Remember the late 80's and early 90's? What is the most massed produced?

frankhardy

What is the most massed produced set of cards in the hobby? It has to be something in the late 80's or early 90's.

The set I see the most of is probably 1990 or 1991 Topps.

Also, when did the mass production start? It seems to me that there was a huge jump in production between 1986 and 1987. I know 1986 Topps was very mass produced, but nothing like 1987.

Was the early to mid 80's more along the same production as the late 70's or did Topps step up production in the early 80's?

What brought this topic to my mind was the collection that I bought today. I only bought it because it had 27 very nice albums and they were jammed full of nice 9 pocket pages. It had a couple of decent sets in the collection (53 Topps Archives and 1994 Finest). I paid $100 for everything. The rest was mostly junk from the early 1990's. The reason I thought of this topic is because I buy large collections when I get a chance locally. I turn down more than I buy. When I see these large junk collections, I hardly ever see any mid 1980's or older. It is almost always early 1990's. I really think 1988 to 1992 is the most horrible time for cards. No rookies and big time mass production.

Yankees001

I'll vote for 1989 Topps

in second place 1990 Donrus

Dave

frankhardy

I was thinking more Topps than anything (even though I didn't say so). If you expand this discussion out to any brand, I would definitely agree that 1990 Donruss is in the mix.

illinifan912

what about 89 or 90 score?

arex

87 Topps?

vladguerrero

i'll go with 91 donruss or fleer

Dpeck100

I vote for the Score sets. You could get those for much cheaper then the other brands at the time and hence we could buy more and did.

jeffcbay

If you ask my closet, it's 1987 Topps.

hhmag70

52 Topps, when you make so much product that you have to lease a garbage barge to get rid of it you may just have made too much

MeteoriteGuy

I have to go with 1988 Donruss.

handyman

I dont know but my favorite was 1991 upper deck. Loved the auto chase they had. 1991 score second for my votes.
Seems to be a lot of those 2.

ThoseBackPages

1986 was the beginning of the mass-mass-mass production era

Stadium1978

I've always thought the most produced sets were 1988 Topps and 1988 Donruss.

Planemonkey

1987 Topps

topps1959guy

1988 through 1991 Topps.

ken61

I vote for 88 Donruss.

richtree

<< <i>I'll vote for 1989 Topps

in second place 1990 Donrus

Dave >>



^^^what he said....

hammered

1990 Score baseball factory sets
I believe they sent one free set to every household in North America

mikeschmidt

I vote 1988 Donruss, too

itzagoner

for pure volume or mass to weight ratio, i'd have to go with anything Upper Deck from the early 90's.

the cuts on those suckers is utter perfection and you can shove about 1,300 of 'em in an 800 count box.

i like to hold one box in each hand and do curls or standing press.

Garabaldi

Man, did I blow alot of $$$ on that crap.

Stingray

91 Fleer??

Cokin75

I've got to go with '91 Donruss. That was the first one done in series, correct? Those things were/are everywhere. It seems that Donruss started overproducing in '88 and outdid themselves each year from 1988-1991. Back in the days of overproduction, it seems you saw Topps stuff in more places, but it seemed that the quantities were less. If a place had Donruss, they generally had one of those display monstrosities....box after shrink wrapped box. I'd love to see the production figures for the various companies during the 80's into the early 90's.

frankhardy

Anybody have any guesses as to the early to mid 80's? Was it more like the 70's? Was it a gradual increase in production? When was the really big jump? I say 1987.

ThoseBackPages

<< <i>Anybody have any guesses as to the early to mid 80's? Was it more like the 70's? Was it a gradual increase in production? When was the really big jump? I say 1987. >>



the way i like to measure it is by the cost of wax

Topps

1983 $140
1984 $50
1985 $79
1986 $13
1987 $9
1988 $8

Donruss

1983 $80
1984 $200
1985 $55
1986 $24
1987 $15
1988 $8

Fleer

1983 $80
1984 $80
1985 $100
1986 $28
1987 $30
1988 $9

mlbfan2

You should do a poll here. Such as, "From which set do you have the most cards, 1987 to 1991?"
1987 Topps
1988 Topps
1988 Donruss
etc.

divecchia

I'd say 1988 was mass produced/over produced by all 3 major card companies at the time.

