#1: Fleer Box Sets
If you collected back in the 80's, then you're probably familiar with the Fleer 44-card box sets. Last Sunday, Jongudmund wrote about his 1986 Fleer Limited Edition Tony Gwynn and reminded me that I'd love to collect every one of these box set Gwynns that Fleer produced during that era. I currently have fourteen different ones ranging from 1985 to 1990. Here's nine of them:
There was a time when I had over fifty of these signatures sitting in my collection. These were the only three I could find this afternoon.
1985 Fleer Limited Edition #11
1986 Fleer Baseball's Best #15
1986 Fleer Limited Edition #22
1986 Fleer Baseball's Best #15
1986 Fleer Limited Edition #22
1987 Fleer Baseball All-Stars #20
1987 Fleer Award Winner #19
1988 Fleer Record Setters #17
1988 Fleer Kay Bee Toys Team Leaders #11
1989 Fleer Heroes of Baseball #20
1990 Fleer Baseball MVP #16
A vendor on eBay has twenty-seven different sets listed in an auction with a starting bid of $25 (+ $20 shipping), but I'm not sure if I'll actually place a bid. There's plenty of time left. If there are no bids next Friday, maybe I'll go for it.
#2: Goodbye Gale
1971 Topps #150
On Wednesday afternoon, I read about Gale Sayers passing away over on Bob's blog: The Five Tool Collector.
1971 Topps Pin-Ups #12
Sayers played his final professional football game the year before I was born, but I've heard plenty of stories and watched a few highlight films, so I'm very familiar with his legacy.
1972 Topps #110
As of right now... three cards make up my entire Kansas Comet collection, but he's officially on my radar.
#3: One Autograph Per Pack
On Thursday... Kerry from Cards on Cards showed off a Signature Rookies autograph that Bob from The Best Bubble sent him.
1994 Signature Rookies Autographs #3
1994 Signature Rookies Autographs #10
1994 Signature Rookies Autographs #61
1994 Signature Rookies Autographs #10
1994 Signature Rookies Autographs #61
It instantly took me back to the mid 90's when I bought a few boxes of 1994 Signature Rookie Draft which guaranteed an autograph in every pack. This stuff paved the way for products like Be A Player and Leaf Signatures Series.
#4: Three Dimensional Cards
Another week. Another giveaway over at Collecting Cutch. This week he's asking you to show off your favorite 3D cards. I'm sure most of you realize 70's and 80's Kellogg's lenticular cards are some of my favorite oddball issues of all-time.
However... I thought I'd go in a different direction for this contest...
1985 Topps 3D #10
Back in 1985, Topps released a product called Topps 3D... which featured a 4" x 6" embossed card molded from some kind of plastic. This is the kind of product that caters to guys like me. However... they're bulky and are a pain in the bottom to store.
Moving ahead to the early 90's, the hobby went through a phase where holograms were one of the hottest things around.
1991 Kayo #235
I've written about plenty of holograms over the years... but this hologram of Muhammad Ali stands out as one of my favorites.
Holograms didn't just invade the card collecting community. Even the comic book industry profited off them:
1992 Spider-Man #26
1992 Web of Spider-Man #90
1992 The Spectacular Spider-Man #189
1992 The Amazing Spider-Man #365
Almost three decades later... I'm sure these four comic books are floating in dollar bins across our country's comic book stores.
Well that wraps up another week of This Week in Blogging.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend... and may all of your professional teams do well unless they're the Dallas Cowboys, New Orleans Saints, Seattle Mariners, or San Francisco Giants. I don't dislike the Giants, Saints, or Mariners... but they're playing my teams this weekend. As for the Cowboys... I can't stand them. The fact that they're playing the Seahawks tomorrow only makes me dislike them a little more than usual.
Happy Saturday and sayonara!
I probably had all of those Spiderman Hologram Comics. A few of us Navy buddies were card and comic book collectors back in the mid-late 1080a,and had fun looking for card shops in the ports we landed in on the East Coast. Good times.
ReplyDeleteI'd say something snarky about the Cowboys, but the Eagles are looking even worse.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to get one of those Baseball All-Stars cards from 1987. What. A. Smile!
