Topps left basketball after its 1981-82 set and did not come back until 1992. There was no licensed set at all for 1982-83, and from 1983 through 1986 the only one was made by the Star Company, which sold its cards not in wax packs but in sealed clear bags, one team to a bag, through hobby dealers, card shows and the mail. Production is usually estimated at about 5,000 sets per team.
Star moved each team's stars ahead of the alphabetical order, so Larry Bird is the first card of the Celtics set, #26, and a short print. In a sealed Celtics bag, his card was the one showing through the front.
In a sealed Celtics bag, his was the card that showed through the front.
The Celtics bag is also one of the scarcest. Ink saturation and miscutting at the printer meant that less than a quarter of the Celtics and Mavericks product reached the market at all.
The card is printed in Celtics green. Bird rises for a jump shot in the white home uniform, number 33, the ball already above him, with STAR ’84 in the corner and the Celtics' leprechaun at the lower left.
It was a fitting season to be photographed shooting. In 1983-84 he won the first of three straight Most Valuable Player awards, and the Celtics won the championship, with Bird the Finals MVP.