You know what changed forever in the spring of 1981?
Carlton Fisk baseball cards, that’s what.
Yeah, I know, small potatoes compared to the beginning of the Reagan administration and the breakdown of labor talks that would lead to the baseball strike and the dreaded Split Season.
But the Fisk thing was big, especially in New England and Chicago, and in our wax packs.
See, through 1980, Fisk had been a standout catcher for the Boston Red Sox, but he was also among a group of outspoken Sawx players who thought they should be paid more.
Story goes, that made him sort of a non-favorite of Boston general manager Haywood Sullivan.
So, when it came time to mail out contracts in the winter of 1980-81, Sullivan duly dropped Fisk’s in the slot … but one day past the deadline.
(Same thing with Fred Lynn, if you’re keeping score.)
Finger-pointing and name-calling ensued, and Fisk was granted free agency in February.
He signed with the Chicago White Sox in March.
And so, all of those already-printed 1981 baseball cards showing Fisk with the BoSox were obsolete by Opening Day.
But 1981 was also the year that the card floodgates opened, thanks to Fleer taking down the Topps monopoly in court in 1980. With special issues and updates appearing throughout the year, collectors got to see cardboard ChiSox versions of Pudge, after all.
Here is how it all played out, with a rundown of all the Carlton Fisk baseball cards from 1981, in both clam chowder and deep-dish pizza flavors.
1981 All-Star Game Program Inserts Carlton Fisk
All-Star Game programs in the 1980s included foldout poster-type inserts with pictures of all the AS candidates from each league.
Oftentimes, collectors would cut out their favorite players and have themselves a nifty new baseball card or 30.
Fisk wasn’t just an All-Star candidate in 1981 — he was the American League’s starting catcher, and you have to figure his personal fan base had growna heap over the winter.
Adding Chicago to your MLB resume will do that if you’re any good.
As for the Fisk “card” here, the pic shows the backstop in a violent swinging follow-through, maybe even lunging forward. Clad in White Sox white with dark blue accents from head to to, Pudge looks like he could have stepped out of the 1880s.
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1981 Donruss Carlton Fisk (#335)
Seeing as how 1981 was the first year they made baseball cards, Donruss had but one chance to show collectors their vision of Carlton Fisk in a Red Sox uniform.
That vision brought us a smiling Fisk in his Red Sox road grays posed against a gloomy, misty sky, and … well … not sure what else.
Is that a tank gun jutting into the photo behind Fisk?
Maybe a subtle warning to would-be base-stealers not to run on him?
Not the greatest card ever, but a piece of hobby history nonetheless.
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1981 Drake’s Carlton Fisk (#32)
When Fleer broke the seal on Topps’ monopoly heading into 1981, they opened up the fire hose that collectors had been sipping from for years, unaware of what may someday come their way.
Suddenly, baseball cards were everywhere, relatively speaking. One of those wheres was packages of Drake’s baked goods, where the hobby was introduced to Drake’s Big Hitters.
Produced by Topps and released in only certain regions (e.g., northeast), these babies had full-blown Topps backs and gaudy fronts with a thick, colorful design that left room only for a fairly small player photo.
Still, these 33 guys were sluggers, for the most part, plus … uh … John Castino, and … um … Lee Mazzilli.
But mostly superstars, like Fisk, appearing in his sparkling new Chicago White Sox uniform.
It’s a great oddball card of a great catcher, and a set that old collectors still speak of with reverence.
As in, “when I was ten, I spent the summer in a sugar coma trying to complete the Drake’s Big Hitters set. I still need to find Jerry Mumphrey.”
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1981 Fleer Carlton Fisk (#224)
Like Donruss, Fleer got one shot at Fisk in a BoSox uniform.
And, like Donruss, Fleer went with a smiling Carlton against a gray background.
In fact, now that I look at the two cards, I think there is a non-zero chance that the two photos were taken in the same setting, at nearly the same time. I mean, sure, Fisk appears to be sporting more luscious locks on the Fleer card, and there is no gun, but …
Could all be explained with camera angles and viewer perception. He for sure is wearing a similar get-up in the two cards, and it for sure is dreary on both.
And then there is the donut-glazed skin.
Could be the same.
Either way, I prefer the Fleer design, and besides — the Donruss card is so flimsy it’s always just a good sigh away from blowing into the ether, lost forever.
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1981 Fleer Star Stickers Carlton Fisk (#58)
And another besides — Fleer actually created themselves another opportunity to show Fisk with the Red Sox thanks to their Star Stickers issue later in that first year.
Star Stickers were indeed stickers, but they were big — full-card-sized, in fact — and they were backed by a full card back, complete with stats.
Not your typical sticker fare, like the Topps deals that came in little paper packages and usually ended up on your notebook or the side of the TV next to the wall, so your dad couldn’t see.
So the 1981 Fleer Star Stickers were pretty cool, and they gave us another Fisk Red Sox “card.”
But if you look at this thing closely, and then his base 1981 Fleer card, and then flip back and forth a few times.
Yeah, this is definitely from that same moment in time, and it may actually be the same photo, just cropped and rotated a bit.
It does have blue and gold borders with stars, though.
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1981 MSA Peter Pan-Sunbeam Discs Carlton Fisk
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, MSA discs were everywhere — Wiffle Ball boxes, Pepsi cartons, pizza boxes, floppy disk sleeves, beer coasters, TV Guide inserts, rolled up as toilet paper rolls, iron-ons, starter logs, inside jars of pickles.
And only some of those are untrue or exaggerations.
In 1981, Carlton Fisk showed up on two separate forms of the discs.
One is just Fisk on a blank-backed disc.
The other is a disc that’s part of the Peter Pan-Sunbeam set, which also had an available poster where you could hook on the discs — with paste, maybe.
Or glue.
Or tape.
Or staples.
Or dog spit.
Whatever, it’s a team-logo-less disc that nonetheless lists Fisk as a member of the White Sox.