I have no idea why I woke up this early on a Saturday, but if I am awake then I might as well rip something. Time to hunt for a nice Junior and some redemption for my last few failed attempts to find a slew of PSA 10 candidates. Let’s try some 1989 Bowman...
That break was much more productive! I do like the look of this set even though the oversized cards are a bit awkward. The Griffey is such an iconic photo and just might be my favorite rookie image of him. Here are the piles that miss the mark...
I pulled a Junior, but he just misses perfection. There is a minor touch to the lower left corner and a tiny print mark on the left white boarder, level with his signature...
However, I did find 20 contenders for PSA 10 in this rip. Loving the Ryan Express, Smoltz RC and Eric The Red...
It was the summer of 1990 and as a young teenager I noticed some new looking shiny packs sitting on the counter of my LCS. I had seen foil packs the year before from UD, but what on Earth were these crazy reflective packs. And $4/pack...WTF?!?!?! I had never spent $4 on a single pack. I knew I wanted to buy two with my $10 fortune to spend on cards that day, but cooler heads prevailed and I walked out with 5 packs of 1990 UD and 10 packs of 1990 Topps. Whew, crisis avoided. Except the whole way home I really wanted to know what made the 1990 Leaf so special. I returned the next weekend with another $10 of hard earned allowance only to find the packs long gone. Yep, sold out and not to be restocked! I learned my lesson that day that living without 1990 Leaf in your collection absolutely sucks!
I have been making up for that mistake for the past 25 years and absolutely love the 1990 Leaf set. I was a massive Big Hurt fan as a kid and coveted his 1990 Leaf RC. I have been putting away boxes of this year ever since. I haven’t ripped any of these boxes in about 10 years, but they look just as amazing as they did that summer day in 1990. This is going to be a leisurely rip for me over the next few days/weeks, since I actually enjoy the look of these boxes sitting on my desk. I will get it started by ripping 8 packs of each series. Sorry for the slow burn on these boxes, but teenage me feels the need to savor these packs 🙂
Such a fun set to rip. I agree with Joe’s earlier post that this box would be an even bigger monster if only one series. It was fun ripping packs from both, since I knew any card was possible in the collective 16 packs I opened. Had really good luck on my Series 1 pulls. These cards are gorgeous in hand with their simple, yet elegant design. Here are the stars and rookies that are less than PSA 10 condition...
Fun to land Sosa, Griffey and Walker in the first group of packs. Also cool to pull guys like Olerud and McDonald for a trip down memory lane. No Frank Thomas yet, but that helps build the excitement for me the next round of packs.
I pulled 6 contenders for PSA 10 from these packs. Here are the first 5...
And a sharp looking 6th candidate was actually in the very first pack I opened...
Thanks to those who continue to follow this thread after my 2.5 years of this journey...
@JoeBanzai said:
Love the Griffey! The Gaetti card is a great in action shot, he was a terrific player for the Twins. Great nickname too........."The Rat"! ;-)
Thanks guys! Love this image of a young Junior on such a clean design.
I need some direction. I am looking at tons of boxes, but nothing is calling to me. Would love some votes on what boxes I should open over the next few weeks? What are folks most interested in seeing ripped? Who are the players you love to see pulled fresh from packs?
@jordangretzkyfan said:
I need some direction. I am looking at tons of boxes, but nothing is calling to me. Would love some votes on what boxes I should open over the next few weeks? What are folks most interested in seeing ripped? Who are the players you love to see pulled fresh from packs?
i want to see 1983 topps! my favorite all time set of the eighties.
I love 85D. Was such an out of reach product for me as a kid when I started collecting in 87. I’ve said it before in this thread, the Eric Davis card is one of my favorites of all time.
John
Conundrum - Loving my unopened baseball card collection....but really like ripping too
Thanks to those who made requests. I will pull some of those years for my upcoming rips. After opening the 1990 Leaf, I wanted to next rip a box of 1990 Bowman. I think this is an undervalued set that hosts all the key RCs from 1990. I am not trying to build this set in PSA 10, so this will just be a fun rip to hunt for rookies and star cards...
