Love the Fleer checklists. The way they numbered their sets was so well thought out - teams together from best to worst. Then alphabetically by last name. Always great to look through in a binder where you see the teams in order and each of them earning their way to the front.
@brad31 said:
Love the Fleer checklists. The way they numbered their sets was so well thought out - teams together from best to worst. Then alphabetically by last name. Always great to look through in a binder where you see the teams in order and each of them earning their way to the front.
I loved the years the Topps did that for football too!
How have you found the collation to be for 88 Donruss boxes? I ripped one recently and my stack in the 200s was huge, with 3 or 4 dupes of many of them.
@brad31 said:
Love the Fleer checklists. The way they numbered their sets was so well thought out - teams together from best to worst. Then alphabetically by last name. Always great to look through in a binder where you see the teams in order and each of them earning their way to the front.
For most years yes they did do that (World champs first, then other League champ, then other two division champs, then others in descending order) but for 1989 they did the World champ Dodgers third! They did both the teams they beat the Athletics and Mets first and second...talk about lack of respect!!
@sedin26 said:
How have you found the collation to be for 88 Donruss boxes? I ripped one recently and my stack in the 200s was huge, with 3 or 4 dupes of many of them.
You should have plenty of McGwire's. LOL. I opened a lot of 88 Donruss back in the day. What you found in the one box you opened is typical. Don't expect any improvement in the collation with other boxes. Next box could be loaded with 300's. Didn't mean to steal the question meant for the OP. Maybe he'll chime in as well.
@sedin26 said:
How have you found the collation to be for 88 Donruss boxes? I ripped one recently and my stack in the 200s was huge, with 3 or 4 dupes of many of them.
You should have plenty of McGwire's. LOL. I opened a lot of 88 Donruss back in the day. What you found in the one box you opened is typical. Don't expect any improvement in the collation with other boxes. Next box could be loaded with 300's. Didn't mean to steal the question meant for the OP. Maybe he'll chime in as well.
This has been my experience too. It would take 5+ boxes to make a set since the distribution was poor and multiple dupes were in the same box. A bunch of the cards in the 600’s were “short printed” in 1988 Donruss, including the Gregg Jefferies and Ron Gant RCs. I use SP liberally since nothing about 1988 Donruss was short printed, but about 30 of the cards numbered in the 600’s were printed less than the balance of the set.
Have really enjoyed some of the recent rips - especially the 84D rip.
I agree - the Matty was really close.
Have you submitted some of these cards - I didn't see any stats? My apology if missed.
Would really like to see how you do with your selections since on my screen, they look like 10s for sure.
Best of luck on subbing those gems buddy.
Thanks Mike...always good to hear from you! I haven’t subbed any yet since I have tons of boxes to rip still and I want to be sure to only sub the very best of the 10s. As I get closer to building a complete set for a given year, I will then sub the full set with the hope of getting consecutive serial numbers too. I will post some stats before too long on how close I am for each set I have been building along with the hit rates coming fresh out of the packs. So far Topps has been around 1.5% of cards having a good shot at PSA 10, while Fleer is around 2% and Donruss around 0.5%.
Since I know you have a soft spot for 1983 Fleer, here’s what’s up next...
This set is really attractive and filled with HOF stars. Here were the stars and rookies in the vending box. I pulled all the key rookies with the exception of Cal, but I was due for that since this vending case has produced at least one in each box until now...
I did manage to find 5 more GEMs for submission though, keeping with the 1% hit rate...
It seems to me that the next logical place to hunt for PSA 10 beauties is 1983 Topps. Besides, when I pulled this box from the case, it looks like a few cards were trying to sneak out...
That was a strange distribution in that vending box. It wasn’t tampered since I broke the seal on this case myself and have opened multiple boxes from the case. It was just one of those factory boxes that was loaded with tons of duplicates and unfortunately not of the key RCs. It was a Gary Gaetti and Eddie Murray hot box with 5 of each in it. The same run kept repeating over and over. Here is a pic of the stars and rookies that continue to pile up...
There was one appearance of a Sandberg RC, but it was off-centered...
What do you use for T/B centering on the '83 Fleers -- or do you look for the amount of space above the word Fleer at the top to be the same as the sides?
@softparade said:
Probaby asked before but what are you doing with the sea of cards that won’t be submitted?
