The pop report as an endless source of amusement

joker73 · May 15, 2003 9:21AM

I just had to share with the group

While perusing the 1986 Topps pop report, I came across a very odd thing. Out of 820 total cards submitted to date, which card doi you think has been submitted the most? Nolan Ryan & Cal Ripken are always a safe guesses, as is Pete Rose (with 9 different cards in the set). But the winner is none other than Bret Saberhagen #487, with 250 copies submitted (30% of the overall number)! The worst part is, the person(s) submitting all the Saberhagens didn't even get one lousy 9 out of the bunch! To put this in perspective, Clemens in 2nd with 97 copies submitted, followed by Ripken (68) and Ryan (65). I had to actually refresh the page because I thought the table was just being displayed incorrectly. As a player collector, I understand the desire to sometimes send in "worthless" cards for the sake of adding to a set. But 250 Bret Saberhagens???

Robert

Virtualizard · May 15, 2003 9:29AM

I'm pretty sure this has been mentioned before. I think someone submitted all of those cards as some sort of test. I can't remember the details of the previous posts about it though. I'm sure someone else here has the information.

JEB.

mikeschmidt · May 15, 2003 11:53AM

It was part of a test -- much like the 1989 Topps Robin Yount and (Tony Gwynn?) cards. Remember -- PSA graders need some practical experience in grading, too -- and there was a time that PSA had associated outlets through which to sell such graded cards.

joker73 · May 15, 2003 12:13PM

Thanks for the info guys. Still, I think the image I have in my mind of a crazed Saberhagen collector frantically busting cases of '86 Topps looking for that perfect card is much more entertaining ... oh well

.

Robert

DrNguyenVanFalk · May 16, 2003 3:50AM

My favorite population report anomaly is in the 2003 Netpro set (a Tennis set). Serena and Venus Williams, the two greatest players in women's tennis history, have 36 and 28 of their cards graded, respectively. Who has the highest population graded in the set? Anna Kournikova, of course, with 52 cards graded (and zero tournaments won).