Sets
Admittedly, I don't spend nearly what I do on sets as I do on racks, cellos, and even individual cards. Sets are tough to display, and I find that in my downstairs office, they serve more to take up space than anything else. Plus, I tend to accumulate a lot middle-of-the-road sets from the mid and late 1980s. I have thought about selling the sets I have, but not sure it is worth the time, effort, and shipping. I have a few decent sets, but nothing that will blow you way.
1977 Topps
This set is probably my favorite. It's a 1977 Topps Set in NrMt-Mt condition. It's probably worth about $250 or so, but I love the look and design of the 1977 Topps cards. This set features some nice rookie cards, including those of Andre Dawson and Dale Murphy. It also contains some great star cards of Nolan Ryan, Mike Schmidt, George Brett, and Pete Rose.
1980 Topps
1980 Topps set has become more popular with collectors lately. Unopened material for this year has increased in value. Whereas five or six years ago you could score a rack pack from this year at $20-$30, they now sell for over $100. A wax box will run more than $1,200.00. The key rookie card in this set is Rickey Henderson. Besides Henderson, there are really no important rookies to speak of, unless you consider Dan Quisenberry and Mike Scott important.
1981 Topps Football Set
This is the last logoless football set that Topps produced. If you look at the helmets on the players on the cards, they are all blank. Anyhow, the 1981 Topps football set features rookie cards of Joe Montana and Art Monk. You can buy one of these for between $100-$150 on eBay.
1981 Donruss Set
This is a 1981 Donruss set. It ws the inuagural Donruss baseball set and features the rookie card of Tim Raines. Conspicuously absent from this set are rookie cards of Kirk Gibson, Fernando Valenzuela, and Harold Baines. Generally, this set is thought to be a rather poor effort. It can be purchased for about $25 on eBay.
1982 Topps Traded Set
1984 Topps Set is the most affordable of the 1984 sets. It can be purchased for about $35. It is a beautiful set, but beyond the Mattingly and Strawberry rookie cards, there was little for collectors to get excited about.
1983 Topps Set
1984 Topps Set
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1984 Topps Traded Set
p>This next set was supposedly short-printing and was once in very high demand because it featured the very first card of Mets phenom Dwight Gooden. For about a decade, the Gooden card was one of the most sought after of the 1980s, trailing perhaps only the 1983 Topps Traded card of his teammate Darryl Strawberry. As Gooden's career fizzled, demand for the 1984 Topps Traded set predictably declined. Today, you can probably find the entire set fo $25 or so. Besides the Gooden, it contains the first cards of several stars of the 1980's such as Alvin Davis, Jimmy Key, Bret Saberhagen and others. Topps, however, unlike Fleer, failed to include the first cards of Kirby Puckett and Roger Clemens.
1984 Fleer Update Set
1984 Fleer Update Set is thought to be very scarce. It also contains the first cards of Roger Clemens and Kirby Puckett. Being that the set still sells for $350 or so, imagine how valuable it would be if those two hadn't disgraced themselves. Interestingly, I had purchased the Clemens card by itself and decided to sell it several years ago. Turned out it was a counterfeit. Be wary of fake 1984 Fleer Clemens cards. It never dawned on me that the Clemens I had was a fake. Anyhow, I eventually purchased the whole set and confirmed the Clemens and Puckett were both real. This is a beautiful set! The 1984 Fleer set is one of my favorites, and one of the easiest sets in which to get high grade cards.
1984 Donruss Set
This is the 1984 Donruss set. It is a beautiful set that carried a significant premium of the Fleer and Topps set for a long time. It features an iconic rookie card of Don Mattingly, and also the 1984 Joe Carter rated rookie - his only card issued while he was with the Chicago Cubs. This set can be purchased on eBay for between $100 - $125.
This is the 1984 Fleer set - one of my favorties. These sets sell for about $40.
1984 Topps Football Set
This is the 1984 Topps Football Set. It retails for about $75 and features the rookie cards of John Elway, Dan Marino, Howie Long, Eric Dickerson, and others. These are great looking cards, although the Marino is plagued with off-centering issues. One time recently, I opened a pack and got two Marinos! That was the good news. The bad news was that they were both off-centered. I've often found that the Marino rookie card comes just before the Dwight Stephenson card. If you see one of these on the top of a legitimate 1984 Topps rack pack or cello, there is a decent chance a Marino lies underneath.
1985 Topps Set
The 1985 Topps football set features rookie cards of Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Kirby Puckett, Dwight Gooden, and others. It seels for about $40 on eBay.
1986 Topps Football Set
The 1986 Topps football set features rookie cards of Jerry Rice, Steve Young, Bruce Smith, Reggie White, and many others. It can be purchased for between $80 and $100.00.
Other 1986, 1987, and 1988 Sets
- 1986 Donruss Set (2) - $60
- 1986 Fleer Set - $30
- 1987 Donruss Set (2) - $50
- 1987 Fleer Set (2) - $50
- 1988 fleer Set (2) - $40
- 1989 Fleer Set - $20
- 1990 Donruss Set - $10
This is a 1986 Fleer Set. It features rookie cards of Jose Canseco, Andres Galaragga, Paul O' Neill, and others.
This is a 1987 Topps set. You could still buy wax boxes of 1987 Topps cards from big department stores well into the 21st century. This set sells for about $20.
Traded Sets and Others
Here are a bunch of low-priced traded sets (and a 1989 Upper Deck set). Included are:
- 1985 Fleer Update - $10
- 1985 Topps Traded - $10
- 1987 Topps Traded - $10
- 1989 Topps Traded - $10
- 1989 Score Update - $15
- 1989 Fleer Update - $10
- 1989 Topps Traded - $10
- 1989 Upper Deck - $60
- 1990 Donruss - $10
- 1991 Score - $10
- 1991 Skybox Series I - $10
1986 Topp Set
Sometimes I buy just sets just to have them and just to be able to look through. The 1986 Topps set is nothing special; in fact its only notable rookie card is Cecil Fielder. Unlike Fleer or Donruss, it missed out Jose Canseco, Fred McGriff, Paul O' Neill, Cory Snyder, Andres Galaragga, and others. I still ove the set though. You can probably buy one of rabout $25 on eBay.
1986-87 Fleer Basketball Set
This is the iconic 1986-1987 Fleer Basketball Set. I have separated the Jordan, which is on display in my "individual cards" section. This is a great set with first cards (not actual rookie cards) of Karl Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, Isiah Thomas, Clyde Drexler, and many others. This set is in nrmt-mt, although I had to replace a few of the key cards that originally came with the set, because the seller failed to accurately describe what he was selling. Many of the key cards were badly off centered or had soft corners. Without the Jordan, the value of this set still approaches $500.00!
1988-1989 Fleer Basketball Set
This is the colorful 1988-1989 Fleer basketball set featuring the rookie cards of John Stockton, Reggie Miller, Scottie Pippen and others. Despite the high-caliber rookie cards, this set can be purchased for about $80-100.
1988 Score
1989 Score Football Set
This awesome set features the rookie cards of Barry Sanders, Troy Aikman, Deion Sanders, Michael Irvin, and many others. It sells for about $60 on eBay.