I had forgotten just how tough those dark navy blue borders are on the 1986 Fleer cards. Here were the stars contained within the three rack packs...
I still love the look of that Don Mattingly card as he springs out of the batters box after lacing a single the opposite way. I was happy to find these five PSA 10 candidates inside the racks…
I still get a thrill every time I find a perfect specimen of a 1980s card. They look like little works of art to me. Cherished treasures from years gone by. Thanks to all who continue to comment and go along for this ride with me. This is an incredibly fun journey and gives me a fun break from a typical day to day.
just jumping in on this thread. I cut my collecting teeth on these cards and love them. I can remember paying $2.50 a pack for 87 donruss in the early 90's. I was also sure Sierra was the next Mays. Got a chance to meet him last summer and it was a great experience, and he does have a nice autograph. I also remember the 87 fleer Will Clark. I wanted that one so bad. The older brother of my best friend had one and wouldnt trade it to me for any combination of cards. It was worth $35 at the time. I still remember that kids name, Brian. Havent seen him for 25 years and still cant stand him...
@jordangretzkyfan said:
I had forgotten just how tough those dark navy blue borders are on the 1986 Fleer cards. Here were the stars contained within the three rack packs...
Well, so much for Fleer's "Future Hall of Famer" prediction on one of those guys there...
@Cory1976 said:
I noticed the 1985 Topps traded packs have 8 cards. How many packs are in the box?
I don't own the box in the photos, but any info that I've found when researching these lists the box contents as 36 packs. Seeing that the packs only contain 8 cards, that would seem to be an unlikely amount of packs, as the box wouldn't be full. The materials used appear to be leftover boxes and wrappers from the regular 1985 issue, so I wonder if perhaps in addition to the 8 cards, they added "filler" like sweepstakes cards or 1986 product advertisements, etc., so they wouldn't have to recalibrate the wrapping machines for the smaller 8 card stacks. I do not have any firsthand experience with this product. Maybe @grote15 or some of the other "pack experts" that generously share their expertise will be kind enough to weigh in and provide additional information.
@Cory1976 said:
I noticed the 1985 Topps traded packs have 8 cards. How many packs are in the box?
I don't own the box in the photos, but any info that I've found when researching these lists the box contents as 36 packs. Seeing that the packs only contain 8 cards, that would seem to be an unlikely amount of packs, as the box wouldn't be full. The materials used appear to be leftover boxes and wrappers from the regular 1985 issue, so I wonder if perhaps in addition to the 8 cards, they added "filler" like sweepstakes cards or 1986 product advertisements, etc., so they wouldn't have to recalibrate the wrapping machines for the smaller 8 card stacks. I do not have any firsthand experience with this product. Maybe @grote15 or some of the other "pack experts" that generously share their expertise will be kind enough to weigh in and provide additional information.
FWIW, boxes of 1990 Topps Traded and 1991 Topps Traded are 36 packs per box, 7 cards per pack.
I do see what you mean about less cards per pack needing more packs per box to fill it, similar with what you'd have with the OPC boxes that include 48 packs compared with their 36-pack parallel Topps counterparts. However, in the case of Traded, I think it was still 36-per.
FWIW, boxes of 1990 Topps Traded and 1991 Topps Traded are 36 packs per box, 7 cards per pack.
The 90 and 91 traded wax boxes appear to be much smaller with less depth than the regular issue 90 and 91 wax boxes, whereas, the 85 traded wax issue appears to have re-appropriated leftover 85 regular issue wax boxes. So, I still believe there'd have to be more than 36 packs, or else filler in those packs in addition to the 8 cards, in order to have reused the 85 regular issue packing materials. I'm only speculating, though...
Probably my favourite thread on this board since I started lurking! I love seeing you rip these boxes!
You've inspired me to put together a run of raw 80's Donruss in binders - I'm going to start at 1981 and go up, including all known errors, variations, and also inserts and extras such as Action All Stars.
Looking forward to the next posts - I've mostly been following on mobile but the big pictures on desktop really bring out how awesome a lot of these cards are.
@sedin26 said:
Probably my favourite thread on this board since I started lurking! I love seeing you rip these boxes!
You've inspired me to put together a run of raw 80's Donruss in binders - I'm going to start at 1981 and go up, including all known errors, variations, and also inserts and extras such as Action All Stars.
Looking forward to the next posts - I've mostly been following on mobile but the big pictures on desktop really bring out how awesome a lot of these cards are.
Thank you for the kind words and I love your quest of all Donruss from the 1980’s. Errors will present a great challenge and hopefully you keep us posted along your journey. I’m planning to get back to ripping tonight. Any requests from the board members?
I'm really enjoying this also! It seems like this is going to be a never ending quest, but then again so is my Canseco pursuit so I totally get it. It is all about embracing the journey and not just the destination.