I keep the stars and rookies in 3200 count storage boxes. Someday I will get around to selling them, but for now they just keep piling up. All the commons go into recycling since I will never take the time to sort them for sets. If there are cards folks are looking for, just send me a PM with your list and what you think is a fair price.
@Kep13 said:
What do you use for T/B centering on the '83 Fleers -- or do you look for the amount of space above the word Fleer at the top to be the same as the sides?
I look for the spacing above Fleer to be the same as below the player position at the bottom. I think I was a bit lenient on the bottom row of three in the last batch, but I have seen PSA place this centering into PSA 10 holders.
@jordangretzkyfan said:
It is funny how seeing the RCs of Jim Abbott, Chris Sabo, Gary Sheffield and Gregg Jefferies FTC still excite me. There were plenty of stars and rookies in the two boxes. Here are the piles that keep growing...
I feel pretty good that 9 GEM MINT contenders were found...
Really like the 89 Topps!! Simple design and I thought they stepped it up in the photography department!,
So where do we go after ripping vending boxes from 1982 and 1983 Topps? How about a minty case fresh rack box of 1984 Topps? I love the look of this set and the images on the Mattingly and Strawberry RCs are second to none. Here’s hoping for some GEMs...
1984 Topps is my favorite of the '80s sets. I know I'm in the gross minority. That's okay. It is not the first year I busted packs -- that would be 1983 -- but it is the first year I started building a set. I was 8. Don Mattingly's 1984 Topps card is #8. Coincidence? I think not.
I went out to dinner in the middle of this break, so I am only through the first 8 racks at this point. The cards coming out of the center cell of these racks are the most vibrant, dead on registration 1984 Topps cards I have ever seen. I can not describe how bright these look in person. So far I have pulled a Mattingly and Strawberry, but neither makes the grade. Mattingly is not centered and the Strawberry would have been a candidate if not for the minor chipping on the bottom edge...
However, here are the 15 candidates I have already found through only eight racks. Nearly all of these have come from the center cell. Check out the awesome star power too...
@ahopkins said:
1984 Topps is my favorite of the '80s sets. I know I'm in the gross minority. That's okay. It is not the first year I busted packs -- that would be 1983 -- but it is the first year I started building a set. I was 8. Don Mattingly's 1984 Topps card is #8. Coincidence? I think not.
It is as if you and Donnie Baseball are kindred spirits Andy! I am with you on the love for the 1984 set. Mattingly and Strawberry were the first singles I ever saved up to buy...still love these cards to this day. Thanks for chiming in my friend!
You know, I have this problem. Now every time I see a card of a star (not superstar) like Jack Clark I can't help check how he compares to Harold Baines.
Before I go back to the second half of the 1984 Topps rack box, I am going to try to make my way through more of the 1986 Topps vending case. 5 more boxes to go until it is finished out. Here are two of them next...
1986 Topps continue to be a nightmare to find in PSA 10 condition. Here were all the stars and rookies out of the two vending boxes that added to my growing piles...
I did find 8 potential candidates out of the 1000 case fresh cards (0.8%), but I think I am going to throw the Oberkfell back in the pond since I don’t love the top edge...
@jordangretzkyfan said:
1986 Topps continue to be a nightmare to find in PSA 10 condition. Here were all the stars and rookies out of the two vending boxes that added to my growing piles...
I did find 8 potential candidates out of the 1000 case fresh cards (0.8%), but I think I am going to throw the Oberkfell back in the pond since I don’t love the top edge...
I did find 8 potential candidates out of the 1000 case fresh cards (0.8%), but I think I am going to throw the Oberkfell back in the pond since I don’t love the top edge...
Some chipping there?
Very minor, but enough of a rough cut that it doesn’t look flawless. Decided to toss it out.
@Stingray said:
Centering on the 84s can be tough, with that border by the headshot picture it can show off-center easily!!
Exactly. The narrow borders around the headshot box make these a legit challenge.
Exactly. The narrow borders around the headshot box make these a legit challenge.
A funny (to me anyway) aside here. I created a 1984 Topps template and had some cards printed with pictures of my daughter for Christmas presents for my family. The cards came back cut off center and it was obvious because of the headshot box. I contacted the company and asked them to reprint and they told me to pound sand. Lol. I still thought the cards came out awesome though. I also did a 1956 template and I absolutely loved those ones.
