Here are some awesome 1981 Topps racks! I have more than 20 of these racks that I bought recently from a guy who just wanted to unload them. Most of them came with at least one star on top or on the bottom. Below is a sample:
- 1981 Topps with Andre Dawson on top
- 1981 Topps with Carl Yaz on top
- 1981 Topps with Jim Palmer on top
- 1981 Topps with Ozzie Smith
Here is one with the Tim Raines rookie card showing through the back
Here are some 1982 Topps rack packs. The top example has Steve Carlton and the Kent Hrbek card on top and an Eddie Murray card on the back.
- 1982 Topps rack pack with Steve Carlton and Kent Hrbek on top/Eddie Murray back
- 1982 Topps rack pack with Fernando Valenzuela and Lee Smith RC on top (with factory notch)
- 1982 Topps rack with Steve Sax RC on top
- 1982 Topps rack with Pete Rose and Rollier Fingers on top
- 1982 Topps rack with Rickey Henderson on top and Rod Carew on the back
- 1982 Topps rack pack
1983 Topps rack packs are common and can be purchased for roughly $20 per rack. Here are a group of these racks that I have collected over the years. You'll see two with Bill Virdon on top. This is often a key card that indicates a Tony Gwynn underneath (about 50% of the time).
- 1983 Topps rack with Rickey Henderson top
- 1983 Topps rack with Paul Molitor on top
- 1983 Topps rack with Robin Yount on top
- 1983 Topps rack with Tom Seaver on top
- 1983 Topps rack with Eddie Murray on top
Here is a 1983 Topps rack pack that I overpaid for. I thought it was really cool because it has Tom Seaver and Jim Palmer showing on top. I really appreciate when sellers pack items very carefully. This one, however, was packed with so many binder sheets wrapped with packing tape that I gave up in trying to get it all off.
I love these 1984 O-Pee-Chee rack packs. These don't seem to exist in years other than 1984 and are decidedly rare, even for 1984. These two cost me $60 combined several years ago. Interestingly, a 1984 O-Pee-Chee rack appeared on eBay several years back with Don Mattingly on top. I jumped at it and put an astronomical bid in for it. I thought I would win it for sure, but lost at the last second, when some other bidder, who also realized its rarity, outbid my $500!
1984 Topps Rack Packs, however, are decidely less exciting than their O-Pee-Chee counterparts. They are ubiquitous on eBay and are much cheaper than their 1981, 1982, 1983, and even 1985 brethren. Racks with Mattingly and Strawberry on top or bottom are very common. Just last week there were seven on eBay with Mattingly on top or on the bottom, and nine with Strawberry. Mattingly racks generally fetch less than $50, and Strawberry packs can be had for about $20. Below are some sample 1984 Topps rack packs.
- 1984 Topps Rack Pack with Strawberry on top
- 1984 Topps Rack Pack with Strawberry on top
- 1984 Topps Rack Pack with Dave Winfield on top
- 1984 Topps Rack Pack with Cal Ripken on top and Ryne Sandberg on the back
- 1984 Topps Rack Pack with Reggie Jackson and Andy Van Slyke RC on top
- 1984 Topps Rack Pack with Steve Carlton on top and Andre Dawson on the back
Here is a great rack pack that reverese-mirrors my 1983 Topps rack. It has the Boggs and Gwynn card on the back. It obviously doesn't pop as much as its 1983 Topps counterpart, but at $15, it was an easy buy. I'd value it at at least $50.00
Speaking of 1984 Rack Packs, here are some Topps football rack packs. These retail for about $80 a pop and I bought ten of them on eBay a few months ago. Buying loose rack packs can be a risky endeavor, because unscrupulous dealers, who know the collation patterns, can often tell what cards lay hidden simply by seeing the cards on top and back. That said, I took a chance on these and made the purchase. I opened six of the packs, and in those packs got two Dan Marino RCs and one Eric Dickerson. The examples below include:
- 1984 Topps FB rack with John Riggins on top
- 1984 Topps FB rack with Lawrence Taylor on top
- 1984 Topps FB rack with Marcus Allen on top
- 1984 Topps FB rack pack
These are some fairly rare 1984 Fleer Rack Packs. I scored 24 of these on eBay in 2016 for exactly $240. That's only $10 per rack. Today, these are more likely to sell for about $30 per rack, given their rarity. One of the disadvantages of these rack packs is the flimsy plastic packaging, which tends to tear easily. Here are a few that came with stars on top:
- 1984 Fleer rack pack with Andre Dawson on top
- 1984 Fleer rack pack with Reggie Jackson on top
- 1984 Fleer rack pack with George Brett on top
These 1985 Topps rack packs make for an interesting sequence. There are five with Wade Boggs an top. On four of the five, there is a Tony Pena on the back, which indicates strong collation and that in all likelihood, all of the cards are exactly the same. But in one rack pack, something disrupted the sequence.