So many great RCs in this set with Thomas, Walker, Sosa, Williams, Gonzalez, Baerga, Alou, Belle, Vaughn and Olerud. I managed to pull everyone with the exception of my favorite player, Frank Thomas. None of the key cards were in PSA 10 worthy condition, so nothing I will submit from this rip. Regardless, a great trip down memory lane. Here are the key cards I pulled...
There's a few interesting PD/variations in that set. Did you happen to get any of the following?
180 Gary Redus – most of “PITTSBURGH PIRATES” blacked out on back
238 Matt Williams – stats partially missing on back
416 Randy Bush – “TWI S” on front
255 Cal Ripken Jr. - “BAI TiMOP” on back
@LarkinCollector said:
There's a few interesting PD/variations in that set. Did you happen to get any of the following?
180 Gary Redus – most of “PITTSBURGH PIRATES” blacked out on back
238 Matt Williams – stats partially missing on back
416 Randy Bush – “TWI S” on front
255 Cal Ripken Jr. - “BAI TiMOP” on back
Didn’t know of these variations. Will have to go back and look. Thanks for the intel...
I don't want to clutter this thread with variation discussion, but just bumped the 1990 Bowman E/V thread that includes a link to junkwaxgems site where they're all listed.
@jordangretzkyfan said:
So many great RCs in this set with Thomas, Walker, Sosa, Williams, Gonzalez, Baerga, Alou, Belle, Vaughn and Olerud. I managed to pull everyone with the exception of my favorite player, Frank Thomas. None of the key cards were in PSA 10 worthy condition, so nothing I will submit from this rip. Regardless, a great trip down memory lane. Here are the key cards I pulled...
I remember buying the Tiffany version of this set on eBay back in 1998, thinking it was the next "sleeper" that was about to take off given the stacked rookie crop. 22 years later and I think I'm still waiting.
I also remember submitting all of the key cards to PSA and being disappointed that I _only _got three 10's out of the bunch (Griffey, Gonzalez and Belle). The Thomas was an 8, but rightfully so due to its centering. I'll have to revisit this set next time I visit my parents to see if there's anything I missed, especially when flashes-in-the-pan like Bo and Mo are selling for close to $100 in 10 these days.
This weekend is going to be rather busy, so I will try to get to some of the requested baseball rips from 1983, 1985 and 1989 next week when I have more time to comb through every card looking for PSA 10 perfection. Here goes a quick football rip to hunt for a signed Montana Heroes card or a Barry Sanders hologram...
@jordangretzkyfan said:
Thanks to those who made requests. I will pull some of those years for my upcoming rips. After opening the 1990 Leaf, I wanted to next rip a box of 1990 Bowman. I think this is an undervalued set that hosts all the key RCs from 1990. I am not trying to build this set in PSA 10, so this will just be a fun rip to hunt for rookies and star cards...
That's some box, it needs to be retired. I had to cut through the cello wrap to get to my box. 30 year old gum, yikes.
Yeesh...that was way too much focus on work the past two weeks. All work and no play makes for a boring collection. As requested, here goes a box of 1983 Donruss. I have always loved the look of these bright baby blue packs...
Well that certainly didn’t suck! The three key cards in this set are obviously the RCs of Gwynn, Boggs and Sandberg. I managed to pull 2 of the 3 this round. More on that in a moment. Here are the piles of rookies and stars that continue to grow from my breaks...
I was pleasantly surprised to land 15 candidates for PSA 10 out of this box. The Pete Rose is a stunner...
While 15 contenders is better than average for early 1980’s boxes, it is always a sweet day when you land two additional candidates for PSA 10 that happen to be the best rookies in the set. Yahtzee...
@jordangretzkyfan said:
Well that certainly didn’t suck! The three key cards in this set are obviously the RCs of Gwynn, Boggs and Sandberg. I managed to pull 2 of the 3 this round. More on that in a moment. Here are the piles of rookies and stars that continue to grow from my breaks...
