in recent history. Collectors now have choices. For the first time since 1955, Topps has serious competition as both Donruss and Fleer have won the right to produce and sell baseball card sets of current major leaguers.
Fast forward a decade, and these sets will be remembered as birthing the rookie cards of Kirk Gibson (Topps, Fleer), Tim Raines (Topps, Donruss), Harold Baines (Topps, Fleer), and Fernando Valenzuela (Topps, Fleer). However, zero of these cards were on the radar of collectors in March 1981. (If there was a "hot" rookie to that point, it was "Super Joe" Charboneau, who won the American League Rookie of the Year award in 1980 in a landslide. Still, his card could be had for under a quarter.)
KITTLEMANIA: The Great Rookie Card Craze of 1983
Fernando Valenzuela’s Magical Rookie Cards of 1981
Generally speaking, cards of established stars and future Hall of Famers were always the most exciting pulls for collectors back then. Reggie Jackson, Steve Garvey, Dave Parker...these were the "hits" of the preseason. And coming off a .390 season and American League pennant, the biggest hit of all was Royals all-star third baseman George Brett.
And though I know all about those men
- REO Speedwagon, "Keep On Loving You"
Still I don't remember
Certainly this is how things started out in 1981 until collectors started noticing all kinds of errors in their packs of Fleer and Donruss. Bobby Bonds with 986 career home runs? Donruss made it happen! Tim Flannery batting righty? Fleer had you covered! And while Steve Carlton had been in the league a while, did his sophomore season really date back to the Battle of Hastings? It didn't take long before Mr. October, Charlie Hustle, and Tom Terrific were all taking a back seat to error cards of random benchwarmers.
As someone who bought packs early and often that season, I quickly managed what I thought might be a complete collection of Fleer and Donruss error cards. As if this wasn't exciting enough, it didn't take long before I started seeing corrected versions of many of these cards appearing in packs. It's hard to imagine today that a 1981 Donruss Buck Martinez card with no error would constitute a hit, but these were very different times in the Hobby.
You should've seen by the look in my eyes, baby.
- REO Speedwagon, "Keep On Loving You"
There was something missing.
Soon enough, however, I realized I was missing a card and not just any card. I was missing the card. Like wildfire, word had spread through the schoolyard that Fleer had corrected one card so early that almost none of the error versions made it into packs. The card instantly became a legend. And like all legends, a full name was just extra baggage. Move over, A-Rod, C-Webb, and J-Lo. Make room for the O.G. of the first initial crowd: "C" Nettles!
As far as errors go, this wasn't one of the more fun ones: "Craig" instead of "Graig" on the back of the card. Of course, even an 11-year-old like me knew the card's rarity was what would quickly put it on the short list of the Hobby's most valuable cards. Who knows, maybe someday I'd be able to trade it for one of the Hobby's other grails: the T206 Honus Wagner, the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, or the 1954 Bowman Ted Williams. Actually, who am I kidding? Why would I ever trade a "C" Nettles?!
A Short History of Naughty Bat Knob Cards...starring Jim Nettles!
I'd completely missed my chance to pull the card at my 7-Eleven, and there was no internet or eBay back then, so I did the only thing I could do. I grabbed all my mom's parking change (and yes, she noticed!), "borrowed" some of my sister's babysitting cash (she noticed too!), and rounded up what little money I'd made doing chores around the house, and I took the bus to a card show by the airport. The good news is there were dealers with boxes of "first printing" Fleer. The bad news was the packs cost $1.50 each! I had to swallow hard. This was a lot of money back then. On the other hand, this was likely my only chance to land a "C" Nettles before the card's price tag hit $50 or $100 or even $1000.
With just over $12 in my pocket, I did the math. I could buy eight packs. In those days, each Fleer pack had a whopping 17 cards, meaning I was looking at 136 cards total, or about a fifth of the set. Realistically, my shot at a Nettles was about the same as Mario Mendoza getting a hit: not good. Still, I had a good feeling about this. I mean, I had to pull the Nettles, right?
Seven packs and $10.50 into my quest, however, I remained Nettles-less. Still, if there's one thing I wasn't it was a quitter. Down to my last $1.50 I grabbed one more pack as a crowd gathered round to cheer on my efforts. Hoping against hope and giving it everything I had, I peeled open the pack, riffled through the first few cards, and promptly fainted.
"Are you okay, kid?" "Do you need anything?" "Are your parents here?" I regained consciousness surrounded by concerned adults, picking me up off the floor and finding a chair for me to sit in. I was shivering and sweating all at once. I was dizzy. I was disoriented. I had evidently fallen flat on my face, knocked out cold. If there was concussion protocol back then, I wouldn't have passed.
"Hey, kid. Hey, kid. Are you okay? Talk to me! Can you hear me? ARE YOU OKAY?" Seriously, was I okay?! I just pulled the "C" Freaking Nettles! I'd say I was doing pretty damn good. Matter of fact, I'd never been better.
When I said that I love you I meant
- REO Speedwagon, "Keep On Loving You"
That I love you forever
And I'm gonna keep on loving you
Cause it's the only thing I wanna do
I don't wanna sleep
I just wanna keep on loving you...
Jason A. Schwartz is a collectibles expert whose work can be found regularly at SABR Baseball Cards, Hobby News Daily, and 1939Bruins.com. His collection of Hank Aaron baseball cards and memorabilia is currently on exhibit at the Atlanta History Center, and his collectibles-themed artwork is on display at the Honus Wagner Museum and PNC Park.