That actually might have been one of the best 1987 Donruss boxes I have opened. It will be henceforth known as the Barry box...
I am sure some of you are wondering if they come in the same pack. Ironically, they do not. Always nice when you can pull three of each of those rookies in the same box. None of them were candidates for PSA 10, but good looking cards nonetheless. I was able to find these six contenders though…
That is by far the most contenders I have found in a single box. Typically I would be happy if I found two or three, so this was a bonus. I hope everybody’s enjoying the March Madness.
@bensie said:
Those 1987s sure do look sharp when the condition is dialed in like that. When will you be making PSA submissions?
I am waiting until I have enough to qualify for the discounted bulk rate. I was also debating if I should wait until I have built the entire set so I can submit them to have consecutive cert numbers. What do you think? Does that make the set any cooler?
Hey, Chris, I'm new to the boards, but I'm not new to this thread, for I've been reading it since you first posted it. Wonderful stuff, man. 1987 was the heyday of my collecting so these '87 sets are all too familiar to me. When I look at these cards, I don't think $$$. I think like an 11-year-old who, at one time, held the greatest players of the day in his little hands. These guys were gods to me. The sheer possession of the McGwire card or the Bo Jackson card or the Will Clark card transcended monetary value.
@ahopkins said:
Hey, Chris, I'm new to the boards, but I'm not new to this thread, for I've been reading it since you first posted it. Wonderful stuff, man. 1987 was the heyday of my collecting so these '87 sets are all too familiar to me. When I look at these cards, I don't think $$$. I think like an 11-year-old who, at one time, held the greatest players of the day in his little hands. These guys were gods to me. The sheer possession of the McGwire card or the Bo Jackson card or the Will Clark card transcended monetary value.
I'll be following your quest daily. Good luck!
Andy
Nice to meet you Andy. I couldn’t agree more about the money being irrelevant compared to the memories of your childhood hero’s. I geeked out last night when I saw your 1985 Fleer rack box. Such a great year and card design. It made me want to bust some 1985 Fleer’s here before much longer. Thanks for the kind words!
There is still something cool about finding a star on the top of a cello pack. With odds at 1/792, it always gives me a touch of excitement when one is revealed...
Here were the last of the contenders in the second cello box...
Love that Chris James Rated Rookie. The thing I remember about '87 Donruss, and the thing that still hits me when I open them today, is that the Rated Rookies had their own unique name section background color. So as I thumbed through the pack the first thing to hit me out of the corner of my eye would be that bright red/orange and it was like a muleta to a bull. Who was it? McGwire? Bo? Maddux? Swindell? Surhoff? Santiago? Palmeiro? Just getting any Rated Rookie was fun back in the day.
@ReggieCleveland said:
Love that Chris James Rated Rookie. The thing I remember about '87 Donruss, and the thing that still hits me when I open them today, is that the Rated Rookies had their own unique name section background color. So as I thumbed through the pack the first thing to hit me out of the corner of my eye would be that bright red/orange and it was like a muleta to a bull. Who was it? McGwire? Bo? Maddux? Swindell? Surhoff? Santiago? Palmeiro? Just getting any Rated Rookie was fun back in the day.
Arthur
Love that memory Arthur! That, my friend, is what this hobby is all about.
I’m still making my way through 2 more boxes each of the 1987 Fleer and Donruss and will post results as I go. However, I cannot stop looking at these...how cool is this pic for anyone who was collecting in the 1980’s?!? These are going to be fun...
The first box of 1987 Fleer was a tale of two cities. On a positive, there were lots of the core four rookies in the box. The negative was that the entire box was off-center 90/10 top to bottom.
I thought folks might like to see the stars and prospects I’ve been setting aside. The piles of each of these are starting to grow…
The great thing about '87 Fleer is there's a collation run in the wax packs where the top card will be Will Clark and about 5 cards in will be Barry Bonds. I still remember getting it about 3 times back in '89 when Clark and Mark Grace were slugging it out in the NLCS. According to the CCP, the Clark was like a $15 card (and got a free penny sleeve and top loader from the owner of the LCS!) while the Bonds was just $1.50. Good times.
