Question about 80's football cards

johnny1976

Hi all,

Just wondering if 80's football cards are on par with 80's baseball cards? Where they over produced like 80's baseball cards? I know some of the rookies are more expensive in higher grades but I guess I'm asking about second year cards and beyond.

I haven't collected football cards since I was a kid and my son is starting his first year of tackle this fall. He wants to be a QB and that is where I was thinking about starting. Both of us are intrested in starting to collect but just want to get an idea of what to expect to spend. I will be looking for 8's on the more expensive cards and 9's on everything else.

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

RookieWax

Based on the calculations I did based on the 1983 Topps baseball pack insert contest odds-of-winning, I'd say Topps produced about 1 to 1.5 million of every card in the early 1980s and that number grew as the decade went on. My guess on football would be about 40% to 50% of the production of baseball during those years.

Hallco

Beyond the rookies, most star cards will be fairly cheap for you in 8 and 9 with the exception of the condition sensitive sets like 1985. Can't help you with the production numbers and comparisons. Have fun!

FavreFan1971

<< <i>Based on the calculations I did based on the 1983 Topps baseball pack insert contest odds-of-winning, I'd say Topps produced about 1 to 1.5 million of every card in the early 1980s and that number grew as the decade went on. My guess on football would be about 40% to 50% of the production of baseball during those years. >>



+1

ThoseBackPages

i loved ripping football back in the 80s!

Good luck and enjoy the ride!

fgoodwin

<< <i>
Just wondering if 80's football cards are on par with 80's baseball cards? Where they over produced like 80's baseball cards?
>>


I never collected baseball cards but I did collect football cards for most of the 70s-80s-90s.

The era of football card overproduction didn't really begin until the 90s. Topps was the only major manufacturer of football cards until 1989 when Action Packed, Pro Set and Score issued their first sets. In fact, it might've been overproduction in baseball that caused the card companies to move into football in a big way in the 90s. That's why I got out of the hobby by the mid-90s: there were FAR too many sets to keep up with them all, and too many inserts, chase cards, parallels, premiums, etc.

So if you stick to the base sets of football cards in the 80s, you should be OK.

JJacks

I agree with alot of what has been said here - I think they really, really kicked up production in 1988 and 1989 - those are very easy to find in case form, etc. still. 1987 was somewhat over produced as well IMO. I think 1986 and before FB is much better, not to say its tough by any means of course, but nowhere near as overproduced as 1990 Topps, 1990 Score, 1989 Proset, etc.

JJacks