1979 Topps Baseball - Official Thread
packman
Posts: 948
I have seen numerous threads about other sets but not the 1979 Topps set. I am guessing that it is because the set is overlooked and not that it is considered to be a travesty as far as sets go. I am ibeginning the process of putting together a complete PSA 9/10 set. I have put together PSA graded sets for 1953 and 1956 and am currently working on a 1933 Goudey, 1941 Play Ball, 1978-79 Topps basketball and 1982 Topps football PSA sets.
The 1979 set appeals to me because it was the first set I bought numerous packs of as a child. I started buying packs in 1978 but remember 1979 best. I remember buying wax packs from 7-11 and rack packs from Play World with my allowance. I decided that it would be fun to bring back those memories by putting the 1979 set together. It makes no financial sense to do this but I do not collect cards for the money. It is strictly a hobby to me.
In my pursuit to putting this set together, I have decided open to 2 rack pack cases (each case holds 6 rack boxes). I am in the process of busting the first case. Depending on how this case goes will dictate whether I open the second case. The first box yielded a very large amount of centered pristine cards that should easily grade a 9 and with strong chances for 10s (it seems that 10s can be too subjective to accurately predict). One of the Willie Wilson cards I pulled has a great chance at a 10. I pulled one from a vending box last year that graded a 9. I remember this card being impossible to find centered as a kid. I have also noticed that the cards of players from the Brewers, Braves and Phillies in general look the best as far as registration/color/centering. There are some stricking examples.
If this set or project is of interest to anyone, I would be happy to post some scans and update the progress. In addition, as I start getting my grades back, I will post the submission. Any doubles (and there should be many) will be available for trade for other 1979 cards I need or for sale.
David
The 1979 set appeals to me because it was the first set I bought numerous packs of as a child. I started buying packs in 1978 but remember 1979 best. I remember buying wax packs from 7-11 and rack packs from Play World with my allowance. I decided that it would be fun to bring back those memories by putting the 1979 set together. It makes no financial sense to do this but I do not collect cards for the money. It is strictly a hobby to me.
In my pursuit to putting this set together, I have decided open to 2 rack pack cases (each case holds 6 rack boxes). I am in the process of busting the first case. Depending on how this case goes will dictate whether I open the second case. The first box yielded a very large amount of centered pristine cards that should easily grade a 9 and with strong chances for 10s (it seems that 10s can be too subjective to accurately predict). One of the Willie Wilson cards I pulled has a great chance at a 10. I pulled one from a vending box last year that graded a 9. I remember this card being impossible to find centered as a kid. I have also noticed that the cards of players from the Brewers, Braves and Phillies in general look the best as far as registration/color/centering. There are some stricking examples.
If this set or project is of interest to anyone, I would be happy to post some scans and update the progress. In addition, as I start getting my grades back, I will post the submission. Any doubles (and there should be many) will be available for trade for other 1979 cards I need or for sale.
David
0
Comments
Ken
Good luck with the set and this thread. For the SAME EXACT reasons you stated are the reasons I started the 1978 set and thread. I am sure Funky Frank Smith will chime in here and there as he actively collects the 79 set too.
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
Keep us updated.
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* '78 ELVIS PRESLEY #6
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kudos. post some scans. did you have the rack boxes yourself or did you pick them up recently? the marc hill is a beast from what i've heard lately...
Thanks,
David (LD_Ferg)
1985 Topps Football (starting in psa 8) - #9 - started 05/21/06
OK so it wasn't that Carew, but it is still way up on my personal list of favorite cards.
May you find a smudgeless Marc Hill (Card #11). The only PSA 9 just sold for $63 on eBay.
<< <i>May you find a smudgeless Marc Hill (Card #11). The only PSA 9 just sold for $63 on eBay. >>
That seems extraordinarily cheap given the scarcity of that card.
<< <i>
<< <i>May you find a smudgeless Marc Hill (Card #11). The only PSA 9 just sold for $63 on eBay. >>
That seems extraordinarily cheap given the scarcity of that card. >>
I agree with you. I thought it would go for at least $200.
MikeyLikesIt and Writter11: The Marc Hill card is tough. In my first rack box, I pulled 3 Marc Hill cards. All were centered with sharp corners but the smudge renders them worthless. I believe there were two PSA 9s recently sold on eBay. The first sold for in the $60s. I think the second sold for in the $40s. Due to the difficulty in finding this card in high grade, I was also suprised on the low sale prices. I think this leads to the fact that the set is not very popular with graded set collectors. In addition to the Marc Hill card, I have found that Willie Upshaw is more difficult to find in Mint condition. It makes a centered Ozzie Smith card easy to find.
