Card knowledge "youngin's" don't know

BBCgalaxee · Oct 4, 2014

Post some card knowledge newbies probably don't know.

Here's a few...

In the 80s, topps would sell certain dealers massive count card lots of every player. Want 5000 1987 Ruben Sierra cards direct from topps? No problem, but your also had to buy 5000 of every other card in the set.

Rack packs and cello packs with hot stars or rookies showing on top used to bring a nice premium and people actually
Sought after them.

moxacaine · Oct 4, 2014

There was a time the internet didn't exist and base cards would sell for a premium. lol

moxacaine · Oct 4, 2014

Game in the 16th. Damn i shouldnt have given my ticket to my wife.

DeliciousBacon · Oct 4, 2014

I have a few early 90's BBCMs with ads touting the extremely limited Classic cards, which were bound to be the next hot money maker in the hobby. Extremely limited, with a print run of just 100,000 to 150,000. When 1/1s are the norm, the concept of a rare card having a print run of 100K is foreign to any collecter under the age of 25 or so.

mmier118 · Oct 5, 2014

One thing I think that may have been lost to time is that 1984 donruss was once considered to be rare and was big premium to both topps and fleer. For example I remember the 1984 topps mattingly selling for $20, the fleer for $35 or so and the Donruss went for $80. It wasn't until 1988 that donruss really lost it's mystique of being a premium brand in my opinion. Also I think it's easy to forget how insanely hot 1991 topps Stadium Club and 1990 leaf were.

Juan Gris · Oct 5, 2014

Sales Tax. I had a card dealer at one time that didn't charge his customers sales tax. I loved buying packs as a kid but he had rough times once the IRS started asking questions.

Yanks2151 · Oct 5, 2014

moxacaine said:
There was a time the internet didn't exist and base cards would sell for a premium. lol

With your point about no Internet makes me thing of those small price books pre-Beckett. I would use for references and checklist. They were basically a list of all the cards in a set before inserts, parallels. G/U and autos.

lambert58 · Oct 5, 2014

mmier118 said:
Also I think it's easy to forget how insanely hot 1991 topps Stadium Club and 1990 leaf were.

Also 1992 Bowman....their FIRST premium set (not including back in he 50's)

Another one is that "book value" actually meant something. Like was mentioned the internet killed (also helped in other ways) part of the hobby & book value. But back then I remember getting a hot card at 50% book was a steal.

magicpapa · Oct 5, 2014

lambert58 said:
Also 1992 Bowman....their FIRST premium set (not including back in he 50's)

Another one is that "book value" actually meant something. Like was mentioned the internet killed (also helped in other ways) part of the hobby & book value. But back then I remember getting a hot card at 50% book was a steal.

Philip J. Fry · Oct 5, 2014

10,000 copies was "limited".

gmarutiak · Oct 5, 2014

1981 was a very important year, because the evil empire Topps lost its monopoly in the world of licensed baseball cards, meaning collectors finally had the ability to make a choice in how they spent their money in regards to licensed baseball cards...umm...nevermnd.

Will Style 13 · Oct 5, 2014

How about hand writing wantlists? The only way you could find card numbers was using annual Beckett or the alphabetical checklist they put out. Research was really research.

finestkind · Oct 5, 2014

At one time Topps sued Fleer for wanting to put gum in their packs. Topps said it was the gum kids were after.

Fleer tried putting cookies in packs instead of gum.

metallicalex777 · Oct 5, 2014

To redeem a redemption you had to hand write your information and snail mail it in. I can't remember if it was just for Canada or not, but you also had to do a quick math problem too.

michaelstepper · Oct 5, 2014

1990 leaf was $7 a pack, insane!!
I didn't have the griffey for 12 years because it booked at $20 or more. And I didn't jump on this Internet thing early enough to get in with the big boys.

DaveH · Oct 5, 2014

I remember when Jose Cruz Jr and JD Drew were so hot that their names would be on posters outside of card shops.

TBTwinsFan · Oct 5, 2014

magicpapa said:

Ahh, Shinder's.

I haven't thought about them in years.

They used to run a really crappy ad during Saturday morning cartoons. I can still remember it. It played over and over and over.

magicpapa · Oct 5, 2014

Philip J. Fry said:
10,000 copies was "limited".

These Elite Series cards are serial numbered to just 10,000 copies. That’s not a typo, that really reads TEN THOUSAND. But while such a number would constitute overproduction in this era of cards, that was considered ultra rare at the time. (Side note: If the toughest inserts were serial to 10,000, imagine how many cases of this product were made.)

BBCgalaxee · Oct 5, 2014

Rack packs were called "rak paks" and usually had 40 plus cards.

Jumbo packs had 100 cards and were generally sold in supermarkets

Cello packs had over 30 cards and regular packs were called wax packs.

There was no "hobby" or "retail" designation.

Whenever you bought a wax pack, you were basically GUARANTEED to have the bottom card ruined by a stain in every pack.

magicpapa · Oct 5, 2014

metallicalex777 said:
To redeem a redemption you had to hand write your information and snail mail it in. I can't remember if it was just for Canada or not, but you also had to do a quick math problem too.

Canadians had to do a Math problem, here is/was UD's Mail In Redemption address

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