1984 was a very special year for me because at the age of 4 I was starting to get really into baseball. My family and I went to about 15 San Diego Padres games that season and we got to see every team that came to Jack Murphy Stadium. We were lucky enough to watch games from the field level and we got to meet a lot of players while trying to get autographs. We would be hanging on the railing with sharpies in hand along with our binders full of players’ cards from the road team that the Padres were playing. All cards were in alphabetical order in our binders so that we could flip to the card needed when the player dropped by on his way to the dugout. And they usually did usually stop by back then. It was really cool for my brother and I to experience baseball like this at such a young age. And when we weren’t physically at games, we were at home watching. 1984 was magical year for our Padres and we loved how they wouldn’t back down to opposing squads that year. Padres were down to scrap! The Atlanta Braves didn’t want any smoke with the Friars!

I was so enamored with the game of baseball and baseball cards that I needed to know more about these players that I loved. This lead me to the back of my baseball cards where I could see the stats for my favorite players from the years before. I could even find a line or two about them and see where they were from. That was so cool to me! But at the age of 4 I couldn’t read. So…….. I did what any 4 year old would do. I learned how to read from baseball cards! True story! I consider 1984 to be my rookie year as a baseball fan and a baseball card collector. As a fan, I liked watching superstars who had a little edge to them. Such stars like Pete Rose (aka Charlie Hustle!) and Rickey Henderson were great! But I really gravitated to a young superstar on the New York Mets named Darryl Strawberry. He was in his 2nd year in 1984 but we could all see what he was about to become. So with that said, I had to own his baseball cards! Especially his beautiful 1984 Fleer Baseball Card which might be one of the best looking baseball card photos of all time.

I can’t just leave you with a few lines and move on from Darryl Strawberry though. I mean, his name was Darryl Strawberry. How dope is that? That is a famous player’s name if I ever heard one! He played with some serious swagger too. And oh yeah, dude was 6’6” and lanky, hit from the left side, and had a mega home run swing. When he connected, he CONNECTED. I was a lefty too and while I loved Tony Gwynn’s effortless and patient swing, I always wanted to mash like Darryl when we played stick ball as kids. I had power hitter dreams but a singles hitter reality.

Dwight Gooden debuted in 1984 at the age of 19 and he was so dominant. Nobody could touch Doc when he came up. Strawberry and Gooden on the same squad was so nice. Swagger for days and all coming from New York around the same time when rap was starting to emerge too. Strawberry and Gooden are hip hop to me. I loved the Mets pinstripes and the colorways too. They weren’t in the Padres’ division so I was low key feeling them whenever they weren’t playing my squad. How could I not? I was a rated rookie in my own right so I needed to grow with the other prospects in the game.

Back in 1984, there was no internet and ESPN Sportscenter wasn’t playing around the clock like it does now. So it wasn’t easy to get glimpses of these great players and their teams. That’s why baseball cards were so fascinating to me! I could open up packs of cards and find out so much more about the professional baseball players that I wanted to be like. While Topps and Donruss were the top dogs in ‘84, Fleer was very quietly creeping on them with their clean designs and the fact that they weren’t as mass produced. And a lot of the photography used was stunning. I loved all baseball cards in 1984 but Fleer was probably my favorite.

With each pack opened, I had the chance to pull one of these gems below. And if I did? I might just run around the house screaming and totally make my brother jealous. We were both serious collectors and were brothers but don’t get it twisted... I would for sure get jealous when he would pull a card that I wanted. Same thing on his side too. But that’s what brothers do right? That part of the hobby made it fun too! The chase was real!! The chance to pull one of these cards below was everything to us.

While I now have financial means to buy all of these cards above, it’s not about that anymore for me. Just looking at the cards here on my computer screen makes me happy. But my brother? That is a totally different story! He still collects baseball cards and would go wild with a sick pull on a fresh wax pack of baseball cards! That’s why I decided to buy him an unopened pack of 1984 Fleer Baseball Cards. It will bring me joy to see him relive his childhood with the opening of a baseball card pack from the 80’s. So that’s what I did! I bought Todd an unopened pack of 1984 Fleer Baseball Cards from eBay and gave it to him. Although the best part of this is that he doesn’t know what’s inside of the tiny padded envelope shipper and therefore doesn’t know what pack is in inside. To see his reactions to these cards as he opens the pack is going to be classic!

So without further adieu, I give to you the opening of the 1984 Fleer Baseball Card pack by my brother Todd. You can follow him at Twitter (@lunchmade) and check out his YouTube channel here. If you like this type of content, we have a lot more coming. Follow, like, and subscribe where you can so we can try to grow this thing!