Donato

frankhardy

<< <i>

<< <i>Anybody have any guesses as to the early to mid 80's? Was it more like the 70's? Was it a gradual increase in production? When was the really big jump? I say 1987. >>



the way i like to measure it is by the cost of wax

Topps

1983 $140
1984 $50
1985 $79
1986 $13
1987 $9
1988 $8

Donruss

1983 $80
1984 $200
1985 $55
1986 $24
1987 $15
1988 $8

Fleer

1983 $80
1984 $80
1985 $100
1986 $28
1987 $30
1988 $9 >>



The price could also factor in the number of quality rookies. For instance, it COULD BE (though I know it's not) that they are somewhat equally produced, but the fact that 83 has 3 HOF rookies, 84 has Mattingly, 85 has McGwire/Clemens/Pucket, and 86 and 88 has nobody.

In other words, I think the price difference has to do with production AND quality rookies.

Cokin75

From my recollection the 80's were as follows:

Topps was always easy to find, but they started ramping up production in '84-'85, took it up a notch in '86 and went crazy beginning in '87.
Donruss stuff was kind of scarce (relatively speaking) until '87 when they bumped up production big time. They went off the charts in '88.
Fleer was pretty plentiful 81-83, became fairly tough 84-86, bumped it up a bit in '87 and started running the presses non stop in '88.
Score was overproduced from the start, but not at the massive level of the 'Big 3' or their early 90's stuff.

I'm always kind of surprised that Sportflics cards aren't worth more. I'd guess that those cards were produced at maybe 1 percent or so of their Topps counterparts. Back in the day, it was like 60 cents for 3 or 4 cards. You had to have deep pockets to put a set together from packs.

frankhardy

<< <i>From my recollection the 80's were as follows:

Topps was always easy to find, but they started ramping up production in '84-'85, took it up a notch in '86 and went crazy beginning in '87.
Donruss stuff was kind of scarce (relatively speaking) until '87 when they bumped up production big time. They went off the charts in '88.
Fleer was pretty plentiful 81-83, became fairly tough 84-86, bumped it up a bit in '87 and started running the presses non stop in '88.
Score was overproduced from the start, but not at the massive level of the 'Big 3' or their early 90's stuff.

I'm always kind of surprised that Sportflics cards aren't worth more. I'd guess that those cards were produced at maybe 1 percent or so of their Topps counterparts. Back in the day, it was like 60 cents for 3 or 4 cards. You had to have deep pockets to put a set together from packs. >>



Great point on Sportflics. I think because the fact that they were SO different, that they really didn't catch on. Personally, I really like them. You just don't see those cards in collections like you do the major brands.

Another angle on this is basketball cards. I remember collecting almost exclusively basketball cards from 1989 through the early 90's. I think Fleer stepped up production every year starting in 1988. I don't think of 1988-89 as mass produced. The next year was a little more. In 1990-91, the presses exploded.

Cokin75

Another angle on this is basketball cards. I remember collecting almost exclusively basketball cards from 1989 through the early 90's. I think Fleer stepped up production every year starting in 1988. I don't think of 1988-89 as mass produced. The next year was a little more. In 1990-91, the presses exploded.

I agree. At least in my neck of the woods, basketball was relatively tough to find in both 86-87 and 87-88. I actually think that I saw less 87-88 than 86-87. I saw more in 88-89 and things really ramped up when Hoops entered the fray in '89 and the 'Basketball Beckett' came out, Fleer seemed to increase production then and really got carried away in 90-91.