Exactly. The narrow borders around the headshot box make these a legit challenge.
A funny (to me anyway) aside here. I created a 1984 Topps template and had some cards printed with pictures of my daughter for Christmas presents for my family. The cards came back cut off center and it was obvious because of the headshot box. I contacted the company and asked them to reprint and they told me to pound sand. Lol. I still thought the cards came out awesome though. I also did a 1956 template and I absolutely loved those ones.
Pretty cool that your daughter has a 1984 Topps RC. Thanks for sharing!
Sorry for the long layoff on the breaks. Was a pretty crazy week at work. Time for another 1986 Topps vending while I have a few minutes. After this, only two left from the case and then I can move to intermittent breaks of rack cases from this year...
Finding time to rip lately has been a bit of a challenge. Here go the last two 1986 Topps vending boxes from the full case I opened at the start of this journey...
To say 1986 Topps is a condition challenge in GEM MINT would be a major understatement. This set is almost always OC in either direction and when you do find a dead centered copy, you are reminded of the massive amount of print defects and poor photo registration that plagues this set. It really makes me appreciate when I am able to find true GEMs from this issue. The last two vending boxes produced more of the stars and RCs as expected. Here is the pile from the case...
Out of the 1000 case fresh cards, only 1 final contender emerged. It isn’t even one of the tricky black bordered cards, but it is a HOFer...
I am going to continue my onslaught of mediocre 1980s vending boxes tonight since I need to make some progress against the lesser sets too. Up next are two boxes of 1988 Topps vending...
@jordangretzkyfan said:
Out of the 1000 case fresh cards, only 1 final contender emerged.
Holy cow! 1???
Similar to 1986, the 1988 Topps are also much harder to find in GEM MINT than most people expect. This issue is littered with print defects, card boogers, and surface pimples that detract from the cards registration. While they produced tons of these, quality control was very poor. Here are the stars and rookies that continue to pile up...
Once again, out of 1000 case fresh cards, only 1 contender was found. Yep, 0.1% of the factory fresh cards!!
Comments
The dark blue borders on these cards really stand out, and show any hint of wear. Here were the stars and RCs in these packs...
I found 4 contenders at first glance...
Love the Fleer checklists. The way they numbered their sets was so well thought out - teams together from best to worst. Then alphabetically by last name. Always great to look through in a binder where you see the teams in order and each of them earning their way to the front.
I loved the years the Topps did that for football too!
How have you found the collation to be for 88 Donruss boxes? I ripped one recently and my stack in the 200s was huge, with 3 or 4 dupes of many of them.
I love 86 Fleer. Those borders are always tough and prone to chipping.
For most years yes they did do that (World champs first, then other League champ, then other two division champs, then others in descending order) but for 1989 they did the World champ Dodgers third! They did both the teams they beat the Athletics and Mets first and second...talk about lack of respect!!
Dimes: 54S, 53P, 50P, 49S, 45D+S, 44S, 43D, 41S, 40D+S, 39D+S, 38D+S, 37D+S, 36S, 35D+S, all 16-34's
Quarters: 52S, 47S, 46S, 40S, 39S, 38S, 37D+S, 36D+S, 35D, 34D, 32D+S
74 Topps: 37,38,46,47,48,138,151,193,210,214,223,241,256,264,268,277,289,316,435,552,570,577,592,602,610,654,655
1997 Finest silver: 115, 135, 139, 145, 310
1995 Ultra Gold Medallion Sets: Golden Prospects, HR Kings, On-Base Leaders, Power Plus, RBI Kings, Rising Stars
You should have plenty of McGwire's. LOL. I opened a lot of 88 Donruss back in the day. What you found in the one box you opened is typical. Don't expect any improvement in the collation with other boxes. Next box could be loaded with 300's. Didn't mean to steal the question meant for the OP. Maybe he'll chime in as well.
Hiya Chris
Have really enjoyed some of the recent rips - especially the 84D rip.
I agree - the Matty was really close.
Have you submitted some of these cards - I didn't see any stats? My apology if missed.
Would really like to see how you do with your selections since on my screen, they look like 10s for sure.
Best of luck on subbing those gems buddy.