I was pleasantly surprised to land 15 candidates for PSA 10 out of this box. The Pete Rose is a stunner...
While 15 contenders is better than average for early 1980’s boxes, it is always a sweet day when you land two additional candidates for PSA 10 that happen to be the best rookies in the set. Yahtzee...
were both of those gwynn and boggs in the middle of the pack. i remember pulling two tony gwynns a few years ago from different boxes and both of them were in the middle of the pack. they were both off centered. great box.
were both of those gwynn and boggs in the middle of the pack. i remember pulling two tony gwynns a few years ago from different boxes and both of them were in the middle of the pack. they were both off centered. great box.
Yes, both were in the mid section of the pack and this box was pretty well centered throughout. Thanks for sharing your Gwynn story.
@Cory1976 said:
That was a great box!!! Congrats on the Gwynn and Boggs
@Frozencaribou said:
Great pulls on the 83 Donruss. THey look perfect.
WOW! Has to be one of the best yet! Both cards look GREAT!
Thanks guys! Was a thrill to pull the Boggs about 1/3 of the way in. When Gwynn followed later in the box, I knew I clearly beat the odds.
@Horse said:
I beg I plead for submission result status on all this. Are you waiting for the 100,000th view of the thread before subbing ?
@1tschaef said:
Yes, when do the submissions begin ? Best thread on the boards !!
My goal has been to build a full set that is sub worthy so all serial numbers are consecutive on the set. I am now realizing this could take an eternity to land every card in submission worthy status. I may just break down and sub the star and key rookie cards sometime in the near future. I will certainly post when I sub in this thread and let folks know the results. The stacks of candidates are massive at this point after 2.5 years of breaks. Thanks for the continued interest and comments! I am beginning to agree that I need to sub the key cards, since they should be in fresh holders...
@JoeBanzai said:
Do you know about Bowman factory sets? Some came in plain blue boxes, but most had artwork.
Any reason that you know of for the difference?
My memory is that the artwork box with the image of Griffey, Jr. was the retail version sent to Walmart, Target and Kmart. This allowed shoppers to more easily identify what the product was if out of context near the checkout aisle and hobby aisle. The plain yellow cardboard version was primarily sent to hobby dealers to breakdown for singles or to sell in the LCS.
Wow, what an awesome 89 Bowman box! Funny, I still get a thrill from pulling the big cards from back in day. Jerome Walton in 89, Kevin Seitzer in 87Fleer. All part of the entertainment value for me. I was a big buyer of Bowman in 89 bc it had all of the rookies of the day. You could get all the first round drafts picks (Willie Ainsley anyone) as well as Dwight Smith, Walton and Griffey. What’s not to
Love?!
John
Conundrum - Loving my unopened baseball card collection....but really like ripping too
@JoeBanzai said:
Do you know about Bowman factory sets? Some came in plain blue boxes, but most had artwork.
Any reason that you know of for the difference?
My memory is that the artwork box with the image of Griffey, Jr. was the retail version sent to Walmart, Target and Kmart. This allowed shoppers to more easily identify what the product was if out of context near the checkout aisle and hobby aisle. The plain yellow cardboard version was primarily sent to hobby dealers to breakdown for singles or to sell in the LCS.
Thanks, that makes sense!
Congratulations on hitting the Griffey!! PSA 10's are going for $200.00......oh yeah, your going for complete sets.
Nice pull, great box! You might want to hit the casino soon. ;-)
2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set
Time for a quick mid-week rip and a departure from the 1980’s stuff. Never broke much 1992 Pinnacle back in the day, but have a few boxes of these laying around. The key RC is obviously Manny Ramirez, but the goal is to pull a Team Pinnacle dual sided card as the key chase insert. They are seeded at 1:125 packs, which is 1 per every 3.5 boxes. Odds are not on my side, but here goes nothing...
The early 1990’s unopened product gets very little love, and that is fair since these cards were massively over produced. However, it is fun to chase the more rare inserts from this era. I also forget how quickly I can rip through a box when I am only looking for the star cards and don’t care about the condition of the commons. That is a nice change of pace from my 1980s mission. This box was solid and I beat the odds, just not the way I was hoping. Here are the few star and rookie cards I set aside...
