30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

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Wednesday, October 3, 2012

I Love the 80's #11: Topps Mini Leaders

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon these five wax boxes on Craigslist:

Do you recognize them?  If not, they're those over produced, not so pretty, hard to store, close to worthless oddball sets that Topps issued from 1986 to 1990.

 But you know me, I can't pass up cheap junk wax.  The guy was asking $15 for the lot.  I countered with $10 and he accepted.  Not bad, right?  180 packs for $10.

 It ended up providing me two solid hours of entertainment as I busted packs and built sets, while flipping back and forth between Monday Night Football and the A's/Rangers game.

 Here's a look at the five sets I built:


In addition to those, I pulled a ton of extras and even had a bunch of leftover wax packs that I'll either giveaway, post on Listia, or both.

 These cards might not be your cup of tea.  But I wanted to kill two birds with one stone and show off the Tony Gwynn cards from each of these sets, while giving you a sample of what these cards look like:
1986 Topps Mini Leaders #65 Tony Gwynn


1987 Topps Mini Leaders #35 Tony Gwynn


1988 Topps Mini Leaders #74 Tony Gwynn


1989 Topps Mini Leaders #39 Tony Gwynn


1990 Topps Mini Leaders #80 Tony Gwynn


FYI:  They're called Mini Leaders, because they're smaller (2 1/8"x 2 15/16") compared to the standard (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") card size.  Here's a look at the two 1990 Topps Gwynns:


Okay... it's your turn.

What do you think about these Topps Mini Leaders?  Love 'em?  Hate 'em?

 I'll be honest, I wasn't a big fan of these back in the 80's.  But I had a blast busting these packs and building these sets.  And honestly... for the price, I'd do it all over again if the opportunity arises again.

 Happy Hump Day! 
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14 comments:

  1. buckstorecardsOctober 3, 2012 at 3:23 PM

    I don't remember even seeing the baseball ones, but I did collect some of the O-Pee-Chee hockey ones back in the day. I think the packs were about a quarter back then, and the corner store seemed to have boxes of them, so grabbing a dollars worth along with my chips seemed interesting.

    One of the cards in the set is still rather infamous, though - the Glen Hanlon.

    http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2010/12/07/worst-hockey-cards-glen-hanlon-makes-adjustments/

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    1. FujiOctober 3, 2012 at 10:22 PM

      Thanks for sharing... great photo of Hanlon. Actually... I didn't realize there was a hockey version. I'll have to see if I can hunt down any cheap boxes of this stuff.

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  2. John BatemanOctober 3, 2012 at 3:33 PM

    I only collected the 1986 minis. I vaguely remember the other years. I don't ever recall seeing the 1990 minis. I no things were over produced back them but I wonder if the 1990 minis could be classified as somewhat rare.

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    1. FujiOctober 3, 2012 at 10:23 PM

      I'm with you... never saw the 1990 set before. I think I only collected the 1986 and 1987 sets... maybe the 1988.

      Delete
  3. cardjimOctober 3, 2012 at 5:37 PM

    I think you did swell. 18 cents a pack is way cheap entertainment. You're hoot fuji

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    1. FujiOctober 3, 2012 at 10:23 PM

      Thanks... there's not many $2 boxes I won't bust.

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  4. night owlOctober 3, 2012 at 7:11 PM

    They're pretty far down on my mini scale ('75 minis and A&G tobacco sized minis at the very top, micro minis at the very bottom). But, like you say, they're good for a fun evening.

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    1. FujiOctober 3, 2012 at 10:25 PM

      I agree 100%. The 1975 minis might be the greatest miniature set ever made. I like those even more than tobacco cards.

      Delete
  5. DonOctober 3, 2012 at 8:30 PM

    I liked the 86 set. I don't remeber ever seeing any of the 88 to 90 sets

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    1. FujiOctober 3, 2012 at 10:26 PM

      Lol... join the club. I know for sure, this was the first time I've seen the 1989 and 1990 sets.

      Delete
  6. HackenbushOctober 3, 2012 at 8:40 PM

    I have an unopened box of the 87's. This sounds strange but think I like the look and feels of the shiny little packs more than I'd like the individual cards, so they've stayed unopened.

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    1. FujiOctober 3, 2012 at 10:27 PM

      While busting those cellophane wrappers, I wondered why companies didn't utilize them more. Actually, the wrappers I loved the most were those foil wrappers that Upper Deck used in their early years.

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  7. gcrlOctober 4, 2012 at 5:09 AM

    I could actually use dodger dupes from these sets if you're up for a trade.

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    1. FujiOctober 5, 2012 at 8:25 PM

      No problem... I'll go through the stacks sometime this weekend and let you know what I have.

      Delete