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Junk era cards that are impossible to find in high grade

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Jan 14, 2009
595
5
Thinking about some of the junk era stuff I collect, especially once "hot" cards ca 1989-1992 that are seemingly impossible locate in high grade.

Probably the biggest challenge for me so far has been a 1990 Donruss Harold Baines with black line through star on front. These were very hot at the time of release and don't pop up too frequently anymore. The card, unlike most 1990 Donruss, can't be found in factory sets with sharp corners and edges.

Centering, edges and corners are always an issue on either version (Recent major or All-Star stat heading).

What are some others? Value/collectibility today isn't important, just curious what other items have proven to be difficult in high grade from this era.
 

BBCgalaxee

Well-known member
Sep 9, 2011
6,475
59
Remember getting $50 for the Baines card back then.

Is this the "rarest" of all the 90 donruss errors? I thought there would be many on comc but there's none.

DTA
 
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RStadlerASU22

Active member
Jan 2, 2013
8,881
11
I just took a quick look at pop report. Only 8 Baines w line through (Inc both variations) have been submitted to PSA. Grades range 6-9. The Juan reverse negative has 1600+ subs and 62 10s, like 4%. Another low % on a highly subbed card is base Griffey , 1500+ sub , only 85 10s, like 6%. There are some players like Mattingly, Puckett ectopic, where it's like 60%+ 10s. Ripken AS Game Perormance has 26 of 28 subbed as 10! Just a lil info I saw on the report.

Ryan

Sent from my SM-G920V using Freedom Card Board mobile app
 
Jan 14, 2009
595
5
The nicest copy I've ever seen (never saw the PSA copies and they usually mistake variations on their labels, especially unimportant ones)

IMG_8323.jpg
 
Jan 14, 2009
595
5
I just took a quick look at pop report. Only 8 Baines w line through (Inc both variations) have been submitted to PSA. Grades range 6-9. The Juan reverse negative has 1600+ subs and 62 10s, like 4%. Another low % on a highly subbed card is base Griffey , 1500+ sub , only 85 10s, like 6%. There are some players like Mattingly, Puckett ectopic, where it's like 60%+ 10s. Ripken AS Game Perormance has 26 of 28 subbed as 10! Just a lil info I saw on the report.

Ryan

Sent from my SM-G920V using Freedom Card Board mobile app

The cards with high % of 10s are found in factory sets, nice and clean. Cards like the Juan revneg were only packs and more often not, chipped, dinged and/or poorly centered.
 

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gamecockfanatic

Active member
Jun 17, 2009
945
25
Gamecock Country
Where? I dont know the recent major league section.

it;s not a comc category ....it's an actual well-known variation on the cards ....

look at the back of the card....all regular cards are supposed to read "recent major league performance" above the stats while the all-star subset cards were supposed to read "all-star game performance"....all the all-star cards can be found with both versions in the header....
 

rsmath

Active member
Nov 8, 2008
6,086
1
The cards with high % of 10s are found in factory sets, nice and clean.

That's surprising to me considering I seem to recall the late 1980's/early 1990's donruss factory sets were not just cards in a display box but rather cards in tightly-shrinked plastic material so after removing the wrapper, you'd have many corners dinged or curled or otherwise not sharp.
 

George_Calfas

Well-known member
Aug 22, 2008
36,264
30
Urbana
it;s not a comc category ....it's an actual well-known variation on the cards ....

look at the back of the card....all regular cards are supposed to read "recent major league performance" above the stats while the all-star subset cards were supposed to read "all-star game performance"....all the all-star cards can be found with both versions in the header....
Thanks, Ryan had already answered and set me straight.

I get the error.....I just read it as a search function.
 
Jan 14, 2009
595
5
That's surprising to me considering I seem to recall the late 1980's/early 1990's donruss factory sets were not just cards in a display box but rather cards in tightly-shrinked plastic material so after removing the wrapper, you'd have many corners dinged or curled or otherwise not sharp.

Every 1990 donruss card I got a 10 on was from factory sets. Yes they are shrink wrapped chunks of 50 cards and there is almost an "accepted" minor rounding of the corners from those sets but centered, clean bordered/cornered copies are difficult in wax format.

Take a look at border splatter pattern on many of the 10s and they most often correspond with the factory issued version. Same goes for 1989 and 1988 sets.
 

DeliciousBacon

Well-known member
Apr 23, 2011
3,444
94
Warwick, RI
The nicest copy I've ever seen (never saw the PSA copies and they usually mistake variations on their labels, especially unimportant ones)

View attachment 67519

I have 6 different versions of that Baines, varying combos of Recent/AS Game header, black line/no line, and INC/INC. , my Black Line/Recent/INC is the best of the bunch. I don't remember where I got it from, but 3 razor sharp corners, one with a touch of white, and a few tiny nicks on the top edge.
 
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