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I know theres a lot of people here who werent even born during this period, but theres also a lot of people here who remember this time and have their own memories.
My trip down memory lane starts from 1985 when I REALLY got into it big and Topps was the only game in town. Finding Fleer and Donruss at retail was basically impossible back then although I do remember finding Leaf at drug store and Fleer Raks at a "Five and Dime".
At the end of 1985, the hottest rookie card was Dwight Gooden with the others being Ozzie Guillen, Vince Coleman and Oddibee McDowell who were trailed only by Shawon Dunston, Cory Snyder and Danny Tartabull.
Like the previous year, 1986 found only Topps at retail stores and boy did they miss the biggest rookie card of the year in Jose CAnseco. Back then, rookie cards did not debut at more than a few bucks (if that) but Jose bucked that and I rememeber it booking for a whopping $8.
The Traded/Update sets of that year were blazing hot due to phenoms Canseco, Wally Joyner, Pete Incaviglia, Bo Jackson, Ruben Sierra, Bobby Bonilla, Todd Worrell, Will Clark, John Kruk and Barry Bonds. The hands down hottest end of the season set though belonged to Donruss "The Rookies" which I believe reached $60 in Beckett later on.
This year also marked the first time a true premium card set was issued in packs and it was called Sportflics. At a buck or so for a couple of cards, it was very pricey for that time but I recall it being very successfull, even if it only lasted for another year or two.
Because the Hobby back then (mostly Beckett invented) consisted of something labeled "XRC", the 1987 sets also were blazing hot because all the rookies from the 1986 late update sets were still considered rookie cards for this year. THe 1987 Sets also contained new rookie cards like Devon White, Kevin Seitzer (Fleer), Greg Maddux, Bary Larkin, Terry Steinbach, etc plus rookie year cards of Mark McGwire.
Eventhough all three major brands were considered hits by collectors, it was Fleer who stole the show with a pretty limited (for then) product coupled with an oustanding design.
It also didnt hurt that when Clark blew up, it was Fleer who had THE CARD to have of The Thrill. THe Clark card zoomed to $40 which was totally unheard of back then. The Fleer set became so hot that it was the 1992 Bowman of its time meaning each and every year another rookie became a star from that set.
THe only mess up (other than not having ROY McGwires card in the base series)on Fleer's part came in their Tin Glossy set which was to compete with Topps Tiffany sets. Because the reg Fleer set was a phenominal hit, dealers assumed (as well as collectors) that the much rarer Glossy set would be even better. What no one except Fleer knew was that someone forgot to turn off the printing machine for the Glossy sets and they died a fast, painful dead.
For the first time ever, kids had no problem finding 1988 Donruss alongside 1988 Topps and now there was a new kid called Score. It was insane for us kids becaue now we had THREE brands to choose from all at the same price point and neither of them were hard to find. Our choices tripled in one year (Fleer was still hard to get).
Topps was terrible and had no rookies to note outside of Sam Horn while Score and Donruss each had top prospects including mega phenom Gregg Jefferies. He was enugh to sell millions and milions of packs of cards. Donruss had a bonus over Score in that it had included a card of Mark Grace but around here in NY, that didnt matter as we were excited about Jeffeies and Randy Milligan who was exclusive in 1988 Score (Mets big time prospect).
The only heat Topps had were the error cards of Al Leiter and Keith Comstock followed by the variation card of Eddie Murray. All of which lasted for a short time. Fleer chugged along and again wasnt easy to find and held its value for a while.
But 1988 can be remember for two very hot update sets, Score and, yes, Topps. As bad as Topps was for the reg issue, it was smoking out of the gates for the update because it indluded exclusive U.S.A. Olympic cards and Mark McGwre was very fresh in peoples minds (his 1985 Oly card that is) and many expected someone from the update set to follow his lead. As it is now, think of this U.S.A. set just like the current UD issues, minus autos. Most of these guys were about (or already had) to get drafted in the first round.