It was a rush to pull a Team Pinnacle card, since the odds were against me. Unfortunately, this is the second to worst one. Apologies to Mr. Abbott and Mr. Avery. I actually am a Jim Abbott fan, so I like the card for sentimental reasons...
I actually think these 2 Manny RCs have a solid chance at PSA 10, so I am adding them to my sub pile...
Let me know if you like me throwing in the occasional early 1990s rip, or if I should strictly keep it to the 80s?
Comments
I have no idea why I woke up this early on a Saturday, but if I am awake then I might as well rip something. Time to hunt for a nice Junior and some redemption for my last few failed attempts to find a slew of PSA 10 candidates. Let’s try some 1989 Bowman...
That break was much more productive! I do like the look of this set even though the oversized cards are a bit awkward. The Griffey is such an iconic photo and just might be my favorite rookie image of him. Here are the piles that miss the mark...
I pulled a Junior, but he just misses perfection. There is a minor touch to the lower left corner and a tiny print mark on the left white boarder, level with his signature...
However, I did find 20 contenders for PSA 10 in this rip. Loving the Ryan Express, Smoltz RC and Eric The Red...
It was the summer of 1990 and as a young teenager I noticed some new looking shiny packs sitting on the counter of my LCS. I had seen foil packs the year before from UD, but what on Earth were these crazy reflective packs. And $4/pack...WTF?!?!?! I had never spent $4 on a single pack. I knew I wanted to buy two with my $10 fortune to spend on cards that day, but cooler heads prevailed and I walked out with 5 packs of 1990 UD and 10 packs of 1990 Topps. Whew, crisis avoided. Except the whole way home I really wanted to know what made the 1990 Leaf so special. I returned the next weekend with another $10 of hard earned allowance only to find the packs long gone. Yep, sold out and not to be restocked! I learned my lesson that day that living without 1990 Leaf in your collection absolutely sucks!
I have been making up for that mistake for the past 25 years and absolutely love the 1990 Leaf set. I was a massive Big Hurt fan as a kid and coveted his 1990 Leaf RC. I have been putting away boxes of this year ever since. I haven’t ripped any of these boxes in about 10 years, but they look just as amazing as they did that summer day in 1990. This is going to be a leisurely rip for me over the next few days/weeks, since I actually enjoy the look of these boxes sitting on my desk. I will get it started by ripping 8 packs of each series. Sorry for the slow burn on these boxes, but teenage me feels the need to savor these packs 🙂
I didn't appreciate these when the first came out.
I like them better each time I see them!
Such a fun set to rip. I agree with Joe’s earlier post that this box would be an even bigger monster if only one series. It was fun ripping packs from both, since I knew any card was possible in the collective 16 packs I opened. Had really good luck on my Series 1 pulls. These cards are gorgeous in hand with their simple, yet elegant design. Here are the stars and rookies that are less than PSA 10 condition...
Fun to land Sosa, Griffey and Walker in the first group of packs. Also cool to pull guys like Olerud and McDonald for a trip down memory lane. No Frank Thomas yet, but that helps build the excitement for me the next round of packs.
I pulled 6 contenders for PSA 10 from these packs. Here are the first 5...
And a sharp looking 6th candidate was actually in the very first pack I opened...
Thanks to those who continue to follow this thread after my 2.5 years of this journey...
That Griffey is a beauty! Congrats!
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
Love the Griffey! The Gaetti card is a great in action shot, he was a terrific player for the Twins. Great nickname too........."The Rat"! ;-)
Thanks guys! Love this image of a young Junior on such a clean design.
I need some direction. I am looking at tons of boxes, but nothing is calling to me. Would love some votes on what boxes I should open over the next few weeks? What are folks most interested in seeing ripped? Who are the players you love to see pulled fresh from packs?
I would like to see some 1983 donruss and 1985 donruss if you have more to open. Very entertaining thread that brings back good memories.
i want to see 1983 topps! my favorite all time set of the eighties.
