HOF Rookie and Heisman Rookie question

FavreFan1971

I am planning on starting this set shortly but I noticed the USFL cards are included for Young, Kelly etc. Why is that? I thought the cards needed to be available to the general public for them to go into the sets? Or did I miss it back in 1984, were they for sale in packs or just the sets? If they were available in packs I have no problem but if not what was the justification of putting them in? I know that the Warren Moon rookie was available in packs up in Canada, I hope they don't put that one in the set.

Just asking for any other opinions.

gregm13

Good question. There was a discussion that happened last year (that I was part of ) in which it was debated whether the rookie cards of Jim Kelly, Steve Young and Reggie White (when he is elected) should be the first regular Topps cards or their USFL rookie cards. The general concensus was that the USFL set was widely enough distributed to be considered a nationally distributed set (as opposed to a regionally distributed set). You are correct that the USFL set was only issued in set form (wax boxes were never sold) however that alone didn't keep the set from being considered.

One more item to note - the Jim Kelly rookie in the HOF RC set originally was the 1987 Topps card until the decision was made to change to the USFL rookie. (The discussion happened before Steve Young was elected last January)

Hope that helps.

Regards,

Greg M.

FavreFan1971

Thanks greg. I tried to search the boards but I must not have went back far enough

shagrotn77

To me it's simple. Nobody wants an '87 Topps Jim Kelly card. Now the '84 USFL, that's pretty desirable.