This was the first set I actually invested in in terms of quantity. These sets became very hot and pricey for a while but didnt compare to the value of the Score update from the same year. The Score Update took off because no one ordered it for whatever reason and with the emergence of Grace, JAck McDowell, Craig Biggio and Roberto Alomar, this set zoomed up to $100 shortly after issue. I did manage to buy one set at release though.
1989 could be described as the year that changed the Hobby as two things happened that shook the hobby, "FF" and UD.
For the first time EVER, a brand new, straight from the pack card made front page news on National newspaper pages. We all know the Fleer Billy Ripken story and how that card went from 3 cents to $100 litterally overnight. That card send dealers and collectors digging through their recently sorted Fleer cards in hopes of finding "gold". It also sent me around the neighborhood and anywhere else I could be driven to with the hopes of landing this card (never did). I bought factory set case thinking that perhaps itll be inside but by then the card was already corrected a million times over with another million variations.
Enter Upper Deck. I remember reading an ad mentioning this new card company and their insane $1 pack of cards. I never thought anyone would spend that much money for cards. I mean, I could buy nearly three packs of Topps, Score or Donruss for one UD. Iwas against it.....until I saw them. They were the Rolls Royce of cards and evryone NEEDED to have it, at all costs (and all costs meant well over SRP IF you could find them).
Griffey was NOT the hottest card in any set at release. Nope, it belonged to Jefferies who wasnt even a rokie card. Other hotties were Sandy Alomar, DAvid West, Hensley Bam Bam Meulens, Gary Sheffield, etc. Notice Randy Johnson, Curt Schiling and John Smoltz arent even mentioned.
As hot as the "low number" UD was, the "High Number" series was even hotter lead by the Nolan Ryan "W/FB" cardand rookie cards of Ozie Canseco, Lavell Freeman, Jim Abbott, Dwight Smith and ROY Jerome Walton. Too bad thisseries didnt have some ultra rare error card like the first series Dale Murphy.
I came around like everyone else did once they saw and held UD cards. At that time, they were incredible.
Well that smy trip down memory lane, what was yours?
My trip down memory lane starts from 1985 when I REALLY got into it big and Topps was the only game in town. Finding Fleer and Donruss at retail was basically impossible back then although I do remember finding Leaf at drug store and Fleer Raks at a "Five and Dime".
At the end of 1985, the hottest rookie card was Dwight Gooden with the others being Ozzie Guillen, Vince Coleman and Oddibee McDowell who were trailed only by Shawon Dunston, Cory Snyder and Danny Tartabull.
Like the previous year, 1986 found only Topps at retail stores and boy did they miss the biggest rookie card of the year in Jose CAnseco. Back then, rookie cards did not debut at more than a few bucks (if that) but Jose bucked that and I rememeber it booking for a whopping $8.
The Traded/Update sets of that year were blazing hot due to phenoms Canseco, Wally Joyner, Pete Incaviglia, Bo Jackson, Ruben Sierra, Bobby Bonilla, Todd Worrell, Will Clark, John Kruk and Barry Bonds. The hands down hottest end of the season set though belonged to Donruss "The Rookies" which I believe reached $60 in Beckett later on.
This year also marked the first time a true premium card set was issued in packs and it was called Sportflics. At a buck or so for a couple of cards, it was very pricey for that time but I recall it being very successfull, even if it only lasted for another year or two.
Because the Hobby back then (mostly Beckett invented) consisted of something labeled "XRC", the 1987 sets also were blazing hot because all the rookies from the 1986 late update sets were still considered rookie cards for this year. THe 1987 Sets also contained new rookie cards like Devon White, Kevin Seitzer (Fleer), Greg Maddux, Bary Larkin, Terry Steinbach, etc plus rookie year cards of Mark McGwire.
Eventhough all three major brands were considered hits by collectors, it was Fleer who stole the show with a pretty limited (for then) product coupled with an oustanding design.
