(Check out our other player card posts here.)

It’s understandable if the 1983 Fleer Dan Norman baseball card doesn’t stand out in your memory as a particularly monumental hobby achievement.

After all, Norman lasted only parts of five seasons in the Major Leagues, and the 1983 Fleer issue is pretty much nobody’s idea of a Hall of Fame set.

Still, the marriage of these two less-than-legendary entities is reason enough to smile.

1983 Fleer Dan Norman

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Don’t believe me? Here are several of the biggest ways this card can brighten your day and make you happy.

1. It’s a baseball card.

2. It’s a 1983 baseball card — that means “vintage” or “antique” if you’re younger than about 40, and “nostalgia” if you’re a bit more … um … vintage.

3. It’s a 1983 Fleer baseball card, so, photos on both sides!

1983 Fleer Dan Norman (back)

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4. It’s Dan Norman‘s last baseball card (tie, Topps), and it’s a career-capper.

5. It shows both minor league and Major League stats, so you get to see evidence of the power and speed that made Norman a prospect with the Cincinnati Reds in the mid-1970s.

6. Back in those minor league days, Dan Norman was a pretty happy looking guy on his baseball cards. Check this out:

1978 TCMA Dan Norman

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7. The Reds traded Norman, Doug Flynn, Steve Henderson, and Pat Zachry to the New York Mets in exchange for Tom Seaver in June of 1977. That was pretty big news and worked out OK for at least a few folks.

8. Norman made it to the Majors with the Mets in September of ’77. Yay.

9. Norman got his first baseball card on a “Mets Prospects” piece (#721) in the 1979 Topps set. Hurray!

10. Norman got his second baseball card on a “Mets Future Stars” piece (#681) in the 1980 Topps set. Interesting.

11. Everyone loves a good mystery … somehow, Norman seemed to have lost all hints of his smile once he hit the Major Leagues. Take a look at some of his cards for evidence. Like this one, for example:

1981 Fleer Dan Norman

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12. The backs of his baseball cards provide a few clues about why Dan might not have been his jovial self in the Majors:

1983 Topps Dan Norman (back)

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13. After four seasons with the Mets during which he made just 139 appearances and hit .230 with nine home runs and eight stolen bases in 282 at-bats, Norman was traded to the Montreal Expos in May of 1981. Cheers to new starts.

14. The Mets received Ellis Valentine in exchange for Norman and Jeff Reardon. The Terminator became something of a relief legend for the Expos and then for the Minnesota Twins.

15. Norman spent the strike-shortened 1981 season in Triple-A, splitting his time between the Denver Bears, Tidewater Tides, and Wichita Aeros.

16. Norman made it back to the Major Leagues, with the Expos, in 1982. Good on you, Dan.

17. After a one-year cardboard hiatus, Norman snagged his second Dan-only Major League Baseball cards (1981 Fleer was first) in the 1983 Topps and Fleer sets. Nice to see you again.

18. Norman wears his familiar unamused-by-your-shenanigans expression on his 1983 Topps card. Just like old times.

1983 Topps Dan Norman

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19. But on his 1983 Fleer card, Dan Norman is smiling. Some may argue with that assessment and classify his upturned lips and focused eyes as a smirk or even a snarl, but not us. Compared to what he gave us on his previous MLB cards, Norman is definitely smiling.

1983 Fleer Dan Norman smile

(Check out our other player card posts here.)