Seeking Advice on 1985 Baseball Rack Packs

graygator

So I bought a BBCE wrapped rack box off eBay fully intending to open everything and start building an ungraded set. If I got lucky on one of the big three, I figured I might grade and send in. I don't collect unopened and don't know anything about collecting unopened. I see a lot of talk on here though about star showing front or back rack packs, but I have no idea how common those are with a year like 1985 or whether it is really not good to open them. So here's what I got out of my 24 racks:

1 Eric Davis RC front
1 Tony Gwynn front
2 Cal Ripken front
2 Wade Boggs front
1 Eckersley front, George Brett back
1 McGwire and Rollie Fingers back
1 Puckett back
3 Clemens back

and this one:





So what am I to do with these? It's more than half the box!

jordangretzkyfan

Keep the "rookies on front" for Clemens and Davis sealed for sure. Those will fetch a premium.

If you are looking primarily to rip and build a set, then I would rip the others assuming the cards are sharp and centered. Any "stars on back" won't sell for much premium. I personally would rip the other "stars on front" since those are pretty common for Ripken, Gwynn and Boggs.

grote15

Nice pull! I'd say value of the Clemens on top rack is about $20-$25, and is worth saving, unless you think the Clemens will grade a PSA 10.

cardsfan73

I could be wrong, but is Eric Davis part of the sequence that should have a key rookie card from the set below him?

graygator

<< <i>Nice pull! I'd say value of the Clemens on top rack is about $20-$25, and is worth saving, unless you think the Clemens will grade a PSA 10. >>



Thanks. I don't think the Clemens has a shot at a 10 unfortunately. A bit out of focus and some minor print issues jump right out. I like to hear that I can safely open the rest without feeling bad (except maybe the Davis, though it sounds like the jury is out on that one) since I've never in my life been able to leave a pack unopened for more than a few days.

slum22

That Clemens looks pretty sharp. If the card looks like a 10 I would say ripping and submitting would be worth the gamble. A quick look at completed eBay sales shows a Clemens on top rack selling in the $15-20 range while a PSA 10 Clemens sells for $125 and up. It's all or nothing though as a Clemens 9 looks like it's barely getting your grading and shipping fees back. If you are not an unopened guy anyway and don't plan on keeping the pack and starting an unopened collection, my vote is to rip away.

graygator

Opened the McGwire, Puckett, and one Clemens back. Nothing worth grading, but I didn't own any of these three cards before tonight at all. A lot of fun to see them on the rack and then open them up. Will call it a night and open some more tomorrow.

rtimmer

Oh shoot I wished I had been around today and had seen this earlier. I would have offered $20 per for the big three rookies unopened racks and no I don't include Eric Davis, that was funny.

And how awesome is BBCE. That was just a box with 6 great star showing racks not a case. What a monster! Congrats!

graygator

<< <i>And how awesome is BBCE. That was just a box with 6 great star showing racks not a case. What a monster! Congrats! >>



Yeah, you have to think somebody put this one together and had it wrapped, right? I noticed when I opened the Clemens on bottom rack that one of the Olympic common cards was about 10 cards ahead of it, and I had another rack with that same card on top, so I opened that one too and got another Clemens (off center). I'm guessing it was no accident that was in there. I've never opened any 1985 until tonight, but would it be normal to get 5 Clemens in one rack box and maybe more just randomly from the factory? Plus all those other star showing packs? Either way I got very lucky, as I was actually concerned the opposite would happen.

graygator

<< <i>That Clemens looks pretty sharp. If the card looks like a 10 I would say ripping and submitting would be worth the gamble. A quick look at completed eBay sales shows a Clemens on top rack selling in the $15-20 range while a PSA 10 Clemens sells for $125 and up. It's all or nothing though as a Clemens 9 looks like it's barely getting your grading and shipping fees back. If you are not an unopened guy anyway and don't plan on keeping the pack and starting an unopened collection, my vote is to rip away. >>



Yeah I don't think it's a 10, but if it looks the best after I've opened the others there's a decent chance I may go ahead and open it anyway. I don't collect unopened or Clemens particularly, and $20 isn't some great incentive (though I guess getting 20% of the box price back on one pack is nice) so I'll either put it in the ungraded set or send it in and hope for 9 for my meager attempt at the 300 great cards set. Really hoping there's a decent McGwire in there somewhere though.

NJ80sBBC

Congrats on one helluva box! Love ripping 85Topps as this was such a tremendous issue when I started out collecting in 1987.

graygator

<< <i>Congrats on one helluva box! Love ripping 85Topps as this was such a tremendous issue when I started out collecting in 1987. >>



Thanks. 1985 Topps were the first cards I ever saw on a visit to my cousin's house, but it must have been the start of 1986, because when I talked my parents into buying some packs as the convenience store they were 1986 Topps. Never opened a single pack of 1985 until this weekend. Ended up ripping everything but the Clemens on front rack. I'm thinking I might throw something up on B/S/T and see if I can trade it for PSA 9 Clemens, since that's what I want and they are about the same value. Final tally was 4 Clemens (not counting the one with him on front), 1 McGwire, 1 Puckett, no Gooden, multiples of several of the other big Hall of Famers, and some hilariously miscut cards. I haven't sorted yet but I'm guessing I'll be a good ways from the full set given all the multiples I saw. Nothing worth grading, but it was a lot of fun. Thanks for all the responses to my original questions.

ToadMan

1985 was my first set I completed from packs. It will always go down as one of my favorites.
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