RedHeart54: I love the '54 Red Hearts. They are one of my favorite regional/food issues. Great eye appeal. Regarding the '79 Rose, I always liked the action shot. I pulled one from a rack last night that will probably grade a 9 (no chance for a 10 due to centering).
sagard: Great story regarding the Carew. My favorite cards were Reggie Jackson and Greg Luzinski. They are not the best looking cards but they were two of my favorite players. I remember sitting in my mother's car opening a wax pack and finding a Luzinski. I wish I still had the card.
ldferg: I had one rack box case and purchase the second one recently. I am amazed at how a rack pack can produce some true gem mint looking cards and also some cards that are so badly miscut (and rough cuts on top of that). It would seem that the packs would contain cards of the same general characteristics. However, I have noticed, that the centering of the cards on top have a significant correlation to the centering of the cards throughout the pack.
ArnyVee: I will let you know regarding the Pedro card.
GDM67, Pittfan and softparade: Thanks for the words of encouragement. It will be fun (I think).
David
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The best presents in life are the ones you give yourself!
Brianwintersfan: I will have many extra PSA 9/10 Brewers. It will be a slow process for me getting the cards graded. However, I will let you know when I get some. Do you have list of the cards you need? I am not a Brewers fan; however, I love the Brewers cards. The players really jump off the card with the dark backgrounds. I also just opened 3 wax boxes of the 1978-79 Topps baseketball set. It was my first basketabll set. I am amazed on the difficulty I am having on pulling mint Bucks cards. I have gone through two vending boxes and three boxes and they are probably the most challenging team to put together.
David
i think the ozzie is one of the more difficult to find centered. seems like the rose regular card is notorious for smudges and centering as well. i picked up roughly a rack box from stone about 18-24 months ago. i was able to net several 9s from the racks. i hope your centering is nice. have you started busting yet?
Thanks,
David (LD_Ferg)
1985 Topps Football (starting in psa 8) - #9 - started 05/21/06
I have opened 1 and 1/2 rack boxes so far. I open around 8 - 10 rack packs a night. I went through the case and pulled all of the racks that had major stars showing on the front and put those aside. Those totaled around 40 packs. For example, I have 3 packs with Ozzie Smith on front and 2 with Reggie on top. The other packs have players like Rose, Ryan, Bench etc on top. Regarding the packs that I have opened, I am very happy with the quality. The cards have great gloss and minimial print defects (except for Hill, Upshaw and two other players - those four cards have the same print defect). I am first separating the cards by putting the cards with great eye appeal, no winkles (front or back), centering that meets at least PSA 9 standards and no visible touches on the corners and edges in CardSaver I holders. The others are going to be used to put raw sets together. So far I am averaging around 40% that meet the first test. After I finish the case, I will then inspect the cards the passed the first test with a 10x scope. It is a long process. However, I am very happy with the results so far. My vending boxes yielded around 10% 9s and 10s. The rack case so far is blowing that away. I will post some scans this weekend.
I have pulled 5 Ozzies (4 are PSA 9 OC and 1 is a likely PSA 9). I pulled a Reggie and Munson that should be PSA 10s. It has perfect corners, edges and centering. It is much better then the PSA 9 I currently have.
After I break down the case, I will list the cards that are brutal to find in mint condition. For example, the Hill is coming up the dark smudge. The Upshaw has a pink printing flaw in the top left section of the card. There are two other cards with print defects coming on each of the them. The Winfield is turning out to be brutal on the centering. Each one I pull is miscut.
Erik
Dave, rip as much as you can afford to rip. 79's are still relatively cheap compared to anything under them and plentiful. There is nothing better than plucking what YOU think is mint out of the rubble. And it really personalizes your set. This is awesome
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
Anyway, there are a few cards I would like to get in PSA 8 or 9 grade NQ. A complete set in 9 and 10 quality seems out of the realm of possibility, the true lack of quality control and lack of interest combine to make this year a little more "difficult" than even the nice ones before or after it, 1978 and/or 1980.
Wants;
7 ERA Ldrs, 28 S Brye, 55 W Stargell, 102 M Anderson, 226 R Pruitt, 409 W Wilson, 450 D Concepcion, 696 A Hassler.
It is great to hear from other collectors who are also nutz enough to collect this particular "Modern Worthless Crap in graded fashion"
<< <i>
It is great to hear from other collectors who are also nutz enough to collect this particular "Modern Worthless Crap in graded fashion"
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
It will be a challenge putting this set together in PSA 9/10 (or any grade). Due to the lack of graded cards, I think my only way to complete this set is from self submissions. The lack of quality control is frustrating. However, when you find that card with deep rich color, centered and perfect focus in the pack, it is amazing.
I will post scans of some cards tomorrow.
David
One rack pack I saved from 1989 when i broke a rack case. hey think i shoul open it and get the ryan graded ?.