This has been my experience too. It would take 5+ boxes to make a set since the distribution was poor and multiple dupes were in the same box. A bunch of the cards in the 600’s were “short printed” in 1988 Donruss, including the Gregg Jefferies and Ron Gant RCs. I use SP liberally since nothing about 1988 Donruss was short printed, but about 30 of the cards numbered in the 600’s were printed less than the balance of the set.
Thanks Mike...always good to hear from you! I haven’t subbed any yet since I have tons of boxes to rip still and I want to be sure to only sub the very best of the 10s. As I get closer to building a complete set for a given year, I will then sub the full set with the hope of getting consecutive serial numbers too. I will post some stats before too long on how close I am for each set I have been building along with the hit rates coming fresh out of the packs. So far Topps has been around 1.5% of cards having a good shot at PSA 10, while Fleer is around 2% and Donruss around 0.5%.
Since I know you have a soft spot for 1983 Fleer, here’s what’s up next...
1983s are always a fun rip given the amazing rookie crop of Gwynn, Boggs and Sandberg. Here were the stars and RCs in the box...
I did manage to pull a Gwynn and Boggs RC, but neither were dead centered.
However, I did find 8 contenders for GEM MINT in this box...
Absolutely the coolest!
Good show Chris!
I haven't addressed my 83F set in some time - so typical of me since I'm the "prince of procrastination."
One point - on my recap - it only took 2 boxes to complete the set - and as you know rough cuts and OCs galore.
Getting a complete set nicely centered would take loads of trades or boxes - I'm happy with the cards being OC.
I feel like hunting for perfect RCs of Ripken, Lee Smith, Brett Butler and Steve Sax tonight. Up next is a case fresh vending box of 1982 Topps...
This set is really attractive and filled with HOF stars. Here were the stars and rookies in the vending box. I pulled all the key rookies with the exception of Cal, but I was due for that since this vending case has produced at least one in each box until now...
I did manage to find 5 more GEMs for submission though, keeping with the 1% hit rate...
It seems to me that the next logical place to hunt for PSA 10 beauties is 1983 Topps. Besides, when I pulled this box from the case, it looks like a few cards were trying to sneak out...
If this were a TV show, I'd watch every night. Religiously.
Andy
That was a strange distribution in that vending box. It wasn’t tampered since I broke the seal on this case myself and have opened multiple boxes from the case. It was just one of those factory boxes that was loaded with tons of duplicates and unfortunately not of the key RCs. It was a Gary Gaetti and Eddie Murray hot box with 5 of each in it. The same run kept repeating over and over. Here is a pic of the stars and rookies that continue to pile up...
There was one appearance of a Sandberg RC, but it was off-centered...
I did manage to find 7 contenders for GEM MINT...
Thanks Andy! I’m just glad I’m not in syndication yet...still tons more cases/boxes in the future.
Keep me in mind for mint 82 Eddie Murray. 😀. Looking fwd to some 81 racks.
Thanks,
David (LD_Ferg)
1985 Topps Football (starting in psa 8) - #9 - started 05/21/06
Probaby asked before but what are you doing with the sea of cards that won’t be submitted?
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
What do you use for T/B centering on the '83 Fleers -- or do you look for the amount of space above the word Fleer at the top to be the same as the sides?
I keep the stars and rookies in 3200 count storage boxes. Someday I will get around to selling them, but for now they just keep piling up. All the commons go into recycling since I will never take the time to sort them for sets. If there are cards folks are looking for, just send me a PM with your list and what you think is a fair price.
I look for the spacing above Fleer to be the same as below the player position at the bottom. I think I was a bit lenient on the bottom row of three in the last batch, but I have seen PSA place this centering into PSA 10 holders.
Really like the 89 Topps!! Simple design and I thought they stepped it up in the photography department!,
My daily check of this thread is no complete. Carry on.
So where do we go after ripping vending boxes from 1982 and 1983 Topps? How about a minty case fresh rack box of 1984 Topps? I love the look of this set and the images on the Mattingly and Strawberry RCs are second to none. Here’s hoping for some GEMs...
1984 Topps is my favorite of the '80s sets. I know I'm in the gross minority. That's okay. It is not the first year I busted packs -- that would be 1983 -- but it is the first year I started building a set. I was 8. Don Mattingly's 1984 Topps card is #8. Coincidence? I think not.