1985 anything!
!985 Fleer or 1983 Fleer, 83 Donruss has some tough 10's.
I love 85D. Was such an out of reach product for me as a kid when I started collecting in 87. I’ve said it before in this thread, the Eric Davis card is one of my favorites of all time.
John
Have any 89 UD?
Not topps, fleer or donruss I know....
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
89 Donrus please. I am thinking of buying some to rip. Would love to see what kind of results you get!
So far the votes are clearly for the years 1983, 1985 and 1989. Here are the requests so far:
Thanks for the suggestions. Always good to know where folks are most interested. Anyone else care to chime in?
Donruss 3, Feer 2, Topps and Upper Deck 1. Playoffs to follow.
One of the fleers for sure!
1983 Topps
Thanks to those who made requests. I will pull some of those years for my upcoming rips. After opening the 1990 Leaf, I wanted to next rip a box of 1990 Bowman. I think this is an undervalued set that hosts all the key RCs from 1990. I am not trying to build this set in PSA 10, so this will just be a fun rip to hunt for rookies and star cards...
So many great RCs in this set with Thomas, Walker, Sosa, Williams, Gonzalez, Baerga, Alou, Belle, Vaughn and Olerud. I managed to pull everyone with the exception of my favorite player, Frank Thomas. None of the key cards were in PSA 10 worthy condition, so nothing I will submit from this rip. Regardless, a great trip down memory lane. Here are the key cards I pulled...
There's a few interesting PD/variations in that set. Did you happen to get any of the following?
180 Gary Redus – most of “PITTSBURGH PIRATES” blacked out on back
238 Matt Williams – stats partially missing on back
416 Randy Bush – “TWI S” on front
255 Cal Ripken Jr. - “BAI TiMOP” on back
Didn’t know of these variations. Will have to go back and look. Thanks for the intel...
The Puckett has a button on his shirt that is sometimes airbrushed out.
I don't want to clutter this thread with variation discussion, but just bumped the 1990 Bowman E/V thread that includes a link to junkwaxgems site where they're all listed.
Yes, I've got a pic of the Ripken in the bumped thread.
I remember buying the Tiffany version of this set on eBay back in 1998, thinking it was the next "sleeper" that was about to take off given the stacked rookie crop. 22 years later and I think I'm still waiting.
I also remember submitting all of the key cards to PSA and being disappointed that I _only _got three 10's out of the bunch (Griffey, Gonzalez and Belle). The Thomas was an 8, but rightfully so due to its centering. I'll have to revisit this set next time I visit my parents to see if there's anything I missed, especially when flashes-in-the-pan like Bo and Mo are selling for close to $100 in 10 these days.
This weekend is going to be rather busy, so I will try to get to some of the requested baseball rips from 1983, 1985 and 1989 next week when I have more time to comb through every card looking for PSA 10 perfection. Here goes a quick football rip to hunt for a signed Montana Heroes card or a Barry Sanders hologram...
No such luck on the pipe dream of pulling a Montana auto. Still a fun rip regardless. Here are the key stars and rookies along with the inserts...
That's some box, it needs to be retired. I had to cut through the cello wrap to get to my box. 30 year old gum, yikes.
Yeesh...that was way too much focus on work the past two weeks. All work and no play makes for a boring collection. As requested, here goes a box of 1983 Donruss. I have always loved the look of these bright baby blue packs...
Well that certainly didn’t suck! The three key cards in this set are obviously the RCs of Gwynn, Boggs and Sandberg. I managed to pull 2 of the 3 this round. More on that in a moment. Here are the piles of rookies and stars that continue to grow from my breaks...
I was pleasantly surprised to land 15 candidates for PSA 10 out of this box. The Pete Rose is a stunner...
While 15 contenders is better than average for early 1980’s boxes, it is always a sweet day when you land two additional candidates for PSA 10 that happen to be the best rookies in the set. Yahtzee...
were both of those gwynn and boggs in the middle of the pack. i remember pulling two tony gwynns a few years ago from different boxes and both of them were in the middle of the pack. they were both off centered. great box.