I love that '87 Fleer picture. The Mitchell, Bonilla, Sierra and Seitzer still tickle the cockels of my heart.
@jordangretzkyfan said:
I am waiting until I have enough to qualify for the discounted bulk rate. I was also debating if I should wait until I have built the entire set so I can submit them to have consecutive cert numbers. What do you think? Does that make the set any cooler?
Yeah, sequential numbers would be cool, but you'd have to be positive they all hit 10s prior to submitting!
The 1985’s continue to be off-center, consistent through the first half of the box. No major rookie cards this round, but here were a handful of stars…
As a kid, I absolutely salivated over unopened packs of 1984. The chance to pull a Don Mattingly or Darryl Strawberry rookie card would have been the highlight of my collection, and made me the envy of my collecting friends. I can recall seeing the Strawberry rookie in the display case of my LCS with an $8 price tag on it. I saved my allowance for a few weeks to land that bad boy. There wasn’t anything that could get me to part with that card as a kid. So here goes on some 1984 packs. Pack #1 from the fresh box…
There was an appearance of a nice second-year Tony Gwynn and a Cal Ripken all star card. The cards look crisp, but the centering on these cards always present a challenge. This was one of my top three favorite set designs from Topps during the 1980s.
Now for my favorite set design from Topps during the 1980s…1983. As Mr. Peanut will attest, this set is visually stunning. Amazing in-action photos complemented by a headshot right on the front of the card. Topps absolutely nailed it with this design. Not to mention an amazing rookie class that contained Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg. I am really looking forward to opening up some of these packs. So here are the contents of pack #1 from a fresh box...
The cards are coming out super sharp, but I can already tell centering is going to be a challenge.
@daltex said:
Did Donruss Rookies even come in packs in 1987? I thought they were all in factory sets, but then I thought the same for 1985 Topps Traded.
Alex Relyea
Factory sets only, same as Topps Traded.
Not that it matters nearly a week later, but this is what daltax was referring to. Very rare, apparently, but 1985 Topps Traded was indeed sold in wax packs.
@erikthredd said:
This thread is awesome! Brings back alot of memories. Keep rippin' JGF!
@bensie said:
I look forward to reading this thread every day. Watching the drama unfold really makes me appreciate the junk wax gems i have in my collection!
Thanks guys! Apologies for the delay in the rip the other night. A good friend needed my immediate help with something and the past few nights have been hectic. I will get back to finishing the 1983 and 1982 packs tonight. I will also pull some additional new items into the mix.
The 1982 set obviously boasts the rookie card of Cal Ripken, Jr. For me, this is the second best set design of the 1980s. My order would be 1983, 1982, 1984, 1980, 1986, 1985, 1987, 1981, 1989 and 1988 in dead last place. Let’s see what we find in pack #1...
Always nice to find an iconic Rickey Henderson in the first pack. Rickey likes. Nothing gradable, but I had forgotten they placed stickers in these packs...
Always nice to find an iconic Rickey Henderson in the first pack. Rickey likes. Nothing gradable, but I had forgotten they placed stickers in these packs...
Just curious, but have all the 1982 packs that you've opened contained a sticker? And here's a crazy follow-up question, seeing as how it's TOPPS CHEWING GUM CO., but have any of the 1982 packs been gum-free, missing the stick so clearly advertised on the wrapper?
1985 Fleer contains the iconic rookies of Roger Clemens, Kirby Puckett, Dwight Gooden, Eric Davis and Orel Hershiser. It has a simple, yet elegant design that holds the test of time for me. Here were the highlights of the eight packs...
The stars...
The rookies...
Man I loved this card as a kid!!!
Even the stickers were cool from this year...
It must be a 1985 thing, but centering so far on both the Topps and Fleer cards are way off. There were no gradable cards out of the 8 packs.
Just curious, but have all the 1982 packs that you've opened contained a sticker? And here's a crazy follow-up question, seeing as how it's TOPPS CHEWING GUM CO., but have any of the 1982 packs been gum-free, missing the stick so clearly advertised on the wrapper?