ReplyDeleteI loved and now miss the hologram phase,that's a great Ali card.
ReplyDeleteThat Ali hologram card is a neat item. I may go find one for myself.
ReplyDeleteNormally my promoter friend has a bunch of those boxed sets selling for a buck each at the hotel show. I will throw one on my 'buying' pile just for fun. They provide some fun oddballs to toss into packages for other bloggers.
Somwhere I have the Ripken out of that 3D set. At least I think I do. They are a pain to store and it's in a box someplace.
Hologram covers were all the rage there for a few years... I really miss those years!
ReplyDeleteMy Gators won today!
ReplyDeleteLove those Spider-Man hologram covers! I had at least a couple of them.
ReplyDeleteI've been trying to get the Giants from those box sets. Have no idea how many there are though I'm just grabbing what I come across.
ReplyDeleteI remember having a few of those Fleer sets. BTW, Thanks for joining the contest. Those Spider-Man holograms are sweet!!! I was hoping someone would show off nonsports holograms for the contest as they were all the rage in the 90s.
ReplyDeleteR.I.P. Gale Sayers
Man, I knew Fleer made boxed sets throughout the '80s, but not THAT many.
ReplyDeletejohn sharp - i can imagine checking out the different shops along the coast would have been a blast. i know that when i travel, i enjoy looking up the local card shops in the area
ReplyDeleteelliptical man - i wouldn't be against snarky comments towards the cowboys ;D
jongudmund - that might have been one of those 18¢ purchases off of sportlots earlier in the year
sg488 - me too. i still enjoy stumbling across holograms from the 90's
commishbob - the ali hologram has dropped significantly in value. my card shop would easily fetch $10 to $15 for that card back in the day. you should be able to find it for a buck or two now. and if you're lucky... your buddy might have it as part of the set.
jon - me too. i loved those gimmicky covers. do you remember the prizm covers too?
johnnys trading spot - congratulations! i haven't watched any college football yet... but i heard there were some big upsets
defgav - me too. if i had more wall space, i'd probably put them in these special comic book frames and show them off. as of right now, i just have my first issue of star wars hanging up
nick vossbrink - hit up sportlots. i bought a bunch of gwynns and hendersons for 18¢ each a few months ago. the good news is there's one or two sellers who have a ton, so you don't have to pay shipping to ten different people
collecting cutch - thanks for hosting the contest. it was fun digging through my scans looking for holograms. the rickey isn't a scan though. i took a photo of that card... since it's hanging up in my office
gregory - they made a ton. it'll be fun trying to track them all down ;D
I remember those Spidey hologram covers coming out, and I'm a bit dismayed to realize that it was 28 years ago.
ReplyDeleteFleer made way too many box sets back in the day. I know I had a couple as a kid but it was practically impossible to collect them all.
ReplyDeleteGo Pack Go!
Those Topps 3D are a pain to store! Those Fleer boxed sets were amazing to collect. I had some for sure but mostly just seem to have collected singles here and there of particular players.
ReplyDeleteAs overproduced the boxed sets were in the 1980s, they sure are iconic. Good luck getting the Gwynn run.
ReplyDeleteAnother rough weekend as a Giants fan
ReplyDeleteshlabotnik report - time sure flies
ReplyDeletechris - the funny thing is... i paid little attention to most of them back in the 80's. but now i'm on the prowl. priorities and interests shift with time
peter k steinberg - i think i have the 1985 topps 3d set and it's like 4 or 5 inches tall. as a player collector i think they're fun and affordable. i'm sure the strawberrys are fun to chase down and i bet there are even a few kruks out there
sumomenkoman - thanks. if i come across some nolan ryans i'll send them your way
sport card collectors - i didn't watch the game, but the guys on the radio today were stoked with that niner win. like i said on your blog, i was rooting for your team.
Good luck on the Gwynns. I like those specialty sets. They're fun. Some are still fairly cheap. Fun post.
ReplyDeletebulldog - i'll definitely hunt the down as soon as things settle down with work. i'm excited to put them together and show them off in one post.
Delete