[zeprock]

I had two life-changing events in 1983. I married a girl from Front Royal, Virginia and I put a downpayment on 22 acres of land in Lucerne, Maine. My land had the main highway to Downeast Maine on one side, a very nice golf course on a second side, Phillips Lake on a third side and woods on the fourth side. My goal was to build my own house right smack in the middle of the property.

On the baseball card front, I still picked up all three sets that year along with Topps first boxed Traded set and a complete set of 1952 Topps Reprints. A trio of future Hall of Famers made their cardboard debut that year and some of their rookie cards are pictured in this group of nine cards from my collection all from 1983.

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1983 Donruss #598 Tony Gwynn RC
1983 Fleer #507 Ryne Sandberg RC UER
1983 Topps #83 Ryne Sandberg RC

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1983 Topps #482 Tony Gwynn RC
1983 Topps #498 Wade Boggs RC
1983 Topps 1952 Reprint #261 Willie Mays (I still have this complete set in the box it came in with a $25 price sticker on it. This Mays card alone is worth that today.)

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1983 Topps 1952 Reprint #311 Mickey Mantle (I've accepted the fact that I will never own the original but this one is a pretty nice substitute.)
1983 Topps 1952 Reprint #312 Jackie Robinson
1983 Topps Traded #108T Darryl Strawberry XRC (So much potential. Such a waste of talent.)