Tanner Jones, Author of Confessions of a Baseball Card Addict - Now Available on Amazon!
@mouschi said:
I'm really enjoying this also! It seems like this is going to be a never ending quest, but then again so is my Canseco pursuit so I totally get it. It is all about embracing the journey and not just the destination.
In honor of Tanner and his insane Canseco collection, let open some 1986 boxes. There was no hotter card in 1989 as Jose began his assault on the 40/40 club than the Donruss Rated Rookie found in these bad boys...
So let’s start by breaking this pile of boxes and packs...
Canseco obviously wasn’t in the base 1986 Topps, but I decided to start there anyway. Man these cards are tough to find in GEM quality. Here are all the rookies and stars I continue to set aside...
And here are the only two contenders to come out of that 500 card vending box…
This is my favorite thread along with Mr Peanut's insanely awesome 83 masterpiece. Thanks letting everyone enjoy in your adventure.
The 87 Fleer and Donruss hit home. They were $1 and $3 each per pack when I started seriously collecting in 87. And it took effort to actually locate them at the time. This forum got me back into collecting after a 20year break and I started with 87 boxes from BBCE. I could have cared less about Bonds and Maddux back then. It was all about Mac and Bo. And eventually the 87F Clark outpaced the field at $30 CCP price.
Arthur, would you say that the 80s OPC are consistently worse than their Topps counterpart in terms of centering and quality in general? I have amassed quite a bit of unopened boxes and was going to rip a couple (likely 83&84).
Thanks,
John
Conundrum - Loving my unopened baseball card collection....but really like ripping too
@jordangretzkyfan said:
Canseco obviously wasn’t in the base 1986 Topps, but I decided to start there anyway. Man these cards are tough to find in GEM quality. Here are all the rookies and stars I continue to set aside...
And here are the only two contenders to come out of that 500 card vending box…
Honestly, I'm surprised you found any contenders in a vending box of 86 Topps.
Here are the 1986 Fleer rookies and stars I have been setting aside while breaking packs...
No Canseco’s in the 5 wax racks I just broke, but here were the 3 that I pulled from a rack box I broke just before I started this thread. I still love looking at this card since it was so iconic back in the day...
Here are the three PSA 10 contenders from the 5 racks I just broke...
The 1986 Fleer cards really are stunning when centered with dripping fresh ink and razor sharp corners and edges.
Wow! I had completely forgoten how beautiful the 1986 Donruss set is. I opened very little of this product over the years since the prices got crazy as soon as Jose Canseco took off in 1989. Every single pack was so much fun to open and check out the vibrancy of the cards. There was no Canseco found in this box, but here is a picture of all the stars and rookies that I pulled.
How cool was this quad back in the mid 80’s?
And here are the eight contenders that were found within this wax box…
John, without a doubt, OPC quality control is much worse than Topps in any era. Take a look at the pop reports for the sets you're thinking about opening boxes of. Canadians straight up hated baseball cards.
That giant pic of '86 Donruss is so nice. I just got a McGriff and "No Accent Mark" Galarraga (very tough) back from PSA in 10 for both. There's something about that color blue they used. There was just enough of it floating around our neighborhood to make us all want it but not enough to satiate our demand.
@ahopkins said:
Good stuff, Chris. Love that '85 Fleer Rickey. Was there a bad Rickey card in the '80s? Seems like they're all perfect shots of the true him.
Fully agree. He is just a flat out ball player and a monster on the bases. Rickey is a beast!
@jordangretzkyfan said:
I could stare at the bright colors of Topps 1980’s packs all day...these are just so purdy!
1984 Topps is my favorite set, even though I probably prefer the cards from 1983 and 1985. It probably started at a young age, 1986 I believe, when i remember acquiring a 1984 Topps wax box. I kept it unopened because I thought it was a super rare find at the time. So I guess my penchant for unopened started with that box. Anyway, in the last 3 years, I've busted about 7 or 8 1984 Topps rack boxes, searching for cards that are "10 to the eye" for a full set. I don't have the money to submit 792 cards for 10s. The idea of having them raw and chosen by my eye is what appeals to me. I'm about 3/4 the way there.
Honestly I do think the 80s Topps packs look kewl...even if they did look pretty much the same except color (like the back of Donruss from 1984-91, though there was different fonts each year too). I mean there's just something kinda appealing about the green/red/blue...which happen to be the colors used to make color TV!
@jordangretzkyfan said:
Wow! I had completely forgoten how beautiful the 1986 Donruss set is. I opened very little of this product over the years since the prices got crazy as soon as Jose Canseco took off in 1989. Every single pack was so much fun to open and check out the vibrancy of the cards. There was no Canseco found in this box, but here is a picture of all the stars and rookies that I pulled.
