1982 TOPPS K-MART 20TH ANNIVERSARY

CARDS: 44

HALL OF FAMERS: 26

e inaugural K-Mart boxed set marked the first time that

Topps licensed out cards to a retail chain without them being tied to a promotional purchase like they had previously with Burger King, CocaCola and others.

e 44-card checklist highlighted the Topps base card of each AL and NL MVP winner from 1962-81. e co-MVPs in the National League in 1979 and highlight cards for Don Drysdale, Hank Aaron and Pete Rose account for the four extra cards.

While most of the cards featured a simple reprint of the player’s Topps base card from the year he won MVP, there were two cards specially created to fill a void.

e first was for Maury Wills, who won NL MVP in 1962 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Despite making the NL All-Star team and finishing ninth in MVP voting in 1961, he was not included in the 1962 Topps set, so a mock card was created.

e other was for Fred Lynn, who won AL MVP as a rookie in 1975. Since he shares his 1975 Topps Rookie Card with three other players, a custom standalone card was created to fill his place in the set.

It would be five years before

K-Mart released another boxed set.