Do you consider the 1989 Police Oscar Meyer Barry Sanders RC to be a "true" rookie card?
ndleo
Posts: 4,236 ✭✭✭✭✭
What does the board think of this card? Is it a serious rookie card or more of a novelty? Does anyone remember how it was distributed? I've seen other singles from the set. I was in Detroit at the time but was too busy trying to find 1989 Score FB boxes at the local drug stores.
Mike
0
Comments
Generally, these are called "Alt RCs" slang for alternate Rookie cards. They are not produced by the big manufacturers, so less demand from those trying to complete big-name manufacturer sets, but still there is demand from player collectors. But some Alt RCs are sometimes a great way to get an RC of a player into your collection without the price tag of the big-name manufacturer. Some are a bit overproduced while others are scarce. usually goes in step with the size of the city they were produced for. The card you are referring to was issued by local police to youth in Detroit. Police sets were popular in the 80's. Some were a bit overproduced like your 1989 Oscar Mayer Sanders and the 1984 Dolphins Police Dan Marino to some really scarce Canada junior league hockey police sets like the 1980 Sault Ste Marie (SOO) Greyhounds, 1983 Brantford Alexanders and a few other smaller Canadian city police sets that have HOF'ers and stars. There is no one size fits all answer on these. Collect what you like. Check out Slurpee coins and cards put out by 7-Eleven in the 80's as there are lots of Alt RCs of HOF'ers there in all the major sports including Mario Lemeiux and Kirby Pucket In general, almost all post-war HOFers have some sort of alt-RC or pre-RC. Some are very rare and a few on this board have some mind-blowing finds of some really tough cards, at least in my eyes as I like my cards like my steak - on the rarer side. Think total pops of an issue under 5, 10, 25 or 50 for an Alt RC or Pre-RC of a HOF'er!
I really like the card! It's certainly a "true" rookie card and a lot less PSA 10's at 1/10th the price.
Not sure how these sets were distributed.
If I was a Sanders collector, I would be able to afford one and I would have at least 1 in my collection.
The 1989 Score is an iconic card and with 2,500 PSA10's not a scarce card and ridiculously expensive..
I go back and forth on it. I lived in a low crime area in the Detroit suburbs, so I didn't see a lot of policeman to hand out cards. So from a hobby youth point of view it has no memories for me, I wasn't even aware of the card until I left the Detroit area. The oversize is also an issue for me because I can't store with the rest of my Barry Sanders cards. So I can show someone my Barry Sanders collection plus this one-off awkward jumbo card that looks like it was clipped from a weekly shopper magazine.
I think what decides it for me is the "Mug Shot" look they used on the card. I know he didn't have a game photo to use, but I could never get over the Walmart looking jacket they put on Barry.
The football equivalent of the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr.