1983 Topps Football Sealed Wax Pack

After a decade of 528-card football sets, Topps cut back its set size to 396 cards in 1983. For team collectors, this consolidation meant that fewer players beyond the major impact players would get cards. At the same time, Topps began moving away from its more generic football designs featuring pennants and banners and tried coming up with more modern concepts for the 1980s.

As always, a player photo dominates the front of each base card. The team name is presented above the picture in transparent block letters. Below is a solid-colored box than contains the player's name and position. A solid-colored line frames the picture and a white border surrounds the card. Backs are printed on a red background that contains an image of a football helmet with the player's team logo on it. A box at the top includes the player's name and vital stats. A black football-shaped icon contains the card number. A year-by-year statistical review follows for most players, as well as a written biography. For most players, a small box to the left contains some additional personal data about the player.

The set is broken into teams, with each team being arranged alphabetically by its city and each player by his last name. Each team's series begins with a card naming the team leaders in several categories, but only picturing one of them. Three checklist cards appear at the end of the set, as cards #394-396. Cards #1-9 feature highlights of the 1982 season, cards #10-12 recap the conference championships and the Super Bowl, and cards #202-207 feature statistical leaders in each conference.

Despite cutting its set size to 396 cards, Topps continued to use four printing sheets for the set. As a result, 132 cards in the set were double-printed. Key rookies include Marcus Allen, Mike Singletary, Jim McMahon, Todd Christenson and kicker Gary Anderson.

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