- (5) 1985 Topps Rack Packs with Wade Boggs on top
- (2) 1985 Topps Rack Packs with Don Mattingly on top
- 1985 Topps Rack Pack with Darryl Strawberry on top (sorry hard to see)
- 1985 Topps Rack Pack with Reggie Jackson on top
- 1985 Topps Rack Pack with Rickey Henderson on the back
Here are some interesting 1985 Topps Rack with stars on the back. Certainly not as exciting to look at, but interesting noentheless
- 1985 Topps Rack Pack with Pete Rose on the back
- 1985 Topps Rack Pack with Mike Schmidt and Rod Carew on the back
And just a few more...
- 1985 Topps Rack Pack with Eddie Murray on the back
- 1985 Topps Rack Pack with Bret Saberhagen and Howard Johnson on the back - yes, Howard Johnson cards were at one time in demand.
- 1985 Topps Rack Pack with Eddie Murray and Cory Snyder on the back - same thing that can be said about Howard Johnson can be said about Cory Snyder
1985 Donruss was one of two donruss sets in three years that featured the dreaded black borders. This had the effect of making any flaw in the cards much more obvious than it normally would have. It was also very annoying for collectors like me that hated little nicks and dinged corners, because they would contrast with the black borders. One of the only reliable ways to make sure you got gem mint cards from these two series was from rack packs. Below is a sample of 1985 Donruss rack packs I own.
- 1985 Donruss rack pack with Wade Boggs on top
- 1985 Donruss rack pack with Cal Ripken on top
- 1985 Donruss rack pack with Tom Seaver ERR on top
- 1985 Donruss rack pack with Dwight Gooden on top
- 1985 Donruss rack pack with Darryl Strawberry on top
- 1985 Donruss rack pack with Darryl Strawberry on top
- 1985 Donruss rack pack with Pete Rose on top
- 1985 Donruss rack pack with Pete Rose (Expos) on top
- 1985 Donruss rack pack with Bret Saberhagen on top
Here are couple of 1985 Fleer rack packs I just picked up from a Buy it Now auction for $25.00. These are decidely rare and one of them has Reggie Jackson and a Winfield/Henderson card on top. After I bought the pair, the same seller put two additional 1985 Fleer racks for auction, but the Buy it Now price was set to $49. Those sold immediately as well.
1986 Topps rack packs are barely worth mentioning. I have dozens of these. The total dearth of rookie cards, especially compared to the fleer and donruss sets, have resulted in the 1986 Topps set being considered virtually irrelevant. Rookie cards of Cecil Fielder, Len Dykstra, Vince Coleman, Steve Jeltz, Glenn Davis, simply fall short compared to any other year in the decade. Plus, the black borders make them even less popular.
Here are some 1986 donruss rack packs. The Mattingly from this issue has always been one of my favorite cards. I'm not totally sure why. I have also wondered if anyone has ever seen a donruss rack pack with multiple rated rookies on top. Back in the day, I had purchased one from the notorious eBay rack fraudster, Von Duross, that had Canseco and McGriff on top. Now, I know that was a fake, but wondering if it is even possible to have two rated rookies on top of the same rack pack?
