Topps 1981 Baseball Achievement Awards Program

 

All of the information that I have about this program is contained in the two scanned pictures above (front cover on top, back cover below) and the two pictures below.  The eBay listing suggested it was the program given out at an awards banquet, but I've been unable to confirm if there was actually any sort of banquet.  Ultimately, I don't care, I'm just extremely excited to have this little piece of ephemera in my collection.

That 1981 Topps All-Rookie Team is a pretty impressive line-up.  I'm not going to take the time to look, but I'd go ahead and take my chances with that team against any other Topps All-Rookie Team and feel good about my chances.  You've got a couple of Hall of Famers in Ripken and Raines, and no shortage of All-Star appearances between Wallach, Fernando Valenzuela, Hubie Brooks, and Tony Pena.  Mookie Wilson wasn't too bad either.

The biggest take-away from this little program is the paragraph on the back.  It very clearly states that every player on the Topps Rookie Cup Team was sent an actual Topps Rookie Cup Trophy.  That's a question I've wanted to have answered since the first time I saw the little trophy appear on a 1987 Topps card.  This program appears to have answered it.  As a result, I now have a new "white whale" with regards to my Wallach collection.  I'm hard pressed to imagine something that would serve as better center piece to a baseball card collection of a particular player than their Topps Rookie Cup Trophy.  I'm sort of shocked I've never seen one, for any player, show up on eBay or in someone's Twitter feed before.  Here's a look at the inside of the program:

It may be hard to read, but at the bottom of the right hand page (just above), Topps names All-Stars for each level of the minors and there are some pretty big names to be found, including Brett Butler, Terry Francona, Steve Sax, Gary Gaetti, Julio Franco, Ron Kittle, and Kent Hrbek, to name a few.

I could be misreading above, but it seems clear to me that the player and their scout both got actual an actual trophy cup, or plaque.  As my collection stands, my "flex" items (beyond cards) are a game worn batting helmet, and a 1988 Expos road jersey.  Given the nature of my collection, it's not hyperbole to say that the Rookie Cup would pass both of them and take the top spot on that list.  Unlike a Gold Glove or Silver Slugger, I wouldn't feel guilty about bidding on the Cup if it ever showed up on eBay either.  While the latter items I feel strongly belong with the family of players or on display in public places such as stadiums, museums, and similar public forums, the Topps Rookie Cup is ultimately a rather goofy piece of memorabilia arbitrarily created and awarded by a third party.  It's not showing up on anyone's baseball reference page or being mentioned on Hall of Fame plaques in Cooperstown.

If anyone knows anything more about this program, or existence of an actual ceremony or these trophies, please fill me in.  I'd love to hear about it.

1981 Dimanche-Derniere Heure

Card Review: N/A This 8.5 x 11 insert ran in the Montreal Newspaper "Dimanche-Derniere" on June 7, 1981.  The paper stock is very thin, only slightly sturdier than a standard magazine page.  These inserts ran from 1972-83.  The backs are blank.  For years I've seen the Wallach pop up in online checklist, but had never acquired one.  What I didn't realize was that there was more than one.  The checklist I've seen it appear in give the impression that there was only one.  Then a seller on ebay posted two, this one from 1981 and another from 1983 (will post on that one soon).  So I'm presuming there is at least one more out there that I need to acquire from 1982.  As it stands this is the oldest confirmed Wallach item in my collection that is a quasi-card.  I have a souvenir cup that I suspect is older, and the ticket stub from his first major league game.  But those aren't cards.  I'm not counting this as a card either, despite the fact it shows up on checklist and I'm storing it in my card album.

Below is the description of the 1972-83 Dimanceh-Derniere set that I lifted from the Beckett Website:

The blank-backed photo sheets in this multi-sport set measure approximately 8 1/2" by 11" and feature white-bordered color sports star photos from Dimanche Derniere Heure, a Montreal newspaper. The player's name, position and biographical information appear within the lower white margin. All text is in French. A white vinyl album was available for storing the photo sheets. Printed on the album's spine are the words, "Mes Vedettes du Sport" (My Stars of Sport).The photos are unnumbered and are checklisted below in alphabetical order according to sport or team as follows: Montreal Expos baseball players (1-117; National League baseball players (118-130); Montreal Canadiens hockey players (131-177); wrestlers (178-202); prize fighters (203-204); auto racing drivers (205-208); women's golf (209); Patof the circus clown (210); and CFL (211-278). 

And here is a translation (per google, and my best guesses when their translation didn't make sense) of what is written on the card.

Tim Wallach (29)  Outfielder
Age: 22, turns 23 on September 14...Born: Huntington Park, California, September 14, 1958... Lives: Tustin, California...Height: 6'3''...WeightL 220 lbs...Throws right and bats right....Acuired: Expos 1st pick in the regular draft, June 1979; signed under contract, June 20, 1979, by scout Jack Paepke; promoted to the Majors September 1, 1980...31 days major league experience...1980 Season: Could have easily won the Rookie of the Year and MVP Awards of the AAA American Association, had it not been for his Denver teammates, Randy Bass and Tim Raines, who respectively won those awards, despite a .281 Avg., 36 HR's and 124 RBIs....Personal: Married Lori Bickford, October 10, 1980...Favorite hobby is racketball.

1981 Plastic Coca-Cola Cup

I don't know anything about this cup.  I just knew I had to have it when I saw it on ebay.  The writing under the Coca-Cola logo is french.  My initial guess was that these were used at the Stadium as souvenir cups.  However, I have similar plastic Wallach cup that has markings from the fast food chain Wendy's.  So perhaps this was an earlier version of the cup, or used at a different chain.  I don't know.  If anyone has any insight it would be appreciated.