Andy
I went out to dinner in the middle of this break, so I am only through the first 8 racks at this point. The cards coming out of the center cell of these racks are the most vibrant, dead on registration 1984 Topps cards I have ever seen. I can not describe how bright these look in person. So far I have pulled a Mattingly and Strawberry, but neither makes the grade. Mattingly is not centered and the Strawberry would have been a candidate if not for the minor chipping on the bottom edge...
However, here are the 15 candidates I have already found through only eight racks. Nearly all of these have come from the center cell. Check out the awesome star power too...
It is as if you and Donnie Baseball are kindred spirits Andy! I am with you on the love for the 1984 set. Mattingly and Strawberry were the first singles I ever saved up to buy...still love these cards to this day. Thanks for chiming in my friend!
Thanks Mike! So far your wishes seem to be working. Keep them coming 😉
I made it through four more racks which takes me to the half way point in the box. Here are the stars and RCs that continue to pile up...
I also found 2 more contenders...
Will plan to rip more later this weekend...
You know, I have this problem. Now every time I see a card of a star (not superstar) like Jack Clark I can't help check how he compares to Harold Baines.
Before I go back to the second half of the 1984 Topps rack box, I am going to try to make my way through more of the 1986 Topps vending case. 5 more boxes to go until it is finished out. Here are two of them next...
1986 Topps continue to be a nightmare to find in PSA 10 condition. Here were all the stars and rookies out of the two vending boxes that added to my growing piles...
I did find 8 potential candidates out of the 1000 case fresh cards (0.8%), but I think I am going to throw the Oberkfell back in the pond since I don’t love the top edge...
Some chipping there?
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
Centering on the 84s can be tough, with that border by the headshot picture it can show off-center easily!!
Thank you!
Very minor, but enough of a rough cut that it doesn’t look flawless. Decided to toss it out.
Exactly. The narrow borders around the headshot box make these a legit challenge.
A funny (to me anyway) aside here. I created a 1984 Topps template and had some cards printed with pictures of my daughter for Christmas presents for my family. The cards came back cut off center and it was obvious because of the headshot box. I contacted the company and asked them to reprint and they told me to pound sand. Lol. I still thought the cards came out awesome though. I also did a 1956 template and I absolutely loved those ones.
Pretty cool that your daughter has a 1984 Topps RC. Thanks for sharing!
Sorry for the long layoff on the breaks. Was a pretty crazy week at work. Time for another 1986 Topps vending while I have a few minutes. After this, only two left from the case and then I can move to intermittent breaks of rack cases from this year...
1986 Topps remains a challenge. Here were the stars and RCs in this box...
3 more contenders appeared, but I am pretty sure I already set aside contenders for each of these...
Whew, I was starting to have withdraws
Finding time to rip lately has been a bit of a challenge. Here go the last two 1986 Topps vending boxes from the full case I opened at the start of this journey...
To say 1986 Topps is a condition challenge in GEM MINT would be a major understatement. This set is almost always OC in either direction and when you do find a dead centered copy, you are reminded of the massive amount of print defects and poor photo registration that plagues this set. It really makes me appreciate when I am able to find true GEMs from this issue. The last two vending boxes produced more of the stars and RCs as expected. Here is the pile from the case...
Out of the 1000 case fresh cards, only 1 final contender emerged. It isn’t even one of the tricky black bordered cards, but it is a HOFer...
I am going to continue my onslaught of mediocre 1980s vending boxes tonight since I need to make some progress against the lesser sets too. Up next are two boxes of 1988 Topps vending...
Holy cow! 1???
Andy
Similar to 1986, the 1988 Topps are also much harder to find in GEM MINT than most people expect. This issue is littered with print defects, card boogers, and surface pimples that detract from the cards registration. While they produced tons of these, quality control was very poor. Here are the stars and rookies that continue to pile up...
Once again, out of 1000 case fresh cards, only 1 contender was found. Yep, 0.1% of the factory fresh cards!!
Chris, that's crazy. I do like the '88 design for some reason. It's always suited my eye.
Glad to see you're still going strong. It's been almost 11 months since you inaugurated this great thread, and what an 11 months it's been.
Andy
Andy