Rack/cello pack question

rbeaton

Are the cards in rack and cello packs inserted in a complete random fashion, or is there some order? Specifically, I am collecting packs with Jim Palmer showing and was wondering if some even exist. Do the same cards show up over and over again on the top of these packs?

Robert

FB

Robert,

From the late 70's through the late 80's I used to buy and break up rack cases in order to make complete sets early in the season. I can tell you that there was definitely an order to 95% of all the packs that I opened. I remember that in 1985, there was a specific player (can't remember now whether it was Mark Langston, Alvin Davis or another Mariner) that if he were "showing" on the front of a rack pack - that the Dwight Gooden rookie was 4 or 5 cards behind it. It made going into the McCrory's and the Bradlees stores a lot of fun that season.

JeffVN

There is a definite order to the insertions. I was a Griffey Jr. hound for a while, and had memorized the insertion order. You could and can tell by the front of thepack who else was in the pack based upon the rotation.

Galveston

It's been my experience that Fleer racks and cellos had predictable patterns. Less so with Topps and Donruss.

waitilltheytrytosell

For the older stuff, as long as cellos and racks were made for the particular series that contains the card you are looking for, most will be possible. For the later 70's and 80's stuff, if you look at the copyright line on the bottom of the card you will see a letter. The letter corresponds to the sheet the card was printed on. Most regular run rack packs were packaged in a way that always had the same 2 sheets worth of cards at the same location in the rack. The same goes with those wax racks/trays. So the bottom pack of a rack could contain any card from only one third of the set. When Topps started putting the Glossy All-Stars and Rookie inserts on top in the top pack, this meant that one third of the set wasn't "normally" possible to find on the top of the pack. An occasional factory mishap in packaging would on occasion have the top pack jumbled up, so it is possible for you to find one. Also, at the end of the year, Topps would repackage many of their returns into rack packs and it would then be possible to find cards from any sheet in each location of the rack. In the regular run packs, cards would be very reliably found in the same sequence. Once you found the star you were looking for, ideally on the bottom, any card above him found on the top of other packs were packs you wanted to open. This worked great until the repackages came out.

theBobs

In 1984 I knew the 5 cards in front and behind Don Mattingly in Fleer cello's. Needless to say, I made a TON of money with this knowledge. So much so, that I was banned by two local card shops of buying cellos.

There used to be eBay auctions, where the code to specific year's were being sold.

Wayne8348

C'mon Brian - tell us the REAL reason you were banned from the card shops.

wayne

theBobs

Can't Wayne. I mean I could, but then I'd have to... Aw, nevermind.

zardoz51

........and I thought that it was his personality the whole time

toppsgun

Is that ethical?

Banning theBobs from card shops, I mean.

No one could possibly see anything wrong with pulling all the hot stars from a box, so that no other customers would have a chance to enjoy the thrill of pulling a favorite player from a pack, could one?