Yup. 1986 Donruss is one of my favorite sets. Unfortunately 80% of the photos are boring head shots. The ones that are action photos like the Gooden are stunning.
Comments
I had forgotten just how tough those dark navy blue borders are on the 1986 Fleer cards. Here were the stars contained within the three rack packs...
I still love the look of that Don Mattingly card as he springs out of the batters box after lacing a single the opposite way. I was happy to find these five PSA 10 candidates inside the racks…
I still get a thrill every time I find a perfect specimen of a 1980s card. They look like little works of art to me. Cherished treasures from years gone by. Thanks to all who continue to comment and go along for this ride with me. This is an incredibly fun journey and gives me a fun break from a typical day to day.
just jumping in on this thread. I cut my collecting teeth on these cards and love them. I can remember paying $2.50 a pack for 87 donruss in the early 90's. I was also sure Sierra was the next Mays. Got a chance to meet him last summer and it was a great experience, and he does have a nice autograph. I also remember the 87 fleer Will Clark. I wanted that one so bad. The older brother of my best friend had one and wouldnt trade it to me for any combination of cards. It was worth $35 at the time. I still remember that kids name, Brian. Havent seen him for 25 years and still cant stand him...
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Well, so much for Fleer's "Future Hall of Famer" prediction on one of those guys there...
I don't own the box in the photos, but any info that I've found when researching these lists the box contents as 36 packs. Seeing that the packs only contain 8 cards, that would seem to be an unlikely amount of packs, as the box wouldn't be full. The materials used appear to be leftover boxes and wrappers from the regular 1985 issue, so I wonder if perhaps in addition to the 8 cards, they added "filler" like sweepstakes cards or 1986 product advertisements, etc., so they wouldn't have to recalibrate the wrapping machines for the smaller 8 card stacks. I do not have any firsthand experience with this product. Maybe @grote15 or some of the other "pack experts" that generously share their expertise will be kind enough to weigh in and provide additional information.
FWIW, boxes of 1990 Topps Traded and 1991 Topps Traded are 36 packs per box, 7 cards per pack.
I do see what you mean about less cards per pack needing more packs per box to fill it, similar with what you'd have with the OPC boxes that include 48 packs compared with their 36-pack parallel Topps counterparts. However, in the case of Traded, I think it was still 36-per.
The 90 and 91 traded wax boxes appear to be much smaller with less depth than the regular issue 90 and 91 wax boxes, whereas, the 85 traded wax issue appears to have re-appropriated leftover 85 regular issue wax boxes. So, I still believe there'd have to be more than 36 packs, or else filler in those packs in addition to the 8 cards, in order to have reused the 85 regular issue packing materials. I'm only speculating, though...
Why do you say? There is still plenty of time left for the future.
Who else was in the set?
Carlton, Carew, and Ryan were the other 3 in the 6 card insert set.
Probably my favourite thread on this board since I started lurking! I love seeing you rip these boxes!
You've inspired me to put together a run of raw 80's Donruss in binders - I'm going to start at 1981 and go up, including all known errors, variations, and also inserts and extras such as Action All Stars.
Looking forward to the next posts - I've mostly been following on mobile but the big pictures on desktop really bring out how awesome a lot of these cards are.
Thank you for the kind words and I love your quest of all Donruss from the 1980’s. Errors will present a great challenge and hopefully you keep us posted along your journey. I’m planning to get back to ripping tonight. Any requests from the board members?
You could say 1986 Fleer had the first insert sets.
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
Thanx again Chris.
Just want to say...
"You don't need deep pockets to have fun with collecting."
"Ya just 'need' to be a little nuts."
You could, but you'd be ignoring all the insert sets from the '60's and '70's.
I'm really enjoying this also! It seems like this is going to be a never ending quest, but then again so is my Canseco pursuit so I totally get it. It is all about embracing the journey and not just the destination.
In honor of Tanner and his insane Canseco collection, let open some 1986 boxes. There was no hotter card in 1989 as Jose began his assault on the 40/40 club than the Donruss Rated Rookie found in these bad boys...
So let’s start by breaking this pile of boxes and packs...
Canseco obviously wasn’t in the base 1986 Topps, but I decided to start there anyway. Man these cards are tough to find in GEM quality. Here are all the rookies and stars I continue to set aside...
And here are the only two contenders to come out of that 500 card vending box…
Excellent thread...a nice walk down memory lane. Keep it going...l like you're having a blast, which is priceless.
+1 for a Rob Deer sighting!
I just opened a few boxes of '86 O-Pee-Chee. All those cards in that picture look gem mint to me.
Arthur
This is my favorite thread along with Mr Peanut's insanely awesome 83 masterpiece. Thanks letting everyone enjoy in your adventure.
