My favorite era of baseball cards is the 1970s and early 1980s. I write about those cards a lot, probably more than any other period of cards.
I receive plenty of interaction writing about those cards. But I know that some people, who are younger, can't really relate to them. Sometimes I wonder how much attention this blog would receive if I wrote about nothing but late 1980s/early 1990s cards, you know junk wax era stuff.
I wonder that because when I do mention those cards, woo do readers' eyes light up.
Out of all of the eras of baseball cards, I think there are more people knowledgeable about the junk wax/overproduction era than any other.
I, on the other hand, am pretty dismissive of those cards. Aside from 1989 and 1991-92, I ignored cards from that period and although I've completed some of those sets since, I don't have the kind of fondness for those cards that make me want to know everything about them.
An example is 1986 Topps Traded. That's a set I'd like to finish. I like '86 Topps, it's one of the first sets I completed upon starting a blog, the Traded set should be finished, too. I've thought that while ambling through card shows, yet every time I see a box of '86 Traded for sale, I don't want to pay the price.
I mentioned this recently and people kind of questioned my assessment. But I hadn't done much of deep dive on the set. So I looked on ebay and a complete '86 Traded set is around $35. That's about what I saw at shows. It's too much for me. But maybe I won't have to pay that, because the '86 Traded is already arriving.
Bo of Baseball Cards Come to Life had a bunch of set-fillers for me. A lot of these cards look familiar to me even though they haven't been in my collection. I guess I've seen them on blogs enough over the years.
A bunch more. Check out all that obvious airbrushing. 1986 doesn't seem like that long ago to me, but then I see airbrushing like this -- still going on in the mid-1980s -- and I guess it was a long time ago. And now I'm mad at 1986 Traded for making me think that.
With the addition of these cards, I have 72 of the 132 in the set. And I've added my want list to TCDB, so I expect to see offers fairly soon.
The big cards left are Barry Bonds, Bo Jackson and Will Clark. In my same tour through ebay I saw lots of sellers who hope collectors are in the mood to grade those cards and I'm sure there are. This is one of the drawbacks I've found in trying to fill holes in the junk wax era. There are so many collectors who grew up with these cards, and a lot of them think you can't collect them again without sealing them in plastic.
But I don't expect to have a difficult time finishing this set -- it'll probably be in the I Should Be Done With This Set By Now realm of completion tasks.
One day I should do an analysis of the Topps Traded sets from the 1980s because it doesn't seem like they progressed very much from the start of the decade to the end. But that will be for when I finish off the last ones on the list, 1984, 1986 and -- I think? -- 1988.
Like I said, I wasn't paying a lot of attention then.
Comments
Also I had always thought that one major reason why your blog is the most popular by far is because more readers prefer to read about the pre-"junk wax era" sets of the 1970s-early 1980s. We're all doing our damnedest here but I don't know of any blog that has even half your readership, nor any that catches the attention of ex-players and their family members. Proficiency has a lot to do with that, but so does the subject.
I collected baseball cards by-the-pack from 1967 to 1972. After that, I did nothing until 1981. All the buzz about Fleer and Donruss induced me to buy Topps and Fleer Factory sets (and the Topps update set). No Donruss though.
For the rest of the 1980s, all I did was get most of the 1967 high numbers at card shows.
In 1990 & 1991, my 2 sons got into card collecting, so I jumped back in and collected the red and blue Donruss sets and yellow Fleer set with them (all by-the-pack). I also binged-out on factory sets from all brands from about 1987 to 1991.
However, to this day, although all my pre-1982 cards are in binders, all the later factory sets are still in their boxes. The only interest I now have in my post-1972 cards are the sets I collected with my sons in '91 and '92.
Speaking for myself I'd read it whole lot less.
As someone whose youth was in the 2000's and 2010's (one decade that never gets shown and another that just ended), nothing makes me want to quit this hobby more than cards from the 80's or 90's. Your blog leaning heavily on the 70's makes it a breath of fresh air for me. Like exactly between the sweet spot between the 60's which to me feels ancient, and the 80's which to me might as well be every ugly Donruss design morphed into one.
It is very odd to me seeing how the hobby has evolved and seems to be right back to the junk wax time. When I started back in the hobby in 2017 when my oldest son turned seven it was a great way for he and I to spend timr together at the LCS and to teach hom about the legends of the game. I remember autos and patches were rare even then. Now, they are all over the place and don't seem nearly as exciting.
Your topics are great and love reading your posts after a long day of work!
I like all eras, but like most people I am most nostalgic for the era I started collecting in, which in my case happens to be junk wax.
So the early '80's are my reference point for cards. To me, they're an era on their own. Before '80 is vintage, of course, after is junk wax, then the late 90s brought all the inserts and parallels. The 2000s and 2010s haven't been that distinctive. There's not really a central theme for those decades except maybe short prints, exclusive contracts and recycled designs (none of which should be celebrated). (And the death of so many companies).
Was just discussing the different eras like this with a collector buddy yesterday....
Around 1994 was when I put collecting on the back burner due to a change of interests, and the burgeoning oversaturation of product. We went from too much of one product to the same amount of product, spread out over thirty six different lines. It was still the same way when I seriously resumed collecting around 2004, but this time I had more disposable income to use for cards.
I've prety much completed my vintage collecting, as I'm trying to organize my entire collection into binders, in chronological order. Heading into Year Two of that project.
I love the variety (you mix in newer stuff, 1967, 1986, 1969, 1975, etc.). The first year I kept the cards was 1973 and then exited the new stuff around 1993 due to oversaturation.
Of the cards you shared from 86, my faves are Frank Pastore with Tiger Stadium right field fence (and the overhang) behind him. I went with a friend and his brother, who got upper deck box seats behind home plate, to a game vs Minnesota that May 1986. That photo could very well be before the very game I was at. I remember it was a bright sunny day.
Also, fave of any Pete Ladd (who passed away last year). Weird Al's long lost twin! That Seattle card was his last card, I believe.
The 1986 Yankees wore the black band on their left sleeve in memory of Roger Maris who died in late 1985. They've done similar things for the loss of Elston Howard, Mel Allen, etc.