<< <i>diamondman: Your rack pack would probably have more value unopened then opened. I wouldn't open that pack because of the interest it has with Ryan being on the front. But, then you already knew that. However, if your question is more directed at why would one want to allocate their money towards a 1979 set, then I would say to each their own. It is my opinion that one should collect baseball cards for the enjoyment. Some people want their collection to be a partial (or full) investment. That is okay, but, one would probably be better off making money elsewhere. To me collecting cards is a hobby. I live in south Florida. Most of my friends spend several thousand a year on golf. This is their hobby they finance with "mad money." I spend mine on cards. I invest my money in other markets. >>
Hello packman, I agree to each his own, and my post was to show a 79 rack with Ryan on it nothing more nothing less, the question to open it or not was an attempt at humor. My year for cards was 1972 topps, which is one of the sets I am currently working on, from there finish my 72 topps hcky set. I agree with most on here the best way to go is submit the cards yourself to finish the 79 set as it is one of the lesser submited years. my collecting/ dealing range mainly from 1952 to 1997, opened and
unopened material. Heck thought about opening a 1986 topps rack case and submitting some of them for grading. will even look through my 1979 for Marc Hill and see if any of those are worth submitting. would submit the 79 rack pack if psa did rack packs but my understanding is it will just be packs for now. Best of luck on your submissions.
David
The far majority of my set was put together with my own submissions. I opened two three-box rack cases, four wax boxes, and purchased an opened vending case where the previous owner had pulled out all the stars. Even with all that and my eBay buys, I'm only at about 83% of cards that I'm actually happy with. Anyone who tells you that this set is easy, at least compared to other sets of the same time period, they are kidding themselves.
Thanks for keeping me in mind when you receive you duplicates. I'm getting ready to do a large submission of 1970's cards, but I only have about 100 79's. I'll let you know what I turn.
As for the tough cards, when I was intereviewed for the article, I gave the author a list of about ten cards. Unfortunately, I don't have that list with me here at work. I post something over the weekend. I can tell you that I belive there are cards that are much tougher than the Marc Hill. I think the author just picked up on that as the smudge was similiar to the smudge on the Molitor RC.
Frank
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The best presents in life are the ones you give yourself!
This set will be very challenging to put together. I am very interested in any extra 79's you get back that grade PSA 9/10. I will let you know when I send submissions to PSA. Do you think it is best to spread out the submissions in 100 card blocks or one large block? I am thinking about spreading them out to minimize having a grader of death for the entire lot.
I will look at the '79 article tonight. I am finding that the Howe, Winfield and Messersmith (sp?) are significantly more difficult then Hill.
David
Red
Looking for 81-84 Topps Stickers in PSA 9 or better, 81 Topps Scratch offs, 83 Topps Fold outs in PSA 8 or better, 83 Fleer Stamps and 81/86 Fleer Star Stickers in PSA 9 or better.
>
let me know
David
Here are the scans. If the images are too slow to load, please let me know. If anyone wants to see scans of a particular card or team, please let me know.
David
I've always loved that Fisk card. Four Yankees in the background staring daggers at him
A lot of those are new to me. The Oglivie and Landreaux cards are really nicely chosen images.
Someone mentioned Rose's card earlier in the thread and I had a flash of his Burger King card, with the updated Phillies photo and that made me think: do set collectors want cards like that, as well? I know if you finish the set, for the Registry's purposes, it's finished, but if you like a set's design, would you also want at least the cards with different poses?
The various '77-'80 Burger King sets come to mind (we've discussed the superior visual appeal of the '77 BK Reggie Jackson card in the other forum), as do the various '80's Traded or Rookies sets, even box bottoms, since they all have the same design. I'm just wondering what everyone's take on that is?
I know if I collected the '78 set, I would definitely want at least some of the updated BK cards (like Jenkins w/ the Rangers and the solo cards of Morris and Sweet Lou Whittaker in the Tigers set.)
David
Busting racks ,cellos ? or buying psa 9,s and 10,s
The Yankees set features #1 Bob Lemon, #4 Ron Guidry, #8 Luis Tiant, #9 Tommy John and #22 Juan Beniquez.
Those are the only 2 sets.
GDM67: Thank you for the information. Would you have any extras of those cards (raw or graded)?
David
I had one of those bookmarked in an eBay store a few weeks ago but I didn't move quickly enough on it
EDIT:
Here's the Rose
I just had some grades pop and included were a few 79s.
A few are available.
Horner 586 PSA 9
496 Bonnell PSA 9
279 Grote PSA 9
and # 11 - the elusive Marc Hill in PSA 9. Now, from memory, the smudge was present but the corners were razor. If anyone is interested in picking up a psa 9 NQ Hill, PM me. The Grote and Bonnell and Horner are available for trade for PSA 9 Dodger I need.
Thanks all,
Bkritz
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* T. PEREZ BASIC #4 100%
* L. TIANT BASIC #1
* DRYSDALE BASIC #4 100%
* MAGIC MASTER #4/BASIC #3
* PALMEIRO MASTER/BASIC #1
* '65 DISNEYLAND #2
* '78 ELVIS PRESLEY #6
* '78 THREE'S COMPANY #1
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David
* C. PASCUAL BASIC #3
* T. PEREZ BASIC #4 100%
* L. TIANT BASIC #1
* DRYSDALE BASIC #4 100%
* MAGIC MASTER #4/BASIC #3
* PALMEIRO MASTER/BASIC #1
* '65 DISNEYLAND #2
* '78 ELVIS PRESLEY #6
* '78 THREE'S COMPANY #1
WaltDisneyBoards
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