The 87 Fleer and Donruss hit home. They were $1 and $3 each per pack when I started seriously collecting in 87. And it took effort to actually locate them at the time. This forum got me back into collecting after a 20year break and I started with 87 boxes from BBCE. I could have cared less about Bonds and Maddux back then. It was all about Mac and Bo. And eventually the 87F Clark outpaced the field at $30 CCP price.
Arthur, would you say that the 80s OPC are consistently worse than their Topps counterpart in terms of centering and quality in general? I have amassed quite a bit of unopened boxes and was going to rip a couple (likely 83&84).
Thanks,
John
Honestly, I'm surprised you found any contenders in a vending box of 86 Topps.
Here are the 1986 Fleer rookies and stars I have been setting aside while breaking packs...
No Canseco’s in the 5 wax racks I just broke, but here were the 3 that I pulled from a rack box I broke just before I started this thread. I still love looking at this card since it was so iconic back in the day...
Here are the three PSA 10 contenders from the 5 racks I just broke...
The 1986 Fleer cards really are stunning when centered with dripping fresh ink and razor sharp corners and edges.
Wow! I had completely forgoten how beautiful the 1986 Donruss set is. I opened very little of this product over the years since the prices got crazy as soon as Jose Canseco took off in 1989. Every single pack was so much fun to open and check out the vibrancy of the cards. There was no Canseco found in this box, but here is a picture of all the stars and rookies that I pulled.
How cool was this quad back in the mid 80’s?
And here are the eight contenders that were found within this wax box…
John, without a doubt, OPC quality control is much worse than Topps in any era. Take a look at the pop reports for the sets you're thinking about opening boxes of. Canadians straight up hated baseball cards.
That giant pic of '86 Donruss is so nice. I just got a McGriff and "No Accent Mark" Galarraga (very tough) back from PSA in 10 for both. There's something about that color blue they used. There was just enough of it floating around our neighborhood to make us all want it but not enough to satiate our demand.
Arthur
Wow - ya gotta love 86T!
I was a big fan of the design and it's loaded with stars.
The set has a great action shot of Rose.
Thanx for taking the time to share Chris.
Next up...
So far, this is a rough 1985 Fleer box...centering is a mess. Here are the stars and rookies...
I could stare at the bright colors of Topps 1980’s packs all day...these are just so purdy!
Good stuff, Chris. Love that '85 Fleer Rickey. Was there a bad Rickey card in the '80s? Seems like they're all perfect shots of the true him.
Andy
Pack #5 from the full box...
And another contender appears...
Pack #6...
These cards really pop when they are clean...
Pack #7...
Pack #8...
This one was close, but the registration is off and the lower left corner has the slightest touch...
Nothing better than feeling like a kid again while sitting with my daughter opening packs. Anyone else sensing one of the big three?
1983 Topps pack #5 from the full box...
And our first contender from the box...
Pack #6...not one of the big three, but the fourth best RC...Mr. Viola.
Pack #7...
And another contender...
Pack #8...I feel like Babe Ruth calling the shot...
Fortunately there were two contenders in this pack...
Unfortunately this wasn’t one of them. But always amazing pulling a pack fresh Boggs RC. If only the top to bottom centering was there...
And to close out...4 packs of 1982 Topps...
Pack #5 from the box...
I can only hope all the Future Stars in the box look like this one...
Pack #6...
Pack #7...
And pack #8 closes out with a flurry of HOFers...
Fully agree. He is just a flat out ball player and a monster on the bases. Rickey is a beast!
If this were a TV show, I'd take off work and binge watch whole seasons.
Andy
1984 Topps is my favorite set, even though I probably prefer the cards from 1983 and 1985. It probably started at a young age, 1986 I believe, when i remember acquiring a 1984 Topps wax box. I kept it unopened because I thought it was a super rare find at the time. So I guess my penchant for unopened started with that box. Anyway, in the last 3 years, I've busted about 7 or 8 1984 Topps rack boxes, searching for cards that are "10 to the eye" for a full set. I don't have the money to submit 792 cards for 10s. The idea of having them raw and chosen by my eye is what appeals to me. I'm about 3/4 the way there.
Andy
Honestly I do think the 80s Topps packs look kewl...even if they did look pretty much the same except color (like the back of Donruss from 1984-91, though there was different fonts each year too). I mean there's just something kinda appealing about the green/red/blue...which happen to be the colors used to make color TV!
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
I never knew '83 was Viola's rookie card. This thread is awesome AND informative. Thanks, Chris!
Arthur
Yup. 1986 Donruss is one of my favorite sets. Unfortunately 80% of the photos are boring head shots. The ones that are action photos like the Gooden are stunning.