All four of the packs that I opened contained a broken piece of gum on the top and a sticker behind the seventh card in the pack. The front of the pack only mentions the stick of gum, but does not call out the sticker inserted inside.
Just curious, but have all the 1982 packs that you've opened contained a sticker? And here's a crazy follow-up question, seeing as how it's TOPPS CHEWING GUM CO., but have any of the 1982 packs been gum-free, missing the stick so clearly advertised on the wrapper?
All four of the packs that I opened contained a broken piece of gum on the top and a sticker behind the seventh card in the pack. The front of the pack only mentions the stick of gum, but does not call out the sticker inserted inside.
I had a thread last summer about 4 loose packs of 1982 Topps that I'd purchased on a lark. When I opened them, they were gum-free, with no powder on the wrapper or cards, nor the unforgettable scent. I was surprised to also find a sticker in the middle of the pack. I opened a LOT of 1982 cards back in the day, and don't ever remember getting stickers. I even collected the 1982 stickers from their own 5-sticker packs, and had an album I was trying to complete, so you can be sure if 1982 baseball cards also had stickers in them in my area, I'd have surly remembered and had multiple albums full. Anyway, no one seemed to have much of an explanation in my thread other than just a factory omission of the gum, or some suggested I had fake or resealed packs. Seeing you post about the stickers brought that incident back for me.
The 1983 Topps are the first cards I can remember "collecting," although I wouldn't say I collected them. More like, "gathering" as many Phillies cards as I could (I grew up in Philadelphia) and putting them on my dresser's mirror, wedging them in between the mirror and the wood frame around it. I still have those cards, and they're more valuable to me than ANY card in existence. I wouldn't trade them for anything. No exaggeration. The value I place on those cards is something beyond value.
Comments
Interesting from 1981-90 Topps had the same pack design each year but rotated green/red/blue colors.
D's: 54S,53P,50P,49S,45D+S,44S,43D,41S,40D+S,39D+S,38D+S,37D+S,36S,35D+S,all 16-34's
Q's: 52S,47S,46S,40S,39S,38S,37D+S,36D+S,35D,34D,32D+S
74T: 37,38,47,151,193,241,435,570,610,654,655 97 Finest silver: 115,135,139,145,310
73T:31,55,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,80,152,165,189,213,235,237,257,341,344,377,379,390,422,433,453,480,497,545,554,563,580,606,613,630
95 Ultra GM Sets: Golden Prospects,HR Kings,On-Base Leaders,Power Plus,RBI Kings,Rising Stars
Time to get back to hunting for those pesky 1987 Donruss gems...
That actually might have been one of the best 1987 Donruss boxes I have opened. It will be henceforth known as the Barry box...
I am sure some of you are wondering if they come in the same pack. Ironically, they do not. Always nice when you can pull three of each of those rookies in the same box. None of them were candidates for PSA 10, but good looking cards nonetheless. I was able to find these six contenders though…
That is by far the most contenders I have found in a single box. Typically I would be happy if I found two or three, so this was a bonus. I hope everybody’s enjoying the March Madness.
No decent Rose card, Chris?
Have to say - don't remember Chris James?
Those 1987s sure do look sharp when the condition is dialed in like that. When will you be making PSA submissions?
I am waiting until I have enough to qualify for the discounted bulk rate. I was also debating if I should wait until I have built the entire set so I can submit them to have consecutive cert numbers. What do you think? Does that make the set any cooler?
Next up...
It never gets old finding perfect examples of your childhood memories… Here are the contenders.
Hey, Chris, I'm new to the boards, but I'm not new to this thread, for I've been reading it since you first posted it. Wonderful stuff, man. 1987 was the heyday of my collecting so these '87 sets are all too familiar to me. When I look at these cards, I don't think $$$. I think like an 11-year-old who, at one time, held the greatest players of the day in his little hands. These guys were gods to me. The sheer possession of the McGwire card or the Bo Jackson card or the Will Clark card transcended monetary value.
I'll be following your quest daily. Good luck!
