Eight years into its virtual monopoly, Topps had settled into its role as baseball's lone bubble gum card maker. Not much changed from one year to the next. Kids--and the modest number of adult collectors--could count on stable prices and multiple series distributed every few weeks. The only major differences were the changes in the number of cards in the … [Read more...] about Vintage Pack Facts: 1963 Topps Baseball
Vintage Pack Facts
Vintage Pack Facts: 1981-82 Topps Basketball
Topps tried everything to get people interested in basketball cards during the tail end of what had been a decade-long deal with the NBA during the 1970s. In 1980, they went with a poorly received concept that put three players, separated by perforations, on a single card. In 1981-82, they created three different mini sets for the east, middle and western sections of the … [Read more...] about Vintage Pack Facts: 1981-82 Topps Basketball
Vintage Pack Facts: 1980-81 Topps Basketball
You could buy a box for nine bucks--retail. Truth is, no one was paying retail for 1980-81 Topps Basketball boxes forty years ago. Heck, sports card dealers were taking just about anything halfway decent in trade for basketball back then. Baseball was king. Football was a distant second and basketball was third--or fourth if you were in hockey … [Read more...] about Vintage Pack Facts: 1980-81 Topps Basketball
Vintage Pack Facts: 1980 Topps Football
Bored with your standard wax pack with gum? In 1980, you had plenty of options for building a set. And let's face it, if you were collecting football cards in 1980, that was your goal. There were no fancy inserts or autographed cards. Just meat and potatoes cardboard. This time, though, there was more than one option for bubble gum--and more than one option if you didn't … [Read more...] about Vintage Pack Facts: 1980 Topps Football
Vintage Pack Facts: 1961 Topps Baseball
The price of a pack remained the same, but any kids looking to put together a complete set of 1961 Topps baseball cards needed a lot of pennies, nickels, dimes and any other currency they could scrape up. By the time the Yankees and Reds finished the '61 World Series, a total of 587 cards had been produced. Today, it takes commitment to piece together a set, but it can … [Read more...] about Vintage Pack Facts: 1961 Topps Baseball
Vintage Pack Facts: 1979 Topps Football
It was the NFL's 60th season, but there wasn't much historical commemoration inside 1979 Topps football packs. The company stuck with its typical formula of players, league leaders, highlights and checklists. There were, however, a lot of different types of packs to choose from. The latest edition of Vintage Pack Facts from Vintage Breaks is all about the … [Read more...] about Vintage Pack Facts: 1979 Topps Football
Vintage Pack Facts: 1967 Topps Baseball
Vintage Pack Facts hopes to shed some light on one individual release each week in terms of the variety of packaging methods used, prices at the time, a little about the set itself and more. Topps expanded its set from 598 cards in 1966 to 609 in ’67 but youngsters wouldn’t know it until late in the year as it continued to produce cards in series that were time … [Read more...] about Vintage Pack Facts: 1967 Topps Baseball
Vintage Pack Facts: 1978 Topps Football
The Dallas Cowboys were the defending Super Bowl champs. The Pittsburgh Steelers would soon answer with their latest Lombardi Trophy. The two titanic teams of the 70s were well represented in Topps' lone football card product, including Tony Dorsett and John Stallworth, two future Hall of Famers whose rookie cards were on the checklist. This edition of Vintage … [Read more...] about Vintage Pack Facts: 1978 Topps Football
Vintage Pack Facts: 1976 Topps Football
Those who collect vintage football card packs don't have a lot of trouble finding reasonably priced options during the last half of the 1970s but there's one that's a problem. If not for that Payton guy.... While 1977-1979 packs have gone up in value over the last several years, they're a piece of cake compared to the year that brought us Sweetness. Walter Payton's … [Read more...] about Vintage Pack Facts: 1976 Topps Football
Vintage Pack Facts: 1973 Topps Football
"Biggest Series Ever" screamed the packaging. Topps wasn't lying. While they'd pumped out a unique, three-series set in 1972--one that kept collectors hunting for high numbers well into the next four decades--the 528-card 1973 Topps football set was an unprecedented whopper. No, it wasn't as big as the company's last several baseball sets, but NFL fans had … [Read more...] about Vintage Pack Facts: 1973 Topps Football