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What was the junk era like?

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BBCgalaxee

Well-known member
Sep 9, 2011
6,475
59
There was never ever a problem finding cards to buy anywhere. There were at least seven places to buy cards during the boom within a really short walk from my house.

Obviously, Topps was everywhere followed by Score and eventually Donruss which seemed to go from rare to the most mass produced product between 1987 and 1988.

1987 was my boom year as I bought huge amounts of Topps that year (still my favorite set ever) and at one point probably averaged 25 cards of every premium rookie which were all gotten from packs.

I bought so many packs that I learned the patterns for every key card so I could tell if any key rcs or stars were inside a cello pack just by looking at the top and bottom of it.

I also leaned how to "finger" my way through rak paks and search every card in it without opening them up while looking for the best cards. I think at one point I had like 100 Mattingly 1987 Topps cards by using these methods.

Then 1988 came and I really didnt like Topps that year but fell in love with the new Score issue. So colorful and full of rookies including phenom Greg Jefferies, someone Topps didnt have in their product. Donruss also was everywhere for the first time and I couldnt resist. So between those three, yeah, I still bought a ton and it would continue the next year.

1989 was kind of like my changing of the guard meaning that for the first time, I really started looking at other sports cards.

Sure, I still bought Topps and a lot of Donruss (Score was horrible that year so dull and boring) and some fleer or and Upper Deck when I could find it, but I also started to buy Score and Pro Set Football and Hops Basketball which I found at my candy store for retail price (that was a very hot issue due to the David Robinson rc).

So now comes 1990 and a lot changes in the junk wax era.

Because everything was booming and all these new companies were created, here are the products which were commonly found at retail:

Baseball
Topps
Donruss
Fleer
Score
Upper Deck (sort of)

Football
Score
Pro Set
Fleer
Topps

Basketball
Fleer
Hoops
Skybox

Hockey
Topps
Score (sort of)

Keep this in mind, only TWO years prior (1988) you would typically find about FOUR different sports cards throughout the year. Then in 1990, it jumped to 14.

Nearly everything was mass produced in all four sports.

Good? Bad? well depends on how you look at it I guess.

Between the soon to be escalating prices and different issues between all the sports, no wonder why retailers and collectors started leaving cards behind.
 

RNCoyote

Well-known member
Nov 4, 2009
1,146
183
Texas
It was fun of times. I remember when grocery stores such as Albertson selling pack of Topps and Donruss. Few sport card shops popped up. How about stand of Pro Set football as they went to hockey which happens to be first hockey set I saw. Those were crazy days of multiple brands as companies caught on the craze. Who can not forget Action Packed with rounded corners and "gold" cards? I loved the first Skybox set for being unique due to background art of swooshes.

Then there's the few companies that got it right immediately catching lightning in the bottle with a player. Hoops with David Robinson rookie card which at the time the most wanted card topping out anything from baseball for first time. The infamous Ken Griffey Jr rookie made Upper Deck iconic that brands started looking for "next thing" in sports such as Eric Lindross and Alexandre Daigle hoping they catch fire to it. Canadian Football League put out cards in the US because of Raghib Ismail shunning NFL for CFL (and hefty contract). Even Maxx mass produced their NASCAR set in 1991. They were printing not just sports but non-sports as well such as Marvel, Bugs Bunny (Upper Deck Comic Ball), and countless movies.

Once the bubble bursted and things falling down I still collect but not much. The prices gone up and as a kid I can't afford it at the time unless its discounted box at Kaybee Toys (1990 Pro Set football series 2 come to mind) or 10 cents a pack at Toys R Us. I stocked up on packs of Legends of Indy 500 cards and Classic hockey that way. Grocery stores stopped selling and only place at the time to get it was Walmart or K-Mart (Target wasn't built here til years later). Whatever selection they have is what you got. It wasn't able to buy a lot til I worked during my high school years, graduating high school and getting a car to buy packs regularly. Finally found my way to last remaining hobby shop in the area.

I look back and still enjoy those fun simpler times.
 

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