Andy
Andy
Nice to meet you Andy. I couldn’t agree more about the money being irrelevant compared to the memories of your childhood hero’s. I geeked out last night when I saw your 1985 Fleer rack box. Such a great year and card design. It made me want to bust some 1985 Fleer’s here before much longer. Thanks for the kind words!
There is still something cool about finding a star on the top of a cello pack. With odds at 1/792, it always gives me a touch of excitement when one is revealed...
Here were the last of the contenders in the second cello box...
Love that Chris James Rated Rookie. The thing I remember about '87 Donruss, and the thing that still hits me when I open them today, is that the Rated Rookies had their own unique name section background color. So as I thumbed through the pack the first thing to hit me out of the corner of my eye would be that bright red/orange and it was like a muleta to a bull. Who was it? McGwire? Bo? Maddux? Swindell? Surhoff? Santiago? Palmeiro? Just getting any Rated Rookie was fun back in the day.
Arthur
Love that memory Arthur! That, my friend, is what this hobby is all about.
I’m still making my way through 2 more boxes each of the 1987 Fleer and Donruss and will post results as I go. However, I cannot stop looking at these...how cool is this pic for anyone who was collecting in the 1980’s?!? These are going to be fun...
The first box of 1987 Fleer was a tale of two cities. On a positive, there were lots of the core four rookies in the box. The negative was that the entire box was off-center 90/10 top to bottom.
I thought folks might like to see the stars and prospects I’ve been setting aside. The piles of each of these are starting to grow…
The great thing about '87 Fleer is there's a collation run in the wax packs where the top card will be Will Clark and about 5 cards in will be Barry Bonds. I still remember getting it about 3 times back in '89 when Clark and Mark Grace were slugging it out in the NLCS. According to the CCP, the Clark was like a $15 card (and got a free penny sleeve and top loader from the owner of the LCS!) while the Bonds was just $1.50. Good times.
I love that '87 Fleer picture. The Mitchell, Bonilla, Sierra and Seitzer still tickle the cockels of my heart.
Arthur
The condition on the second box was significantly better. Plenty of centered, crisp, minty cards…
And this was a great RC showing for only 2 boxes...
Yeah, sequential numbers would be cool, but you'd have to be positive they all hit 10s prior to submitting!
Anyone else I an early 1980’s mood tonight? Here’s what’s on the rip docket for this evening...
Lovin' it!
Andy
The 1985’s continue to be off-center, consistent through the first half of the box. No major rookie cards this round, but here were a handful of stars…
As a kid, I absolutely salivated over unopened packs of 1984. The chance to pull a Don Mattingly or Darryl Strawberry rookie card would have been the highlight of my collection, and made me the envy of my collecting friends. I can recall seeing the Strawberry rookie in the display case of my LCS with an $8 price tag on it. I saved my allowance for a few weeks to land that bad boy. There wasn’t anything that could get me to part with that card as a kid. So here goes on some 1984 packs. Pack #1 from the fresh box…
There was an appearance of a nice second-year Tony Gwynn and a Cal Ripken all star card. The cards look crisp, but the centering on these cards always present a challenge. This was one of my top three favorite set designs from Topps during the 1980s.
Pack #2...
Nothing to speak of unless you get excited about a Nolan Ryan league leader
Pack #3...
And our first contender makes an appearance...
Pack #4...lots of HOFers...
Now for my favorite set design from Topps during the 1980s…1983. As Mr. Peanut will attest, this set is visually stunning. Amazing in-action photos complemented by a headshot right on the front of the card. Topps absolutely nailed it with this design. Not to mention an amazing rookie class that contained Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg. I am really looking forward to opening up some of these packs. So here are the contents of pack #1 from a fresh box...
The cards are coming out super sharp, but I can already tell centering is going to be a challenge.
1982 design is one of my favorites. Too bad it lacks important cards.
Pack #2...
Not that it matters nearly a week later, but this is what daltax was referring to. Very rare, apparently, but 1985 Topps Traded was indeed sold in wax packs.
This thread is awesome! Brings back alot of memories. Keep rippin' JGF!
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
This has been a lot of fun Chris.
Opening real wax with gum? Gotta love it!
