My cardboard collecting roots are firmly embedded in the 80's and that's where they will always be. Cardboard from that decade is a constant reminder of my childhood and some of the best years of my life. So when I need a little pick me up, that's where I turn my cardboard collecting focus.
Last week, I bid on a wax box of 1983 Donruss Hall of Fame Heroes:
I've been looking to buy a box of this stuff since last May when Markz shipped me a Jackie Robinson from the set. The card took me back 28 years, when I used to buy this stuff at the local pharmacy. Well, I finally pulled the trigger and bought a box.
Back in 1983, these packs sold for 30¢. The box cost me $18.45 ($10.50 + $7.95 shipping) and included 38 packs, so each pack cost me just under 50¢. Who says 80's "junk wax" doesn't hold its value?
It took me roughly 45 minutes to rip these open, sort them, while I took a trip down memory lane.
And when I was done, I had a total of 5 complete sets, 1 complete Mickey Mantle puzzle set, and a handful of singles.
Donruss only included 44 cards in the set, 42 of them being portraits of hall of famers drawn by Dick Perez, who's famous for his Diamond Kings cards. Card #43 is a drawing of the completed Mantle puzzle.
And the final card is a double sided checklist. As you can see, some of the greatest to play the game are included in the set: Ty Cobb, Ted Williams, Jimmie Foxx, Cy Young, Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson, Stan Musial, and Hank Aaron all headline this set.
IMHO, the set is a must have for baseball card collectors... especially since you can pick these up for under $10 on a regular basis. And ironically, that's exactly what they book for on Beckett ($4 to $10). But if you're not willing to dish out the funds, don't worry... I'll be giving one of these sets away in my annual contest this summer.
Okay, today's question is...
What is your favorite 80's oddball set?
If you didn't collect during the 80's, then what's your favorite oddball set from any decade?
Sorry Donruss, you definitely had some cool oddballs, like the Pop-Ups, Action All-Stars, and the Super DK's. But, if I had to pick one, I'd have to go with the Kellogg's 3D (Lenticular) baseball card sets from the early 80's. Over the years, I've purchased a couple of these sets off of eBay.
But I'll always remember my buddy showing me his complete 1982 set back in the day. If I'm not mistaken, it was part of some mail in promotion and all of us were insanely jealous of those cards.
Happy Friday everyone... have a great weekend & sayonara!
Extra Edition!
Is anyone else building the Mickey Mantle puzzle? If so, I'm looking to trade for these 2 cards: #3 (puzzle pieces 7, 8, & 9) & #19 (puzzle pieces 55, 56, & 57).
I have a stack of extras and would love to work out a deal.
yeah, Kellogs 3D for me too. Also, Esso gas stations used to give away albums and stickers of hockey players. Those were pretty cool too.
ReplyDeleteI've actually been thinking about bidding on a complete set & album of the 1988-89 Esso set. One of these days, I'll add it to my collection.
DeleteThe 1985 Topps football set for the black front back and the name on right side... Really cool.
ReplyDeleteAs stickers, Panini football 1990-91. But my favortie set is the 2002 Heads Up Pacific football, for the figures (bobbleheads).
I'm a huge fan of the black bordered 85 Topps football set. One of the coolest cards is the Montana/Marino passing leaders card. Nice call on the Pacific Heads Up products... always loved me some bobblehead action.
DeleteI really liked the small 32 and 44 card boxed sets from the 80s. I think the only two I ever actually bought myself were the 1987 KMart set and the 1988 Hills set. Collecting Winfield back then, I always loved trading someone for the Winnie in their Fleer Limited Edition or KayBee Superstars sets. I briefly had a Doc Gooden collection, so accumulated a lot of his cards from those sets and even traded for someone's Roger Clemens collection at one point (no idea what I traded away to get it), and ended up with some 20 or so of those types of cards.
ReplyDeleteLots of kids I went to school with tended to ignore anything that wasn't just plain old Topps, Donruss or Fleer, but I always picked up all kinds of stuff. I miss those little sets. $2-3 got you a great little box of superstars.
Huge fan of the 44 card sets from the 80's. I have 8 to 10 of the Fleer sets and a couple of the Topps that I picked up off of Craigslist. Here's one of my write-ups:
Deletehttp://sanjosefuji.blogspot.com/2011/05/im-addicted-to-craigslist.html
I always loved the Denny's Grand Slam hologram cards. In basketball it was definitely the Upper Deck McDonald's Basketball set. I wanted the Shaq rookie sooooo bad. Also, the Post Cereal Baseball cards were always cool as well.
ReplyDeleteLove the Denny's Grand Slam hologram cards... Did a set spotlight on the 1993 set:
Deletehttp://sanjosefuji.blogspot.com/2010/11/set-showcase-5-1993-ud-dennys-grand.html
Nice call on the Post Cereal cards too. Food issues rule!