All of these colorful boxes look good on the shelf, but what to do with them? Open them and play with the cards? Leave as-is only to be touched when I reorganize my storage closet? The argument has always been to buy and let it be, because 10 years later you never know who is going to to be the superstar and you've probably got a high grade rookie sitting in the box.
The Originals. See a pattern here? These are the original 5 retail sets from 1986 - 1990. Sometimes called the "holiday" sets because they were released during the holidays. Each box displays cards in the set and has a blue or yellow slash on the left noting the year. I have heard rumors Topps also issued a retail set in 1985, but I haven't seen one in the wild. A quick search online showed me that set was issued in a plain white box so I'm excluding 1985 in this series. I'm also not including sets sold in prior years by JCP.
A colorful bright yellow box with the blue slash telling everyone its a complete set from 1986. It actually took me awhile to find a sealed set. After 30 plus years, the cellophane wrapping on my set is starting to degrade and tear - the horror!
Who's on the box:
Top: Dwight Gooden, Pete Rose
Front: Ozzie Guillen, George Brett
Back: Pedro Guerrero, Don Mattingly
With the exception of Rose, these players were all in their prime, but Rose had just come off his record breaking season.
1987
A green box with blue slash. The green really doesn't help highlight the wood grain borders. This was the first retail Topps set I ever purchased.
Who's on the box:
Top: Don Mattingly, Len Dykstra
Front: Roger Clemens, Nolan Ryan
Back: Johnny Grubb, Sammy Khalifa
The first four players I can understand. Before doing jail time, even Dykstra was a hot rookie at some point but the last two players? I'm not sure those are the best players to select to promote buying a set.
A red box with yellow slash. Reminds me of McDonalds and makes me hungry.
Who's on the box:
Top: Gary Carter, Brett Saberhagen
Front: Willie Randolph, Alan Trammell
Back: Will Clark, Kirby Puckett
Overall not bad players, however despite winning the World Series, Topps still put Puckett on the back.
1989
Bright blue box and yellow slash couldn't save this set. The box is attractive though.
Who's on the box:
Top: Jose Canseco, Orel Hershiser
Front: Daryl Strawberry, Chris Sabo
Back: Ozzie Smith, Dan Gladden
Canseco is an obvious choice for Topps to promote their product. Was any card hotter back then? Chris Sabo (despite the rookie cup) and Dan Gladden are dubious choices, but hey no Yankees!
Switching to a nice green/white gradient with the yellow slash was a good choice as the cards also had a color gradient border.
Who's on the box:
Top: Ken Griffey Jr., Kirby Puckett
Front: Mike Heath, Ryne Sandberg
Back: Greg Jefferies, Pat Borders
Arguably the best combo to promote a set is Griffey and Puckett however Topps mixed in Mike Heath and Pat Borders? That just doesn't seem right.
Conclusion
The initial run of Topps sets is consistent in that each set has exactly 792 cards and the design of the boxes is nearly identical. It's really too bad these were released during the junk wax era. I mean I spent an awful lot of paper route money on packs and then bought the retail sets too! Which is really a shame because there weren't any chase cards. At least the Twins were represented 3 years in a row.
Of course back then many people thought these cards would pay for college (which I'm still waiting for that payoff). I'll admit I never really fell for that one, but the hope was always there. Of these 5 sets my favorite is the '87 set, but I'd never place it my all time top 10. So for now I'll just enjoy knowing I have these complete sets.
Next up I'll explore the "carrot" era.
I almost completed '87 just through packs. I'd vote '86 as the best design.
ReplyDeleteI bought factory sets from 87 through 16 when I came back to the hobby 5 years ago. I opened all of them (set them free!). Here's the beautiful thing about 94-03, the title of your post says it all. Those sets are notoriously bricked to some degree. That "great" UV coating on all those cards packed tightly together for decades did wonders. For value, 1986 does retain some as the factory set was more limitly produced.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I see a pile of these sets together, I always think back to the days when folks had entire closets full of them just waiting for the time to come when they could cash in, and retire early.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I see a pile of these sets together, I always think back to the days when folks had entire closets full of them just waiting for the time to come when they could cash in, and retire early.
ReplyDeleteA. Very jealous of this collection of factory sets.
ReplyDeleteB. Super cool that you're writing these posts. This will be an excellent resource for collectors.
C. Where the heck is Rickey and Gwynn? :D