Here's a partial stack of 84T Ryans - I picked them up to see how many I could get - I think I stopped at around 130 or so?
I noticed the 1985 Topps traded packs have 8 cards. How many packs are in the box? Very cool thread by the way. Thanks for sharing and good luck!!!
I look forward to reading this thread every day. Watching the drama unfold really makes me appreciate the junk wax gems i have in my collection!
Thanks guys! Apologies for the delay in the rip the other night. A good friend needed my immediate help with something and the past few nights have been hectic. I will get back to finishing the 1983 and 1982 packs tonight. I will also pull some additional new items into the mix.
Thanks to all those who keep following.
Thanks Mike! That is one of Nolan’s best looking Topps cards in my opinion. I can see why you chose it, but why stop at only 130?
I'm having '87 Donruss withdrawals.
Arthur
Alright. Let’s get back to it...pack #3, and an appearance from the Wizard...
These cards are off centered in every direction, even within the same pack. This is going to be one tough set I have a feeling.
Pack #4 and still no contenders...
Time to shift gears to 1982...
The 1982 set obviously boasts the rookie card of Cal Ripken, Jr. For me, this is the second best set design of the 1980s. My order would be 1983, 1982, 1984, 1980, 1986, 1985, 1987, 1981, 1989 and 1988 in dead last place. Let’s see what we find in pack #1...
Always nice to find an iconic Rickey Henderson in the first pack. Rickey likes. Nothing gradable, but I had forgotten they placed stickers in these packs...
Pack #2...
Pack #3...
Pack #4. Rusty Kuntz...haha...that never gets old.
Hmmm...where should we go next? After seeing Andy’s 1985 rack box, I am feeling in a Fleer mood. Anyone with me?
But I also feel like hunting for Canseco, so let’s start with these packs...
@jordangretzkyfan said:
Just curious, but have all the 1982 packs that you've opened contained a sticker? And here's a crazy follow-up question, seeing as how it's TOPPS CHEWING GUM CO., but have any of the 1982 packs been gum-free, missing the stick so clearly advertised on the wrapper?
1985 Fleer contains the iconic rookies of Roger Clemens, Kirby Puckett, Dwight Gooden, Eric Davis and Orel Hershiser. It has a simple, yet elegant design that holds the test of time for me. Here were the highlights of the eight packs...
The stars...
The rookies...
Man I loved this card as a kid!!!
Even the stickers were cool from this year...
It must be a 1985 thing, but centering so far on both the Topps and Fleer cards are way off. There were no gradable cards out of the 8 packs.
All four of the packs that I opened contained a broken piece of gum on the top and a sticker behind the seventh card in the pack. The front of the pack only mentions the stick of gum, but does not call out the sticker inserted inside.
I had a thread last summer about 4 loose packs of 1982 Topps that I'd purchased on a lark. When I opened them, they were gum-free, with no powder on the wrapper or cards, nor the unforgettable scent. I was surprised to also find a sticker in the middle of the pack. I opened a LOT of 1982 cards back in the day, and don't ever remember getting stickers. I even collected the 1982 stickers from their own 5-sticker packs, and had an album I was trying to complete, so you can be sure if 1982 baseball cards also had stickers in them in my area, I'd have surly remembered and had multiple albums full. Anyway, no one seemed to have much of an explanation in my thread other than just a factory omission of the gum, or some suggested I had fake or resealed packs. Seeing you post about the stickers brought that incident back for me.
Keep pushing onward!! Great thread.
Thanks,
David (LD_Ferg)
1985 Topps Football (starting in psa 8) - #9 - started 05/21/06
1985 Fleer was a little underrated.
BAM! Love that card, too. Nice hit, Chris.
The 1983 Topps are the first cards I can remember "collecting," although I wouldn't say I collected them. More like, "gathering" as many Phillies cards as I could (I grew up in Philadelphia) and putting them on my dresser's mirror, wedging them in between the mirror and the wood frame around it. I still have those cards, and they're more valuable to me than ANY card in existence. I wouldn't trade them for anything. No exaggeration. The value I place on those cards is something beyond value.
Andy