After having the baseball card market all to themselves nearly every year since 1956, Topps enjoyed one last year as the solo option for collectors as the 1980s dawned. The world would change forever in 1981 when Fleer and Donruss came aboard. This week's edition of Vintage Pack Facts focuses on the 1980 Topps packaging--and there was plenty of it. The first … [Read more...] about Vintage Pack Facts: 1980 Topps Baseball
1980 Topps
Ramblings: Sea Change in Cards Paralleled Political Shift
The other night I was driving home and listening to Scott Walker’s speech in which he departed the 2016 presidential campaign. Some people would be thinking about how that would affect the 2016 Republican logjam while others would be wondering how a such a successful political governor could crash and burn in the national process. I, on the other hand, started thinking about … [Read more...] about Ramblings: Sea Change in Cards Paralleled Political Shift
Set of the Week: 1980 Topps Baseball Marked the End of a Monopoly
When they ripped open their first packs of baseball cards to greet a new decade, collectors couldn't have known that they were looking at the end of a monopoly AND the seeds of a hobby boom. The 1980 Topps baseball set was not too far removed from its recent predecessors in look and feel, but it was in a different league entirely when it came to making history. Indeed, by … [Read more...] about Set of the Week: 1980 Topps Baseball Marked the End of a Monopoly
Vintage Pack Break of the Week: 1980 Topps Baseball
Collectors were in for a jolt just one year later, but in 1980, the baseball card world was essentially as it had been for most of the previous 25 years. One manufacturer. One main set. Wax packs with a stick of gum. Fleer and Donruss would enter the business in '81 and so there's a bit of a nostalgic feel when you spot an unopened pack or box from 1980. Our Vintage … [Read more...] about Vintage Pack Break of the Week: 1980 Topps Baseball