That was a great box!!! Congrats on the Gwynn and Boggs
Great pulls on the 83 Donruss. THey look perfect.
WOW! Has to be one of the best yet! Both cards look GREAT!
I beg I plead for submission result status on all this. Are you waiting for the 100,000th view of the thread before subbing ?
Yes, when do the submissions begin ? Best thread on the boards !!
Yes, both were in the mid section of the pack and this box was pretty well centered throughout. Thanks for sharing your Gwynn story.
Thanks guys! Was a thrill to pull the Boggs about 1/3 of the way in. When Gwynn followed later in the box, I knew I clearly beat the odds.
My goal has been to build a full set that is sub worthy so all serial numbers are consecutive on the set. I am now realizing this could take an eternity to land every card in submission worthy status. I may just break down and sub the star and key rookie cards sometime in the near future. I will certainly post when I sub in this thread and let folks know the results. The stacks of candidates are massive at this point after 2.5 years of breaks. Thanks for the continued interest and comments! I am beginning to agree that I need to sub the key cards, since they should be in fresh holders...
There were requests for some more boxes from 1983, 1985 and 1989. Here goes a case fresh jumbo box of 1989 Bowman...
Hope your luck hold for a bunch of perfect you know who's!
Do you know about Bowman factory sets? Some came in plain blue boxes, but most had artwork.
Any reason that you know of for the difference?
Thanks Joe! Your luck worked. Here are the stars and rookies that miss the mark...
A nice Smoltz, but not perfect...
Really happy to find 19 candidates for PSA 10 in this box. Of course landing a perfect Junior was the icing on the cake...
My memory is that the artwork box with the image of Griffey, Jr. was the retail version sent to Walmart, Target and Kmart. This allowed shoppers to more easily identify what the product was if out of context near the checkout aisle and hobby aisle. The plain yellow cardboard version was primarily sent to hobby dealers to breakdown for singles or to sell in the LCS.
Wow, what an awesome 89 Bowman box! Funny, I still get a thrill from pulling the big cards from back in day. Jerome Walton in 89, Kevin Seitzer in 87Fleer. All part of the entertainment value for me. I was a big buyer of Bowman in 89 bc it had all of the rookies of the day. You could get all the first round drafts picks (Willie Ainsley anyone) as well as Dwight Smith, Walton and Griffey. What’s not to
Love?!
John
Thanks, that makes sense!
Congratulations on hitting the Griffey!! PSA 10's are going for $200.00......oh yeah, your going for complete sets.
Nice pull, great box! You might want to hit the casino soon. ;-)
Time for a quick mid-week rip and a departure from the 1980’s stuff. Never broke much 1992 Pinnacle back in the day, but have a few boxes of these laying around. The key RC is obviously Manny Ramirez, but the goal is to pull a Team Pinnacle dual sided card as the key chase insert. They are seeded at 1:125 packs, which is 1 per every 3.5 boxes. Odds are not on my side, but here goes nothing...
The early 1990’s unopened product gets very little love, and that is fair since these cards were massively over produced. However, it is fun to chase the more rare inserts from this era. I also forget how quickly I can rip through a box when I am only looking for the star cards and don’t care about the condition of the commons. That is a nice change of pace from my 1980s mission. This box was solid and I beat the odds, just not the way I was hoping. Here are the few star and rookie cards I set aside...
It was a rush to pull a Team Pinnacle card, since the odds were against me. Unfortunately, this is the second to worst one. Apologies to Mr. Abbott and Mr. Avery. I actually am a Jim Abbott fan, so I like the card for sentimental reasons...
I actually think these 2 Manny RCs have a solid chance at PSA 10, so I am adding them to my sub pile...
Let me know if you like me throwing in the occasional early 1990s rip, or if I should strictly keep it to the 80s?
A PSA 10 Jr in that set will get you at least $100, maybe $200. Funny thing, I just got my PSA 9 in the mail (cost $18).
Love that set!
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
Rip it all!