It also didnt hurt that when Clark blew up, it was Fleer who had THE CARD to have of The Thrill. THe Clark card zoomed to $40 which was totally unheard of back then. The Fleer set became so hot that it was the 1992 Bowman of its time meaning each and every year another rookie became a star from that set.
THe only mess up (other than not having ROY McGwires card in the base series)on Fleer's part came in their Tin Glossy set which was to compete with Topps Tiffany sets. Because the reg Fleer set was a phenominal hit, dealers assumed (as well as collectors) that the much rarer Glossy set would be even better. What no one except Fleer knew was that someone forgot to turn off the printing machine for the Glossy sets and they died a fast, painful dead.
For the first time ever, kids had no problem finding 1988 Donruss alongside 1988 Topps and now there was a new kid called Score. It was insane for us kids becaue now we had THREE brands to choose from all at the same price point and neither of them were hard to find. Our choices tripled in one year (Fleer was still hard to get).
Topps was terrible and had no rookies to note outside of Sam Horn while Score and Donruss each had top prospects including mega phenom Gregg Jefferies. He was enugh to sell millions and milions of packs of cards. Donruss had a bonus over Score in that it had included a card of Mark Grace but around here in NY, that didnt matter as we were excited about Jeffeies and Randy Milligan who was exclusive in 1988 Score (Mets big time prospect).
The only heat Topps had were the error cards of Al Leiter and Keith Comstock followed by the variation card of Eddie Murray. All of which lasted for a short time. Fleer chugged along and again wasnt easy to find and held its value for a while.
But 1988 can be remember for two very hot update sets, Score and, yes, Topps. As bad as Topps was for the reg issue, it was smoking out of the gates for the update because it indluded exclusive U.S.A. Olympic cards and Mark McGwre was very fresh in peoples minds (his 1985 Oly card that is) and many expected someone from the update set to follow his lead. As it is now, think of this U.S.A. set just like the current UD issues, minus autos. Most of these guys were about (or already had) to get drafted in the first round.
This was the first set I actually invested in in terms of quantity. These sets became very hot and pricey for a while but didnt compare to the value of the Score update from the same year. The Score Update took off because no one ordered it for whatever reason and with the emergence of Grace, JAck McDowell, Craig Biggio and Roberto Alomar, this set zoomed up to $100 shortly after issue. I did manage to buy one set at release though.
1989 could be described as the year that changed the Hobby as two things happened that shook the hobby, "FF" and UD.
For the first time EVER, a brand new, straight from the pack card made front page news on National newspaper pages. We all know the Fleer Billy Ripken story and how that card went from 3 cents to $100 litterally overnight. That card send dealers and collectors digging through their recently sorted Fleer cards in hopes of finding "gold". It also sent me around the neighborhood and anywhere else I could be driven to with the hopes of landing this card (never did). I bought factory set case thinking that perhaps itll be inside but by then the card was already corrected a million times over with another million variations.
Enter Upper Deck. I remember reading an ad mentioning this new card company and their insane $1 pack of cards. I never thought anyone would spend that much money for cards. I mean, I could buy nearly three packs of Topps, Score or Donruss for one UD. Iwas against it.....until I saw them. They were the Rolls Royce of cards and evryone NEEDED to have it, at all costs (and all costs meant well over SRP IF you could find them).
Griffey was NOT the hottest card in any set at release. Nope, it belonged to Jefferies who wasnt even a rokie card. Other hotties were Sandy Alomar, DAvid West, Hensley Bam Bam Meulens, Gary Sheffield, etc. Notice Randy Johnson, Curt Schiling and John Smoltz arent even mentioned.
As hot as the "low number" UD was, the "High Number" series was even hotter lead by the Nolan Ryan "W/FB" cardand rookie cards of Ozie Canseco, Lavell Freeman, Jim Abbott, Dwight Smith and ROY Jerome Walton. Too bad thisseries didnt have some ultra rare error card like the first series Dale Murphy.
I came around like everyone else did once they saw and held UD cards. At that time, they were incredible.
Well that smy trip down memory lane, what was yours?