Here are a couple of more with Don Mattingly on top
1987 Donruss rack packs are very common on eBay and have declined in value over the years as some of the star players like Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco, Rafael Palmerio, and Mark McGwire have been disgraced in the steroids scandal. Others like Ruben Sierra and Mike Greenwell started off their careers as if they'd be huge stars, but fizzled early. At least this set, unlike the 1987 Topps and Fleer, had the Greg Maddux rated rookie card to keep it interesting, but ultimately, the Maddux card has not been enough of a hit with collectors to save the 1987 Donruss series. I have a lot of these racks!
- 1987 Donruss Rack Pack with Barry Larkin and Ruben Sierra on top
- 1987 Donruss Rack with Barry Bonds on top
- 1987 Donruss Rack with Barry Bonds on top
- 1987 Donruss Rack with Mark McGwire and Will Clark on top
- 1987 Donruss Rack with Mark McGwire and Don Mattingly on top
- 1987 Donruss Rack with Mark McGwire and Rickey Henderson on top
- 1987 Donruss Rack with Mark McGwire on top
1987 Topps holds a special place in my heart. It was these cards that got me hooked on collecting baseball cards when I was 12. I just loved the wooden baseball bat design and the unusual font used. Unfortunately, and as is the case with most collectors, I should have turned my attention to the fleer basketball packs as the time, that could have been purchased at clearence at the local Hills or K-Mart for 15 cents a pack. If I only would have known, I could imagine myself scowering through stacks of discarded red, white, and blue packs fleer basketball packs, hpahazardly dumped into huge container-stands, pressing on the wrappers to see if a Jordan rookie or Barkley rookie card was showing through the wrapper. But no, instead I ignored that unassuming future gold mine, and was opting for buying as many $0.49 cent packs of overproduced 1987 Topps cards as my $5.00 allowance would allow. Anyhow, if for some reason you are looking to start collecting unopened rack packs with stars on top, this edition is a good place to start as these packs, with just about anyone on top, or, on the back, can be had for $8 or less on eBay.
- 1987 Topps rack pack with Barry Bonds on top
- 1987 Topps rack pack with Barry Bonds on top
- 1987 Topps rack pack with Mark McGwire on top
- 1987 Topps rack pack with Mark McGwire on top
- 1987 Topps rack pack with Jose Canseco on top
- 1987 Topps rack pack with Bo Jackson on top
- 1987 Topps rack with Will Clark on top
- 1987 Topps rack pack with Don Mattingly on back
- 1987 Topps rack pack with Don Mattingly on back
- 1987 Topps rack pack with Don Mattingly AS on back
- 1987 Super Market rack-cello pack with Canseco and Cansecon glossy on top and Bonds on the back
Here are a series of 1989 Donruss and Fleer rack packs. These are easily procured and those with the Griffey card on top can usually be purchased for around $20. Look the one with the two "Jrs."
Here is a 1989 Fleer rack pack with the infamous Bill Ripken card on top. Notice the handle of the bat has a black box. Do you remember why that box was hastily added?
Finally, here are some 1992 Topps Basketball rack packs. One has a Shaquille O' Neal rookie on top, and another has the Shaq Gold rookie on the back. Topps made these thoroughly less exciting by packaging these with opaque plastic, so it is decidedly difficult to see the O' Neal Cards. That said, my thought is that these are very rare.
These 1989-90 Fleer Basketball rack packs have increased in value recently. I bought eight of them on eBay for the low Buy it now price of $60.00. These are typically selling for about $20 a piece, especially in light of the "The Last Dance" documentary airing currently. I opened one that had a tear in it and was rewarded with a beautiful Jordan card (50/50 centering). I also learned that the Jordan card comes one below the Kevin Duckworth. A second rack has the Duckworth card on top. One of the great things about these rack packs is that you get about 1/4 of the set, each time you open one. The rack turned over has a Scottie Pippen card showing on the back.
